About St. Peter's
St. Peter’s Anglican Church is a member of the world-wide Anglican Communion and is a founding church in the Anglican Church in North America. St. Peter’s was begun on October 9, 2005, when a group of Episcopalians from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tallahassee, chose to follow God’s lead to separate from the Episcopal Church in America because of its severely diminished respect for the role of Holy Scripture in the life of the Church, and its deeply compromised witness to the Gospel.
While we are not biblical literalists or fundamentalists, we are Christians in the classical tradition of Anglicanism, taking seriously both the authority of Holy Scripture, and the uniqueness of the person of Christ. We are, therefore, a new Church in a very old tradition. It is the call of St. Peter’s to seek with love and humility to witness to the hope and joy found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have two services of worship in traditional form, and a third service, true to the Prayer Book but more contemporary in style. We place a high priority on Bible study, youth, children’s, and college and young adult ministries, and mission. The people who have formed this church have been so clear in their convictions that they have been willing to uproot their families, sacrifice their comforts, and risk for the sake of the Gospel of our Lord.
Our current location, while wonderful in many ways, is temporary. We have already secured land on Thomasville Road north of Interstate 10 and are planning buildings for the future. Being a new church, our doors are wide open to all who love God, take seriously the truth of His Word, and enjoy the rich tradition of classical Anglicanism. We are a warm and welcoming parish and would love to have you visit.
St. Peter the Apostle
When Simon Bar-Jona confessed, “You are the Christ,” Jesus responded, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.”
Peter and his brother Andrew met Jesus as they fished the waters of the Sea of Galilee, the first disciples to be called to His company. In Peter, we see the spectrum of Christian discipleship, of human fallibility and faithfulness. Rough, impulsiveness and passionate, Peter leaped from the boat to follow Jesus across the water, only to sink into the waves. He foolishly offered to build three tabernacles on the mountain of the Transfiguration and bore the anguished shame of doing what he thought he would never do, denying his master not once, but three times on the night before Jesus was crucified.
But Jesus knew the quality of this man’s heart. He entrusted to Peter the “keys of the Kingdom,” and made him the bedrock of the Church. And, by the redemptive power of Christ, Peter fulfilled God’s expectation. His faithful apostleship did, indeed, build the early Church through oppression and opposition. Peter’s story has been a comfort to Christians through the ages as we remember that this flawed human could be totally forgiven, could grow, change, and profoundly serve our Lord.
According to tradition, Peter failed God, then glorified Him a final time. As he fled Nero’s Rome along the Appian Way, Peter met Christ on the path. He asked, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “I am coming to be crucified again. ”Peter returned to Rome and was crucified head first. In his new humility, he proclaimed his unworthiness to die in the same manner as did Jesus. His sacrifice signified his transformation in the Spirit to the image of Christ; he became the man Jesus knew he could be, the Rock which ultimately could not be shaken.
St. Peter’s Anglican Church seeks to follow in the steps of our namesake, learning to stand firm in Christ. We here build our house upon the Rock, even while the sands shift around us. Jesus Christ is our salvation, and the Word is our Truth.
Description of St. Peter's Shield
On the crest of the St. Peter’s Shield is affixed a crozier (the symbol of episcopal authority) and two crossed keys (symbolic of the keys promised to Peter, the keys to the kingdom of heaven). The cross is like that on the Compass Rose, the symbol of the Anglican Communion.
The crozier and the two crossed keys, when viewed together, invoke the image of Chi Rho, the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word “Christ.” According to the University of Rochester, “The Chi Rho is one of the earliest cruciform symbols used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters of the word ‘Christ’ in Greek, chi = ch and rho = r. Although not technically a cross, the Chi Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ.”