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A Welcome from the Rector |
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 Thanks for stopping by our website. I’m Nancy Lee Jose, the Rector, or senior minister, at St. Thomas’ Parish, an Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle. We’re a diverse community drawn from all over the Washington metropolitan area who share a commitment to God's “radical hospitality”—learning to be as open and loving and caring to each person who comes through our doors as we believe God is to each and every one of us.
Our building is located just off the intersection of 18th and P Streets NW; the gardens with a circular labyrinth near the street are our front yard. The original Gothic stone church on this site was founded in 1894, and was the home church of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. It burned in 1970 at the hands of an arsonist. For almost 40 years the congregation has worshiped in a contemporary-styled ‘Upper Room’ above our social hall (known as the Guild Room), reached through the entrance facing Church Street.
Our congregation has approximately 250 active members. About 160 of us worship together each Sunday either at a small 9:00 a.m. service, a larger 11:00 a.m. service with traditional music and a choir, or a 5:00 p.m. quieter, meditative worship experience based on the music and style of the Taize community in France.
Each of these worship services is built around Holy Communion or what we call the Eucharist. We practice what is known as Open Communion, meaning that everyone is welcome whether or not you’re an Episcopalian. For us this represents God’s hospitality in setting a table and inviting all to gather around, turning no one away.
Through corporate worship, opportunities for individual education and spiritual formation, and service to the world, we’re committed to being a place where all can find and be found by God. Our goal is to bear the Good News of the audacity and graciousness of God’s dreams for us into a world where hopelessness and division still too often rule unchallenged. We feel we’re being called upon as a people of faith to make our way through life in a spirit of hope!
We continue to grow and expand our membership, our worship services, and our mission to the community around us. As a result, we’re currently in the process of designing and beginning to make plans to build a larger worship space on this site, so that for the foreseeable future we will not have to turn away anyone who walks through our doors wanting to make St. Thomas’s Parish your church.
If this sounds like a place you’d like to visit—or make your spiritual home—we hope you’ll come see us and experience what it might be like to sink your roots here as part of a religious congregation where you will be valued, cared for, and encouraged to love and serve others with all that you are and have. We look forward to getting to know you and sharing our spiritual journey with yours. NLJ+
Nancy Lee Jose
8th Rector
St. Thomas' Parish
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