St. Augustine’s Mission:
We are a community guided by the Holy Spirit, seeking to show God's love for all, since we know that "Christ will come again when the Christ in me sees the Christ in all of us."
St. Augustine’s Vision:
Guided by Jesus Christ, filled by the Holy Spirit, and with courage, curiosity, and creativity—we will reflect God’s love and grace in worship, study, service, and fellowship by honoring, empowering, feeding, and welcoming the whole community in all its beauty and diversity.
Our History
From its founding in 1961, St. Augustine's has been a church willing and eager to be innovative and "out of the box." We have been a racially and economically diverse community of faith from the very beginnings. Services were held first in private homes then at Hogate's Seafood Restaurant.
St. Augustine's believes in shared ministries of priest and laity and in the involvement of our remarkably diverse membership in all of our activities. In our ministries to the community and the world we attempt, in Jesus' name, to reflect the love of God for all creation. Lay groups work with the clergy and play key roles in our worship services, working on the altar guild, as bread providers, Lectors and Lay Eucharistic Ministers. Lay people also assist in leading our Tuesday Evening Prayer service and Centering Prayer.
The original building, constructed in 1965, was designed by Alexander Cochran of Baltimore. Its overall form was suggestive of an Ark. The baptismal font which stood in the entrance symbolized the importance of Baptism in Christian Life. Its placement between the sanctuary and the outside world related the inner life of fellowship with the Christian's wider life in the world. Estimated to date from the eleventh century, it is carved with symbols of the Four Evangelists and stands in the entry way of our new building on Water Street.
Our newly modernized building, designed by Michael Foster of MTFA Architecture, held its first Sunday Eucharist on All Saints Sunday, November 6, 2016. It was consecrated in a glorious celebration on November 20 by our diocesan bishop, the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde.
We received a great deal of publicity several years ago when St. Augustine's sponsored a resolution at the 2006 Diocesan Convention to add Justice Thurgood Marshall, a long time member of our congregation, to the Book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. The Resolution passed with flying colors, both at the Diocesan and National Church levels. Now, the Feast Day of Blessed Thurgood is celebrated every May 17, the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, which declared segregated education in public schools unconstitutional.
There are numerous opportunities at St. Augustine's for individual volunteer ministries and our community outreach takes many forms. Members, as well as volunteers from the wider community, oversee a weekly meal program, purchasing food and supplies and preparing breakfast on Sunday mornings for as many as 60 people. Our Bread for Life breakfast program is more than twenty-five years strong.
Our building offers space for meetings of community and civic groups, including the SW Girl Scouts and Waterfront Village, as well as the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, ANC-6D, various Condo associations, AA, NA and yoga classes.
We also have partnerships with community non-profits such as Seabury Resources for Aging who have their Ward 6 offices in our building. The Washington Hebrew Congregation currently offers a "District Shabbat" one Friday evening a month in our sanctuary, community classroom and meeting spaces. Their services, Torah Study and shared meals are well attended by our Jewish brothers and sisters from the local neighborhood and wider city. They offer us all an opportunity for Interfaith friendship and learning.
Throughout our history as a church, we have provided performance and gallery space for both local and national artists. We currently partner with Arena Stage, Dance USA, Shirli Hughes and Ovation, DC Strings and the SW Chamber Players. In the summer of 2018 we opened our doors to Blues Alley and their youth jazz workshop as well as the month long Capital Fringe Festival.
We are happy that our location in this diverse neighborhood enables us to be of service in so many ways. Our history is interwoven with that of our Southwest neighborhood and we continue our efforts of outreach to the community.
