St. James is a community of Jesus’ disciples where:
All are welcome, no matter who you are or your thoughts about God, Jesus, church, or your background, race, political party, or sexual orientation. We mean it when we say you are welcome here no matter who you are or where you find yourself in life.
The worship of God is central to our common life. Every aspect of a church’s life begins – and is rooted – in prayer and worship, especially the Eucharist (or Mass, Communion, or Lord’s Supper as known for others), recalling that Jesus asked his disciples to remember him in the communal act of breaking bread and drinking wine as a sacramental meal.
Serving others is important and should not just be polite church talk.
Formation -
or Christian education and study of scripture - is a priority in learning how we live as Jesus' disciples.
We engage each other with questions, even the really tough ones about the Bible and faith in the midst of our complicated lives and world events. The Bible is not simply black ink on white paper; instead, both the Hebrew (or Old Testament) and Christian scriptures (or New Testament) bear witness to the great stories of faith that we can apply to our own lives, as we strive to better understand, and practice, both a relationship with God and our neighbor.
We have fun and enjoy each other’s company, especially inter-generational opportunities for fellowship.
We are part of a larger community of Christians – a communion if you will – in which we are spiritually rooted and connected both locally and around the world.
We belong to the Episcopal Church in Western Louisiana,
a community of faith that comprises some combination of 50 churches and schools, the diocesan Camp Hardtner,
and a campus chaplaincy at Canterbury @ LSUA. Click here to find Episcopal churches in our diocese. We look to our bishop, Jake Owensby, for ministry vision at the diocesan level in learning to live as Jesus' disciples. You can find Bishop Jake's blog by clicking Looking for God in Messy Places.
We are part of The Episcopal Church, a church in 109 dioceses and across 17 nations. We look to our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, for guidance and unity for the church throughout our nation and other parts of the world. We especially commend his Way of Love teaching that is his vision for our church.
We are members of the Anglican Communion, a church of nearly 80 million in over 165 countries; we look to The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for unity and spiritual direction in our churches throughout the world.
