We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

UTO

What Does Ministry Look Like ?

This is a PowerPoint comprising a list and description of St. Peter’s ministries under four headings – internal, local partners, state and national partners and international partners. The internal are distinguished by parishioner involvement and are generally active yearly. The others may not be active every year.

Many of these ministries represent the day to day work of the church, both outreach into the world and inreach for those within the church. The church is more than just Sunday and the St. Peter’s building but is working in the world! They involve the both the clergy and parishioners in the church as well as others. Many of these ministries are historic (Bible Study is 20 years old) but some, like Sacred Ground were created in the last five years.

To see a full screen version, press right button in the bottom windows   to open in a new window

Your giving for 2024 is crucial to making these ministries thrive. Also, consider joining these ministries and contribute toward their successes. We are always on the lookout for new ministries. An example is Andrea Pogue’s work with Shred-it which originated with her.

UTO spring ingathering completed June 4

We completed the Spring, UTO ingathering on June 4. The total was $330.50 which compares well with the past but was still 15% under 2022.

This is a recent history

IngatheringAmount
Fall, 2021268.87
Spring, 2022384.88
Fall, 2022484.73
Spring, 2023330.50

The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Originally it was started in the 1880’s to support missionary work. Through UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. UTO encourages people to notice the good things that happen each day, give thanks to God for those blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box. UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute the 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

The UTO was able to fund 22 grants, including two historical grants in 2022. They had $1,051,154.14 available to award in 2022.

Over the next 3 years, The United Thank Offering, in the spirit of Matthew 25:36, will focus on areas of ministry that serve those who society has left out and left behind. Therefore, the UTO grant focus for 2023 will be on innovative mission and ministry projects addressing all aspects of the worldwide incarceration crisis, specifically:

•preventative programs and intervention;
•prisoner support outreach;
•prison reform work;
•or post-prison re-entry.

UTO Spring Ingathering to be collected May 28 at Pentecost

The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Originally it was started in the 1880’s to support missionary work. Through UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. UTO encourages people to notice the good things that happen each day, give thanks to God for those blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box. UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute the 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion. 

Here is a recent video on the UTO

Read more

UTO offering collected, Nov. 6 – Nov. 27

The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. UTO encourages people to notice the good things that happen each day, give thanks to God for those blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box. UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute the 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion. 

Over the next 3 years, The United Thank Offering, in the spirit of Matthew 25:36, will focus on areas of ministry that serve those who society has left out and left behind.  Therefore, the UTO grant focus for 2023 will be on innovative mission and ministry projects addressing all aspects of the worldwide incarceration crisis, specifically:

  • preventative programs and intervention; 
  • prisoner support outreach; 
  • prison reform work; 
  • or post-prison re-entry.  

Jerusalem Greer, Staff Officer for Evangelism, points out that “Jesus says we are to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. What if we could see all of creation as our neighbor? How would that change our prayers and our actions? Anytime we use the toil of our hands to bring newness and restoration to the world, cultivating gratitude and love alongside clean water and healthy soil, we become part of God’s healing process in creation. How better to love all our neighbors?”

Make a donation by writing a check to St Peter’s and putting UTO in the memo line.  The ingathering will begin on Sunday, November 6th and the intake will take place on the first Sunday of Advent, Sunday, November 27th.  This  offering is a great way to express gratitude for the blessings of this life.

Honoring Women’s leadership on International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day/ https://www.internationalwomensday.com “Celebrating women’s achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, is key.” “Collective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity is what makes International Women’s Day impactful.”

Let’s call out the achievements of women at St. Peter’s:

At St. Peter’s our key ministries are led by women. Andrea Pogue (Village Dinner, Village Harvest, Shred It, Sacred Ground, Jamaica mission), Cookie Davis (Buildings and Grounds, Sacred Ground as well as her work with historic Port Royal), Susan Linne von Berg (Village Dinner), Elizabeth Heimbach (ECW). BJ Anderson (Altar – Communion Bread), Jan Saylor (the above and anything creative), Denise Gregory (music) and Mary Peterman(music,art). One other lady to cite – Eunice Key who has moved to SC but who worked in most of the above ministries and named the Village Harvest and is in the collage. Diligent, hard working with abundant initiative to go along with it. Without them there would be a big gap.