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Welcome

Welcome to St. Alban’s Church! Every Sunday, and most days in between, people gather in this place to worship, to learn, to grow, to share the joys and struggles of our lives, and to seek God’s grace in the midst of our lives. We do not come because we have it all figured out, but because we are seeking light on the way. We come as we are and welcome one another.

On this website, you can find information about our worship, our classes for people of all ages, membership at St. Alban's, and about how we seek to make a difference in this world. We warmly encourage you to join us for a Sunday service or for some of the many other events that happen here. You belong at St. Alban’s.

Please fill out this welcome form to connect with us.

Contact us with any questions. Call (202) 363-8286 or email the church office.

 

Service Times 

Weekly In-person Sunday Service Schedule (Please note: Service times may be changed during the seasons of Christmas and Lent and during the summer. Please refer to our calendar to confirm the times.):

8 a.m. (English) in the Church
9 a.m. (English) in the Church
11:15 a.m. (English) in the Church
11:15 a.m. (Spanish) in Nourse Hall (same building as the Church)

Communion in one kind (i.e. wafers) will be offered at the main altar, although we will happily bring communion to those for whom steps are challenging. 

Weekly Live Sunday Services are live-streamed on our Youtube channel (St. Alban's DC) at 9 a.m. every Sunday, as is our Spanish service at 11:15 a.m. 

Evening Prayer Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom, join us for a time of reflection and sharing at the close of your busy day. Contact Paul Brewster for the link. 

 

Directions

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church is located next to the Washington National Cathedral at the corner of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in the northwest section of the District of Columbia.

From either direction on the north loop of the Capital Beltway/I-495 follow signs for Route 355/Wisconsin Ave south toward DC. St. Alban’s is located on the left just before the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW. Make a left onto Lych Gate Rd before you reach Massachusetts Ave. As you enter the drive, the church will be on your left and Satterlee Hall and the Rectory on the right. Stay on Lych Gate until it becomes Pilgrim Rd.

From any Virginia main in-bound thoroughfare (George Washington Memorial Parkway, I-395, Route 50, I-66), follow signs to Rosslyn and take the Key Bridge from Rosslyn north across the Potomac River into Georgetown. Go right on M St, left on Wisconsin Ave. St. Alban’s is located on the right just after the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW. Make a right onto Lych Gate Rd after passing Massachusetts. As you enter the drive, the church will be on your left and Satterlee Hall and the Rectory on the right. Stay on Lych Gate until it becomes Pilgrim Rd.

Parking is available on Pilgrim Road Monday-Friday after 3:30 pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. Parking is also available in the Cathedral’s underground garage for a fee Monday- Saturday and for free on Sunday.  You may also park on neighborhood streets according to DC parking signs.

What to Expect

Visiting a church for the first time can be a bit daunting. So we have tried to put together the answers to some of the questions you’re likely to have and to ensure that you find a warm welcome here. Click on the questions to learn more.)

How do you worship?

What time are services on Sunday morning?

How long do services last?

Where can I park?

Do you offer programs for children?

What should I wear?

Do you have provisions for the differently-abled?

For Your Kids

Children’s Ministry

At St. Alban’s, we believe that a child’s spiritual growth is just as important as their physical and intellectual growth. Our goal is to help children name and value the presence and love of God in their lives. We do this through a variety of means – by providing stable and consistent adult mentors, encouraging strong peer relationships, and supporting parents in their families’ faith lives at home.

Worship: This Fall, Children's Chapel meets during the first half of the 9:00 a.m. service in Nourse Hall (a spacious parish hall in the same building as the main worship space.) Kids and families join "big church" at the Peace so everyone can receive Communion together. To learn more, contact the Rev’d Emily Griffin.

Education: We've resumed our formation programs for the 2022-2023 period. Here’s everything you need to know:

  • Sunday School and Youth Group Classes are from 10:15 to 11:05 a.m.
  • Nursery, 2s & 3s, PreK to 1st Grade, 2nd to 3rd Grade, and 4th to 6th Grade all meet upstairs in Satterlee Hall. Youth classes meet downstairs in Satterlee Hall.
  • If you haven’t registered your child or teen yet, it’s not too late. Register in person at the start of class or click here

Questions? For children, contact the Rev’d Emily Griffin at . For youth, contact the Rev’d Yoimel González Hernández at .

Learn more about Children's Ministries
Youth Ministry

Four teen groups participate in formation classes at St. Alban’s on Sunday mornings. We use the nationally recognized Episcopal curriculum “Journey to Adulthood," or J2A. J2A has two guiding principles: 1) Manhood and womanhood are gifts of God; and 2) Adulthood must be earned. This is a strong program with over 50 youth participating, many of whom engage in a wide variety of ministries at St. Alban’s. Two or three adults mentor each of the groups for two years, sharing their own faith journeys and forming strong bonds of fellowship with the participants.Learn more about Youth Ministries

The Episcopal Church

As Episcopalians, we follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe God is active in our everyday lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and with each other in Christ. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love. The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all of its members.

We uphold the Bible and worship with the Book of Common Prayer. We believe the Holy Scriptures are the revealed Word of God. In worship we unite ourselves with one another to acknowledge the holiness of God, to hear God's Word, to offer prayer and praise, and to celebrate the Sacraments. The Celebration of Holy Eucharist is the central act of worship in accordance with Jesus' command to His disciples. Holy Communion may be received by all baptized Christians, not only members of the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion with 70 million members in 165 countries.  The word "Episcopal" refers to government by bishops. The historic episcopate continues the work of the first apostles in the Church, guarding the faith, unity and discipline of the Church. Both men and women, including those who are married, are eligible for ordination as deacons, priests and bishops. 

We strive to love our neighbors as ourselves and respect the dignity of every person. We welcome all to find a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church.

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Articles

Vestry Calls Priest-in-Charge

11.17.16 | News

    The Rev. Geoffrey Michael St. John Hoare has been called to serve St. Alban’s as priest-in-charge beginning March 1, 2017.

    The Vestry and Wardens have announced the call of The Rev. Geoffrey Michael St. John Hoare, who will join us after completing an interim rector position at the Church of the Epiphany. 
     
    In late October, as we began considering potential candidates for interim rector, Bishop Mariann suggested we consider speaking with Geoffrey as a possible priest-in-charge.  We quickly recognized that (as you’ll see from the biographical sketch below) Geoffrey brings extraordinary skills and experience that are exceptionally well aligned with the particular needs of our Parish at this time.  Moreover, Geoffrey is available to us because he chose to leave his last rectorate and move to Washington for his wife’s career.  He would, in fact, be a highly suitable candidate for Rector . . . but St. Alban’s is not yet ready to make such a call.
     
    “Priest-in-charge” – in contrast to “interim rector” – may be a new concept for many.  If Geoffrey were to serve as interim rector, he would be precluded from being a candidate for rector.  Under the priest-in-charge model, he and the Vestry have agreed to a three-year commitment.  At about the halfway point – in 18 months – we will mutually discern whether he should become our rector.  If so, we will extend that call to him.  If not, he could continue to serve, if he chooses, in the capacity of interim rector while the parish undertakes a full rector search; he could not be considered as a candidate for that position.  In either capacity, he will function as rector, accountable to the Vestry under parish bylaws and subject to oversight authority of the Bishop.
     
    The Senior Warden and other Executive Committee members have spent time with Geoffrey.  The Vestry has met with him, as have staff members.  We have spoken with people who have known and worked with him over the years in personal and professional capacities.  We have read his writings and listened to his sermons.  We have watched him celebrate the Eucharist.  He and his family have worshipped among us.  And we believe that the Holy Spirit has led this path of mutual discovery.  We are deeply grateful that a person of Geoffrey’s extraordinary gifts and experience, so well suited to St. Alban’s, is available to us at the very time we need new leadership.  We are confident that, with Geoffrey, we will embark on a shared journey of spiritual and community reconciliation and reinvigoration.
     
    A Welcome and Incorporation Team, to be led by Tricia and Bob Pinkard, will be planning for Geoffrey’s arrival.  In the meantime, please hold him and his family in your prayers, as well as our own dedicated clergy and staff who will sustain us through a joyful Advent and the Christmas and Epiphany Seasons.
     
    In joy and peace,
    The Wardens and Vestry
     



    Geoffrey Michael St. John Hoare served for 18 years as Rector of All Saints’ in Atlanta, Georgia.  He stepped down from that post in May to come to Washington when his wife Sage accepted a position as Vice President, Public Affairs, with AT&T.  He is currently serving as Interim Rector at Church of the Epiphany in Washington, until the end of February. 

    Geoffrey, an Englishman (now a U.S. citizen), came to the United States in 1976 as a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, where he earned a degree in Religion.  He then took a degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Cambridge University, where he is a member of Magdalene College.  He returned to the U.S. to attend The Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.  He was ordained Deacon and Priest in the Diocese of North Carolina, where he served at Christ Church in Raleigh from 1982 to 1987, before being called to serve as Rector of St. Paul’s Church in Alexandria, Virginia, from 1987 to 1998, and then being called to All Saints’ in Atlanta. 

    As rector of two large urban congregations, Geoffrey is deeply experienced with, and adept at managing, complex faith communities such as ours.  He is a skilled and generous leader of staff, as well as a gifted preacher.  (You can listen to some of his All Saints’ sermons here.)  And he has a strong record of “growing” churches – in vision and ministry, in worshippers, and in resources.

    A passionate advocate for Christian social ministry, in Atlanta he developed core Christian social ministries serving the drug addicted, the homeless, refugees, and the working poor.  He led his parish into global relationships with the Dioceses of Western Tanganyika and Rio de Janeiro.  He led major capital campaigns to develop youth and young adult ministries and renovate community spaces.  He was a director of Visions-Inc. – an organization devoted to combating modern racism and other relationships with inherent differentials of power – and currently serves on its Advisory Board.  In Alexandria, he helped found the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry, as well as Carpenter’s Shelter (for homeless) and Carpenter’s Lodgings (a transitional housing ministry), and he led the parish into relationship with the Diocese of Reng in Sudan (now South Sudan).

    Geoffrey taught theology for the Vocational Deacons Training Program in North Carolina, served as adjunct faculty for at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Preaching and Parish Ministry and taught in the Contextual Education Department at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.  During a sabbatical, he taught at Magdalene College and at the Bible College of the Diocese of Western Tanganyika.

    He participated in graduate seminars in Bowen Family Process Systems Theory with Rabbi Edwin Friedman, has long served as a trustee of Yale’s Berkeley Divinity School and more recently also joined the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Yale Divinity School.  He has also served on the Advisory Board for the Anglican Observer to the United Nations, and in many diocesan capacities.

    Geoffrey and his wife Sage Smith Hoare live with their two youngest daughters in Kalorama on Connecticut Avenue; an older son has flown the nest and another daughter is a student at Boston University.

    A LETTER FROM GEOFFREY

    Dear People of St. Alban’s,

    I am honored by the call of your vestry to serve as your Priest-in-Charge.  I look forward to our getting to know each other, even as I have enjoyed meeting your vestry along with your first class clergy and staff.  I have known of your ministry and enjoyed a number of connections with your clergy over the years.  There might even be some among you who remember Robert Estill, your rector for a few years in the 1970s.  I believe I was the first potential candidate with whom he discussed Holy Orders after his consecration as Bishop Coadjutor of North Carolina and he subsequently ordained me both deacon and priest.

    I will be with you for Lent next year at the latest, but for now will remain focused on the wonderful Church of the Epiphany downtown where I am serving as Interim Rector.  The calling committee there are closing in on some candidates to be their next rector for the vestry to consider.  They are confident that they will have extended a call before my six month agreement has run its course.

    In the meantime, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving, a blessed Advent, a merry Christmas and an epiphaneous Epiphany.

    Yours Sincerely,
    The Rev’d Geoffrey M. St. J. Hoare

    A LETTER FROM BISHOP MARIANN

    In a letter to St. Alban's, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde describes Geoffrey as "an exemplary Christian leader, a strong preacher and teacher, with years of experience leading large congregations."