What We Believe

•    As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

•    Episcopalians are an open church – “A big tent” – seeking to work out our salvation with God. We struggle with our faith, with what it means and with how to live it in the world.

We are a church comprised of people from a wide range of ethnic, racial, gendered, social and economic backgrounds, that is traditional, spiritual and democratic. We welcome all just as Jesus Christ did.

The Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church Welcomes You! The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. We believe our faith is not a set of words- it can’t be written down in some medieval manuscript or linked to from Facebook. Our faith is a living faith, and our church is a community, not an idea.  Click here to learn more about The Episcopal Church. St. Peter's is a parish within the Diocese of New Jersey. You can learn more about our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Sally French, and the Diocese by clicking here.

What to expect when you come on Sunday  We have one Holy Communion services on Sunday morning at 10am. This Service uses more contemporary language with both traditional and contemporary music. Once a month, we offer a service in Spanish at 11:30 am. St. Peter’s is a diverse congregation with people from many places and cultures and also in how we dress.  You will find ladies in fine dresses and hats, men in suits and other folks in jeans.  All are welcome.

About our worship  The principal weekly worship service for Episcopalians is called Holy Eucharist, also known as the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, or the Mass.  Worship in the Episcopal Church (very similar to Catholics) is said to be “liturgical,” meaning that the congregation follows service forms and prays from texts that are similar from week to week during a season of the year. This sameness from week to week gives worship a rhythm that becomes comforting and familiar to the worshipers.

For the first-time visitor, liturgy may be exhilarating or confusing. Services may involve standing, sitting, kneeling, sung or spoken responses, and other participatory elements that may provide a challenge for the first-time visitor. Don’t worry that you will do something wrong. That is OK. Liturgical worship can be compared with a dance: once you learn the steps, you come to appreciate the rhythm, and it becomes satisfying to dance, again and again, as the music changes.