People

How we came together

The idea of this new church started as a worshiping community called the Sunday Night Service. We began because after years in both the conservative Evangelical church and the liberal Episcopal Church, we wanted to create a community that could better hold both traditions. It began in November 2021, nestled within All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley. There was a lot of life in this community, but we quickly discovered there was not enough collective bandwidth to grow much more. We decided to end our Sunday gatherings, maintain some aspects of community life, and explore what it would take to turn this community into a new church. In 2024, we were given a grant to help fund this work—a place for a certain kind of misfits, called St. Lucy’s.

A woman with long reddish blonde hair smiling outdoors in front of a large tree and greenery

  • Originally from Modesto, CA, Emily and her wife now live in Richmond with their two kids (Solomon & Simone). Her church story spans the Assemblies of God, the Covenant Church, an Acts 29 church, and some time on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. While at L’Abri in Switzerland, and then working on her Masters at Fuller Seminary, she began asking new questions and making theological shifts. After seminary she ended up getting a job at an Episcopal church and worked there for nearly 10 years. Over those years she found herself wondering what it would be like to combine the best of what she saw in the Episcopal Church (with its theology, politics, and liturgy) with the best of what she grew up with in the Evangelical world (with its sense of community and down-to-earth ethos). St. Lucy’s is the product of those years (and perhaps all her years). ∆ You can listen to a lot more of her story on the Abbey Normal Podcast.

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A woman in a black clergy shirt with tattoos on her arms, wearing glasses, a clerical collar, and a black baseball cap with colorful rainbow accents and the word 'A's' embroidered on it, smiling outdoors.

  • Maggie is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and a true midwesterner at heart: valuing the power of community, having a fridge in the garage, and goodbyes that last upwards of 90 minutes. She’s an Episcopal priest living in San Leandro with her wife, Andrea, and their two kids. She currently serves as a hospital chaplain. In her free time, Maggie likes to watch sports, tend to her vegetable garden, and hike and camp with her family. She’s excited to a part of St Lucy’s, helping to create a space where we honor one another’s stories, griefs, and longings—while we work out together what it means to follow Christ here and now.

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What St. Lucy’s Means to Us

  • A smiling woman with long wavy hair wearing a colorful, patterned shirt outdoors.

    "Leaving my former church felt like a spiritual scattering. Everything I believed was so tightly woven that if I pulled one strand it was all going to fall apart. But when I sought out progressive churches, I felt like that past self just disappeared. I needed a space where those earlier parts of me felt seen and accepted. St. Lucy’s was the first place I felt truly safe to worship again."

    Brenna, St. Lucy’s Member

  • A young woman with straight black hair smiling and wearing a dark blazer and a blue top against a gray background.

    "St. Lucy's has been a response to a missing space for me. There is a significant “between” for me comparing the zealous, exclusive Evangelical spaces of my past, and the mainline church that has been so welcoming but also has to cater to its traditional base. Is there something else? Does faith still matter without the fear of Hell and with the church as one option for community out of many? I think so, and St. Lucy’s gives space to explore that and search for the missing thing."

    Jenn, St. Lucy’s Member

  • A smiling man with short dark hair and a beard, wearing a black jacket over a striped shirt.

    "St. Lucy's has united two beautiful, but incomplete expressions of my faith into something rounder and more nuanced. It has created a space for mystery to exist with no pressure to solve that mystery but only an invitation to keep asking questions."

    Tommy, St. Lucy’s Member

  • Woman with long hair smiling and holding her hair with both hands

    "I came to St. Lucy's mad. I was angry about the state of the world and the ways the Church has failed and isolated so many. I also wanted to find a church where my child was safe and valued, just as they are. Over open conversations and relationships, what I found was a place where I––after a lifetime in the church––discovered the life of Jesus and the stories of the Bible in a fresh way. I found understanding and respect for my feelings, without pressure to change."

    Abbey, St. Lucy’s Member

  • A woman with blonde hair smiling outdoors, wearing a black jacket and sunglasses on her head, with a scenic hilly landscape and a road in the background.

    "St Lucy's is a place to hear from a wider array of voices instead of a single authoritative perspective. It's a place to approach scripture with curiosity instead of certitude. It has been a lifeline connecting me to spiritual practice and rhythms when I was ready to check out."

    Lizzie, St. Lucy’s Member