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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
We are delighted to announce that from 6 Jan until early Apr 2025, work will take place to reinstate the church’s South Door onto Jermyn Street, part of Sir Christopher Wren’s original design.
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word.
We offer hospitality to people going through homelessness and speak out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
St James’s strives to advocate for earth justice and to develop deeper connections with nature.
We aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
The work of St James’s, it costs us £5,000 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us.
New walkways, a restored courtyard and re-landscaped gardens will provide fully accessible, beautiful spaces for everyone to enjoy as well as improving our environmental performance.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
The Passage caught up with Freda, a Home for Good volunteer, who also volunteers at St James’s.
The Passage’s Home for Good is a Community Integration project that accepts referrals from all over London. Community volunteers are trained to work with people who have been housed and need support as they settle into their new home.
Volunteers meet weekly with the person they are supporting, and together can explore the local area and build community links, to promote health, wellbeing and integration with their fellow neighbours. Freda is part of the Home for Good project in partnership with St James’s Church, Piccadilly.
Can you tell us more about your role? The focus of my role is to improve the wellbeing of the person that I am supporting. I have always had a calling in me to work with people; I am a retired vicar and have worked with a very diverse group of people all my life. The relationship is not a friendship as such, but it is a supportive one. Having someone you can trust is so important.
Why is the scheme important? It can be very daunting and isolating coming to a new place that you don’t know, especially when you have experienced neglect or trauma in the past. It can take people a long time to feel safe, so it is my role to give my time and help them to find places that they feel are safe and welcoming.
What can Christmas day be like? It can be very isolating as there is often nowhere to go locally, and people can struggle to get to other organised events due to the lack of public transport. So, Christmas day can feel like any other day really. Except, they know it’s Christmas – which can heighten their feelings of loneliness. Knowing that you are going to meet someone who knows your situation, that you can chat through any issues with, can make the world of difference to the individuals that we support.
What motivates you in your role? I think a big part of my role is to see if I can find what people are naturally good at and discover how to nurture that. In doing that together, we find a way to give power and motivation back to the people we are working with, which is lovely. The activities I have found to work to encourage this are things like a walk in nature – it is free and can be great therapy to be out in the open air.