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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.
Thur 24 Oct 6.30pm
Fact, fiction, faith: AI in an uncertain world – a conversation with Jocelyn Burnham, and Dr Shauna Concannon.
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. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round cultural programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
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.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
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Penn reflects on her involvement with Earth Justice activities at St James’s
How does someone riddled with procrastination get their act together to write their thoughts down? Why would I even consider attempting it?
Because of the people I am mixing with – that I am consciously choosing to be influenced by. That’s what this is about. My experience is that getting involved in a small way is an easy route through to much greater commitment.
I’m really pleased that I run sustainable sewing workshops, that I go on protest marches even in drenching rain, that I faithfully participate in the horribly early (9.45am!) eco meditation in the church garden.
But this all started with tiny decisions that were within my will power to make – I wasn’t thinking about where they would lead.
Mending workshops
My job meant that I was having to cope with pressured deadlines, where I could always do more. I wanted to carve out time when I could justifiably do something relaxing, so back in 2016 I asked a local charity shop if they had clothing donations that needed mending. This organisation, Traid, then invited me to join a new team they were putting together to participate in local councils’ repair events. I loved teaching the mending but was also driven on by the pleasure of being connected to people I admired. Then I came to realise how important it is that we don’t fill landfill with all our old clothes – so I am doing the planet a good turn! And now I am actively influencing others in return.
Eco meditation
During Covid, my small community church did not have online services so I tuned into St James’s, and through the church members I was drawn into new images of god and new practices. It took me a while after the pandemic to come to the church in person (I was loving the online experience) but I was particularly fascinated by the group silences of Sanctuary and the outdoor eco meditation. Now through these and the Holding the Silence meditations, the church members are drawing me into seeing the spiritual world in a new way, as being interconnected with the arts and the whole of creation.
Protest marches
I realised that if I joined in with the St James’s Earth Justice marchers, I’d get to know people! That doesn’t mean I do not understand the importance of confronting climate change, but getting out of bed and standing around for hours is not immediately appealing. I don’t even always agree 100% with the (often simplistic) message, but I have come to realise how much we need to have ideas and plans in place to bring about a globally just future. Alone I have no ‘umph’. But I can be one more in the crowd, cheering on those who have the energy, enthusiasm and commitment to lead the call for change.
My small amount of energy, enthusiasm and commitment for mending workshops, eco meditation and protest marches, piggybacks on other people’s influence, but then in turn my presence influences others – who knows where this is going to take me!
