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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
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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!
