St. Brigid’s: the Courage to Plant a Church

With gratitude and some sadness, we give thanks for the ministry of St. Brigid’s in Oceanside. Over the past several years, this community has been a place of belonging, prayer, creativity, and welcome, and through its ministry, lives have been changed, and people have encountered the love of Christ. After a season of prayer and discernment, the organized ministry of St. Brigid’s has now come to a close. We give thanks for all who helped shape this community, for the relationships formed, for the neighbors loved, and for the faithful witness offered in Oceanside.

St. Brigid’s has always embodied the kind of courage at the heart of Courageous Love. Courage requires risk. St. Brigid’s was willing to risk–to step beyond familiar models of church, building community around shared meals, moving venues in a pop-up model, practicing radical inclusion, and trusting that God could be at work in something new. That kind of ministry carries no guarantee that the outcome will look exactly as we first imagined, but it creates space for transformation that is immediate, relational, and deeply rooted in the lives of real people.

Following the Rev. Brian Petersen’s departure for a new call, members of the community entered into prayerful conversations about what might come next. What became evident was that St. Brigid’s was ready for a faithful conclusion.

Even as St. Brigid’s comes to a close, the fruit of its ministry remains. Its story is perhaps best told through the moments when the community chose to make room for the people of God.

One Sunday, a Spanish-speaking family walked into St. Brigid’s. By the next Sunday, the service was bilingual. This is exactly what made St. Brigid’s amazing–a community willing to change in order to make room for people. When neurodivergent members needed a different kind of worship space, St. Brigid’s made room for that too. For some in Oceanside, it became the first church they could trust. For others, it was a place where an encounter with Jesus changed their lives. Again and again, St. Brigid’s practiced a people-first ministry shaped not by assumptions about who might come, but by the people God placed in front of them. 

Eight people were baptized into the Body of Christ. One person was received into the Episcopal Church. Three people were confirmed.

These are more than milestones in the life of St. Brigid’s; they are signs of God at work. They are witnesses to a community that faithfully proclaimed the Gospel, formed relationships, and invited people into new life in Christ. 

Bishop Susan Brown Snook said, “From its very beginning, St. Brigid’s embraced the holy work of trying something new for the sake of the Gospel. It welcomed people with authenticity, shared meals around Christ’s table, and reminded us that the Church is at its best when it meets people where they are. We give thanks for the Rev. Brian Petersen’s faithful leadership and for every person who helped shape this community. While this chapter may be coming to a close, the ministry of St. Brigid’s has enriched our diocese and will continue to influence how we imagine and share God’s love in the years ahead.” 

Courageous Love calls us to take risks faithfully and to pay attention to what they teach us. The conclusion of St. Brigid’s ministry does not erase what was learned, the friendships that were formed, or the people whose experience of Jesus was enriched because this community existed. Instead, those lessons become part of what we carry forward. Courageous Love means being willing to try, to listen, to adapt, and to reapply what we have learned in new places and new ways, trusting that God can use every faithful experiment to shape what comes next.

St. Brigid’s invited the diocese to consider what a church plant could look like in the modern world. St. Brigid’s began in the summer of 2023 as a new Episcopal community in Oceanside under the leadership of the Rev. Brian Petersen. From the beginning, it was imagined differently. Rather than starting with a building and asking people to come inside, the founding members envisioned a church rooted in shared life. Worship happened in parks, living rooms, small chapels, or wherever the community gathered. In July 2023, that emerging vision received a New Episcopal Community grant from The Episcopal Church, providing support as St. Brigid’s began putting down roots in Oceanside.

Later that year, Bishop Susan Brown Snook formally commissioned St. Brigid’s as one of two new congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. What began as an experiment quickly became a worshiping community, with regular services and ministries shaped by the people and needs St. Brigid’s encountered. By 2024, the diocese was already celebrating baptisms and confirmations there–signs that the EDSD’s goal of planting an Episcopal church in Oceanside is needed.

But church planting has never been about guaranteeing permanence. It is about entering into places where the Church is called to experiment, listen, and build relationships in new ways. Some new worshipping communities grow into long-standing congregations. Others fulfill a different purpose–they reach people who might otherwise never encounter the Episcopal Church, test new models of ministry, and teach the wider Church lessons that will shape future mission.

St. Brigid’s in Oceanside has been one of those faithful endeavors. Through shared meals, honest conversation, radical welcome, and a commitment to loving its neighbors, the community demonstrated that there is room for new expressions of Episcopal life alongside our traditional congregations. Its ministry connected people who were searching for belonging, created meaningful relationships, and offered the Diocese of San Diego valuable insight into what it means to plant a church in a changing community.

Bishop Susan said, “The Diocese is not giving up on Oceanside. We continue to believe this community needs a vibrant Episcopal witness. The lessons learned through St. Brigid’s will shape future church planting efforts, and when the Diocese plants again in Oceanside, it will do so with greater wisdom because of what St. Brigid’s helped us learn.”