Mission Action Plan 2025 to 2030
St Peter’s, Eaton Square is a Parish Church of the Church of England within the Diocese of London and the Westminster (St Margaret) Deanery and in the City of Westminster with a residential population of 3737. We can be found a few minutes’ walk north of Victoria Station, whose main concourse is within the parish.
The current church was built in 1827 and, therefore, celebrates its two hundredth birthday in 2027. It was substantially rebuilt after two fires in 1837 and 1987. After the second world war the parish was combined with that of Christ Church, Westminster and since then has included the area north of Victoria Street. The current building is one which is light and spacious and conveys a noble simplicity, rooted and grounded in the beauty of holiness. It is a place primarily of daily prayer and encounter with the living God but, through our halls, meetings rooms and crypt it is able to offer space for a wide variety of musical, cultural and community activities, both commercial and charitable. The crypt is currently rented out commercially to the Knightsbridge Kindergarten and Body Doctor Gym. There is also residential accommodation on the roof, comprising the Vicarage flat, the Assistant Priest’s flat and two other flats currently occupied by the Director of Music and Verger/Facilities’ Coordinator.
St Peter’s is a generously orthodox and inclusive community in the catholic tradition of the Church of England and the breadth of our congregations reflect in a small way the diversity of our world city. The catholicity of our tradition enables us to offer a wide range of worship on Sundays from a quiet said celebration of Holy Communion according to the Book of Common Prayer, a lively Family Eucharist and the beauty of a Choral Eucharist. Each day throughout the week the Holy Eucharist is offered at 12.30 pm (also on Wednesdays at 8 am) and Morning and Evening Prayer are said daily. Our worship is at the heart of our life together and the seedbed from which all else flows.
St Peter’s seeks to be a generous and servant-hearted community, inclusively welcoming others into the life of our Church and seeking to reach out to the wider community around us and beyond. We seek to do this through our broader commitment to charities, local, national and international and in our own parish work such as Poppets and through hosting fifteen different Twelve-step groups. Members of the congregation are also involved in local Government, charities, business and community affairs.
St Peter’s is fortunate to have our own Church of England Primary School evaluated by Oftsed as Outstanding in 2006 and not fully inspected again until December 2022. Changes in the framework and a large turnover of staff in recent years meant that the school was judged at the last inspection as requiring improvement in Quality of Education, but good in all the other areas of Leadership and Management, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development and Early Years’ provision. There is a strong and intentional momentum of improvement under the new Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team and staff, supported by the Governing Body, driving forward an upward trajectory and there is a strong partnership between the school and the church. Parish links and partnerships with the other two schools within the parish are being renewed, grown and developed at Westminster City School and Eaton House School.
Like many parishes, attendance at St Peter’s has been affected both by the Covid pandemic and by the over-supply of primary school places in Westminster and the most recent Ofsted evaluation. However, the Family Eucharist is gradually growing with a wider range of families and children from a diversity of schools and backgrounds and there are new and modest signs of growth at the Choral Eucharist. In this we are inspired by the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the General Synod in November 2020, “If we put our trust in God, and if we learn to love one another, then I believe we can become a simpler, humbler, bolder Church, better able to live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ”.
The ministry team currently consists of the Vicar, Fr Jonathan Kester (in post since 17 July 2022), our SSM Associate Priest, the Revd Jacqui Miller and our Licensed Lay Minister, Dr Judith Richardson. Fr Herbert Bennett also occasionally presides at the Eucharist during the week as an honorary Assistant Priest. There are plans to appoint to the vacant full time Assistant Priest’s post as soon as possible and eventually to offer the opportunity of a Pastoral Assistant working with us in discerning a call to ministry.
In drawing together this Mission Action Plan there was a wide-ranging congregational audit of each of the three congregations during the autumn and winter of 2023 and the PCC met for a vision and awayday in January 2024. Fr Jonathan has also been engaging with various residents’ associations and business groups in Victoria and Belgravia.
St Peter’s, Eaton Square is a Parish Church of the Church of England within the Diocese of London and the Westminster (St Margaret) Deanery and in the City of Westminster with a residential population of 3737. We can be found a few minutes’ walk north of Victoria Station, whose main concourse is within the parish.
The current church was built in 1827 and, therefore, celebrates its two hundredth birthday in 2027. It was substantially rebuilt after two fires in 1837 and 1987. After the second world war the parish was combined with that of Christ Church, Westminster and since then has included the area north of Victoria Street. The current building is one which is light and spacious and conveys a noble simplicity, rooted and grounded in the beauty of holiness. It is a place primarily of daily prayer and encounter with the living God but, through our halls, meetings rooms and crypt it is able to offer space for a wide variety of musical, cultural and community activities, both commercial and charitable. The crypt is currently rented out commercially to the Knightsbridge Kindergarten and Body Doctor Gym. There is also residential accommodation on the roof, comprising the Vicarage flat, the Assistant Priest’s flat and two other flats currently occupied by the Director of Music and Verger/Facilities’ Coordinator.
St Peter’s is a generously orthodox and inclusive community in the catholic tradition of the Church of England and the breadth of our congregations reflect in a small way the diversity of our world city. The catholicity of our tradition enables us to offer a wide range of worship on Sundays from a quiet said celebration of Holy Communion according to the Book of Common Prayer, a lively Family Eucharist and the beauty of a Choral Eucharist. Each day throughout the week the Holy Eucharist is offered at 12.30 pm (also on Wednesdays at 8 am) and Morning and Evening Prayer are said daily. Our worship is at the heart of our life together and the seedbed from which all else flows.
St Peter’s seeks to be a generous and servant-hearted community, inclusively welcoming others into the life of our Church and seeking to reach out to the wider community around us and beyond. We seek to do this through our broader commitment to charities, local, national and international and in our own parish work such as Poppets and through hosting fifteen different Twelve-step groups. Members of the congregation are also involved in local Government, charities, business and community affairs.
St Peter’s is fortunate to have our own Church of England Primary School evaluated by Oftsed as Outstanding in 2006 and not fully inspected again until December 2022. Changes in the framework and a large turnover of staff in recent years meant that the school was judged at the last inspection as requiring improvement in Quality of Education, but good in all the other areas of Leadership and Management, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development and Early Years’ provision. There is a strong and intentional momentum of improvement under the new Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team and staff, supported by the Governing Body, driving forward an upward trajectory and there is a strong partnership between the school and the church. Parish links and partnerships with the other two schools within the parish are being renewed, grown and developed at Westminster City School and Eaton House School.
Like many parishes, attendance at St Peter’s has been affected both by the Covid pandemic and by the over-supply of primary school places in Westminster and the most recent Ofsted evaluation. However, the Family Eucharist is gradually growing with a wider range of families and children from a diversity of schools and backgrounds and there are new and modest signs of growth at the Choral Eucharist. In this we are inspired by the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the General Synod in November 2020, “If we put our trust in God, and if we learn to love one another, then I believe we can become a simpler, humbler, bolder Church, better able to live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ”.
The ministry team currently consists of the Vicar, Fr Jonathan Kester (in post since 17 July 2022), our SSM Associate Priest, the Revd Jacqui Miller and our Licensed Lay Minister, Dr Judith Richardson. Fr Herbert Bennett also occasionally presides at the Eucharist during the week as an honorary Assistant Priest. There are plans to appoint to the vacant full time Assistant Priest’s post as soon as possible and eventually to offer the opportunity of a Pastoral Assistant working with us in discerning a call to ministry.
In drawing together this Mission Action Plan there was a wide-ranging congregational audit of each of the three congregations during the autumn and winter of 2023 and the PCC met for a vision and awayday in January 2024. Fr Jonathan has also been engaging with various residents’ associations and business groups in Victoria and Belgravia.