On a quiet stretch of South Elm Avenue in Webster Groves, just west of St. Louis, Holy Trinity Anglican Church gathers each Sunday morning for worship that traces a direct line back to the Book of Common Prayer of 1662. The parish describes itself as a friendly, traditional, Bible-believing congregation that seeks to worship God in the Anglican tradition, to connect with neighbors in the love of Christ, and to grow as disciples through the power of the Spirit. Its services are formal, liturgical, and centered on the regular celebration of Holy Communion.
Worship Rooted in the Book of Common Prayer
Holy Trinity's Sunday worship draws on the historic prayer books of 1662 and 1928. The service is structured and formal, with set prayers, traditional hymns, Bible readings from both the Old and New Testaments, a sermon, prayers led from up front, and Holy Communion. The King James Version is used for most readings, with the English Standard Version featured during the sermon, though visitors are welcome to bring any translation they prefer. Hymns come from traditional sources, and the congregation worships together in a single, unified service of word and sacrament.
The preaching follows the lectionary, a one-year cycle of biblical readings drawn from across the whole Bible, the same set of lessons many other Anglican and mainline churches use on a given Sunday. This pattern allows the parish to move steadily through Scripture year by year rather than following a single book's storyline.
Holy Communion is celebrated at every Sunday service. Anyone baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is welcome to receive.
A Quarter-Century on South Elm Avenue
Holy Trinity was founded in May 1999 by four families who began by holding services in their homes. The congregation was admitted to the Reformed Episcopal Church shortly after it formed. The Rev. Dr. Mark Quay was called as the parish's first priest.
In 2000, when Dr. Quay left to take a faculty position at Cranmer Theological House, Fr. John Leal became the second priest. Under Fr. Leal the congregation was catechized and began learning what it meant to be an Anglican parish. In the summer of 2003, after Fr. Leal accepted a position elsewhere, the Rev. Dr. Kurt Henle was called from a parish in Arkansas. A master organist, Dr. Henle rebuilt and upgraded the music program.
That same year, 2003, Holy Trinity moved to its current location on South Elm Avenue in Webster Groves and began to grow. When Dr. Henle took a church-planting post in northern Michigan, the Ven. Dr. Douglas Mills was called in 2009 from his work as headmaster of a Christian school and priest of Christ Covenant Anglican Church in East Tennessee. During his decade with the parish, Holy Trinity deepened its relationships with other Reformed Episcopal congregations, with the wider Anglican Church in North America, and with Anglican priests and bishops from the African continent. Dr. Mills retired in November 2019.
The Rev. Caleb Hummel was installed as Rector on December 1, 2019, by the Most Rev. Ray R. Sutton, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Fr. Hummel resigned in November 2020 due to unforeseen family issues. In December 2020 the parish called the Rev. Paul Howden, who was installed as Rector on May 2, 2021, by the Rt. Rev. Walter Banek, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Mid America.
The Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America
Holy Trinity is a parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church, a denomination formed in 1873 to maintain the Reformation spirit of Anglicanism in the United States. After the Bible, the REC is grounded in the historic creeds, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, and the Book of Common Prayer. The REC is also a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America, which was constituted in 2008 to preserve and advance the orthodox and historic Anglican witness in the United States and Canada.
Within the REC, Holy Trinity belongs to the Diocese of Mid America, whose Ordinary is the Most Rev. Ray R. Sutton. Bishop Sutton also serves as Dean of the Province and Ecumenical Affairs of the Anglican Church in North America and lectures at ACNA and Reformed Episcopal seminaries. A native of Kentucky and a longtime Dallas resident, he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University, a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a PhD from a research program at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford with Coventry University.
What Holy Trinity Believes
The parish holds to the classic beliefs of Christianity as expressed through the Bible, the early church, and the historical documents of Anglicanism. Members confess one true God, eternally existing as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, dead, and buried, who bodily rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come again.
The parish holds that the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and that the Bible is the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian life and faith. It teaches that human beings are created in God's image as male and female and that, through the fall of Adam and Eve, every person is born with a sinful nature that has severed our relationship with God. Salvation comes not by our own actions, efforts, or merits but by the grace of God through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Holy Trinity recognizes the two sacraments ordained by Jesus, baptism and the Lord's Supper, as outward and visible signs of God's inward and gracious working in us. It also practices the historic rites of marriage, confirmation, anointing with oil, confession, and ordination. The parish confesses the church to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, joined to the worldwide Anglican family of some 85 million Christians across the globe.
Sunday Morning at Holy Trinity
The Sunday service begins at 10:30 a.m. and is followed by coffee and snacks downstairs most weeks. On the first Sunday of the month, the parish gathers for a larger luncheon with a table full of food, a long-standing opportunity to share the ups and downs of life together.
Attire at Holy Trinity runs the full range: some arrive in jeans and others in jackets and dresses. Visitors are welcome to wear whatever feels comfortable. Bibles are encouraged, and congregants of every age worship together in the same service. Newborns, toddlers, school-age children, teens, young adults, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents can all be found in the pews on a typical Sunday.
Children in the Service
Children are always welcome in worship. The sound of a baby or toddler adding their voice to the prayers is part of parish life. Younger children who need a break are welcome to head downstairs to play for a bit before rejoining the service.
Wednesday Evensong
In addition to Sunday worship, Holy Trinity offers a service of Evensong each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Evensong is one of the great traditional services of the Anglican tradition, drawn from the daily office in the Book of Common Prayer and shaped around the singing of the psalms and the reading of Scripture.
Coffee Hour, Luncheons, and a New Choir
Coffee and snacks downstairs after the Sunday service is a regular rhythm, and the monthly first-Sunday luncheon is a long-standing favorite. Holy Trinity is in the process of starting up a new choir to support its traditional liturgical worship.
Online Worship and Giving
Services are livestreamed on both Facebook and YouTube, so members and friends who are traveling or unable to attend in person can follow along from home. The church's REC Book of Common Prayer is available as a free download from the worship page. Giving is handled through Tithe.ly, both online and through the Tithe.ly app for iOS and Android, with options for one-time and recurring gifts.
The Vestry and Parish Leadership
The parish is led by its Rector, the Rev. Paul Howden, working with a vestry that handles the temporal affairs of the congregation. Ted Watkins serves as Senior Warden, Josh Eckhoff as Junior Warden, John Williams as Treasurer, Val Strode as Secretary, and Scott Halcomb as a member.
Visiting Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity Anglican Church is located at 1016 South Elm Avenue in Webster Groves, Missouri. Sunday worship begins at 10:30 a.m., with Wednesday Evensong at 6:30 p.m. Visitors are welcome to come in whatever clothes feel comfortable, to bring a Bible of any translation, and to expect a formal liturgical service with sung hymns, lectionary-based readings, a sermon, and the weekly celebration of Holy Communion. All baptized Christians are welcome to receive communion. A live online option on Facebook and YouTube makes the parish accessible to those who cannot attend in person.