A Parish on Saint Davids Road
St. David's Episcopal Church sits on a leafy stretch of Saint Davids Road in Minnetonka, a suburb west of Minneapolis, and it carries a simple two-line motto that has shaped its identity for years: Loving God. Loving One Another. The congregation's work and worship are organized around that phrase, from the welcome spoken at the door to the choir anthems on Sunday morning to the volunteers who drive meals across town to families staying in temporary housing.
The parish is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, under the pastoral care of Bishop Craig Loya, and it shares a campus with the administrative offices of the ICA Food Shelf, a long-running partnership that places hunger relief at the heart of daily parish life. Two longtime adjunct clergy, the Rev. Leonard Freeman and the Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman, help sustain pastoral and liturgical leadership, joined by a full lay staff and wardens who keep the rhythms of worship and ministry running week by week.
A Radical Welcome
St. David's opens its doors with a clear statement of welcome. The parish is committed, its leadership writes, to "practicing radical hospitality, seeking to find God in all people because they are of sacred worth." That commitment is given specific shape in a list that names gender, race, ethnicity, age, physical or mental capacity, education, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and marital status, and declares that all persons are invited as full participants in the life and ministries of the community of faith.
The same conviction appears in the parish's sacramental practice. Marriage is open to all couples, and baptism is offered to people of all ages, typically within communal worship on holy days and, in a beloved local tradition, along the banks of Minnehaha Creek in summer. St. David's vision statement calls the congregation an "innovative, healthy, and radically welcoming Christian community where all feel safe to gather, learn and connect," and lists Discipleship, Justice, Faithful Innovation, and Congregational Vitality as the four values that shape how members live out their faith.
Worship Throughout the Week
Sunday is the heart of the week at St. David's, with two Eucharistic services held at 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. The 9:30 service is streamed live on Facebook and archived on YouTube, so members at home or traveling can join in real time. Each service gathers the community to hear scripture, offer prayers, and celebrate the Eucharist, the sacrament of thanksgiving instituted at the Last Supper, in which bread and wine are shared in remembrance of Christ. All who attend are welcome to receive.
Around those Sunday services, the parish keeps a quiet but steady rhythm of prayer. Compline is prayed every evening at 8:00 p.m. on Zoom, a brief ten-minute service of nighttime prayers drawn in rotation from the Book of Common Prayer, the New Zealand Night Prayer, and the Kenya Prayer Book. On Mondays a child reads from Candle Walk: A Bedtime Prayer to God during Compline, a small gesture that pulls the youngest members of the community into the prayer life of the parish.
On Monday mornings at 9:15, a meditation group gathers in person to sit in prayerful silence for twenty minutes after a short reading, with no experience required. On Saturday mornings at 7:45, a brief Morning Prayer is prayed in person using the Book of Common Prayer. Together these weekday offerings give St. David's the shape of a community that is, quite literally, always praying.
Music as a Form of Hospitality
Music is at the center of how St. David's worships, and Minister of Music Roger Stratton, who joined the leadership team in 2021, treats it as a form of radical hospitality. The music program's vision is built on five values: music is welcoming and participatory, committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, enhances worship, is intergenerational, and fosters community.
The adult choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 and sings about three Sundays a month at the 9:30 service, drawing on everything from plainchant to gospel. A bell choir rehearses Wednesdays from 6:15 to 7:00 and plays one Sunday a month, with nine ringers on three octaves of Malmark handbells. A youth choir gathers Sunday mornings at 10:50 roughly twice a month, exploring contemporary worship songs and occasionally helping lead the 9:30 service. Instrumentalists of all kinds are folded into worship as the need arises.
Beyond Sunday worship, the parish hosts the Mill City String Quartet for four free classical concerts each season in the sanctuary. The 90-minute programs pair well-loved repertoire with new works by under-represented composers, and donations collected at each concert support St. David's ministries.
Children, Youth, and Confirmation
St. David's invests heavily in forming the next generation of its members, under the leadership of Children and Youth Minister Anna Belz-Brock.
A staffed nursery is available most Sundays during the program year for infants through age three during the 9:30 service. Children age three through fifth grade are invited out of the service early on Sundays for a half-hour lesson, then return to the nave in time for communion. The younger group uses Godly Play, a Montessori-rooted curriculum that tells the stories of faith with hands-on materials followed by a wondering activity; the older group gathers around The Peace Table Bible, sharing highs and lows of the week and exploring what it means to be a beloved community. In the nave itself, a children's rug, a "Narthex Nursery" table, and activity bags stocked with coloring pages, fidget toys, and a stuffed "worship buddy" help even the youngest members know they belong in worship.
Middle and high school youth are part of LIFT, Love in Fellowship and Truth, a joint youth group with Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior that meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at St. David's and the third Wednesday at Trinity, always starting with dinner. A broader Ecumenical Youth Ministry Fellowship includes youth from Trinity Episcopal, Excelsior United Methodist, and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, and the parish sends middle and high schoolers to diocesan retreats including Pre-YE, Teens Encountering Christ, and ECMN summer camps at Green Lake Bible Camp.
Confirmation at St. David's is described as "a go at your own pace" journey for ninth graders and older, pairing each student with a trained mentor and exploring the Christian story, worship and sacraments, social issues, and local ministry. After writing a statement of faith, students are confirmed by the bishop in a special service.
Adult Faith Formation
Adults at St. David's have several avenues for continued learning. Sunday Community Forums gather after the 9:30 service, from 10:45 to 11:30, with speakers from inside and outside the parish opening topics for discussion. On Fridays from 10:00 to noon, the Julian Prayer group gathers for silent contemplative prayer followed by discussion, drawing on writers from Julian of Norwich to Do I Stay Christian? A parish book club meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of even-numbered months.
A recorded Christianity 101 series offers a sweeping introduction to the Christian and Episcopal tradition, with sessions on the Bible led by the Rev. Leonard Freeman, Church History led by the Rev. Katherine Lewis, and the Episcopal Church led by the Rev. Freeman. A second recorded series, Sharing Life Together Deeply, features members of the congregation sharing stories of faith and life, including Steve Johnson, Anna Belz-Brock, Craig Warren, Gervaye Parent, and Launa Tucker.
Sacred Moments and Sacred Spaces
St. David's walks with members through the major sacramental moments of a lifetime. Baptism, whether by pouring or immersion, is scheduled within communal worship on holy days, and a summer baptismal service is held along Minnehaha Creek near the church. Christian marriage is a sacrament open to all couples, with pre-marital counseling typically required in advance. At the time of death, clergy are available to help families plan burial services that bring the community together to grieve and to celebrate life. The columbarium in All Saints' Chapel offers a serene place to inter loved ones, and niches can be reserved through the parish office.
Serving the Wider Neighborhood
Outreach is woven into parish identity, and several long-running partnerships shape how that work happens.
- ICA Food Shelf. Administrative offices share the St. David's campus, and parishioners regularly donate food, household items, and personal hygiene supplies, with a current list of needs published in the weekly newsletter on the Thursday before the first Sunday of each month.
- Loaves & Fishes. St. David's supplies volunteers to package and serve meals through this program on the fourth Tuesday of each month at Hope Presbyterian Church in Richfield.
- Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. St. David's is one of nearly 100 congregations supporting Beacon's work to create homes and advance equitable housing across Minnesota.
- Hats & Mittens. During Minnesota winters, the parish collects donations of hats, mittens, and scarves for infants through adults in the seven-county metro area.
- Good Courage Farm. Members serve as Vineyard Stewards and subscribe to the Faith Community Supported Agriculture program, helping local food-insecure households receive a share of the farm's annual yield.
- Global Health Ministries. The youth group makes periodic trips to volunteer at the GHM warehouse in Fridley, supporting capacity-building for health systems in under-resourced countries.
Closer to home, members visit Hope Springs at Minnetonka, a local behavioral health assisted living center, on the third Sunday of each month for a simple service of scripture, stories, song, and prayer. Pastoral care is anchored by an eleven-member team that regularly contacts vulnerable parishioners, a prayer shawl ministry that knits and blesses shawls for those in need of comfort, and a Community of Hope International training program that prepares Lay Eucharistic Visitors to bring communion to those who cannot attend in person.
Community Life Beyond the Church Calendar
St. David's believes community is lived out socially as well as liturgically. Community dinners rotate through the year, with past gatherings including a Trunk or Treat, a St. Patrick's Day dinner, a Francophone dinner hosted by Mes Amis French School, and bingo nights. A Bridge Group plays relaxed rubber bridge on the third Friday evening of the month from September through May. An American Mah Jongg group meets twice a month. Women of the Woods takes day hikes, a summer camping trip, and a fall weekend hiking trip. A Wonder Women Social Hour gathers once a month from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. for conversation and fellowship, on porches in warm weather and on Zoom in winter. A summer Bike Club organizes occasional group rides for fun and fundraising.
Stewardship and the Cornerstone Endowment
Members support the parish through annual pledges and one-time or recurring gifts managed through the REALM giving platform. Checks can be mailed to the church office, and pledge cards are also accepted by mail. Established in 2013 with an initial gift of $20,000, the Cornerstone Endowment operates as a true endowment, distributing only the income earned on its corpus. Contributors are recognized as members of the Legacy Society and commemorated on a plaque in the narthex. Shea Brendalen coordinates giving questions and endowment gifts.
Worship Volunteers and the Work Behind the Scenes
Sunday worship depends on a small army of trained lay volunteers. Crucifers carry the cross in procession, acolytes bear torches, lectors read scripture and lead the Prayers of the People, chalice bearers assist with communion, and ushers offer hospitality at the door, hand out bulletins, direct the congregation to the altar rail at communion, and bring the elements forward. The Guild also has four Altar Guild teams who prepare the altar for Sunday and special services, including Holy Week, Easter, and Christmas, and oversee the "greening" of the church at Christmas and Easter. A Buildings and Grounds team cares for the property, organizes seasonal clean-ups, and manages room rentals for outside groups.
Connecting to the Wider Episcopal Church
St. David's belongs to the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, the state's Episcopal diocese under Bishop Craig Loya. The parish shares the wider church's life with congregations across the country and the global Anglican Communion, and is part of the larger Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, described in the parish's vision statement as one that "sees diversity as a gift from our Creator and aspires to build relationships with neighbors and across differences."
Visiting St. David's
First-time visitors are welcomed at services on Sundays at 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. at 13000 St. Davids Road, Minnetonka, Minnesota 55305. The 9:30 service is streamed live on Facebook and archived on YouTube. The Main Office can be reached at 952-935-3336 or office@stdavidsparish.org, and a Pastoral Care Line at 952-767-0891 is available for confidential conversations about food, resources, or other needs. Those curious about getting involved can request a copy of the Ministry Guide, which lays out the many small groups, learning offerings, volunteer roles, and social gatherings that make up parish life.