A 130-Year-Old Startup in the Heart of Ballard
In the heart of Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, across the street from the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library and a short walk from Ballard Commons Park, St. Luke's Episcopal Church has spent 130 years describing itself with unusual candor. "Welcome to St. Luke's, a 130-year-old start-up in the heart of Ballard!" the parish writes of itself. The church has cycled through closure, growth, fracture, and revival since it was founded in 1891, and most of its roughly 100 members have joined in the past five years. Today it is best known for two things that grew out of that long history: a daily Edible Hope Kitchen that fed about 40,000 people in the past year, and an 84-unit affordable family housing building that opened next door through a partnership with BRIDGE Housing.
The neighborhood has shaped the parish as much as the parish has shaped the neighborhood. The church sits within a few blocks of Metro Transit routes 40, 44, and D, and members describe it as "a gathering place for rich and poor, housed and unhoused, young and old, those familiar with Episcopal tradition and those with no church background at all." The parish enthusiastically affirms the participation of women and the LGBTQIA+ community in all sacramental rites, membership, and leadership. As Canon Britt Olson, the vicar, puts it, "Here you will find food for your soul, and here you will drink the cup of new life."
From St. Stephen's to the Charismatic Renewal
St. Luke's was originally called St. Stephen's when it was founded in 1891 by 20 local families. A donation of land from Thomas Burke, John Leary, and William Rankin Ballard allowed the group to build its first building in 1892. The church struggled in its early years and closed in 1910, but reopened later that same year under the name St. Luke's. After enough growth to fund a 1924 church building on the corner of 22nd Avenue NW and NW 58th Street, the parish continued to struggle and was again on the brink of closure in 1960.
That is when The Rev. Dennis Bennett was called as priest. Under his leadership St. Luke's became known as the birthplace of the Charismatic Renewal Movement. In his book about the experience, Nine O'Clock in the Morning, Canon Bennett wrote, "These good folk who had struggled for so many years to do something for God in Ballard were suddenly aware of His power and glory in them in a new way." Bennett Hall, the current worship space on the corner of 22nd and 57th, was built to accommodate the rapid growth. After he left in 1981 the parish continued to expand, launching a mission in 1986 and the Edible Hope meals ministry in 1988.
In 2010, many members of St. Luke's left the Episcopal Church to start a new congregation, leaving the parish once again on the verge of closure. With steady work from clergy and parishioners, St. Luke's was reborn yet again and has since entered a new period of growth, marked by an expanded meals ministry, a community garden, and partnerships with The Bridge Care Center, Pangea Church, and The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Canon Britt Olson arrived in 2015 for what was meant to be a one-year assignment as a part-time Priest in Charge, and the parish has continued to grow around her.
Building a Place Where Love Dwells: Affordable Housing and a New Church
The largest work at St. Luke's in this decade is a property redevelopment known as Building a Place Where Love Dwells. In 2017 the parish began exploring how to use its land "to build a more diverse and inclusive community for all in Ballard." Two buildings are replacing the old chapel, sanctuary, outbuildings, and cottages on the property.
The first is St. Luke's Apartments, an eight-story affordable family housing building developed with BRIDGE Housing that opened in late 2025. It contains 84 units of very-low-income housing (30 to 60 percent of area median income), with half of the units sized as two- or three-bedroom apartments to fit larger and multi-generational families. Amenities include a community room, bike storage, laundry, a rooftop deck with barbecue, and a play area. On-site services are provided by FamilyWorks. No affordable family housing had been built in District 6 (Ballard and Crown Hill) for more than 25 years before the building opened.
The second building, a mixed-use development on 22nd Avenue NW, will include 206 apartments, 42 of them at reduced rent, and a new home for St. Luke's on the ground floor. The new worship and program space will hold nearly 14,000 square feet on a single level, with a sanctuary and gathering space two stories tall, classrooms and offices on a single level, twenty underground parking spaces accessed by elevator, and room for affordable child care programs and community events. The land will continue to be owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia under 100-year ground leases.
The congregation and its partners are also committed to keeping the land itself alive. The grove of significant trees along NW 58th Street has been folded into the new design with a 30-foot setback and new landscaping. Parking strip trees on 57th and 22nd are being saved, new trees are being planted on 58th, and RainWise cisterns from the existing property are being donated to another local project. A three-story courtyard in the St. Luke's building and rooftop gardens for both new buildings will replace the garden and cottages that once sat on the lot.
During construction, Sunday worship will continue in a temporary location nearby. Edible Hope Kitchen has already relocated. The Building a Place Where Love Dwells capital campaign is a three-year effort running from 2024 to 2026 with a goal of $2.5 million. The campaign had raised nearly $2 million by late 2025.
Edible Hope Kitchen: Forty Years at the Table
If the redevelopment is St. Luke's most ambitious project, Edible Hope Kitchen is its most consistent. The free meals program has served the Ballard neighborhood for more than three decades, growing out of a ministry that started in 1988 under founder Nancy Rogers. Rogers and her volunteers ran the kitchen without a budget, staff, or outside assistance for 30 of those years, praying and turning out their own pockets to feed whoever came through the door. The parish notes that in 40 years, no one has ever been turned away hungry.
Today, Edible Hope serves more than 170 meals a day, five days a week. During the redevelopment the kitchen has moved to St. Paul's United Church of Christ on 65th Street, where it serves breakfast from 8:00 to 10:00 am, Monday through Friday. Volunteers and donations of needed supplies are welcome from 7:30 to 11:00 am, Monday through Friday, and the program has a community manager (Andy Basinger) and a program director and kitchen manager (Nick Gardner). Financial gifts can be made through St. Luke's with a note designating them for Edible Hope.
As Canon Britt Olson has said, more than food is shared: "More than just food, what people receive in our dining room is a community of care, companionship, acceptance and hope, edible hope." The parish estimates that the kitchen served about 40,000 meals in the past year, a number that has grown alongside the rise in need in the neighborhood.
Sunday Worship at Ten
Sunday worship is the center of parish life, and the rhythm is simple. The community gathers in Bennett Hall at 10:00 am every Sunday, in person and via Facebook Live, for a service that includes Communion, congregational singing, prayers, and a sermon. Masks are recommended but not required, and the parish keeps some on hand. Air filtration units turn the air over in the sanctuary regularly.
The worship draws on ancient Christian practices of Word and Sacrament, with congregational singing that includes contemporary hymn writers such as Marty Haugen, whose hymn "All Are Welcome" is sung occasionally. Canon Britt Olson has framed the parish's hospitality in those very words: "Here at St. Luke's we believe that if we are going to sing the words, then we must do all we can to make them real and genuine. This belief connects our Eucharist table to the tables of Edible Hope Kitchen, and it is the reason our doors are open for all who are hungry in body, mind, and spirit." On Thursdays the parish gathers for Morning Prayer and prayer meeting at 10:00 am via Zoom.
The 10:00 am service intentionally includes children. Activity bags are kept in the narthex for younger children and are returned to a basket at the back after the service. Older children are encouraged to follow the bulletin, sing "la la la" when they forget the words, listen for a theme in the readings, and bring a coin of their own for the offering plate. Parents are welcome to keep their children with them throughout the service; the parish writes that worship is "an offering to God, a living sacrifice," and that participation, not quiet sitting, helps children feel they belong.
Clergy, Musicians, and Ministry Leaders
The Rev. Canon Britt Olson has served as vicar since 2015. A Seattle native, she came to St. Luke's for what was meant to be a one-year assignment as a part-time Priest in Charge and has stayed, writing that the parish "has gone through so many cycles of death, resurrection and renewal" and that she is grateful it is the place where she will spend her final years of full-time ministry.
The Rev. Brian Gregory serves as Assisting Priest. A Seattle native who completed his undergraduate and seminary studies at Seattle Pacific University, he served for six years as Associate for Youth Ministries at St. Thomas, Medina, then two years as Curate at Good Samaritan, Sammamish. In 2019 he moved with his family to Guatemala to serve for a year with the Episcopal Church in Guatemala and the organization Safe Passage, and returned suddenly in March 2020. He has also served as the part-time Associate Rector at Emmanuel, Mercer Island, and works in organ donation coordination.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Rodgers joins the team as a retired priest and seminary professor. He has been a priest for 56 years and continues to teach and preach at the parish. Theresa Redmond serves as Musician. A singer, composer, and pianist from Michigan, she completed her master's in film scoring in Seattle in 2021 and has served as a singer and music director in churches across the Pacific Northwest. The Edible Hope team is led by Community Manager Andy Basinger, who came to the work from a family with a foster home and global missionary experience, and Program Director and Kitchen Manager Nick Gardner, who joined Edible Hope after managing operations at a sustainable agriculture company and teaching in middle schools.
Kids of St. Luke's
St. Luke's has a "vibrant and growing community of children," in the parish's words, and the work of integrating them into the life of the congregation is taken seriously. The Kids of St. Luke's program centers on full participation in communal life and worship, anchored by traditions such as the annual pop-up Christmas Pageant, in which every child who wants a role gets one, and the Flowering of the Easter Cross.
Children's formation also continues outside the sanctuary. A fall 20s/30s/40s and Family Kickoff pulls together young adults and young families for the program year, and family brunches, retreats, and seasonal events give the wider group places to gather. The parish's teaching for parents is practical: help children sing, prompt them to pray during the confession, teach them the Lord's Prayer (always in the same version used at St. Luke's), give them coins of their own to put in the offering plate, listen with them for a word or a theme in the readings, and bring them up to the altar for a blessing or for Communion. The parish has noted that, with the addition of the Assisting Priest, "our children's programs and numbers have taken off," with new faces, new learning opportunities, and fresh voices.
The SLUG, the Bees, and the RainWise Cisterns
Sustainability is one of the parish's five core values, and it shows up in the buildings and the ground. The front yard of the property is the SLUG, the St. Luke's Urban Garden, where neighbors gather to work, celebrate, and connect. Mature trees give the property much of its character, and a RainWise project directs rainwater from the property into cisterns that can be used later for landscaping. The parish also keeps beehives on the property and describes the whole enterprise with affection: "We love our 'front yard,' the SLUG where we gather to work together, celebrate and connect with neighbors. We are so pleased with our beehives, mature trees and RainWise project."
Many of these features are being folded into the new development. The grove of significant trees along NW 58th Street will be preserved with a 30-foot setback and new landscaping. Parking strip trees along 57th and 22nd will be saved, and new trees will be planted on 58th. A three-story courtyard in the St. Luke's building and rooftop gardens on both new buildings will keep green space woven into the lives of future residents, and the RainWise cisterns are being donated to another local project for reuse.
Growing in Faith: Pilgrimage, Book Groups, and Forums
Formation at St. Luke's is built around a few long-running rhythms. The annual Spiritual Pilgrimage is a roughly three-month weekly study for those exploring baptism, confirmation, or reception into the Episcopal Church, as well as for anyone who wants to go deeper. The pilgrimage typically concludes in time for Pentecost and the diocesan Cathedral Day, when the sacraments are often offered. Informational meetings are held in early March, and the parish encourages those interested to contact Canon Britt Olson or sign up for the weekly newsletter.
Book groups, adult forums, and seasonal offerings fill out the calendar. A Lenten book group has gathered on Monday afternoons around titles such as For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional by Hanna Reichel, and a recent spring book group took up Love Your Neighbor: How Psychology Can Enliven Faith and Transform Community with the question, "What will it truly mean for love to dwell here?" as 290 new apartment homes are about to come online. A Sunday morning series on faith and vocation has explored the intersection of Christian faith and topics ranging from biblical scholarship to politics. A film- and readings-based Sacred Ground dialogue series on race has been offered in past years, and a Civil Rights Pilgrimage has been organized jointly with neighboring congregations.
The parish also takes part in One Parish, One Prisoner, a ministry in which a member of the parish corresponds with someone preparing to leave prison, so that a welcoming community is waiting on the day of release. The church is connected to the work through partners such as Underground Ministries and through members who volunteer in the program.
Sacraments and Core Values
St. Luke's practices the three traditional rites of Christian initiation alongside its work of formation. Baptism is the sacrament by which the church is joined to Christ in his death and resurrection, and the parish keeps its font by the door of the sanctuary as a reminder that the promises made in baptism send the community out into the world. Confirmation is the mature affirmation of those baptismal promises, administered by a bishop, often at the annual Cathedral Day event at Saint Mark's Cathedral in Seattle or during the bishop's visitation. Reception is the corresponding rite for those who have made a mature commitment in another denomination and wish to be received into the Episcopal Church. The parish offers classes for those preparing for baptism.
The parish's vision is to "form a Beloved Community, which is welcoming and diverse, with Christian worship and service at the heart." Its mission is to "feed people in body, mind, and spirit with the love of God, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit." Five core values hold the work together: Beloved Community, Loving Service, Sacred Space, Spirit Filled, and Sustainability. The parish is rooted in the Diocese of Olympia, on land owned by the diocese, and is one parish within the wider Episcopal Church. As Canon Britt Olson has written, "This is what happens when ordinary individuals are willing to give generously with sacrificial love for the neighbor. Even when we encounter changes and losses, including the loss of this building during our time off site, we will be knit together and held in one Body, one community through the presence of Christ and the power of the Spirit."
Finding St. Luke's
St. Luke's is at 5710 22nd Avenue NW in Ballard, across the street from the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library and within a few blocks of Ballard Commons Park. Limited parking is available in the church lot, accessible just east of the church buildings from both NW 57th and NW 58th Streets, and public parking is available in the surrounding blocks. Bennett Hall, the worship space, has a ramped entry and a wheelchair-accessible non-gendered restroom.
Sunday worship is at 10:00 am, in person and via Facebook Live. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and the parish can be reached at 206-784-3119 or info@stlukesseattle.org. Volunteers and donations for the Edible Hope Kitchen can be coordinated through meals@stlukesseattle.org or the kitchen's volunteer sign-up. Gifts to the parish can be made by check, online pledge, PayPal, electronic transfer, gifts of stock through the Diocese of Olympia, or Required Minimum Distributions from an IRA, and gifts to the capital campaign are welcome as the parish prepares to build its new worship space.