St. Peter's immediate neighborhood is primarily residential. It is not far from Seattle's International District, and only two blocks from the intersection of four of the city's major streets: Jackson, Rainier, Boren, and 14th Avenues. Across the street is Washington Girls School, the Japanese Language school and soon to be Japanese Cultural Center. Located up the block from St. Peter's is a Vietnamese Buddhist temple and several blocks up the street is St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The Japanese Buddhist Church and the Japanese Congregation Church are two blocks to the North. Seattle University, a Roman Catholic Jesuit institution, is less than a mile away. The closest Episcopal Parish is Trinity, approximately one mile away. St. Peter's is about two miles from downtown Seattle.

The vicinity surrounding St. Peter's is in transition. For most of the 1990's, the area was depressed with over 70% rental properties. Since 2000, this has changed-new housing and renovations have spurred over 50% owner-occupied housing. Professional singles and small families are attracted to the neighborhood for its reasonable prices, cultural diversity, and proximity to downtown and freeway access. Two nearby major additions include an urban village, Jackson Street Place, and a soon-to-start 10 acre shopping/residential site. This will have over 400 housing units and 2 major department stores.

According to the 2000 census, the ethnic mix of the St. Peter's neighborhood is 36% white, 22% African American, 30% Asian, 8% Latino and 4% other. Thirty-eight percent of the local residents speak a language other than English at home, reflecting a large immigrant population.

St. Peter's is a small congregation and we currently have 62 pledging families. Only a few members live in the immediate neighborhood, whereas, over half reside in communities north and south of the parish. Our Sunday worship now includes approximately thirty percent non-Asian.

A newcomer to St. Peter's might be surprised that a congregation of modest size could be engaged in so many endeavors. Extending a helping hand is crucial, whether by making and selling crafts and sushi at our Annual Women's Holiday Craft Fair or by putting on our annual "Big Take Out" fundraiser, whose proceeds benefit outreach ministries and programs outside the walls of our parish. We have a companion relationship with the Shonai Christ Church in Osaka, Japan and St. Paul's, New Orleans, a relationship we developed after the hurricane. We also contribute our time and talents to several organizations in the wider community, including:

Japanese American Citizens League

Nisei Veterans Committee

Nikkei Concerns (Seattle Keiro nursing home/Nikkei Manor assisted living facility

We are also active in organizations dedicated to social justice issues and the well being of the disadvantaged:

Asian & Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center

Asian Counseling & Referral Service "Walk for Rice" United Against Hunger

Episcopal Mission to Seafarers

Habitat for Humanity

Kay Abe ecumenical homeless

Kairos Prison Ministry feeding program

Operation Nightwatch homelessness program

We will become a more vibrant and enriching Christ-centered church, open to the neighborhood and the community.
We will become an inter-generational church, attracting young families with dynamic Sunday school programs.
We will develop afternoon and evening programs for youths in our neighborhood and our community, using our gymnasium and classrooms. This may include running our own daycare and preschool program, attracting families who may join our parish.
We will become a more ethnically diverse church, while still honoring and cherishing our Japanese-American heritage.
We will be engaged in social issues and community outreach.

Our church will fail to grow, will continue to lose members, and finally die. We will be unable to attract new families, despite our efforts.
As the direct descendants of the original congregation die, they will not be replaced by their progeny. We will lose our history and identity as a Japanese-American church.
We will be unable to transcend our history and identity as a Japanese-American church, and will not be open to new members and a changed mission at St. Peter's. By focusing on efforts to bring back congregants' children and grandchildren into our parish, we will neglect outreach to our community and our neighborhood. We recognize that some of these fears appear contradictory. Such is the nature of fear. We also recognize we are at an exciting and hopeful crossroads. We are determined as a parish to thrive and to grow, and to be more relevant, more vibrant and more nurturing in our Second Century, as we build on the legacy of our First Century.

The love of God calls St. Peter's to invite all people to a life of faith through worship, education, service and spiritual development, our current mission statement. Our future is embodied in this statement, to be a Christ-centered congregation where God's love for us strengthens our resolve to invite all people to a life of faith.

St Peter's faces challenges known to many churches. We have an aging congregation, with many of our parishioners 70 years or older. Our attendance has steadily decreased over the last few years. This decrease is due to a number of factors. The children and grandchildren of our congregants generally do not attend our church, and many have moved out of Seattle to the suburbs. Our surrounding neighborhood, once a thriving, predominately Japanese-American community, has undergone many transformations. Most recently it is transitioning into a multi-ethnic neighborhood, attracting young couples and young families.

We are historically a Japanese-American church in a neighborhood that is no longer Japanese-American. Seattle is predominately white, and we are seen by many to be an "ethnic" church. Over the years there has been anecdotal evidence that this perception is an impediment for some Seattleites to attend our church. To compound this challenge, we have a small but vocal portion of our congregants that wishes to remain a "Japanese-American" parish. A few of the members of the parish are skeptical of attempts to recruit new members from the neighborhood, believing our best chance for growth is in bringing congregants who have left the church back into the fold.

On the other hand, our Parish is blessed with many wonderful physical resources. We have an indoor basketball/gymnasium, two kitchens, and several classrooms currently leased to an outside daycare provider. Across the street from the church is our Rectory, currently leased to a local girls' middle school. We fully own the property above with no financial encumbrances. We are in a neighborhood that has much potential for growth, with many new families moving within a few blocks of our church. We have a friendly, hospitable congregation, made up of dedicated, hardworking, generous and talented people.

The love of God calls St. Peter's to invite all people to a life of faith through worship, education, service and spiritual development.

Please join us in our ministries, and on every Sunday at 10:00 AM as we are renewed and challenged to deepen our faith and mission as the body of Christ at Saint Peter's.