search for our
new priest
For potential applicants
​
St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church is a diverse, welcoming community that feeds both
the spirit and the body as we build the presence of God through worship, service, learning, and striving for justice. We are a small but active congregation.
St. Stephen's is a vibrant and diverse urban parish. We have two congregations - English-speaking and Spanish-speaking - but we are one parish. Our active parishioners, our traditions, our location, and our large building offer many possibilities for growth.
​
The full, official job description for our open priest-in-charge position can be found here (site is password-protected by The Episcopal Church's Office for Transition Ministry).
​
You can also learn more about our parish by looking around our website.
Progress update on the search process
​
July 20, 2023
​
We have started interviewing candidates and had our first interview earlier this week! We will continue to interview candidates on a rolling basis until the vestry agrees that we have found the best one for our church community. As we continue this process, please continue to spread the word to anyone who might be interested in the position, or let us know if we should reach out to a particular person or organization. Thank you all for your support and prayers as we continue this process together.
You are welcome to share the job posting with anyone you know who might be interested in the position or who would like to spread the word about the opening. (Note: The actual job posting is password-protected and accessible only to potential candidates. But you may share the URL with priests who may be interested, and they will know how to gain access to the posting.)
​
The vestry thanks everyone throughout the whole parish who helped get us this far in the search process.
​
​
​​​​Have questions about the priest search?
Email the Senior Wardens, Erin Hutson and Atiba Pertilla, at wardens@sainstephensdc.org.
priest search documents
​
​
Parish's Ministry Portfolio
(Office for Transition Ministry form)
​
Transition Model of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington that we are using
​​​
The basics: How this process plays out
​
Our parish is in the process of searching for our next permanent priest.
​
Rev. Rondesia Jarrett-Schell was hired as our interim rector to help our parish prepare for and work through this time of transition. She served for two years in that role and left in mid-June.
​
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is working with us in this process. The vestry serves as the formal search committee, but it is committed to making this a transparent process, involving the entire parish. The diocese has set up these steps for our search process:
​
1. The first step was working through hurt and conflict in the healing and reconciliation process. It also involved getting our finances fully audited and starting conversations about who we are and who we want to be as a parish.
​
2. The diocese worked with us to do a financial review of the church that included our compensation package for the prospective priest.
​
3. We offered the diocese a detailed job description that includes our must-haves and our negotiables.
​
4. The diocese worked with us on a “parish vitality assessment.” We evaluated ourselves along vital signs like “mission and vision,” “discipleship,” “financial practice,” “ministries,” “worship,” and “blessing our community.”
​
5. The diocese reviewed our website to make sure it matches our assessment of who we are.
​
6. We produced a "parish profile" about who we are and how we worship. It’s what prospective priests will read as they’re getting to know us.
​
The vestry has met with the diocese’s transition teams to review everything we’ve put together. We have now been able to post a job description and start taking applicants and interviewing for our next rector.
