Our St. Peter’s Heritage dates back to 1881, and includes the construction of the first denominational church in Kerrville (1888), and the location of the first Boy Scout troop in the United States, which began meeting in our Parish hall in 1910.

In 1881, pioneer Hill Country Episcopalians began worshipping in the Kerr County Courthouse. In 1884, a gift of land on Main Street from Capt. Joseph A. Tivy, a Civil War hero and local rancher, for whom the Kerrville High School is named, became the original and still only location of our church. Subscriptions from townspeople and area ranch folks enabled the fledgling congregation to start building their own church. Their efforts were blown down in a windstorm and so it was not until 1888 that the structure was finished. Nevertheless, it was the first denominational church erected in Kerrville. Self-supporting parish status was attained in 1905.

The old church building was torn down and a new one (our present church) was built in 1928-30. Native Hill Country stone came from the Carr Ranch just outside of town, and the magnificent Christ the Good Shepherd window behind the altar was a gift of the Galbraith family in memory of our first vicar/rector, the Rev. Richard Galbraith. The current parlor was the original Parish Hall until 1950, when one was built on St. Peter Street.                       

St. Peter’s underwent a major expansion in the late 1960’s, and church offices, the Chapel, and ten classrooms were completed in 1969. That same year, the St. Peter’s Episcopal School was opened, a pre-school/kindergarten currently enrolling some 128 students. It is the only school in the Hill Country accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

In 1983, the church was enlarged and transepts added to increase seating from 120 to 325. The School was expanded that year with the addition of two new buildings, including a library, making an enclosed play quadrangle for the children. In 1989, a columbarium was installed in the small courtyard adjacent to the east transept. Since then, the parish embarked on an Expansion for Ministry program. A key part of that was the purchase of the Sears store next door and the conversion of it into Shelton Hall in 1996. An outdoor labyrinth, open to the public, was completed in late 1999. In 2006 we constructed and moved into Tucker Hall and our new office building. They were dedicated by Bishop Lillibridge on April 30, 2006.

St. Peter’s currently supports more than 70 ministries. The parish has completed two Habitat for Humanity houses, and, in addition, has purchased and donated six lots for Habitat houses. The parish is one of the largest contributors to Christian Assistance Ministry, and also supports New Hope Counseling Center and Raphael Free Clinic, among many others. The Cottage Shop, founded in 1967, is an important outreach ministry of the Episcopal Church Women of St. Peter’s, involving some 70 St. Peter’s women, and several men. Here, needy persons in our community, as well as others, can purchase clean, quality clothing and other items, with dignity, and in a warm, friendly environment, at unusually low prices. And the Cottage Shop contributes over $50,000 annually to various social outreach ministries in Kerr County and beyond.

St. Peter’s parishioners and clergy are active in Cursillo, Kairos Prison Ministry, Happening (High School), and other renewal ministries. The Hill Country Chapter of the Order of St. Luke the Physician (interdenominational healing ministry) is located at St. Peter’s. The first Alpha Course was held in 2003, and has been repeated several times.

St. Peter’s currently hosts several community “12-Steps” groups in its facilities, as well as various other support groups open to the public, such as Grief Support.

Despite our small-town location, St. Peter’s has grown to become one of the largest congregations (in terms both of membership and apportionment paid) in the Diocese of West Texas. The Diocese, with headquarters in San Antonio, includes some 30,000 baptized members in 92 congregations spread across south-central Texas. The parish and Diocese are part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a global community of more than 81 million baptized members in 38 national/regional provinces, in 167 countries of the world. As Anglicans, our heritage actually dates back to the 1^st Century. We are part of the Church founded by Jesus when he commissioned His disciples to go into all the world with the Gospel, and our bishops govern our church (in conjunction with other clergy and laity) in an unbroken succession from the apostles.

As Anglicans, we strive (but do not always succeed) to hold together the best of Christianity. We have kept the essentials of the historic Catholic tradition, including orders of ministry within the apostolic succession, the sacraments, the historic creeds of the undivided church, and the essential liturgy, inherited directly from the early church and purged of unscriptural corruptions. Yet, much of our distinctiveness was hammered out in the English Reformation of the 16^th Century. Clarity that we are saved by God’s grace and not by our works, the laity’s strong voice and vote in church life and government, an emphasis on individual conscience and on Jesus as “our only Mediator and Advocate,” and using Scripture to inform and even judge the Church, all come from our reformed,  Protestant heritage.