Fans of the social media sensation Zillow Gone Wild might dream about the kind of space that St. Paul’s in Peoria has–54,000 square feet with an enormous two-story stained-glass window at the front, exposed brick and steel beams in a skylit sanctuary adorned with twentieth century ecclesiastical art, and a flat-roofed wing of offices and classrooms overlooking a courtyard. While the vast mid-century modern building might prove overwhelming to some congregations, St. Paul’s uses the space, in part, for partnerships with local artists and a broad array of community-building organizations that help the church to serve its city.

“We are the last Episcopal church in Peoria, so we don’t have the luxury to say ‘that’s someone else’s area of responsibility,’” said the Rev. Jonathan Thomas, who shares the title of co-rector with his wife, the Rev. Jenny Replogle. “We work with community partners to amplify what we can do and work to discover what we are called to do. That’s not about being a community center, that’s about being a church: folks finding their calling and doing that.”

Replogle and Thomas arrived at St. Paul’s in 2015 to lead what had been the cathedral of the former Diocese of Quincy and the seat of schismatic bishop Keith Ackerman. Opening the church to the community in innovative ways is among the hallmarks of their tenure, as is advancing the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church.

Perhaps St. Paul’s most distinctive characteristic is its commitment to working artists. The church rents seventeen studios to local artists of various disciplines and supports an exhibition space, created with grant funds while the building was shut down during the early days of the pandemic, that features the work of underrepresented artists.

“There are so many original pieces of art in the building, it seemed a natural fit,” Thomas said. “There is beauty in having creativity all around us. Initially some artists were skeptical about coming; we were interested in creating, in making beauty in the world, in people who use their imagination to make the world better. Those are values we as Christians can espouse. We’ve had a great relationship with that art community.”

The outreach to artists spawned another innovation. One of the artists renting studio space was often joined for lunch by Jam Rohr, a friend who is a vegan chef. Other artists became interested in the meals Rohr prepared, and eventually she started a vegan lunch service in St. Paul’s kitchen. The service thrived, and now Rohr is proprietor of Radish Kitchen Peoria, a plant-based and vegan restaurant.

The success of Rohr’s venture was a boost in creating Springboard Kitchen, another food ministry associated with St. Paul’s. The parish had partnered with Urban Acres, a business founded by Andy Diaz, a St. Paul’s parishioner, that grows produce on previously unused lots in North Valley, a struggling neighborhood some three miles south of the church. Thanks to Diaz’s initiative, fresh produce is available in a part of town that is home to many of the clients of St. Paul’s thriving food pantry.

“The next step was to create a commercial commissary kitchen in this same area of town,” Thomas said. Springboard Kitchen, as it will be called, “will be a place where we can offer healthy cooking classes with fresh produce from the gardens and the participants will be allowed to keep the basic utensils to cook at home as that was a major barrier we found to people cooking healthy food,” he said.

The parish plans to rent Springboard Kitchen to small food entrepreneurs to create jobs and economic investment in the area. The entire venture, from community gardens to kitchen, has been supported by grants from Impact Central Illinois, the United Thank Offering and Episcopal Charities. Replogle and Thomas say the grants are critical seed money, but the intent is for the kitchen to be self-sustaining.

In addition to its agricultural and culinary endeavors, St. Paul’s also offers yoga in its nave, born out of a partnership with Soulside Healing Arts, an organization that is based “on a side of town where you would not normally find yoga,” Thomas said. “We want people to know that the church cares for them wholistically; sometimes we separate the spiritual from the rest of life and it just doesn’t work. …. Offering the class in the nave is a way of showing that this is a healing space.”

Another connection with community partners has been the growing network of open and affirming faith leaders within the city. When Thomas and Replogle arrived in 2015, there were only a small number of openly affirming congregations. This year, they count 14 colleague pastors and congregations. Out of that group, two congregations, one Nazarene and one interdenominational, joined St. Paul’s at their Easter Vigil. At the service, they used a new paschal candle decorated by children of the parish and one of the artists renting space in the building and blessed by Bishop Paula Clark, who visited the congregation on Good Friday.

Reinventing St. Paul’s enormous building as a hub for art, local food and yoga has pushed the thriving parish’s leaders to think in new ways. The diocese’s College for Congregational Development, in which Replogle and Thomas have participated since shortly after their arrival at St. Paul’s, has helped spark change, they say. Replogle continues to serve as a trainer for the program.

“The College for Congregational Development has taught us so many things of value— organization development and leadership skills, ways of dealing with anxiety, the leadership of laity and practical models for that,” she said.

“Having parishioners go through the program has given us a common way of speaking and understanding, which has been so valuable. We ask hard questions here.”