About Us

St James the Deacon is the Anglican Parish Church, serving God and the community in Woodthorpe, Acomb Park and Foxwood, along with parts of Dringhouses West and Acomb within the city of York.

The Parish was formed in the 1950’s to meet the needs of growing new housing areas being built in South West York. The present church designed by George Pace was built in 1970 with the new Church Hall added in 2010.

We are the only church dedicated to James the Deacon, who was an Italian missionary sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great as a companion of St Paulinus, and who eventually came to Yorkshire and Northumbria in the seventh century. His life and witness is an inspiration to us today as we seek to bear faithful witness to the good news of the gospel in our parish community and wherever we find ourselves in our daily lives. We too are called to be ‘missionary disciples’ of Jesus Christ; to know him, to love him and to follow him.

We are a living community of disciples, whose lives are centred on the worship of God in the Daily Office (the daily offering of the prayer of the Church) and most especially in the Holy Eucharist, where we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, through which we are nourished, strengthened and commissioned to love and serve him in the world.

As a church, in all that we do, we seek to:

put our roots down – growing deeper in faith and our life as disciples of Jesus;

keep our doors open – offering welcome and hospitality to all in the name of Christ;

build bridges out – reaching out to share God’s love with all in our Parish Community.

We invite you to find out more through exploring this website and discovering about our Church and our life together.