The Rev. Jason Cox

Mission & Vision: 

My ministry is focused on building strong, connected faith communities equipped to make a difference in the world. I believe Jesus calls us to expand God’s reign of justice and peace for all people. The worship, community building, and faith formation we do at church should send us out to work for God’s vision of a world transformed by love.

  

Employment History

2019-Present ￭ Rector, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, San Francisco, CA

St. Luke's is an urban parish in downtown San Francisco that serves a diverse mix of congregants, drawn by a strong sense of community and an excellent music program. St. Luke's strives to offer a place of hospitality and beauty to our neighborhood and city, not only for members, but also for guests who attend concerts, classes, or the head-start preschool located in our building. 

2011-2019 ￭ Associate/Senior Associate Rector, St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC

St. Columba's is a resource size parish that sits on the urban-suburban divide in upper northwest Washington. With an average Sunday attendance of 600 and five morning services, St. Columba's serves members of all ages with vibrant children's, youth, music, and outreach programs. 

2007-2011 ￭ Executive Director, Episcopal Urban Intern Program, Los Angeles, CA

The Episcopal Urban Intern Program (now Jubilee Year LA/JYLA), founded 1991, is the oldest service learning program for young adults in the Episcopal Church. During my tenure, EUIP/JYLA expanded to multiple sites across the Diocese of Los Angeles and became a founding member of Episcopal Service Corps.

Visionary Leadership

◼︎ I believe the life cycle of the church is gathering God's people in for sustenance and sending them out again for mission. What we offer inside affects what we are able to do outside. Building up the church gives us strength to reach out in love and service to the world. 

◼︎ At. St. Columba’s, I led strategic initiatives in welcoming new members, fostered community development, raised up lay leaders, and created targeted stewardship messages. Increased focus on young families and newcomers resulted in a significant deepening of engagement and commitment from these groups.

◼︎ At. St. Luke's, I've guided leadership within the parish (both lay and staff) to identify and build on our strengths, using the principles of appreciative inquiry. We formulated a vision of becoming a center of spiritual depth for our community though excellence in worship and music. As this vision became a reality, new and younger members were attracted to our parish. Working with key lay leaders, I helped St. Luke's understand and support the need for a major capital campaign, which raised $1.5 million to address maintenance and renovation.

◼︎ In my experience, relationships are key to successful leadership in large, complex, multicultural systems. Ministry depends on trust, and I strive to be trustworthy, authentic, and collaborative. The leader's task is to catalyze holy conversations that allow lasting ministries to emerge from the whole community, gathered and inspired by God’s Spirit. 


Preaching

◼︎ I’m passionate about God’s story revealed in the Bible: the great arc from oppression to liberation as told in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Bringing this story to life through preaching is one of the great joys of my ministry. 

◼︎ You can listen to sermons I've preached on my YouTube channel. 

◼︎ I’ve been writing for Sermons that Work, the Episcopal Church’s preaching resource for small congregations, since 2014.  Sermons selected for publication include Christmas Eve and the Easter Vigil.  My sermon for Palm Sunday was included in the collection Sermons for Holy Week 2018.  

◼︎ Comments on sermons available here.


Stewardship

◼︎ Generational and cultural differences require different stewardship messages. I worked hard at St. Columba’s to broaden the language of stewardship to make sure we were reaching everyone in our community. Targeted messaging led to many new pledge commitments from younger families. 

◼︎ At. St. Luke’s, I supported lay stewardship leaders in designing and executing annual campaigns that led to 16% average increase in pledge amounts year over year.

◼︎ Bp. Mariann Budde appointed me to the inaugural Strategic Financial Resources Commission of the Diocese of Washington. Working with the commission, I developed resources and classes to support parishes across the diocese.


Education

M.Div., cum laude. Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA. 2007.

Certificate in Contextual Theology. College of the Transfiguration, Grahamstown, South Africa. 2006.

B.Mus., Organ Perf./Church Music. University of Houston, Houston, TX. 2001.


Full employment history is available on my resume. See OTM Portfolio for references and additional details. Contact: jsncox@gmail.com. 

One of my recent sermons:

"Take, Bless, Break, Give" featured on The Episcopal Church's Instagram: