Please join us in welcoming the Rev. Ruth Anne Garcia, who has been called to serve as Rector at St. James, Kent. Ruth Anne will begin that call on October 1, 2026.
Having spent most of my ministry on the East Coast, I was blessed to work at some the Episcopal Church’s largest parishes including St. Columba’s Washington , DC and Trinity Wall Street in New York, NY. However, I was baptized and grew up in a small family-sized parish in Lewistown, Montana and was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Montana.
While my initial decision to work on staff of program-sized parishes to learn alongside other clergy and learn how to manage and grow ministries helped me realize these goals, I think somewhere along the way I forgot the actual person that God had called. Leaving Trinity Wall Street behind, I made the decision to return to smaller parishes and use what I had learned to help parishes grow ministries. In 2017, my late-husband Jeremy and I decided to move west (to a place where he could still work as a jazz musician) and came to Seattle. After time on staff at Epiphany Parish and a short interim, I came to St. James and immediately knew I had found the exact place where God was calling me long-term.
While the congregation has been through some tough times which led the large congregation to become smaller, the people of St. James who decided to remain all shared a love of St. James, a love of God, and a great love for all the folks that God sent to us. They believed in the St. James community and were unwilling to lose hope in the church. I often refer to them as the “French Resistance” because they all worked together to keep this community alive. A friend from Epiphany shared with me that one of my folks had told her that “they liked me and my accessories” which not only made me laugh but also let me know I had found my people. St James has loved me through two of the hardest years in my life and I am so thankful for them. That they have called me as their rector is truly an honor and one I do not take lightly. I look forward to continuing to work with St. James Church to grow this community and expand our ministries.
Ruth Anne can be reached at ragarcia@stjameskent.org.
Keep Ruth Anne and St. James, Kent in your prayers as they begin this new ministry together.