History of Our Parish
St. Peter’s Syriac Orthodox Church of Houston was started on January 1, 2005 under the leadership of Very Rev. Dr. Thomas Itty, with St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles and the first Patriarch of Antioch as the Patron Saint to serve the spiritual needs of twenty-two families. The church is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America, New York. The Church uses the Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic spoken by Lord Jesus, as the Liturgical language along with English & Malayalam.
Since inception, the church had no permanent place to conduct worship services. God almighty had abundantly blessed us by providing appropriate locations, for free or lease, to conduct services in our time of need. The blessing enabled us to acquire an acre of land in Fresno, Texas in November 2007. The construction activities for the church was officially initiated by His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho with a ground breaking ceremony on January 1, 2008, in the presence of a group of clergies and parishioners. The corner stone for the church was laid by Senior Priest Very Rev. Dr. Thomas Itty and Vicar Rev. Fr. Shinoj Joseph on August 10, 2008 along with parishioners and their friends.
The construction effort was spearheaded by the Vicar Rev. Fr. Shinoj Joseph with the support of the managing committee and parishioners. An external contractor, Jose Thottungal, was brought in to manage the construction activities and he has completed the church construction without accepting any contractor markups or profits. The construction cost would have been much more than what a small congregation with twenty plus member families could afford, if he had not taken the contract and initiative to complete the church. The church building comprises of more than 5,500 square feet of useable space for the sanctuary, office and Sunday School facility. As the construction progressed, twelve more new families decided to call St. Peter’s church home for their spiritual needs. Currently the church is serving thirty four member families.
According to Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20), the risen Christ made it clear to all people what the mission of a true Christian is. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you”. Based on this teaching, the mission for our church is very clear to us.
The mission of our church is to make Disciples of Christ, growing a family of faith by sharing God’s love and grace with the community. Our congregation exists to nurture people of all ages in the Syriac Orthodox faith and prepare its members to do the work of love by being the Lord’s disciple in the community through baptism, holy communion, bible study and prayer.
Our congregation exists to nurture people of all ages in the Syriac Orthodox faith and to help them practice the disciplines of discipleship. Our church prepares its members to do the work of love and to get them ready to be the Lord’s disciples in the community through baptism, holy communion, bible study and prayer along with Sunday School for children, a Youth Association for the young adults and St. Mary’s Women’s League for the ladies, which all serve as the instruments for spiritual nourishment of the faithful.
Since inception, the church had no permanent place to conduct worship services. God almighty had abundantly blessed us by providing appropriate locations, for free or lease, to conduct services in our time of need. The blessing enabled us to acquire an acre of land in Fresno, Texas in November 2007. The construction activities for the church was officially initiated by His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho with a ground breaking ceremony on January 1, 2008, in the presence of a group of clergies and parishioners. The corner stone for the church was laid by Senior Priest Very Rev. Dr. Thomas Itty and Vicar Rev. Fr. Shinoj Joseph on August 10, 2008 along with parishioners and their friends.
The construction effort was spearheaded by the Vicar Rev. Fr. Shinoj Joseph with the support of the managing committee and parishioners. An external contractor, Jose Thottungal, was brought in to manage the construction activities and he has completed the church construction without accepting any contractor markups or profits. The construction cost would have been much more than what a small congregation with twenty plus member families could afford, if he had not taken the contract and initiative to complete the church. The church building comprises of more than 5,500 square feet of useable space for the sanctuary, office and Sunday School facility. As the construction progressed, twelve more new families decided to call St. Peter’s church home for their spiritual needs. Currently the church is serving thirty four member families.
According to Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20), the risen Christ made it clear to all people what the mission of a true Christian is. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you”. Based on this teaching, the mission for our church is very clear to us.
The mission of our church is to make Disciples of Christ, growing a family of faith by sharing God’s love and grace with the community. Our congregation exists to nurture people of all ages in the Syriac Orthodox faith and prepare its members to do the work of love by being the Lord’s disciple in the community through baptism, holy communion, bible study and prayer.
Our congregation exists to nurture people of all ages in the Syriac Orthodox faith and to help them practice the disciplines of discipleship. Our church prepares its members to do the work of love and to get them ready to be the Lord’s disciples in the community through baptism, holy communion, bible study and prayer along with Sunday School for children, a Youth Association for the young adults and St. Mary’s Women’s League for the ladies, which all serve as the instruments for spiritual nourishment of the faithful.
