The Rev. Courtney Davis-Shoemaker Called as Priest-in-charge of St. Peter's, Charleston

The Right Reverend Ruth Woodliff-Stanley has called the Rev. Courtney Davis-Shoemaker as priest-in-charge of St. Peter’s, Charleston, a church that was returned to our diocese last year and was most recently known as The Church of the Good Shepherd. Ordained to the priesthood in 2009, the Rev. Davis-Shoemaker has served for the past five years as assistant priest of St. Stephen’s, Charleston. She will begin this full-time role at St. Peter’s on November 1, 2024.  As Rev. Davis-Shoemaker explores the possibilities for ministry at this location over the coming months, it is expected that the church, located at 1393 Miles Drive in West Ashley, will reopen in early 2025.

“I could not be more thrilled that the Rev. Courtney Davis-Shoemaker has accepted the call to serve as priest-in-charge of St. Peter’s,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Her deep spirituality and her gifts in convening community, administration, and pastoral care, will help set St. Peter’s on a firm foundation. Additionally, both her experience in renewing church communities and her creativity will inform the early days of developing a new season in this historic parish that will serve the needs of the neighborhood and the wider community.”

Over the past few months, Bishop Woodliff-Stanley has convened several conversations with members of the West Ashley community as they imagined together the future of the church. The Rev. Davis-Shoemaker took part in some of these conversations, and she plans to continue these conversations and build on that early discernment when she begins on November 1 and prepares to reopen in the new year. “This period will also involve intentional listening to neighbors and interested parties to creatively think about ministry in West Ashley and how we can best support our community,” said Davis-Shoemaker.

The Rev. Davis-Shoemaker looks forward to creatively moving the church forward. As she noted in a message to the congregation at St. Stephen’s, Charleston, “With Bishop Woodliff- Stanley’s support, I will explore alternative times for worship and how we may best engage non-churchgoers and Episcopalians who may have left the church after the schism,” said Davis-Shoemaker. “This will be a time to experiment in how we spread the message of God’s unending love and invite people to bring their authentic selves into a new community. I do not know exactly how God will use this new space and what will come but I am excited to prayerfully explore what God may be up to in West Ashley!”

While the church building in West Ashley was constructed in the 1970s and the name eventually changed from St. Peter’s to the Church of the Good Shepherd, the origins of the congregation date back to its initial location as St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Logan Street in downtown Charleston. That building was destroyed by fire in 1861, but the cemetery remains to this day. In 1927, the congregation reorganized and merged with Christ Church on Rutledge Avenue to form a new St. Peter’s on that site. It moved to West Ashley in 1973. As our diocese looks to reopen the church, it will return to the historic name of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Davis-Shoemaker graduated from The General Theological Seminary in 2008 and was ordained a priest the following year in the Diocese of Massachusetts. She has served as the urban resident at St. Stephen's in Lynn, MA; a vicar at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Haw River, NC; Episcopal/ Lutheran chaplain at Elon University; and most recently as the assistant priest at St. Stephen's, Charleston. Having moved to Charleston in 2017 with her spouse, the Rev. Adam Shoemaker, she has also served on the Standing Committee and Commission on Ministry in the Diocese of South Carolina. Courtney and Adam have three children and their family moved to West Ashley in June 2024.

View the announcement from St. Stephen’s, Charleston, at this link.

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