Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock
Livingston, Tennessee
Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock is a local congregation in Livingston, Tennessee, established to intentionally embody the theology, structure, and spiritual life of Charismatic Orthodoxy as articulated by the Association of Charismatic Orthodox Assemblies (ACOA).
The church exists not simply as a place of weekly gathering, but as a formed ecclesial community—ordered in doctrine, worship, discipline, and mission—seeking to live faithfully within the stream of the historic Christian Church while remaining active in the Protestant world.
Why “Saint Peter the Rock”
The name Saint Peter the Rock reflects the Church’s grounding in apostolic confession rather than institutional supremacy. We affirm the faith confessed by Peter—that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God—as the foundation of the Church. Our identity is rooted in Christ the Rock, confessed by the apostles, received by the early Church, and carried forward through faithful Christian witness.
This naming reflects continuity with the undivided Church, while avoiding claims of Roman jurisdiction or exclusive authority. It points to confession, faithfulness, and continuity, rather than domination or control.
Charismatic Orthodox Life at the Local Level
At Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock, Charismatic Orthodoxy is lived out in concrete ways:
- Worship that is reverent, ordered, and sacramental, while remaining open to the active presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit
- Teaching grounded in Scripture, informed by the early Church Fathers, and applied to daily Christian living
- Spiritual formation that emphasizes holiness, discipline, repentance, and growth in Christ
- Charismatic life that values healing, prayer, prophecy, and renewal, exercised within pastoral oversight and accountability
The church rejects both historical amnesia and spiritual excess, seeking instead a balanced, ancient, and Spirit-filled Christianity.
A Model Church for ACOA’s Mission
Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock serves as a model and demonstration church for ACOA’s broader mission. It shows how a congregation can:
- Remain Protestant in mission and conscience
- Recover apostolic and sacramental depth
- Honor the historic unity of East and West
- Embrace the charismatic work of the Holy Spirit without disorder or fragmentation
In this sense, the church functions as a living laboratory—a real community where theology is tested, practiced, refined, and faithfully lived.
Serving as a Bridge in Practice
As ACOA prepares to serve as a future bridge between the reunited historic Church and the Protestant world, Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock demonstrates how that bridge may function at the congregational level.
The church provides:
- A pastoral pathway for Protestants seeking deeper historical continuity
- A theological vocabulary that makes ancient Christianity understandable within Protestant contexts
- A safe ecclesial environment for unity that does not require submission to Roman or Eastern jurisdictions
Rather than drawing believers out of Protestantism abruptly, the church walks with them, grounding faith more deeply in the life of the historic Church while preserving evangelical witness and mission.
Faithful to the Present, Oriented Toward the Future
Holy Church of Saint Peter the Rock serves the people of Livingston, Tennessee through worship, teaching, discipleship, and outreach. At the same time, it participates in a broader vision—preparing the Church for greater unity by forming believers who are historically rooted, spiritually alive, and ecclesially ordered.
The church stands as a witness that unity does not require compromise of conscience, and that continuity with the ancient Church can be faithfully expressed within a Protestant framework, guided by Scripture, shaped by history, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
