Who We Are
Who We Are
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Our Mission
St Ambrose is an inclusive and nurturing community that comes together to worship in the Anglican tradition. The church seeks to meet the spiritual needs of all people no matter their gender, race, age, mental or physical ability, political beliefs, or economic status and to spread the Good News of Christ.
Indigenous Peoples Land Acknowledgement
We respectfully acknowledge that St Ambrose is located on the homeland of the Indigenous Gabrieleno-Tongva peoples, who were dispossessed of their land. We will work to instill greater respect and recognition for the histories, cultures, and contemporary presence of Native peoples, who are the traditional caretakers of Claremont (Torojoatngna), the greater Los Angeles region, and the state of California.
Our History
St Ambrose began as an idea in 1951 thought up by a group of Episcopalians living in Claremont. They wanted a church of their own and, five years later, managed to construct what became the current church on Bonita Avenue. St Ambrose was remodeled in the 1990s. The most notable addition was an imposing stained glass cross in the sanctuary.
By 2014 a new program, Laundry Love, was created to help the needy launder their clothes. It grew to provide them with hot meals, toiletries, and donated clothing. Laundry Love transformed into what is now the Shower Program, a robust service for our neighbors without a home held twice weekly in the Parish Hall. There they can shower, eat, socialize, and occasionally seek medical attention. Run by volunteers, the program serves 65 homeless or unhoused people a week.
Through a succession of ministers St Ambrose has remained steadfast in its mission to be an inclusive and nurturing community that comes together in worship in the Anglican tradition. Current rector Jessie Turner leads the congregation with dynamic preaching and an inspired perspective on faith. She has expanded St Ambrose’s presence in the community by serving the marginalized, creating spiritual forums with the five other churches in the Episcopalian deanery, keeping the church on sound financial footing, and launching the development of 60 units of low-income senior housing.
St Ambrose, like most of the region, sits on land that originally belonged to the Gabrielino-Tongva peoples, whom the church acknowledges. Once the site of Southern California’s thriving citrus industry, Claremont is home to five colleges — Claremont-McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona, and Scripps.
Who is St Ambrose?
It all started with a swarm of bees in the 4th Century CE.
Legend holds that the father of Augusta Treverorum noticed a multitude of bees encircling his infant son’s head. Although they landed on his face, the bees did not sting him. Instead they left behind a drop of honey. The extraordinary occurrence was taken as a sign from the divine, bestowing gifts of eloquence and greatness on the child who would become St Ambrose.
His eloquence won him the appointment to Bishop of Milan late in the 4th Century CE, during which time he was a great defender of the poor. He donated his money and all his lands to ease their suffering. Although his prodigious output included music, much of it was literary. His sermons were so exquisite that one opponent characterized Ambrose as “a flower of Latin eloquence.”
Ambrose’s celebrated preaching greatly moved the towering thinker Augustine of Hippo and spurred his legendary conversion from a profligate life. According to Augustine’s mother St. Monica, it was Ambrose who led her son to the convictions of Christ and then baptized him.
As a teacher and liturgical reformer, the Bishop of Milan defended the Church against the Arian Heresy. It stressed the unity, not trinity, of God, and positioned Christ as distinct from rather than coequal to God. He worked to convert the heretics toward a belief in the divinity of Christ.
In addition, Ambrose agitated for social justice. He was opposed to the civil immorality and excess perpetrated by emperors of the day. For example, he held down an insurrection by the Western Roman emperor Theodosius I, intervening in a bloody massacre and excommunicating him, which ultimately preserved trinitarian doctrine.
Finally, Ambrose was an early advocate for what became the doctrine of a separate church and state. He espoused Augustine’s concept of the earthly city standing in opposition to the city of God. Ambrose believed that the Church should not be subject to the rulings of mere government, thus championing the Church’s freedom from political power.
We celebrate the honey tongued Ambrose, patron saint of beekeepers, on December 7.
Interfaith Engagement
St Ambrose is an active participant on the Claremont Interfaith Council and in the Inland Valley Interfaith Working Group for Middle East Peace. The rector, Jessie Turnier, serves on the Diocesan Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. The church participates in the annual ecumenical Good Friday service and the interfaith Thanksgiving eve service.
The escalated genocide in Gaza following the October 2023 attack in Israel has divided the interfaith community in a way that has paused some of our collaboration. But the group continues to meet and find common ground where possible.
In addition to her local interfaith and ecumenical work, Reverend Turnier joined other Los Angeles County leaders for the Empowering Faith Leaders program sponsored by the Clinton Foundation. The event was designed to give faith leaders a chance to strengthen their collaboration and address the crisis of addiction and overdose. The yearlong series culminated in a grant offering training to local organizations.
For more information about St Ambrose’s interfaith engagement, please contact us!
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