So it should come as no surprise that significant leadership for the young Anglican Church in North America has risen from the modest-sized city of Tallahassee.

This week, it has been my great pleasure to designate St. Peter's Anglican Church as the Cathedral of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the ACNA.

When St. Peter's began in 2005, a group of about 700 committed Christians stepped out in faith to establish one of the seminal churches in what is now the Anglican Church in North America. Along with the rest of the ACNA, St. Peter's was founded on a commitment to the authority of Holy Scripture and the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ as the son of God.

As the congregation grew, they raised the funds to construct a church building in the worst economic downturn of our lifetime. As other parishes across the country stepped out to form churches of their own, many worshiping in storefronts or sharing spaces with churches from other denominations, St. Peter's in Tallahassee assumed an increasingly important leadership role.

Today, the ACNA has grown to include more than 1,000 congregations across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, uniting 132,000 Anglicans in North America. In being named Cathedral for our diocese, St. Peter's will function as a central house of worship, an educational center, an administrative hub, and a gathering place for all the diocesan congregations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

But the role of a cathedral is not limited to its diocese. St. Peter's has also grown its impact within the greater Tallahassee community.

Since its founding, the St. Peter's congregation has grown to include more than 2,000 people, who themselves serve Tallahassee and beyond. As a cathedral, St. Peter's will serve even more broadly, providing a sacred space that is open to the entire community for prayer and Christian worship; offering community-wide resources for spiritual growth; and putting on events that bring the city together.

But in addition to welcoming people in, St. Peter's mission is also to send people out. They seek to be Christ's "hands and feet" within the community, through partnerships that include ECHO, a local relief agency to the homeless; A*Rise, a program that nurtures relationships between Tallahassee and Gadsden County youth; and the Pregnancy Help and Information Center in Tallahassee. Globally, it supports at-risk children in Uganda and missions in Guatemala.

Remarkably for Tallahassee's size, St. Peter's' new designation means that the city is home to two cathedrals -- the other being St. Thomas Moore, a Catholic co-cathedral. As well as being the state capital and a major hub of higher education, Tallahassee is exhibiting significant Christian leadership locally, nationally and to the ends of the earth.

The Right Reverend Neil G. Lebhar has been the first bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America since his consecration in 2010.

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