The Rev. Barbara Ballenger

The Rev. Barbara Ballenger has been the Rector at St. Peter's since late 2022.  Previously, she served for seven years as an associate at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, the first five as a lay associate and the last two as Associate Rector. She was ordained in December 2019.  

Rev. Barb has worked in ministry settings in both the Catholic and Episcopal Church for nearly 30 years, including youth and adult faith formation, campus ministry, global relief and development, domestic disaster response, performing arts ministry and parish pastoral ministry. She also has a long history in social justice and political advocacy, especially in areas of climate justice and racial repair and healing. 

Rev. Barb is currently the co-chair of the Diocesan Anti-Racism Commission and is part of the diocese’s Loving Presence Initiative. Rev. Barb plays the guitar and the banjo and is a singer and songwriter. You can find several of her songs, written in her performing arts ministry days, on SoundCloud. Her husband, Jess, is a professor of medical ethics at Drexel University. She has two adult children, Hannah, 21, and Jesse, 27. A dog, Oakley, and cat, Yolandi, also live with the family in their home in Mt. Airy. Rev. Barb loves to read, play cooperative board games, and ride through Pennsylvania with her husband on the couple’s tandem bicycle.