The Reverend John Zahl

Rector

St. Matthew’s Church welcomed Rev. Zahl as its thirteenth rector in fall, 2018. Since then, at the 2020 Convention of the Diocese of New York, he was also elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese. More recently, he served on the Committee to Elect a Bishop of the Diocese of New York. Before coming to St. Matthew’s, he served for six years as Canon Missioner at Grace Church Cathedral, Charleston, SC. He was ordained in 2007, and served his curacy at Church of the Holy Cross, Sullivan's Island, SC. 

John is a graduate of Kenyon College, holds a Master of Divinity degree from Oxford University and is completing work toward the Doctor of Divinity in Preaching degree from Sewanee University. 

The son of an Episcopal minister, John grew up at Grace Church, Manhattan, and has also lived in Westchester, Charleston, Zurich (CH), Surrey (UK), Birmingham, AL and Brooklyn. He is married to Sara Elizabeth, a photographer, and they have a daughter Daphne and a newborn son John, a beloved pug Oscar, two guinea pigs and two ducks.

The author of two books (Sermons of Grace and Grace in Addiction), John regularly contributes to Mockingbird Ministries (mbird.com), participates in a series of podcasts by the Zahl Brothers on the "God Business, " and also moonlights occasionally as a DJ and collector of obscure disco records.