Anglican Church Planting Success
by Jeffrey Walton, Juicy Ecumenism:
In 2006, The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) in suburban Washington began a multi-year process of planting churches, something that it was largely prevented from doing while part of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.
Readers of this blog are likely familiar with this story, which Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra of the Gospel Coalition wonderfully covered in 2019. In Autumn 2020, former TFCA Rector John Yates shared about the parish’s story for IRD’s annual Diane Knippers Memorial Lecture. I wanted to check in with these daughter congregations, each of which I’ve been able to visit.
A small minority of new churches planted in the United States reach their fifth birthday. Remarkably, all seven congregations planted by TFCA as part of its “Timothy” curacy program reached that five year mark, six continue on today. Of those six, two have gone on to plant their own daughter congregations, three purchased or constructed buildings.
All of this took place across a period of significant challenge: separation from the Episcopal denomination, subsequent litigation, property loss, and time in rented and shared spaces.
Preaching before the ACNA Provincial Assembly at Asheville, North Carolina in 2012, Bishop John Guernsey (who serves on IRD’s Board of Directors) presented TFCA’s church planting story as one illustration of how often the Lord will use a crisis to get us refocused, reoriented, and back in line with his priorities.
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