The Big Guys May Leave

A parishioner at the Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia, and one of our regular readers sent me the links to his parish's struggle with leaving the Episcopal Church, as described in Episcopal churches to vote on departure in the Washington Post and Episcopalians warned against leaving diocese in the Washington Times.

You can find the parish's thinking on its Anglican Realignment page. The latest document posted is I will welcome you, a statement to the parish by the clergy and wardens (the two leading laymen in a parish), subtitled "Finding a new home in the Anglican Communion." It quotes the parish's vestry's decision, reached on November 13th:

The Vestry’s conclusions and recommendation

The conclusions to which we have come, after this process of discernment, are reflected in the Resolution that we passed on November 13, 2006. We conclude:

• that the Episcopal Church has decisively walked apart from the historic Christian Faith and, in the process, has walked apart from the orthodox majority in the Anglican Communion, from the orthodox minority in the Episcopal Church,..

• that a division plainly exists within the Anglican Communion, within the Episcopal Church, and within our diocese.

• that, in view of this division, it is necessary–for the health of our congregation, the cause of the Gospel, and obedience to God’s Word–that we sever our ties with the Episcopal Church and make our home in an orthodox branch of the Anglican Communion in North America.

• that, after considering the options available to us, the affiliation that would best enable us to accomplish our part in the Great Commission is the Anglican District of Virginia, under the episcopal oversight of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (“CANA”).

The other big, active, and wealthy church thinking of leaving is Truro Church in Fairfax. Its vestry approved on November 28th a statement, The source of divison.

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