2020 Annual Report
How the Year Began
The year began with the Reeds expecting a baby, Morgan+ finishing his church planting residency program in Arkansas, and finishing his time as a pastor at Incarnation Anglican Church before planting The Franconia-Springfield Mission. TFS Mission began with a small prayer team, and a few thousand dollars in the bank. Because we (TFSM) were without a "parent church," we had the unique opportunity to pioneer a new way of planting directly out of our Diocese. In partnership with our Canon for Church Planting, Tom Herrick+, we developed the administrative means whereby we (and any future church plant) could partner with the Diocese. After this, we put together board of directors, raised an initial $30,000, and the Diocese was then able to hire the planter (i.e., Morgan+) in April. Most of this occurred before we had our first meeting!
In our first several months we decided that “The Franconia-Springfield Mission” would be a good temporary name to give us a sense of place and remind us that we are “on mission” bringing the gospel to a community and inviting others to belong even before they believe. From January to March, Morgan+ spent a great deal of time fundraising and having conversations to find people who live near the target area that might be interested in joining the launch team or who could refer others.
Our vision is to create a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation; this is aimed at living out the kind of life envisioned by the Book of Common Prayer. It is a movement from loving ourselves to growing in love with our Triune God. During our Formation Group this year, Morgan+ taught about this kind of life here. We want to create disciples who are living healthy, integrated lives, which is why we have talked at length about St. Bernard of Clairvaux's (1090-1153) four loves: 1) I love myself for my sake; 2) I love God for my sake; 3) I love God for God's sake; 4) I love myself for God's sake. Growing in these 4 loves brings us to a place in which we reflect the divine image that was given to us (St. Bernard calls this the journey from the land of unlikeness to the land of likeness). It is a full integration and reformation of God’s image in us from which we have fallen. It is a movement from fear to confidence, from distorted self-esteem to healthy self-esteem, from dysfunctional compartmentalization to becoming completely integrated, whole people. When we grow in the experience of God’s mercy, love, and compassion, we confidently grow in who we are. It is then that we can offer God the love that He has first shown us, a love which fills us and overflows to others in love and service.
Looking Back at Last Year
First meeting in March (virtually)
We thought that this year would consist of weekly gatherings centered around hospitality during the week, doing life together (i.e., in person), and meeting new people in Franconia, Springfield, and Kingstowne. Then the pandemic hit and all that changed. We had our first meeting virtually in March to share the vision of the church, thinking that the pandemic would be done by Easter. Obviously that did not happen, so we changed course.
Zoom and Livestream Prayer
Ever since April we have offered morning prayer on Mondays and Fridays as well as midday prayer on Wednesdays. This pandemic (colloquially referred to in the Reed household as "Coronatide") has highlighted the need for healthy rhythms in prayer. In Coronatide, work and home blur together and because travel is difficult, there can be a feeling of having nothing to look forward to. Praying in community at regular times gives us something to look forward to throughout the days and weeks. Because this is done live, it allows people to "taste and see" what the Franconia-Springfield Mission is all about: Common people in common prayer, for uncommon transformation. We offered Compline together for several months, and then took a break in the fall (where we did family evening prayer) before resuming it again for Advent.
Monthly Gatherings
People began to learn about and participate in this mission through our online media or word of mouth. The initial group was coming from at least three different churches and therefore the need to get to know one another was great. Until June we were only allowed to to do this virtually, so using Zoom, we created a monthly Bible study for people to join which looked at Jesus' statements about what it means to be HIs disciples. We would always end our time together in family morning prayer, building a community of prayer as we got to know one another.
First Outdoor Meeting: Outdoor Prayer and Games
In June we could finally gather together outside. We had family morning prayer at Franconia District Park and played lawn games, leaving just before a thunderstorm popped up and threatened to drench us all. This was the first time anyone from the church had met anyone else in person! Up to that point I had met everyone in person once, but no one had actually met one another. We held a similar event in July at Lee District Park and in August we held a one-day prayer retreat at Pohick Bay. This was an opportunity to pray together and get to know each other. God seems to have blessed this new mission with households who deeply love the Church's liturgy, who pray expectantly, and who want to bring others into the community of faith.
Summer Book Study
Growing in spiritual health as a community requires hard work emotionally and spiritually. It is helpful to both build trust and create a shared vocabulary around things like family systems theory, leadership, and union with Christ. In order to begin this process, over the summer we read Peter Scazzerro, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, which gave us the opportunity to go deeper in sharing our stories and to encourage one another to deeper discipleship and spiritual growth. The book study, prayer times, and get-togethers all led to the most important part of our life together which is our sacramental life.
Monthly Eucharist
As we build a common people in common prayer, two of the major parts of our common prayer will be the daily office and the Eucharist. It is in the Sacraments that the Church that we see God's salvation act in symbol and receive His grace to be sent out to do the works God has given us to do. In August we had our first Eucharist together at Lake Accotink in Springfield, VA. Each time we set up for this service, bystanders would come and ask what we are doing (some have even stayed for the service). It is amazing what God has done when the church is becoming the church in a setting where there are no walls. The pandemic has afforded us an incredible evangelistic opportunity. These monthly Eucharists have been a chance for the church to experience God's grace in community, and as such, they have become the main means of building the cultural DNA of this community. In our November Eucharist we had the privilege of baptizing one of the youngest in our community! This was our first baptism and we pray that there will be many more.
Commissioning
In September of this year, our Bishop commissioned Morgan+ and the launch team for the work of planting The Franconia-Springfield Mission as a part of the Diocese's vision to plant 50 churches by 2030. The service was graciously hosted by our sister parish, All Saints' Anglican Church, in Woodbridge, VA. Not only did many from our launch team come, but several of our partner churches came to pray for this new work and show their support for what God is doing at the Franconia-Springfield Mission as well.
Formation Groups and Prayer Walks
Along with monthly Eucharist and daily prayer, we met monthly to pray and walk around different areas of Springfield (York Manner near John Lewis High School, the Springfield Plaza, the Springfield Mall and farmers market). As the weather warms up again we will continue to create opportunities for people to pray and walk through several neighborhoods in the Springfield, Franconia, and Kingstowne region. We also had our first Formation Group on Tuesday nights in the Fall where we got together in person or online to study 1 Peter together and end in family evening prayer. We also spent a week talking about the Scriptures and Creeds, about prayer, and about the mission of the church. You can still listen to those on our podcast or watch them on our YouTube Channel. People grew together in community as we shared stories, studied God's word, and prayed together.
Training Two Lead Catechists
In our first year God has blessed us with two amazing women who are being trained in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The above picture was captured at Peet's in West Springfield as we began dreaming about 2021. KC Laushkin and Maggie Duke will be helping our whole church participate in the formation of of our children and we are so grateful for their faithful and joyful approach to this ministry. You may be wondering what Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is; Morgan+ has written about it in a blog entry here. This is such a foundational ministry for our life as a church since God has blessed us with almost 10 children who are in the age range for doing CGS already.
Hopes, Ministry Teams, and Finances
The Alpa Course Online
We are excited to partner with St. John's Lutheran Church beginning in January to offer the Alpha Course Online. On Tuesday nights from 1/26-3/23 we will meet from 7:30-9pm for the Alpha Course online. This is a 9-week course that creates space to eat together, have discussions about faith and meaning, and belong to a community. The signup will be available in the coming weeks. Meeting weekly for Alpha and meeting monthly for the Eucharist are two ways we are preparing for weekly Sunday gathering and growing in life together in the next year.
Creating Permanence in 2021
This year has been a "tabernacling" experience: we set up, tear down, and only move when God moves. Hopefully we always do this spiritually, but the physical tabernacle was only meant to be temporary. There are some aspects of tabernacling that will become more permanent in 2021: One of the transitions toward permanence at some point in 2021 will be changing the church name. The Franconia-Springfield Mission has served us well as a temporary name, but we will move to something more permanent as we prepare for launch. The new name will encapsulate our actual and aspirational values, such as being rooted in the tradition of the Church, being missional in bringing people into the community of faith, showing hospitality, showing generosity, and the name will make explicit that we are Anglican. We do not have the new name picked out yet, but it's coming.
One other major transition toward permanence in 2021 will be that the Reeds will be moving to Franconia or Springfield as the Lord allows. They are in the home-buying process and will hopefully land in the target region early in 2021 which will allow for greater ministry impact and sustainability.
After Alpha is concluded, we will look towards Holy Week and celebrate Palm Sunday at Green Spring Gardens. We hope to be able to celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and the Great Vigil of Easter together this year. We will continue a rhythm of monthly Eucharist through April, then after Easter we hope to move to weekly Sunday worship, though the details of this are still under consideration. For us, as is true for all churches, all of our gathering decisions must be considered in light of the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to offer a midweek formation group after Easter during the week.
The rhythm of gathering weekly and monthly described above is how we are building a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation. We are continually looking for ways to reach out to and serve our neighbors and the people in this region. We want to bring people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ that is formed in the community of the Church and in God's grace. As we consider what it will take to move towards public launch (more staff for children's ministry and music ministry, weekly Eucharist, more permanent space, etc.), we are inviting people to join a ministry team. In these teams, the launch team has the opportunity to plan out what it will take for this church to launch. To find out more about the ministry teams, check out our blog entry here.
Finances
We began this church plant directly from the Diocese without a parent church. The Diocese allows us to apply for grants, but all of our income has been given generously through donors (in and outside of the launch team), partner churches, and grants. We are so grateful for those who have given to this work. We have had several churches partner with us financially or in allowing us to use other tangible resources (space for special services, liturgical equipment, etc.): Restoration Anglican Church, Incarnation Anglican Church, Christ the King, Shepherd's Heart Anglican, Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Church of the Epiphany Anglican, All Saints' Church, and St. John's Lutheran Church. It takes a village [of churches] to raise up a new work like this and we are so grateful for our ministry partners. Some of these were one-time gifts, but we hope that many of these partnerships will be ongoing.
By the end of November, we have raised a total of almost $112,000. That is really amazing! Our goal was to raise $100K this year because we did not know what our operating costs would be. We are truly building a community from the ground up and with the gifts of God’s people, we will be able to expand this work through renting more permanent space, hiring staff, considering how to outfit a space with A/V, children’s ministry items, liturgical items, and expand our capacity to serve the community in this difficult season and share the love of Christ with our neighbors. Thank you for the ways that so many of you have been so generous. It is because of your gifts and the gifts of God’s people around our diocese and the US that this work is moving forward, even in Coronatide.
How to Give
Perhaps you are wondering how you can give. We cannot do this work without the generous support and prayers of God's people. Click the "GIVE" button below to give either a one-time gift or to create a recurring gift. Thank you for supporting what God is doing through the Franconia-Springfield Mission.