2022 Annual Report
It is still miraculous to me when I think that we began online in March 2020. In our first 3 months we could only meet virtually and then finally in the summer of 2020 we were able to meet for the first time in person for a monthly Eucharist outside. We have now been meeting for weekly Eucharist for about 18 months, first at Green Spring Gardens and then at the Springfield United Methodist Church. In the report below I'll share some of the ways that our church has grown.
Summary
We have grown in our discipleship and formation: We have had people confirmed or received into the Anglican Church in North America, we've had people baptized into the Church, and we've developed a regular process of Formation Groups (weekly small groups). People are drawing closer to Jesus through local community on Sundays and in these groups.
We have begun a student ministry. There are now several students in the 9-16 age range that have aged out of our other children's program. Fr. Ryan Bettwy has come on staff to give oversight to this budding ministry.
In our corporate worship we have spent an entire calendar year in one location. People serve faithfully on Sundays in the various ministries of the church. We celebrated part of Holy Week with Christ the King Anglican Church and were able to offer our very own first Great Vigil of Easter. Several folks joined the Mission as Members in July after a lengthy "New to Corpus Christi Anglican Church" course. In May we felt that we had outgrown our current location which kicked off a building search process and God provided us a new worship location that we will begin to worship in beginning on January 22, 2023. Our core team of members and regular attenders has nearly doubled since last December and we are grateful for the ways that God is building His Church!
This year we launched Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. We had a soft-launch in February where we offered CGS every other week. We now have 5 trained catechists, Ashley Reed has taken leadership of the program and we were able to launch it weekly beginning in September.
As we prayed about outreach, we began the year with a sermon series on "Nations and Neighborhoods" in which we looked at how God's glory is going to the nations through the neighborhoods which we inhabit. We did a deep dive into the history of some of the regions in our target area. We followed that up with a prayer walk in the neighborhoods surrounding the church property. This gave us a lot to discuss and pray over as we share God's love locally. We held an event where we invited people to make Resurrection Gardens for Lent in order to anticipate the resurrection of Christ. We also had an easter-egg hunt at the Reeds home for friends and neighbors so that the church would have a natural way to make relationships with those outside the church.
Beginning in June we held monthly gatherings for the church that allowed people to form relationships and go deeper as a community. These were a great way to help visitors connect to the church.
We partnered with Food Justice DMV in November to provide food and baby products to those most in need in our surrounding areas. This organization brings food directly to households that need it the most and our church gave very generously. In December, for the second time, we served Fort Belvoir by providing books and toys for their Christmas toy drive, which they call Operation Sugarplum. We now have a few families stationed on base who attend our Mission. We had been praying about ways to connect the life of the church to the people on Fort Belvoir and God seems to be answering that prayer.
Corpus Christi Anglican Church became a Mission Church in 2021, but we incorporated in the summer of 2022. It was a long process, but we are now a corporation in the state of Virginia! We continue to move forward in our administrative independence from the Diocese. We have opened our own bank account and there is a new way to give. At the end of this blog I will share how you can give; you can give directly to Corpus Christi Anglican Church now rather than giving through the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
I'll share more below about our hopes for the new year which include more independence as we grow in being a sustainable church and more opportunities for discipleship. I hope you'll take the time to read more below and look at the fun pictures of life at Corpus Christi Anglican Church. It is amazing what God is doing and it is a gift to be a part of it. If you would like to begin giving to CCAC or make a special year-end gift, please click the button at the end of this annual report to give to God's work at CCAC. Thank you for your contribution. Your gifts are what make this church and the impact it is having on individuals and households possible!
The Year in Pictures
Discipleship & Formation
We began the year with our first Episcopal visit. Back in 2021 we had developed the curriculum for our confirmation course and implemented it so that in January 2022 several people came forward who wanted to be confirmed or received in the Anglican Church in North America. All these would go on to become members of the Mission in July! It was good to begin the year asking the Holy Spirit to fill the Church for doing God's work and living out His mission in the neighborhoods where we live.
The same afternoon that the Bishop visited we began our first round of Formation Groups for the year.
This year we started with one Formation Group as a church and offered it Sunday afternoons. It began with dinner, followed with a discussion on the passage from the sermon that morning, and ended with Family Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. One of our strategies to help young families get more involved was to offer childcare at our Formation Groups. This allowed most of our church to be a part of a Formation Group.
In the Spring we offered a second Formation Group. The church was beginning to grow numerically and this group got huge. Each Sunday afternoon we had 30 people. This was an 8-week welcome course to Corpus Christi Anglican Church that laid out the foundational values and faith commitments of our Mission. After having this large of a group we began planning to split the group into two in the Fall. After people had been confirmed and went through this welcome course, they were given the opportunity to become members of the Mission! Here is a lovely snapshot of those that joined that day:
The new Bishop will come in February to do confirmations. After that we will have another Membership Sunday for those who would like to join as members.
We had the privilege this year of baptizing 6 people this year.
For one of these families, it was their first full year in America. God has brought them through a lot to get here and I am so grateful they've found a home at CCAC. For one of the children we had her older sister lead us in the litany for the candidates and it was such a beautiful way of inviting the church to support this family in prayer.
Student Ministries
When our Formation Group had 9 kids that were ages 9-16 we decided that it was time to start developing a student ministry at CCAC. Fr. Ryan Bettwy agreed to oversee it, develop the curriculum, and recruit and train leaders. He began support raising in August for this position and has done great work both with raising support and with discipling our students. We currently have two older students that have asked to be confirmed when the Bishop visits in February. I'm excited to see how this ministry develops.
Corporate Worship
What a gift to worship for all of 2022 in one location. We are so grateful to the Springfield UMC for being such gracious hosts to our Mission. Some of the pictures taken above come from our Holy Week celebrations. We celebrated Palm Sunday, beginning outside together. This year we joined with Christ the King Anglican Church in Alexandria, VA for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Then on Holy Saturday we celebrated our own Great Vigil of Easter. This was our first vigil without a partner church. It was very well attended and we will definitely keep up this tradition.
A New Worship Location
In May we began looking for a new space that we could grow into. You can read more about the space search here. God led us to a new space that met all the requirements we had prayed for (and was under budget!). Beginning January 22, 2023 we will worship at 11am at Prince of Peace Lutheran School (8306 Old Keene Mill Rd, Springfield, VA 22152).
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
In early 2022 we soft-launched CGS and offered it on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month. I loved the ways different age groups could engage with the material at their own level. This program also integrates well with discipleship at home.
During the summer we paused CGS to have more people trained as catechists. We now have 6 people who are trained and can lead level 1. Over the summer, Ashley worked with the other catechists to develop the curriculum for the next year and get all the materials ready. We officially launched CGS in September 2022. Ashley has done an amazing job leading the team for this program and I'm grateful for her leadership of it. We will pause on CGS after Dec 18 as we move everything to the new space and then we will reboot it in January.
Hospitality and Outreach
During Epiphany we held a sermon series called "Nations and Neighborhoods" that focused on some of the diverse neighborhoods historically in our region and how God’s Gospel goes into the neighborhoods in which we live. This was followed up in February with a prayer walk around the neighborhoods around SUMC. Outreach is rooted in relationships and relationships are connected to the places in which we live.
We held our second-annual Resurrection Gardens event at the beginning of Lent to help kids plant things and connect what they’re doing with their hands to the death and resurrection of Christ.
On Easter Sunday we hosted our second annual Easter Egg hunt. This has been a fun new tradition. Several neighbors came to join the fun. These kinds of events create space for organic relationships to form with those who may not yet know Christ as Lord.
In June, we began holding church-wide social events on the 4th Friday of each month. These have been a great way for people who visit on Sunday to have more opportunities to connect with the church. We held a cookout at Lake Accotink, went to a live concert at Grist Mill Park, had a pool day, had Pizza and games at Hidden Pond Park, went to a farm, had a worship night together around the fire, and a Fall Hike with a picnic. These have been a lot of fun and the plan right now is to pick up this rhythm again sometime when we get to the new space.
Along with these events we served our community through a food drive in November. We gathered food and baby supplies for Food Justice DMV who distributed our gifts to local families in need. During late November and early December we held a toy drive for Fort Belvoir. We will give these gifts to Operation Sugarplum which is Fort Belvoir's program to support service members and their families in need this Christmas.
Incorporation
This year we incorporated in the state of Virginia! After incorporating we opened a bank account as we prepared to update the way that people give to Corpus Christi Anglican Church. The Diocese will still retain some of our back office functions into 2023, but we are now able to take over most administrative functions.
Finances
God's people were very generous to the work at Corpus Christi Anglican Church. Our expenses were less than predicted and we had more income than expected.
Expenses
Our expenses for the previous fiscal year break down into the following percentages:
In February we began to contribute to our Diocese. We were able to give 4.1% to the general fund of our Diocese and 5% towards our Diocesan vision to plant 50 churches by the year 2030. These percentages appear less than 4.1% and 5% in the chart above because we started giving in the middle of the fiscal year. It is exciting to see the ways that our contributions are now helping new church plants. We also had the opportunity to give towards a mission partner in Turkey.
We had some unexpected changes to our expenses: Our rental costs were lower than we had originally anticipated and that was a huge help in loweing some of the operational costs. We were able to subsidize the childcare costs for Formation Groups which allowed most of the church to participate in intergenerational ministry. Because we found a location with on-site storage, we did not need to buy a van or rent a storage unit; however, we did spend more than anticipated on A/V equipment and liturgical hardware for the new location to create a beautiful worship space that will be easy to set up each week.
Morgan+ moved to full-time, our operations manager increased her hours, and Ryan+ began to fundraise towards a salary for the part-time Curacy position. These were extra costs that, while unanticipated in the original budget, were an appropriate response to the growth of the church. We also began building a fund for health insurance reimbursement to prepare for the day that we have a full-time employee in need of health benefits.
Income
Our actual income comes from a few different streams:
The previous fiscal year extended from September 2021 through August 2022. As a result, the above categories do not reflect the fundraising that Fr. Ryan has done for the Curacy position. We exceeded our projected income in all three areas: personal support raising, the members/attenders, and grants. One encouragement is that whereas in 2021, our three streams of income were nearer to 30% each, the percentage of grant money has decreased, which means that we had major increases both in giving from support raising and from regular attenders and members. We would ideally like the number of grants we receive to taper down and this is an encouraging trend.
We are about 75% of the way to reaching our goal of avoiding deficit spending this year. We hope to raise another $20,000 which would allow us to retain our cash reserve as we continue to grow and build capacity for more sustainable ministry. Next year we will take over payroll and accounting, have our own vestry, and be in a new location that will allow for more people to be a part of this worshiping community. Your contributions help us get there. We even have a new way to give!
New Way to Give
Until now your gifts have come to Corpus Christi Anglican Church through the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Now that we have our own bank account you can begin to give directly to Corpus Christi Anglican Church. There are two steps to updating your gift: first, stop your previous recurring online gift through the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and second, set up a new recurring online gift with CCAC.
Step 1: Cancel your old gift
Click “Donate now” and log in.
On the upper right of the screen click the horizontal bars to open the menu options and click “Scheduled Gifts”
From there you can cancel your gift before setting up your new gift with CCAC.
Step 2: Set up your new gift
Designate a dollar amount, the fund, and the gift frequency. Select the "General Fund".
Provide your name and email address. Click “Continue”.
Provide your payment details.
Click the “Give [Amount] now” button to submit the payment. You’re all done!
Give by Check
If you give by check, you can now make your check payable to "Corpus Christi Anglican Church" and mail it to the following address:
Corpus Christi Anglican Church
5900 Barclay Dr. #150891
Alexandria, VA 22315
Looking Ahead
As we look ahead into 2023, we are looking forward to being in a new space and all the lives that will change in it. We are looking forward to the new Bishop being consecrated in February and then joining us the following week to confirm several of our regular attenders. After more people are confirmed or received we will have another membership Sunday and a vestry election after Easter. Our hope is to have our vestry in place before next summer. After we takeover payroll and have a vestry, then we will function organizationally independent from the Diocese — this is a real achievement as we look ahead in the future at becoming a "Congregation".
I'm excited for the ways that Fr. Ryan will develop student ministries and the ways that CGS and our student ministries will shape our kids.
It was a joy to watch our Formation Groups multiply in the Fall and I look forward to having more Formation Groups to offer during the week. As we grow numerically we'll continue to build capacity to offer more Formation Groups in more locations at more times. That means more participation in the body of Christ and more lives being transformed by the Gospel of grace.
Our goal is to raise an extra $20,000 by the end of the year. This would allow us to maintain a healthy reserve and begin saving towards a more permanent location in the future.
Ways to Pray
Please continue to pray for us this year as we move into our new space that it would be a smooth transition.
Please pray for outreach opportunities and eyes to see our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces as the spaces where the Holy Spirit is at work bringing people to Himself.
Please pray for generous people and churches to partner with us financially to sustain this work in the early stages of the church's formation.
Pray for protection for Morgan+ and the rest of the staff team and their families.
If you would like to know more about the church or specific ways to pray, please reach out and send an email to Morgan+. He would love to get in contact with you.