Summary

What a year! This year more than any other felt like the church is really growing into a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation. It was a year of growth and change. We began the year changing worship locations as we moved from worshiping at the Springfield United Methodist Church to the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Then we ended the year moving rooms (from the preschool to the upstairs fellowship hall) in the new location because we outgrew the preschool space we had been worshiping in. That is a major theme of this year. It has been a year of growth and change: we have had three worship locations in one year, we have a new bishop, we had staff transition, we said goodbye to people moving away, and we welcomed in new members.

Here are some of the discipleship highlights: We baptized and confirmed several people this year and we had a confirmation class this fall with several more people waiting to be confirmed. We had several Formation Groups over the course of the year where people had the opportunity to eat and pray together in one another's homes. Our men's ministry has also been a great space for intergenerational discipleship. One of those men's breakfasts included a house blessing. We had several people that asked for house blessings this year. We began a new monthly outreach service where we lead a Eucharist at Garden Ridge, a part of Greenspring Senior Living, in Springfield, VA. We have prayed for opportunities to minister to our neighbors there and God has given us a great opportunity to do that.

On the corporate/administrative side, last year at this time we began receiving donations ourselves rather than through the Diocese. This year we elected our first vestry and took over payroll processing. These were the final two pieces that we needed to do in order to be completely independent of diocesan administrative support. That is an exciting step towards becoming a congregation.

We are getting closer to financial independence, but we are not there yet. We still rely on a mixture of outside supporters and grants to pay for our operating costs (which is very typical for a church plant). God has continually provided what we need to continue to work of this ministry and I know He will do the same next year. Thank you for partnering with this ministry. Your gifts allow us to continue to grow, both into a new space, and to staff the church according to the growth we are experiencing. Keep reading for more details (and for some great pictures. If you would like to make a special gift for the end of the year or start an ongoing gift, click the "give now" button below.

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Life before 2023

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It is always helpful to remember how this church began. In March 2020 we held our first interest meeting. The whole state of Virginia shut down because of the pandemic. Ashley and I (Morgan+) were new parents with a one-month-old, and I was raising support for this new church. The interest meeting, which was originally envisioned as an in-person gathering, became a zoom call.

Eventually we did meet in person. There were about 6-10 of us interested in this church plant idea, only two of those lived in the target region, and we did not have a parent church to support us (though some churches felt led to partner with us). The diocese also gave us money and back office support. We began meeting in person by the summer of 2020 and had an outdoor Eucharist service at Lake Accotink in August 2020. In September 2020 the Bishop commissioned us for the work of planting Corpus Christi Anglican Church (then called "The Franconia-Springfield Mission". We met monthly for Eucharist until April 2021 where we began to meet in our backyard for weekly morning prayer along with Eucharist once per month.

In June 2021 we began meeting for weekly Eucharist at Green Spring Gardens. If I were to pinpoint what our "launch date" would be, it would be June 6, 2021 (the Sunday after the Feast of Corpus Christi). We had about 15-20 people at that point who called this their church. As we prayed about beginning Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we knew we needed a new space. After a long search, God provided space for us at the Springfield United Methodist Church. We were able to use the chapel, have two classrooms, and an office. By the end of 2022, our average Sunday attendance was approaching 40, but the chapel could only hold 50, so we had to find a new space.

After another space search, God connected us with our friends at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. They kindly allowed us to rent a multi-purpose room, a few classrooms, and an office. The space was slightly larger, but as you'll read about below, we outgrew that space too! God is providing for this church. I get excited reading about the baptisms, confirmations, seeing pictures of people getting to know each other in Formation Groups, and hearing people talk about the ways that "their church" (i.e., CCAC) has been a place of healing for them.

You'll read below about our sacramental and worship life, along with the programs that facilitate discipleship. All of these things are working together to develop a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation.

Discipleship and Worship

Baptisms AND Confirmations

Baptisms

The year began with baptism. Two of the boys in our church were baptized on the first day of the new year. Then at the end of that month (in the new location), one of the men in our church was baptized. These households have been such a blessing to this church. One of the families at CCAC had a baby this year and we baptized her in late September.

Next year as we think about baptism, I have been praying for a few specific things. First, I am praying for more adult baptisms. I am encouraging our church to meet their neighbors and we are building in more opportunities next year to reach out to our friends and neighbors with the love of Christ. Second, I am praying for more babies in the church. We had a season with lots of babies and those babies are all 3+ now and in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS). I'm praying that God brings families with new babies to become part of the church.

Confirmations

This year we said goodbye to our beloved previous Bishop, John Guernsey, and his wife, the Rev. Meg Guernsey. That same month I ended my time of being on the Bishop Nominations Committee, which was the committee that selected the candidates for the Bishop election. The Diocese elected the Rev. (now Bishop) Chris Warner to be the next Bishop of our Diocese. He was consecrated a Bishop in February and the very next week he and his wife, Catherine, joined us for worship.

When our Bishop came to visit, we spent the whole weekend together hearing testimonies and sharing God's stories of grace with one another. He confirmed or received several people that day and we had over 70 people come for worship. It was a beautiful service, but the space can only hold about 75, so as he was leaving the Bishop lovingly reminded me that we have outgrown our space. He was right!

Membership

In April we had another membership Sunday where several people joined the church that had gone through the confirmation process and been confirmed or received. Between May and July, two of our households moved out of state and we said a tearful goodbye to dear friends, praying for them as they go and do God's kingdom work elsewhere. That is one of the challenges and opportunities of ministering in the DC Metro area: people move a lot! We get to send people out to do God's work elsewhere, but this means that for the church to grow, we always need to have about 15-20 new people per year become part of the church in order to show numerical growth over time. We are always grateful to be a part of peoples' stories, no matter how long they are here. One of the households we recently sent out was a military chaplain and his family. He has now been able to start a service on the base where he is currently stationed out of state. His time at CCAC was invaluable as he is figuring out how to begin a service on his base. I love that we are still able to help them even though they aren't present with us.

As we look ahead, we will have another membership Sunday in the new year. We had several more people in our confirmation class in the Fall and these will hopefully also do the new members' class as well. The Bishop will visit us again next October and we are looking forward to his visit.

Formation Groups

One of the joys and privileges I had this year was to celebrate several house blessings for people at CCAC. The homes we spend most of our time in are places that God uses to shape us and to do his kingdom work. I love the ways that folks at CCAC view their homes as spaces for God's kingdom work.

Each year we have three rounds of Formation Groups in peoples' homes, where a group will eat together weekly, study the Scriptures, and pray for one another. This is a place where the table is extended so that strangers become the family of God together.

This year, because of our move, we had to change the Formation Group schedule slightly. During the month of January we held Compline virtually. In the following months we held two weeknight Formation Groups and then during Lent we did a book study together of Martin Thornton, The Purple Headed Mountain. During Eastertide we held another round of Formation Groups. These are well attended. More than half of the adults at CCAC are involved in a Formation Group and we hope to increase the percentage with more groups and increased lay leadership. After the Formation Groups ended in June we did another book study. We read and discussed the Rev. Tish Warren, The Liturgy of the Ordinary. It was a great space to talk about the ways that liturgy connects to the way we live.

In September, we kicked off the next round of Formation Groups. Both groups met on a weeknight and one was completely lay-led. One group met in the Springfield/Burke area and the other one met in the Kingstowne/Franconia area. It was amazing to see people using their gifts of hospitality and leadership in both groups. For the first time I felt as though we had successfully multiplied sustainable groups. My prayer is for more sustainable groups in the future and for increased lay-leadership of these groups. The Formation Groups really drive so much of the culture of CCAC outside the Eucharist itself.

This Fall we also held a confirmation class on Sundays after the service. This gave us 8 weeks to delve deeply into material that we cannot normally go into during a normal Formation Group. I led a few of the weeks, but for the first time, almost the entire confirmation class was taught be very capable lay-members of CCAC.

Men’s and Women’s Ministries

In February 2023 we relaunched our men's ministry. When we originally tried to start gathering, there were less than 10 men in the whole church and it was always difficult to try to coordinate schedules. We now have more than 20 men in the church. The men's ministry is growing. It meets on the first Saturday of every month where we often eat together, share a testimony, and pray for one another. In May we had a breakfast and house blessing for one of the men. Some months we invite the kids and have an intergenerational ministry opportunity that may include service to the community or a fun activity like a hike. This has been a great opportunity for the men to grow together and for the kids to learn from their fathers about our need for prayer and fellowship.

The women's ministry is gaining traction over the last year. There have been some gathering events (painting and advent wreath making). We hope to increase the women's ministry opportunities in the next year so that women can gather more frequently for fun, fellowship, and prayer.

Youth Ministry

When we moved into the new location we relaunched the youth ministry on Sundays after the service. This continued until May when we took a break for summer. In September, I began to oversee the youth ministry and it has been really amazing to see the kids grow and for other adults to get involved. I am grateful to the 6 other adults who are investing in students ages 9-15. It is a blessing to work alongside them to make disciples of the next generation.

In October we launched the new form of the youth ministry. On the first and third Sundays after the service the students have pizza and a game, we talk through an aspect of the Eucharist liturgy and how it connects to daily life, then one of the older students leads us in midday prayer. This is our liturgical formation piece of youth ministry. Sometimes this also doubles as acolyte training. Beginning next year we aim to have dinners once per month for the boys and once per month for the girls where the students watch a video about the Scriptures and discuss the Scriptures together. Our goal with those dinners is to increase biblical literacy in the students. Finally (as is pictured above with laser tag), we will have a once-per-month fun gathering. The youth are encouraged to bring their friends on those nights.

We will continue this pattern in the new year. Biblical literacy, liturgical formation, and relationship building (and opportunities for invitation) are the building blocks of the youth ministry. Our hope is to meet the discipleship needs of the students we have while also inviting others into this ministry so that we can build core group on which to build a thriving youth ministry.

Special Services

Lent, Holy Week, Easter

In February we entered Lent with our first Shrove Tuesday, which one of our member-households hosted at their home. We painted rocks with "alleluia" which we buried for Lent, we ate pancakes, and we burned the palms from last year's Palm Sunday. I taught the kids how to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. The whole evening was a beautiful opportunity to highlight the beginning of Lent as we walk with Jesus on his journey to the cross. The next day we held Ash Wednesday which we tried in the evening for the first time and it was very well attended.

At the conclusion of Lent we entered Holy Week. The Passion Reading during Palm Sunday was done in a dramatic fashion by a group of voices and was a memorable way to begin the week. This year was the first year that we were able to put on all of the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil) ourselves as a church.

We had a beautiful Maundy Thursday service, complete with foot-washing which ended with the stripping of the altar accompanied by the reading of Psalm 22. For Good Friday, we invited our friends from Christ the Saviour Anglican Church in Mount Vernon to join us and it was our first time at CCAC to celebrate Good Friday from the service in the Book of Common Prayer. Finally, we held the Great Vigil of Easter which began outside by lighting the Paschal Candle in a freshly kindled fire and ended with the celebration of our Lord's resurrection. One of our members mentioned that this felt like the first time that CCAC felt like a church with its own deep sense of identity. This church has been forming itself in love, in fellowship, and in worship over the last several years and there was something profound about celebrating Holy Week together that brought everything into cohesion. We really are becoming a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation.

After the Easter service on Sunday morning we held our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Not only was it fun, but two neighbors found the event on Facebook and showed up for it!

Outdoor Worship — Pentecost and the Fall Retreat

In May we held an outdoor Pentecost service! Several years ago we did one outside and it was 95ºF. I'm so glad it was cooler this time! Having an outdoor service gave us a great opportunity to be a visible presence in the neighborhood (we had a few visitors that day too!). After the service we held our first ever vestry election and had a cookout. It was a fun day and we decided that next year we will try to do another outdoor Pentecost service.

In September we had our first ever Fall Retreat. We camped at Pohick Bay Regional Park, spent all day Saturday relaxing together and doing outdoor activities, and finished up Sunday morning with an outdoor Eucharist service. The service almost got rained out, but thanks be to God, the rain let up so that we could eat together after the service. It was such a great weekend of prayer and relaxation as people in the church grew closer together and shared stories. We are hoping to do another Fall Retreat in 2024, but this time in a lodge!

New Worship Spaces

We have come a long way since the days where I had to pack up everything in my car each week to set up worship at Lake Accotink! The year began at the Springfield United Methodist Church chapel. On the 15th of January, following the service, we packed everything up into a moving truck and had a vehicular "procession of the holy hardware" to our new worship location at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church (about 3 miles west). We put everything in storage, ate Peruvian chicken, and gave God thanks for the provision of a new space.

We had our first service in the pre-school indoor playroom at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on January 22 and it was well attended. From the first day we arrived I knew we had outgrown the space, so I started praying and we stayed put for the time being. We began to average 50 people in a room that could barely hold 75.

Prince of Peace has been a wonderful church to do ministry alongside. They have been so generous with us to allow us to have nursery space, room for an atrium for CGS, a youth room to use, and even an office for me to rent during the week. They have been incredible hosts and we are so grateful to God to grow as a young church alongside an established, healthy church from a different tradition. Despite saying goodbye to about 15 people over the summer, there are still at least 70 people that would call CCAC their church home. That is really incredible and meant that we'd truly outgrown the indoor playroom if we were to grow to become more sustainable.

The vestry decided it was time to begin looking for a new space, but when we mentioned this to Prince of Peace, they kindly offered us a larger space (the fellowship hall) upstairs. It was such an answer to prayer! The new fellowship hall can hold well over 200 people so we have plenty of room to grow. Finding space is such a major hurdle to planting a church. It is amazing the way that God has provided and allowed us a space to grow in so that we can become a sustainable church. Of course it is a goal to own our own space down the road, but having the fellowship hall allows us to grow in the right ways before we discern purchasing a building.

Music and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Music

Over the course of the year Andrew has done a wonderful job helping the church worship in song. He has created a Spotify playlist that allows people to listen to our liturgical music and introduces them to the songs we will sing. He has trained up others to lead from within the congregation. God has finally provided more musicians in the congregation.

Andrew has the desire to step back from leading music sometime in the next year (not to leave the church, just to step back from leading music) since he has a full time job outside the church.We want to find someone to build on the great foundation Andrew has laid. We have posted a new position and we are looking to hire someone to become our new Worship Music and Church Life Associate.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Each week there are about 10-15 kids, ages 3-8, in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. Ashley has done an excellent job building a level 1 atrium for the kids. There is a regular rhythm of assistants and new people are continually being trained. We currently have 5 people being trained to be catechists so that we can have a regular rotation of leaders. Moving to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church meant that we had to do a full setup and tear down of the atrium each week. We found a rolling cabinet and Ashley has streamlined the process of setup.

CGS operates on the church calendar and promotes opportunities for children to learn about God and their role in Church in a special place called the Atrium. The curriculum operates in 3 Levels with each Level including a 3-year cycle. The lessons between the cycle and the levels all build upon each other. It is a joy to witness the children imagine and ponder about the various stories in Scripture or work with various materials that we use in eucharist service, sometimes on their own.

Ashley is undergoing Level 2 training with the goal that we can offer a Level 2 atrium by Fall 2024. With an incoming group of 4 lead Catechists for the Fall, it will enable for more leaders to engage with our children ages 3-5 in Level 1. This allows Ashley to focus on our children ages 6-9 for level 2.

This summer, a goal will be to work on the materials needed for Level 2 which is also an opportunity for the church to get involved in wood working, painting, cutting paper items, or pasting/laminating work.

Ashley is grateful to have another lead assistant with Rebecca Elmore, who completed her training this year. She did her first set up and led a lesson this fall. In addition to Rebecca, five others have boldly stepped up to undergo training for Level 1. Having additional members undergo training will further help our children have capable and meaningful catechists.

Outreach and Hospitality

Back in May we were given the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist on the first Wednesday of every month at Garden Ridge, one of the parts of Greenspring Senior Living. It has been such a joy to celebrate Christ with many who cannot get to a church on Sundays. I also got to bring our summer intern along for the opportunity to preach there.

We are still praying about ways to reach our neighbors. We did a prayer walk around the neighborhood near the church. We held a fun night at Laurel Hill Central Green in Lorton, VA during the summer. We had a pool day in Springfield and attended a Nat's game as a church this summer. We also went to a farm together in October. These events create opportunities for relationship and they create low-bar-of-entry opportunities to bring friends and neighbors into the church community. I had a fire pit outside our house this Halloween and had several of our neighbors join us for s'mores and dinner. This coming year we are looking forward to creating ways for people to get to know their neighbors and build relationships where they can share the love of Christ.

In October we signed up to help with Food for Neighbors, filling bags with food to donate to local families in need. We also collected toys and books to give to households in need at Fort Belvoir for Operation Sugarplum. One of the opportunities we are looking forward to is cooking dinner on New Year's Eve for about 40 people experiencing housing insecurity.

Staff and Vestry

This year we elected our first vestry (vestry). It was a very exciting step of growth for the church. I wrote up a document of what the vestry and how to discern if God is calling one to that position. We took nominations from the members, chose a slate of candidates, and the members of the church voted in the first vestry which replaced my original board. The vestry passed its first budget over the summer. This is a major step towards becoming a full congregation. I call them a mission vestry now because in our tradition, Missions technically are governed by the Diocesan Standing Committee (and the Bishop). Our Mission Vestry will be a true vestry once we are voted in as a congregation. In any case, it is still the legal board of the church.

Also during the month of May we hired Justin Gonzalez to be our summer intern. He did a wonderful job over the course of the 10 weeks that he worked for us. He preached, led a book study, led music, and participated in the worship life of the community. He wrote a reflection on his time here if you would like to read more.

In September we sent out the Bettwys with prayer and blessing as Fr. Ryan's Curacy ended with CCAC.

In November the vestry held its first retreat at the beautiful Christ Church Accokeek, one of our sister churches in the Diocese (though one that is 300+ years older than we are). The vestry had an extended time of prayer to pray for the whole congregation, each person by name. We broke break with the Rector and vestry of Christ Church Accokeek, then we continued with a meeting to discuss the business of church life. It has been a year of transitions as we put the pieces in place to grow well.

Financial Update

I am so happy to be done with the days where I'm trying to plant a church by leading morning prayer from my computer in my basement. God is doing an amazing thing in this church. We became a Mission of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic back in 2021 after we started weekly Eucharist in June 2021. In the Fall of 2022 we incorporated and opened our own bank account. In December 2022 we began to use Planning Center Online for donations so that we could keep track of our giving directly. In March 2023 we took over the payroll processing. After electing our mission vestry in May, we have successfully come out from the Memorandum of Understanding that connected us administratively to the Diocese. That is a huge success as we move to independence as a church on the way to becoming a Congregation of the Diocese. We continue to give 5.1% of our net income to the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic (DOMA) general fund and 5% of our net income to the DOMA church planting fund to support the future work of our Diocese.

It is amazing what had to happen to get this far. We had to write all our own documents (e.g., bylaws, chart of accounts, employee handbook, internal accounting controls), we had to raise enough funds to have one full-time and multiple part-time staff (not to mention to pay rent), we had to prayerfully reach out to our neighbors and friends, open our homes to greet strangers, make all the supplies for kids ministry, etc. There is a lot that goes into this work and God is blessing this work.

FY 2022-2023

We have hit every canonical mark of becoming a congregation except for financial independence (and we are getting close there too). Our fiscal year normally runs from September-August and in FY 2022-2023 we hit our financial goal with roughly a $20,000 surplus. Even though we hit a surplus, that surplus came because of generous outside support: 40% of our giving came from those within the church, approximately 17% came from grants, and about 43% came from my personal outside fundraising support. We ended the FY 2022-2023 with a strong cash reserve, which was helpful as we prayed about what the next space would be for us.

FY 2023-2024

We only have one quarter of data for this fiscal year, but thus far we are running a slight deficit because of some unanticipated payroll and bookkeeping expenses, and December will be an expensive month because of moving into the new space. We hope to be in our new space for at least three years, so the vestry decided to draw on our cash reserves to make the new space beautiful (painting, installing a screen and projector, buying pipe and drape, etc.). For our income thus far, about 21% has come from one-time grants, about 19% has come from outside support, and about 60% has come from inside the church. That is a very encouraging trend as it indicates generosity and growth within the congregation.

We are forecasting this fiscal year that we will run a deficit. We can make up this deficit with our reserves, but it would be better to continue with a healthy reserve, especially as we continue to look for property. We also hope to hire more staff to address the growing needs of the congregation.Your gift is a huge help towards closing the deficit so that we end the fiscal year well. Would you please consider a special end-of-year gift? And as you look at budgeting next year, please consider supporting Corpus Christi Anglican Church with an ongoing monthly gift. Your gift goes a long way to continue the work of discipleship and mission at Corpus Christi Anglican Church.

Thank you for considering a special gift and for praying for God's kingdom work to be done at this church. It is a joy to partner with you in this ministry! You can give through our website by clicking the "Give Now" button below.