Focused outward, Falls Church parish re-groups

Lay ministry highlights continuing community's growth

By Mary Frances Schjonberg January 14, 2009 [Episcopal News Service] – excerpts:

Just more than two years after the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia parish of the Falls Church split in a theological dispute, the remaining Episcopalians…are learning that a church is more than a building.

"You definitely feel the Holy Spirit moving through the place," said Matt Rhodes, who joined the parish with his wife and two young daughters about six months [ago]…. "There was a tremendous sense of fellowship" and "this overwhelming sense of vitality."

Members of the parish, who now average about 80 in attendance on Sunday, have pledged $250,000 for mission and ministry this year, according to priest-in-charge, the Rev. Michael Pipkin. Ten percent of that budget will go to work with local outreach agencies….

…"the driving focus," as Rhodes called it, is on outreach and how the parishioners can serve the wider community of Falls Church, Virginia.

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