Church of the Word (COTW), one of a handful of Northern Virginia churches embroiled in a four-year long lawsuit with The Episcopal Church (TEC), will retain its church property after an out-of-court settlement signed Monday, April 18, released it from the pending litigation.
The leadership of COTW, which is a multiracial congregation made up of predominantly young families, is relieved to have achieved their major goals of separating from TEC, retaining their property, and preserving their tradition of worship and ministry.
Church of the Word is one of a number of formerly Episcopal congregations that had severed ties with the denomination over matters of doctrinal drift and novel pastoral practices. Upon breaking away from the denomination in December 2006, TEC filed a lawsuit against eleven Northern Virginia churches in an attempt to keep them from retaining their property. Currently, the next phase of this litigation will continue for the remaining seven churches with the commencement of a late-April 2011 trial in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court.
COTW’s settlement allows it to keep its property, and now free of litigation, may concentrate on its vision, which is to ”˜Encounter and Share Jesus Christ’. It does, however, require that COTW sever its affiliation with the newly established Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) for a period of five years.
More to the story
http://churchoftheword.net/settlement_background.html
Thanks Mother Violet. Very interesting – so the Diocese of Virginia originally agreed to let the congregations depart with property if 70% of their members voted to leave. Then before the votes were even taken, the Diocese reneged on the deal and sued for everything!
And this congregation voted 96% to leave!
This quote is priceless:
[blockquote] “It is interesting to note that in 2010 TEC has been closing an average of 3 congregations per month and the new Anglican Church in North America has been planting 2 new congregations per week! Locally the Anglican District of Virginia has grown from 15 to 43 congregations in 4 years!” [/blockquote]
Amen.
This congregation will have to withdraw from ACNA for five years. Whatever. The important thing is that like other orthodox congregations it will grow, whilst liberal-tolerant congregations will wither and die. They can always join ACNA again later if they choose, and of course fellowship will not be inhibited.
What a colossal waste of TEC resources!
Looks like a good deal for TEC. TEC walks off with #2 Million in cash which it will use to pay for its legal battle with the other ACNA churches. The parish keeps its property which is already too small and hindered by access problems. Statmann
Sneaky-bastards-r-TEC.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matt 6:24
Well, in a case like this, TEC should be enjoined to NOT fund any lawsuits with the money that changes hands, but MUST use that money for building new churches since its a church and some income they are losing? .. Whadda ya think?
Grandmother
They ought to join the Anglican Mission – we are only officially ministry partners with ACNA as of now.
Fr Darin Lovelace
St Johns, Park City, Utah
http://www.stjohnsanglican.org
If TEC takes the $2 million and uses it to fund other lawsuits, then more fool it.
If MotherViolet’s reference is correct, that TEC is closing 3 congregations per month whereas ACNA is planting 2 per week (i.e 8-9 per month), then TEC can run all the law suits it likes, and it won’t help it in the long run.
This tactic is designed to undermine the ACNA, and Schori and Company haven’t denied it. It is their clear intent to do the same thing to every parish that left them, and it wouldn’t surprise me one iota if they tried to use the same tactic on the dioceses that left them…..especially ours, since we were the first to leave. It is a sneaky, dirty, and foul trick, and all it does is to give TEC what they [i]really[/i] want: The money.
A good deal for the Episcopal Church Who knows alone the church may attempt to rejoin the TEC in five years.
Perhaps there is more to a cliché that there more to a church than its building. Unlike Church of the Word, St Mathews Oregon had built and paid for the building. Yet when we decided to separate ourselves from the Episcopal Church, we as a congregation decided to leave the church property to those who wish to stay with the Episcopal Church. Like Church of the Word, we boldly preach properly and the full authority of Scripture, unlike Church of the Word we are part ACNA.
There is more to a Church that a building, I afraid Church of the Word does not realize it.
Cennydd,
I wonder how they think that will work? As I understand it, there aren’t that many ACNA congregations that fit into this category. None of the REC or APA congregations have any connection with TEC, nor have many of the CANA and AMiA congregations. Even in the four ex-TEC dioceses, some of their congregations are new plants. Plus 100-200 new congregations. So surely there is a lot of ACNA that is just untouchable by TEC?
I am just guessing, but perhaps TEC thinks that getting those four dioceses away from ACNA will somehow take the wind out of the sails of the whole organisation? It seems difficult to believe that it would – maybe in early 2009, right at the start. But these days one reads so many comments online from members of ACNA churches – it seems to be getting established in the hearts as well as the minds of its members…
[blockquote]Adams called the disaffiliation requirement “a failure to ‘respect the dignity of every human being,’ as the baptismal covenant says, and is certainly unchristian.†[/blockquote]
Exactly right. TEC puts great stock in the Baptismal Covenant, but breaks it at will. Of course, there is an old saying to the effect that you cannot expect redeemed behavior from unredeemed people.
I am not a Calvinist but where did the idea that human beings are dignified come from other than the 1979 BCP? Can anyone imagine what the “baprismal covenant” will be in future prayer books?
If this development has done anything at all, besides showing Schori’s true colors, it has alerted all of us and put us on guard against her. So, something good might actually come of this, after all. Still, she and her ilk have pulled some sneaky, dirty tricks.
6. And Grandmother, [i]I agree with you![/i]
What does disaffiliation entail? Not voting? Having to sit in the “disaffiliated” seats at the ACNA meetings and not get to eat any of the tasty treats reserved for full members? #7 also raises a good question – can they join the AMiA (which I think cooperates fairly well with the ACNA in the DC area, as does the PCA)?
Well, see, if ACNA has fewer and fewer churches, on what grounds can it call upon other provinces to recognize it during the next go around of the Instruments of Communion(tm)?
“This congregation will have to withdraw from ACNA for five years. Whatever.”
MichaelA, there’s a serious issue lurking below the surface here: Will the congregation (and any other congregation accepting a similar offer) want to be part of any form of Anglicanism in five years? I live in the same metro area as Church of the Word, and at most of our churches, the majority of parishioners have little knowledge of, concern for, or love for Anglicanism. People tend to go to churches (here and throughout the U.S.) largely based upon a local church’s programs; knowledge of what distinguishes different Christian groups, their strengths, and weaknesses is fairly minimal. There may not be antagonism to a particular denomination, but there is a lot of indifference. An additional danger is that the conflict seen within Anglicanism may cause people to want to leave it.
Ralph,
Its a fair question, and I don’t know the answer.
But I wonder does it really matter? ACNA is planting, what is it, two congregations per week at the moment? If Church of the Word loses contact with ACNA/AMiA, the odds are that one of those organisations will found a new congregation in the area anyway, at some time in the next 5-10 years.
I have difficulty seeing how a handful of individual arrangements like this can have a major impact at provincial or diocesan level on a denomination that appears to be planting so many churches.
It’s what Schori and her ilk would like, but I seriously doubt that it would have much impact at all. We’ll keep planting and growing, and TEC will keep on shrinking and dying.