CHS was founded in 2001 as a mission of Truro Church of Fairfax. CHS does not own any land or buildings. As a result of this realignment, Truro Church will receive the assets of CHS.

Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican) is loyal to the traditional life-giving teachings of the Bible and the Anglican Communion. It is a "Three Streams, One River" church, meaning that it is evangelical, charismatic, and sacramental.

"We believe in what the Church has always taught, so we have learned how God's love changes us to be more like Jesus. However, ECUSA's leadership is endorsing an expanding array of non-Christian beliefs and behaviors. ECUSA leaders have been given ample opportunities through many reasoned pleas to repent, both privately and publicly, but they have not. Our consciences have compelled us to seek spiritual oversight from an orthodox Anglican Province," said Ron Doucette, a lay leader at CHS.

"In a world where moral standards are declining, I'm delighted that our church stands for Biblical truth and provides a safe place where I know that my children and teenagers will receive a consistent message to live holy lives," said Kathy Henry, mother of four.

"This change is motivated by our longing to be faithful to our Church's mission to make disciples of Christ," said The Rev. Clancy Nixon, the founding pastor of CHS. "While we are grateful for our years of shared ministry in the Diocese of Virginia, we at CHS cannot 'get on with common mission in the Diocese of Virginia,' as Bishop Lee has suggested.

CHS and most ECUSA leaders hold fundamentally different ideas of what the mission of the Church is. Some say the mission is to accept everyone just as they are, and we agree; but we also say that Jesus loves us too much to leave us as we are. The core teachings at issue are: who Jesus really is; the authority of the Bible; and discipline in the Church. We believe that Jesus is the Lord who changes us radically, that His revelation to us is reliable and authoritative, and that church leaders must be held to Biblical standards (see, e.g., 2 Timothy 3:1-4:5).

Those gospel messages were undermined by our former affiliation, and are reinforced by our new affiliation. "

"We at Church of the Holy Spirit look forward to moving beyond these issues so we can concentrate on our mission: We love Jesus. We love our neighbors. We make disciples who make disciples. We plant churches that plant churches. We continue to link arms with our friends in the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in America and with all who uphold the historic Christian faith. True Unity in Christ begins with agreement on the essentials of the faith," concluded Pastor Nixon.

Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican) will continue to hold Sunday worship services at 10:00am at Mill Run Elementary School in the Broadlands development of Ashburn. CHS looks forward to "On This Rock," its upcoming capital campaign to secure its first permanent home in the community.

For more information on Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican), go to its new website, www.holyspiritanglican.org.

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