Mrs. Simpson was one of a number of people from her church that attended a January conference in Birmingham featuring some of the top global leaders of the Anglican Church, including the Archbishop of Rwanda. And that meeting, sponsored by the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) was an important step in the congregation's long journey.

After 125 years Grace Episcopal Church is leaving its denomination, the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and making some tough decisions about its future in an era when the Episcopal denomination continues its decline and departure from historic orthodoxy.

Grace is just one of many congregations coming to view its future in terms of institutional loyalty versus gospel faithfulness. In October the members of this north Florida church declared their independence and recently affirmed their decision to join with the Anglican Church of Rwanda.

The Rev. Dr. Sam Pascoe, Rector at Grace for over 20 years, has led the church through an important season of growth. "We were the third largest church in the diocese before all of this," declared the Rev. Pascoe. "Now the diocese is imploding and a number of churches have left. There are more to come, I'm sure. But we needed as a church to be in a place where we could worship and focus on mission, not church politics."

The problems have been coming for a long time, especially as the national church has adopted positions contrary to Scripture and the mind of the rest of the 77 million member global Anglican Communion. Over the last thirty years ECUSA has lost over a third of its membership due to its crisis of faith and leadership.

In the Global South--places like Africa, Asia and South America-- the Anglican Church is rapidly expanding as it focuses on evangelism and personal and community transformation. As Archbishop Yong of SE Asia has simply stated, "The growing churches are those churches that preach Jesus Christ."

The Rev. Sam Pascoe heartily agrees, and points to the efforts made to do just that in the context of his former denomination. "Under Bishop Jecko we had a strong orthodox diocese. We saw ourselves like (the Diocese of) Pittsburgh. We felt we had a good shot at keeping the diocese connected to the rest of the Communion, even as ECUSA was collapsing," stated Pascoe.

But the arrival of a heavy-handed new bishop in 2004 challenged that hope. Early on Bishop John Howard refused to recognize the credentials of Grace's Associate Pastor who had been ordained through Rwanda, even though Bishop Jecko had endorsed the arrangement. Furthermore, his unwillingness to distance the diocese from the national church and its revisionist actions has already led 8 churches to leave, and a dozen more may be in the wings, ready to jump.

Janie Simpson, who served as Senior Warden at Grace Episcopal, says the time is right. "I do have to deal with some of the 'junk' circling around this controversy, but more importantly I want to see people focused on where we're going, and not where we've been. There's energy around the future," she affirmed.

The congregation, which averages around 530 on a Sunday, will vacate its current property by Easter Sunday and not fight the denomination's claim to ownership. While a few people may stay behind to attend services provided by the diocese, it's not likely to be many.

According to Rev. Pascoe, church leaders have been giving the members an option, over the last several months, of where to place their offerings, either 'Old Grace Church' or 'New Grace Church'.

"More than 90% has been designated by the people for this new opportunity,' states Pascoe. "There is a sense of excitement and adventure in the congregation right now. Families who have been here for generations, those who literally built the church are leading the charge," he added.

Grace Church will come into partnership with a missionary movement in the United States, under the Anglican Church of Rwanda, that is planting a new church every three weeks.

The Anglican Mission in America initiates church plants, responds to requests for organizing new churches, and receives established congregations where there is a commitment to mission. Bishop TJ Johnston of the AMiA will serve as Bishop to Grace Church in his role as a Missionary Bishop of the Province of Rwanda. "Grace Church brings a tremendous resource in both worship and mission.

Along with two other congregations that have been planted already through Grace Church, there can be real focused outreach to the greater Jacksonville area," offers Bishop Johnston. "Also, Sam brings a depth of theological and critical skills that will help us immeasurably at a time when we need to be thinking strategically and theologically about this new day of Anglican mission in the United States."

The Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, provides his oversight to several missionary expressions in North America, each with their own distinctives. He and Archbishop Yong formed the Anglican Mission in America as a church planting and missionary movement that now numbers almost 90 churches.

The Anglican Coalition in Canada is moving forward north of the border, serving as a network of the Anglican Mission there. And Grace Church, which has an ordained female priest on staff, will be in full relationship to Rwanda, although the AMiA elected several years ago to ordain women as deacons, but not as 'priests', or 'presbyters'. The details of this alliance, or partnership, all under the Anglican Church of Rwanda and Archbishop Kolini, are still being worked out.

For the Rev. Sam Pascoe and members of Grace Church, this is about leadership and call. "A lot of this attraction to Rwanda has to do with Archbishop Kolini. He was willing to step out when no one else was stepping out," offers Pascoe. "Now, there are others who see the necessity of that, but in my mind it was Archbishop Kolini that made all of this possible. I've long admired the Anglican Mission leadership. I want to be where they are."

Lay leader Simpson said that it was the Anglican Mission's recent Winter Conference in Birmingham that helped her to work through concerns. "Rwanda is a long way away, but the AMiA brings that close. As a life-long Episcopalian, I want to be part of something organized like this, still connected to the Anglican world, and not an independent church," she stated. "At the Winter Conference I saw for the first time that we are part of a bigger thing that is happening in the Anglican Communion."

The congregation is currently working out details of leaving its long-time home and leasing new worship facilities, and there are many unknowns. But for the Rev. Sam Pascoe, they're on the proper path, "There is a great sense of excitement and adventure. It's the right step." www.graceanglicanchurch.org

--Jay Greener is Communications Director for the Anglican Mission in America. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.