Tuesday, January 09, 2007
From the Rector of The Falls Church
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Dear Friends,
I have just today learned that representatives of the Bishop of Virginia
have notified us that the diocese and the national church are no longer
interested in pursuing the friendly negotiations that we had agreed to
earlier and that we can expect them to pursue litigation for our property as
soon as the "30 day stand still " agreement expires (Jan 17). They have
reached this decision in spite of their earlier support of the "protocol"
for departing congregations and in spite of our preliminary meeting less
then two weeks ago with the "property committee" set up by Bishop Lee for
these negotiations. Apparently now he and the leaders of the Episcopal
Church have changed their mind.
For now I want you to be aware of this development and to know that I'll be
meeting with our vestry in a special session both to pray together and to
consider our next steps.
We have known all along that this could happen and over the last year, while
I have devoted myself fully to laying the ground work for an amicable
negotiated settlement, your vestry has been focused on preparing for this
very possibility even while persistently praying it would never come to
pass. All the other churches that have left already and several others still
in discernment about this are strongly committed to working together with
us, and we have the unusual provision of a team of lawyers who are both
extremely capable and unusually mature in Jesus Christ. Many of our wisest
people have been preparing for the whole range of possible contingencies for
quite some time.
So, although I am deeply disappointed that this decision has been made by
the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church, I am in no way fearful or
alarmed. Our aim all along has been to be as Jesus commanded us, to "be as
wise as serpents and as innocent as doves." If the diocese and the national
church do in fact pursue adversarial litigation against us over the
ownership of our property, we will vigorously and humbly defend our
responsibility (both to past and future generations) to be faithful stewards
for that which God has entrusted to us for His purposes.
However our church is not dependent upon buildings and grounds. These things
are important but they are incidental to being a church. The church is
people indwelt by God's spirit intent on faithfully following Christ who
leads us in truth and grace. The plans of God are always larger and greater
than our ability to grasp. The one thing in life that matters is to be
faithful to Him.
Recently however I have been pondering a much greater theme which is God's
faithfulness to us! We can always depend on God to faithfully care for us
whatever the circumstances, and the basis of His faithfulness is not our own
worthiness or wisdom but His love for us in Christ. "TheLord is faithful. He
will establish you and guard you." (2 Thessalonians 3:3). I beseech you to
set aside times alone and in your small groups to pray about this matter.
This event may cause additional sadness and pain to many, and we need to
continue to embody the love of Christ in our responses to those who may
disagree with us. We will continue to welcome and invite everyone to join us
in worship, and to invite those who may hear or believe negative things
about us to 'come, taste and see' for themselves. I believe the Lord may be
setting open a very wide door for us to share the wonderful love of Jesus
Christ to a hurting world. I look forward to worshiping our faithful Lord
together with you this Saturday night and Sunday.
In the family,
John
The Rev'd John Yates is Rector of The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia.
>From the Senior Warden of Truro Church
Dear members of the Truro family,
We have been informed today that the Diocese of Virginia intends to initiate
legal action against us upon the expiration of our "standstill agreement"
with them. We have also been informed that the national church intends to
participate in this legal action with them. They are apparently intending to
take this action despite the earlier assurances that we received from them
that they desired to settle our differences amicably, despite their earlier
support of the "protocol for departing congregations," and despite our
preliminary meeting less than two weeks ago with the "property committee"
set up by Bishop Lee for these negotiations.
We are greatly saddened by these actions by the Diocese of Virginia and the
national church, but it does not come as a complete surprise. In fact, we
have been preparing for this possibility even as we have prayed it would not
come to pass. We are strongly committed to working together with the other
churches that have taken this step with us, as well as those that are
currently in discernment about their future. Further, we are fortunate to
have a team of capable lawyers who are devoted Christians working with us.
With their counsel, we have prepared defenses against the whole range of
actions that we have anticipated the Episcopal Church may choose to initiate
against us.
Accordingly, although we are saddened by this development, we are in no way
fearful or alarmed. We are confident of the legal strength of our position,
but more importantly, we are confident in the moral and ethical strength of
our position. We know that our God is in control, and we are secure in the
assurance of His grace.
We are finalizing our legal response to these recent actions, and are in
constant contact with the leadership of all the other churches involved. We
have also issued a joint press release with The Falls Church which is
available on our website (click here). For now, we want you to be aware of
this development, and we ask for your prayers for Martyn, Truro's clergy and
staff, and your vestry during this crucial time. Just as important, I ask
your prayers for Bishop Lee, for the Diocese of Virginia, and for the
Episcopal Church.
Your brother in Christ,
Jim
Mr. Jim Oakes is Senior Warden of Truro Church, Fairfax, Virginia.
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