This is similar to our story at St. Andrew's in Vestal. After we left our buildings on Mirador Rd. we were and continue to be thankful to be worshiping and meeting at Memorial Park Baptist Church at 1013 Front St. We received altar items from two priests in a neighboring diocese. In addition to the generosity of these two priests, St. Andrew's Church in Scotia, NY donated our 1982 Hymnals. We are grateful to all those who helped us in this transition from the Episcopal Fraud and the DCNY to the biblically-minded Convocation of Anglicans in North America. ed.
Remain Faithful Organization Assists in Transition
News Analysis
By Mary Ann Mueller
VirtueOnline Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
2/19/2009
FORT WORTH, TEXAS --- Like a phoenix rising up from the ashes, All Saints Anglican Church is rising up from the carnage of All Saints Episcopal Church. 100 years from now, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the second foundation of All Saints Church will recount with pride how their church became a beacon of life and hope for others who also have had to re-establish their worship communities in the wake of the spiritual implosion of The Episcopal Church.
Following January's infamous annual parish meeting at All Saints Episcopal Church, 100 broken-hearted members severed fellowship with their rector, The Rev. Christopher Jambor. With heads held high, they were forced to leave behind the church that they, their parents and grandparents had sacrificed to found 50 years before.
Within a week, these devoted All Saints' members found an altar on which to celebrate Mass and give thanks for God's loving faithfulness and merciful providence towards them. Not one Sunday was lost before the All Saints' faithful were able to worship in a truly orthodox setting.
The altar they found is at Arlington Heights Christian Church -- a Disciples of Christ congregation -- in Fort Worth. So on the first day of February, the continuing All Saints Church family gathered with the Canon to the Ordinary, The Rev. Canon Charles Hough, III, and celebrated their orthodoxy, their commitment to the leadership of their bishop, The Rt. Rev, Jack Iker, and their desire to continue as conservative Episcopalians in the apostles' teachings and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers as outlined in the second chapter of Acts and lived out through their traditional Episcopal spirituality.
At Arlington Heights, they bask in God's love, protection, and unerring guidance that saw them through the spiritually murky waters, which have surrounded them for so long at their Crestline location. God has led them to cast off and re-found All Saints Church based upon revealed Biblical truths while steadfastly remaining loyal to their rich Anglican heritage and worship.
The All Saints' members have found much direction and support in Remain Faithful, an Arlington, Texas, - based organization of Orthodox Episcopalians standing for the historic faith under the leadership of fellow Texan Chad Bates.
"Remain Faithful board members Chuck Hornick, Christine Martin and Peggy Bruce helped forge their own orthodox within their parish [All Saints Episcopal Church - Fort Worth]," Bates e-mailed VOL. "David Robbins was also instrumental."
Bates proudly points to the fact that Remain Faithful cell groups are in more than 65 of the 100 Episcopal dioceses in the United States, as well as around the world. They have a membership of more than 1300 dedicated, committed, orthodox Episcopalians striving to maintain the faith once delivered unto the saints.
"Remain Faithful is a group of orthodox Episcopalians who believe the Bible to be the revealed Word of God which contains all things necessary for salvation as well as wisdom for Godly living," explains the Remain Faithful website. "We are comprised of and led by lay Episcopalians. We are committed to speak the truth in love, communicating clearly the position of faithful orthodox Episcopalians upholding the authority of Holy Scripture. We stand firm with the vast majority in the worldwide Anglican Communion in our commitment to serve our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to support orthodox Christian ideals and beliefs, and to spread the Good News of Jesus' gift of salvation to all."
Following the disastrous late January annual meeting, which resulted in the fracture of All Saints Parish, a call went out for support. The need was made known and in less than a week, the Remain Faithful board helped to garner support from many Episcopal churches within the on-going Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to rally around the spiritually re-energizing All Saints' membership. They were instrumental in helping to gather all the accruements needed to transform Arlington Heights Christian Church into a suitable Episcopal worship space.
Much was needed to alter an evangelical sanctuary into an appropriate Episcopal liturgical setting: altar linens and frontal with pulpit hangings, all in the proper liturgical color; a chalice and paten with chalice veil and burse; vestments and matching chasuble; torches and candles with candlesticks; lavabo bowl and towels; corporal and purificators; cruets and a credence table; altar book and stand; and of course, processional cross.
Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth churches that rallied behind All Saints with an outpouring of love and offering their fellow orthodox Episcopalians much needed liturgical items and material support include: St. Gregory's, Mansfield; Sts. Peter & Paul, Arlington; and Holy Comforter, Cleburne. Many other congregations quietly lent a hand providing cruets, purificators, prayer books, vestments, and of course, sustaining prayer.
The Rev. Michael Fielding, Arlington Heights' senior pastor, has watched with wonder, amazement and admiration at the tenacity and resilience of his new "nesters." He is very pleased to share worship space with his latest nesters and his second All Saints' congregation.
"I have never met a group of people so grateful," Pastor Fielding told VOL. "They are like the Egyptians wandering in the desert."
Arlington Heights Christian Church has opened their arms, hearts and doors not only to the disenfranchised All Saints Episcopal congregation, but also to All Saints Presbyterian Church. Both All Saints' groups are "nesting" at the Disciples of Christ Church until each can resolve their own building issues.
For the Presbyterians, their land issues will be handily solved either by building a church or buying an existing edifice. Unfortunately, for the displaced Episcopal nesters, their building problems will, in all likelihood, be solved in a court of law as both All Saints Episcopal congregations lay claim to the historic parish church on Crestline Road.
Fr. Jambor and his current All Saints vestry, under the direction of the North Texas Episcopalians Steering Committee, has steadfastly refused to implement the Episcopal Diocese of Forth Worth's Canon 32, which would guarantee the safe passage of his congregation back into the embrace of The Episcopal Church. This would be done with Bishop Iker's prayerful blessing.
Other Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth parishes have taken advantage of Canon 32. Their church holdings have been or will soon be transferred back to TEC. These churches include respectively: Trinity, Fort Worth and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Southlake as well as St. Christopher's, Fort Worth and St. Luke's, Stephenville.
Recently, Fr. Jambor was host to TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as she came to help establish a new north Texas Episcopal diocese. Last November, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, which is still under the spiritual care of Bishop Iker, seceded from TEC and realigned to the more spiritually conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
Meanwhile, All Saints Episcopal Church has been fatally fractured. Fr. Jambor and his loyal TEC flock are tenaciously clinging to the Crestline Road property while former members are seeking to put their spiritual lives back together with the ecumenical embrace they have found at Arlington Heights Christian Church. Unfortunately, the final outcome of the All Saints saga will neither come easily nor without more spiritual pain and emotional suffering.
"We have a great resource that God has given us," explained Pastor Fielding about the size, shape and diversity of his Disciples of Christ church building and grounds. "Now we have two congregations nesting with us."
Sunday mornings can get a little creative at the Arlington Heights church. First the sanctuary is converted into an Episcopal worship setting. The All Saints Episcopal sojourners have prayed, worshipped and worked together for so many years at their Crestline Road location that they just naturally transform the Bryce Avenue Disciples of Christ chancel into a structured liturgical milieu with the finesse and ease borne from familiarity and their desire to worship God with the faith once delivered unto the Saints.
When everything is in place -- the altar is properly draped, the chalice is in place and veiled, the candles are lit, the ribbons are appropriately arranged in the lectionary, and the processional cross is assembled - the nine o'clock Mass begins.
Currently, the Rev. William O'Connell is serving All Saints as an interim priest while the reorganizing congregation gets its spiritual feet firmly established. The priest has also ministered at St. Luke-in-the-Meadow and St. Gregory's Episcopal churches. Already, about 100 All Saints parishioners have spiritually relocated and have worshipped together several times in their temporary setting. The Bryce Avenue All Saints group has already formed the nuclei for the various guilds, organizations and the leadership needed to get the continuing congregation off the ground and running smoothly.
Suzanne Gill, director of communications for the on-going Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, explained All Saints current situation: "The status of the All Saints' Anglican group is not yet decided," she e-mailed. "For now, they are meeting at another church. Because the [All Saints Episcopal] parish still is a part of the diocese, they [All Saints Anglican] cannot be a mission or a parish separately. What is clear is that they do not want to worship in the church building on Crestline at the present. They did hold a meeting this week [early February] so that ministries such as Altar Guild could be organized, to make preparations for weekly worship easier. Circumstances will determine just how long this arrangement will last."
Immediately following All Saints' Sunday morning Mass, the scurry begins again. It is time to restore Arlington Heights Christian Church into a Disciples of Christ worship space. The altar is stripped. A greenery and floral centerpiece is carefully placed where just moments before a draped chalice stood. The candles, lectionary, rolled altar cloth and folded linens are carefully packed away. The processional cross is painstakingly disassembled. Watchful eyes scan every nook and cranny to make sure nothing is left behind.
It is time for the Disciples of Christ congregation to hold a 10:50 a.m. worship service. At the same which time, the All Saints members gather in the undercroft for their coffee hour fellowship.
About noon, another switch takes place. This time, it is the All Saints Presbyterians who descend on Arlington Heights Church and again rearrange the sanctuary to suit a Presbyterian worship style. All Saints Presbyterian Church has been nesting at the Fort Worth Disciples of Christ church since last summer. The Presbyterians hold their Sunday worship service at one o'clock in the afternoon.
Pastor Fielding's Presbyterian nesters are a new mission church started by a Reformed Presbyterian congregation that is an out reach of Grace Covenant Church in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Through it all, Pastor Fielding takes the constant rearranging of his church furniture and the juggling of congregational service schedules and coffee hours in stride. The Disciples of Christ cleric freely admits that it is the Episcopalians who make the most adaptations to the sanctuary when it comes to transforming his.
"We need to change the name of our church to All Saints," quipped Arlington Heights church secretary Charlotte Ray. "Then I could just answer the phone 'All Saints Church ... which denomination do you want?'"
---Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline
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