Church Planting in DOMA - Commands and Prophecy
by Clancy Nixon
We all know Jesus’ Great Commission to his followers from Matthew 28 – to “Go into all the world and make disciples of every nation….” Then there is the Apostle Paul’s admonition in 2 Timothy 2:2 – “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Notice the command to multiply leaders to the fourth generation – Paul, to Timothy, to the reliable people, to the others. Then, consider Paul’s admonition to Titus in his letter to him at Titus 1:5 – “… appoint elders in every town [in Crete], as I directed you.” Crete was known at the time as “the Island of a thousand towns,” so Titus’ call was to plant churches by appointing elders who would evangelize, teach and shepherd new converts.
These are the commands. Followers of Jesus make disciples that make disciples, and plant churches that plant churches. This never changes. It’s what we Anglicans have done, are doing, and will continue to do, till our Lord’s return.
Here is a prophecy. In the 1980’s, a prophetic word was given at Church of the Apostles in Fairfax that was considered so significant that it was printed up with other “abiding words” and put in the literature rack there. I read it in the early 1990’s, and it gripped me. It was a vision that a series of renewed, on-fire churches would be planted which would become a “Ring of Fire” around our nation’s capital. I was discerning a call to church planting at the time, and this word helped to propel my calling.
Martyn Minns, then rector of Truro, now retired bishop, hired me in 1998 to plant a new congregation. Not long before, Truro had planted Church of the Epiphany around 1980, and Christ the Redeemer in 1992. Truro had been planted by The Falls Church in the early 1800’s. I was very aware of being one person in a line of a great cloud of witnesses who made disciples by multiplying churches. By God’s grace, 8 families from Truro and two from Apostles came with us to plant Church of the Holy Spirit in Loudoun County in 2001. And by God’s grace, CHS sent out Darryl Fitzwater with ten families in 2018 to plant Church of the Ascension in Jefferson County, WV. In turn, Ascension recently raised up and sent out Mike Koppola to plant in his hometown of Dillsburg, PA, south of Harrisburg.
On February 25, Ginger, Darryl and I witnessed the Grand Opening of Christ the Redeemer Church in Dillsburg, and about 95 people attended! Many came in response to a postcard invite. Mike preached with passion; his daughter Abby led worship; and several students from nearby Messiah college attended. We all ate a full lunch after worship—something this church does every week! Everything was set up, then torn down, in a gym. Sounds familiar to those who have been part of a plant!
It was glorious.
It was inspiring, too, to see leaders being raised up to plant new churches in this great line of witnesses. It is the fulfillment of a long-held dream of mine to see a granddaughter church be planted during my tenure. We do all this in partnership with Bishop Chris, Canon Tuck, and all the people of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, who provide crucial funding and support. This ministry belongs to all of us.
Why do we do it? We do it in response to God’s commands to be faithful and multiply. We do it in response to our personal callings to be part of new congregations, often in response to prophetic words. And we do it to be part of a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before. “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us….” (Hebrews 12:1)+
The Rev. Clancy Nixon is the Rector at Church of the Holy Spirit in Leesburg, VA.
