Does Closing Mean Revitalization Failed?

by Renée Beyea

COVID hit churches hard, especially family-sized congregations with slim margins in attendance. Add the unplanned departure of a popular rector and Christ the Saviour was forced to begin a pastoral search under strained circumstances.   

Mid-2023, my husband and I accepted the call to shepherd these dear saints. Financial resources were projected to last one year. We would either witness the Lord grow this church, or we would chaplain it through closing.

We never imagined experiencing both.

The Path to Revitalization

Christ the Saviour Anglican Church (XTS) had worshiped as a ‘church without walls’ in parks, rec centers, and schools since its 2006 inception in Mt. Vernon, VA. With fewer people, Sunday setup and breakdown required the effort of most, leaving little energy for midweek outreach.

Yet a burden for Mt Vernon Health Care Center began to arise in prayer. That same month we met the Rev. Dr. Mike Niebauer. His ministry, Heritage Mission,[1] equipped a lay-led team to bring Jesus to those unable to leave their rehab and nursing facility. What started with five residents at Evening Prayer has grown to a congregation more than thirty-five strong—including after-service fellowship, weekly Bible studies, and monthly Holy Communion.

That said, we were aware the nursing home service, though prompted by the Spirit, would not fill our pews.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.[2]

Shortly after Fr. Rick’s installation as rector in early 2024, we moved to afternoon worship in the sanctuary at Bethany Lutheran Church. This freed us to look beyond Sundays to how we could care for our neighbors.

We engaged the Rev. Cn. Mark Eldredge, then of Anglican Revitalization Ministries and now president of the American Anglican Council,[3] to lead us through ‘Revive,’ a process based on his eponymous book (highly recommend!).[4] The VITALs begin with renewing love for Jesus and for sharing the gospel, which is how churches are meant to grow.

To whom was the Spirit leading us?

Compassion for those who mourn led to starting GriefShare.[5] Over the next eighteen months, an XTS team ministered to many bereaved in our community.

Demographic studies revealed more pets than children in our area, so we envisioned a ministry of presence at dog parks. That experiment fizzled, but not before we drafted “A Theology of Pets,”[6] which has consoled brokenhearted owners while pointing to our redemptive Creator.

Then, in conjunction with personal renewal and emphasis on evangelism, the Holy Spirit nudged another lay team to start Alpha.[7] Weekly dinner and discussion at a private home have led several to faith, renewed faith, or closer to the Kingdom.

Abundant life was flowing through Christ the Saviour, and we rejoiced.

God had answered our prayers to renew and grow our church—just not how we anticipated. Numbers may not be everything, but they are something. In any given week, the same fifteen to twenty adults who worshiped on Sundays were sharing the love of Christ with sixty people outside our walls.

In the hands of our Savior, one year multiplied to three.

The Path to Closing

In early winter 2025, vestry confronted reality. Thanks to military and life changes, ten regular attendees expected to move by the following summer—including all parishioner children. Not only would it halve attendance, but XTS would no longer have enough volunteers to sustain both Sundays and our current outreach. Should we reformat and fight on?

Vestry was split. Our people were tired, but ministry was thriving. How could we consider closing? We began to fast and pray for clarity. We revisited the question in January with the same lack of consensus.

The Rev. Dr. Tuck Bartholomew, Canon to the Ordinary, recommended working through Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton.[8] The goal was to listen to the Spirit with “holy indifference” and without agendas, that we might share our Lord’s hard-won confession: “not my will but yours be done.”

Twelve weeks into the discernment process, peace with closing began to emerge among vestry and congregation—a peace that could only come from the Holy Spirit. Excitement began to bud over where the Lord might lead next.

We planned a day retreat at Christ Church Accokeek for key leaders to listen to facts, to each other, and to the Lord. Agreement was not unanimous, but we did achieve unity of spirit. To the best of our ability, we discerned it is the mind of Christ to end Sunday services, seek new homes for our outreach ministries, and release our people to new churches.

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.[9]

The discernment process felt long when action seemed most needed, but such a momentous decision deserved waiting patiently on the Lord. He used this season to work in and through our fellowship and make us ready for what is ahead—or as ready as we can be to say good-bye to beloved church family.

Would different choices have yielded a different outcome? Perhaps. What if we worshiped in the morning instead of afternoon? Focused on a single ministry, or on ministries most likely to foster growth? Invested more effort and funds in marketing? No doubt our discernment has been imperfect, yet we have always sought to follow where Jesus leads.  

And it seems his will is for XTS to be poured out as a drink offering: so that the light of Christ might illumine a nursing home and establish a worship community where none existed; the grieving be comforted and find hope; and precious souls draw near to the Kingdom.

That’s only the past three years, not to mention all the music ministry, Bible studies, small groups, marriage training, children’s church, youth camps, and pastoral care—nor the faithfulness of the preceding seventeen years.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.[10]

To fight against closing is consistent with Anglican values for the sanctity of life. Yet countless congregations have completed their life cycles and fulfilled God’s purposes for their existence—from those named in Acts and across the millennia to our own day.[11] In Kingdom economy, nothing they have given has been lost.

Christ the Saviour stands poised to join that long tradition. Closing is painful and difficult, but revitalization did not fail. May the same power that raised Jesus from the dead continue to bring much fruit from our church’s end.

Soli Deo Gloria.

What’s Next…

If you wish to celebrate Christ the Saviour, we will hold our final worship service and potluck on June 14 (4:30 pm at 2501 Beacon Hill Rd, Alexandria).

Pray for our people as they seek new parishes this summer. Welcome them with gentleness. They deserve rest as they discern what’s next. Pray for Fr. Rick and me as we do the same.

If your church may be open to providing temporary pastoral oversight for our nursing home congregation, until our lay leader settles at a new church, please contact us at xtsaviouroffice@gmail.com.

And pray for our corner of northern Virginia. The New Alexandria/Fort Hunt/Mt Vernon corridor needs an Anglican church that will stand on the authority of Scripture and proclaim the gospel with boldness. Pray the grain of wheat that is Christ the Saviour will germinate in God’s good time.

The Rev. Renée Beyea is the Associate Rector at Christ the Saviour, Mt. Vernon, VA.

[1]Heritage Mission[2] Lk 12:27
[3]American Anglican Council[4]Revive by Cn Mark Eldredge
[5]GriefShare[6]A Theology of Pets[7]Alpha[8]Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton
[9] Lk 9:62
[10] Jn 12:24
[11]Legacy Churches by Stephen Gray and Franklin Dumond