Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2013 Issue | Page 9

Dayspring One Year On
the Rt. Rev. Susan E. Goff
In the book of the prophet Isaiah, we hear this promise from
God: “See, I am doing a new thing? Now it springs up; do
you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and
streams in the wasteland.“ (Isaiah 43:19). Since the January
2012 court ruling that, after years of litigation, Episcopal
properties would be returned to the mission of the Episcopal
Church, our diocesan Dayspring endeavor has been living
the hope of this promise. Dayspring, an integrated effort to
discern and implement vision and strategy for the returned
properties, has been doing a new thing as it has grown from
a response to litigation to a rebirth of ministry in our Diocese.
Here are details about the inspiring and continuing story that
began just over a year ago.

The Dayspring teams met for the first time on March
1, 2012. Bishop Johnston invited each of the 28 persons
present to commit to constant prayer for the work of
Dayspring, to keeping open hearts and minds, to flexible
thinking, to a spirit of cooperation, to patience, and to open
communication. “We have never done this before; few
dioceses have,” he said. “We need to be open to new ideas
and to the constant movement of the Holy Spirit.”
In the months following that first Dayspring meeting,
three congregations moved back into their church homes.
These are Epiphany, Herndon; the Falls Church Episcopal,
Falls Church; and St. Stephen’s, Heathsville. Joyful
celebrations of return and services of renewal took place in
each setting. In the fall a fourth congregation, St. Margaret’s,
Woodbridge, moved from the church building in which they
had been worshipping throughout the time of litigation into
the church building that once housed All Saints, Dale City. In
May, a new congregation began to form at St. Paul’s Church,
Haymarket. The new St. Paul’s is now making the canonically
required application for recognition as a congregation
of the Diocese of Virginia. Each of these five Dayspring
congregations is worshipping, growing and serving the
world in Christ’s name.

We are doing a new thing in each of these
congregations, with each of the returned properties, and
in the whole of our Dayspring ministry. We have never done
anything quite like this before. There is no rule book for us to
follow, there is no blueprint. The emerging and sometimes
ambiguous nature of our work means that, at times, there is
anxiety in the congregations and in the Diocese. The bishops,
diocesan staff and Dayspring teams are striving to be
attentive to the places of anxiety and to support one another
in finding the hope, the joy and the opportunity that come
with the great responsibility that has been placed in all of our
hands as a diocese.

In addition to the church buildings that are once again
home to Episcopal congregations, other properties were
also returned to the mission of the Church. Of these, the
former Church of the Apostles in Fairfax, where there is no
continuing or new congregation, will be sold and proceeds
from the sale will fund Dayspring efforts and begin to pay
down our debt from the litigation. Also, we are marketing an
office building in downtown Fairfax and two undeveloped
properties in Fairfax County.
In eastern Prince William County, we have two church
sites which give us an abundance of options. In one, we are
hosting an expanded free clinic, serving those in need. In
addition, we will lease both buildings to congregations of
other Christian denominations, ensuring that the properties
will be used and cared for as we discern our possibilities. (See
the article about the Prince William Free Clinic which is housed
in one of these buildings on page 8 of this magazine.)

Truro Church, Fairfax is being leased to Truro Anglican
Church through June 2015. There was no self-identified
c