Church of the Epiphany Anglican meets at 3863 Centerview Drive, Suite 100, in Chantilly, Virginia, in Western Fairfax County, and its name has always pointed at the same thing: the appearance of God. Epiphany means 'appearance,' particularly the appearance of God in his Son Jesus Christ, and the church's motto, 'Encounter God at Epiphany,' describes a congregation built around beautiful Anglican worship, an active prayer life, and steady service to children, families, and neighbors across Northern Virginia.
The church worships with Holy Communion at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday in a traditional service, and again at 10:30 a.m. in a service that is streamed live. A Simple Eucharist is held each Wednesday at noon, and short services of Morning Prayer fill the rest of the week. Around that rhythm sits a large and varied body of ministry: a nursery and Sunday school for the youngest children, youth who serve as acolytes and as audio and video operators, small groups for Bible study, journaling, and prayer, a men's ministry and a women's ministry, marriage preparation, mission support reaching from Virginia to Belgium and Tanzania, and hands-on service for the food bank at a Fairfax County elementary school, for residents of an assisted living facility, and for people without homes in Fairfax County.
Two Sunday Services and a Wednesday Noon Eucharist
Epiphany keeps a steady sacramental rhythm. Sunday worship with Holy Communion begins at 8:00 a.m. in a traditional setting, and a second service begins at 10:30 a.m. with the same central act of the church's life, celebrating the Lord's Supper. The 10:30 service is held in person and livestreamed, so people who cannot travel can worship with the congregation. Both services follow the Anglican liturgy, a set pattern that the church describes as deeply rooted in the Bible and in the way Christians have worshipped through the ages.
- Sunday, 8:00 a.m. - Holy Communion (traditional)
- Sunday, 9:30 a.m. - Adult Education, or Discipleship Hour, when classes are offered
- Sunday, 10:30 a.m. - Holy Communion, in person and livestream
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 9:00 a.m. - Morning Prayer
- Wednesday, 12:00 noon - Simple Eucharist
A first-time visitor can plan the length of a visit: services run about an hour and 15 minutes, and most sermons are around 20 minutes. That leaves room for scripture, the prayers of the congregation, and the celebration of Holy Communion itself.
The rest of the week has its own rhythm. On Wednesday at noon the church keeps a Simple Eucharist, and Morning Prayer is prayed at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, with all welcome. At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, an Adult Education gathering known as Discipleship Hour is offered when classes are scheduled; the classes typically run between three and six weeks. Epiphany also supports a satellite congregation that worships at the Chantilly Heights assisted living facility four times a month, and residents of that community are part of Epiphany's worshipping life.
The Great Vigil of Easter is kept at 7:30 p.m. on Easter Saturday, a musical and traditional service that tells the story of salvation and opens the Easter season. Holy Week is marked with solemn services of Eucharist and a prayer vigil that runs from the close of Good Friday through the vigil on Saturday.
Hymns on the Organ, a Praise Band at Communion
Music at Epiphany is deliberately plural. The church does not confine itself to one style, choosing instead music that points worshipers toward Jesus Christ across different centuries and different instruments. Classic hymns and contemporary worship songs both belong here, and a member's description of the Sunday service captures the result: Epiphany is 'a very friendly and welcoming church' with 'excellent' preaching and 'inspiring' music, 'hymns on the organ and praise band at communion,' and 'just the right level of tradition.'
Those who make music at Epiphany include an adult choir, a handbell choir, and praise and worship teams. From time to time the church also draws on instrumentalists and vocal soloists. The ministry is led by Jimmy Crawford, Director of Music and Liturgy, who joined the staff in 2001 after earning a bachelor's degree in Church Music from East Carolina University and serving in several North Carolina churches. Outside of music he collects Coca-Cola memorabilia and flies RC airplanes.
Worship as Participation, Not Spectacle
Epiphany asks worshipers to be participants rather than an audience, and the welcome it extends is specific. Communion is open to all baptized and believing Christians. Children who are too young to receive Communion, and anyone who does not wish or is not able to receive it for any reason, are encouraged to come forward instead for a prayer of blessing. Epiphany states plainly that it believes in God's power to heal, and its clergy anoint with blessed oil and a set prayer. Members describe the church as a place where long-term friendships form across generations.
For children and families, the church's stated aim is to build a multigenerational congregation that loves children and families, and it puts that into the schedule at the 10:30 service rather than in a separate program. A nursery for the youngest, a Sunday school for older children, and youth who serve in and out of the sanctuary all happen alongside the main worship service.
The result, in the words of the church's mission, is a congregation that encounters God through beautiful worship and believing prayer, that builds a multigenerational life together, and that equips every member to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The third of those aims shows up in the work of the laity, since Epiphany places great worth on the ministry of the laity in healing, leading worship, outreach, teaching, and evangelism.
Epiphany Is a Praying Church
It is often said that Epiphany is a praying church, and the church treats that description as a program rather than a slogan. It prays for one another, for its leadership, for the community, and for the world.
The quickest route to prayer is the prayer line. The number, 703-389-7292, is answered from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. for urgent or immediate needs, and a group of people committed to pray for those in need is contacted right away. Prayer requests can also be submitted online, and the church states that all requests are treated with confidentiality.
Requests can also be placed on the Prayer Wall in the sanctuary on Sunday. During the week that follows, those requests become part of Epiphany's daily prayer and are carried by a team of about 30 intercessors. At every service, the Prayer Corner is staffed by teams of two who are available during Communion and afterward to pray with or for anyone who has a petition, thanksgiving, or intercession to offer. Fifteen teams serve in that ministry, and Charlie Monroe directs it.
For major events, Epiphany keeps 24-hour prayer vigils, including vigils for the National Day of Prayer and Stewardship Sunday, with a prayer vigil team led by Brad Johnson. There is also a Stand-In-The-Gap ministry in which people commit to pray daily for a specific individual over a four-month period, with clergy, staff, the vestry, and other key leaders of the church among those covered. Jan Reiter coordinates that ministry.
Prayer is not an added activity at Epiphany but part of the shared life of the church, which celebrates the Lord's Supper every Sunday and prays together each day.
Nursery Care, Sunday School, and Youth Who Serve
The mission of children's ministry at Epiphany is to support families as they disciple their children into a saving and active faith in Jesus Christ. The goal for every child is that they love and trust Jesus, know God's great love for them, and experience the power of the Holy Spirit, and the programs are designed to meet each child where they are.
Children's Sunday School meets during the 10:30 a.m. service and welcomes children from two and a half years old through fifth grade. The curriculum being implemented integrates solid Bible teaching with the Anglican tradition and sacraments, taught by a team of committed teachers. In the nursery, which is open during the 10:30 service for children two and younger, a dedicated team of professional staff and volunteer adults and teens provides safe and loving care for the church's youngest members and visitors.
Protecting children is a stated commitment, with policies and procedures in place for the church's staff and volunteers and training for those who work with children.
Youth are woven into the life of the church rather than set apart from it. Every Sunday morning they serve as audio or video operators, acolytes, and Sunday School helpers, so that a teenager's place in the congregation is a place of service. Youth-oriented Sunday morning gatherings are offered from time to time, along with Confirmation. Across the year the youth take part in drama, choir, a spring retreat, a sports camp, and fun excursions.
Each summer the children's team runs a Vacation Bible School, and more than 20 volunteers have led nearly 30 children through a week of lessons about who God is: the creator who knows everything, a safe space, and love.
Discipleship Hour and Small Groups for Adults
For adults, Epiphany offers both structured classes and small groups that meet regularly for prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and community engagement. There are many groups to choose from, including Bible studies and groups centered on journaling and prayer. Some groups are coed and others are for men or women only, and nobody has to be a member or a regular visitor to join. A small group coordinator, Lois Koch, helps people find the group that fits their needs and connects them with its leader.
On Sunday mornings, Discipleship Hour at 9:30 a.m. has covered topics such as a guide to the Book of Common Prayer, the single book from which most of the words said in church come.
The Men's Ministry provides opportunity for study, learning, support, fellowship, and friendship, prepares and supports men as husbands, fathers, citizens, and friends, and serves the church community through men's involvement and leadership. Dave Bassert leads it and handles questions about the ministry. The Women's Ministry offers opportunities for Christian growth, fellowship, and ministry to all women at Epiphany, and provides a means for the women of Epiphany to reach out to their neighbors and friends and introduce them to Christ in a friendly, familiar environment. Judy Schulenberg handles inquiries for that ministry.
The Marriage Ministry promotes lasting Christian marriages. It helps engaged couples prepare for marriage and supports and encourages existing marriages, using the Prepare/Enrich program, a rigorously researched, evidence-based assessment that can be adapted to a couple's circumstances, including first marriages, previously divorced partners, interfaith marriages, and empty-nester marriages. The team also sponsors social events and educational programs that support Christian marriage. Marriage inquiries can be sent to marriage@epiphanyanglican.net.
Coates Elementary, Chantilly Heights, and Meals for Fairfax County's Homeless
Epiphany's conviction that it must materially and spiritually serve its neighbors is most visible in three ongoing commitments.
- Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School: members work together every month to stock the food bank that supports hungry children and their families at this Fairfax County public school. Members have also delivered nearly 900 beginning English books to the library staff at Coates Elementary.
- Chantilly Heights: four times each month, Epiphany supports a satellite congregation at the assisted living facility, and members volunteer for service there in many different ways.
- Hot Meals Ministry: twice each month, teams of Epiphany members make meals for Fairfax County's homeless residents.
Beyond those regular commitments, the church partners with organizations such as Western Fairfax Christian Mission and Herndon's LINK ministry on seasonal projects, preparing and delivering holiday meal boxes for families in need and collecting backpacks for students returning to school. Epiphany also works with other local churches to staff and operate a hypothermia prevention shelter ministry for people without homes in Fairfax County. Ways to serve are announced during Sunday worship.
Missions Near and Far
Epiphany's ministry reaches beyond its immediate neighborhood. It supports individual missionaries and mission organizations that spread Christianity across the nation and the world, and the reasoning is taken straight from Matthew 28, to make disciples of all nations.
Closer to home, Epiphany provides financial assistance to a married couple who grew up in the congregation and now counsel and share their faith with high school students in the Roanoke area. The church also supports the George Mason University chapter of CRU, which evangelizes to both domestic and international students.
Internationally, Epiphany assists a pastor who tends a congregation in Belgium while also training new ministers in Europe and Africa. Another missionary works with a minority community in the Middle East, translating the Bible into that community's native language. One supported organization provides schooling in Tanzania for disadvantaged children, including children with albinism, using a Christian-based curriculum.
The church also sees the college experience as a way to connect with young adults from other countries. It provides financial support to Global Scholars, which supports Christian professors in secular universities in almost 100 countries, and to Uganda Christian University, which educates thousands of students from much of Africa. Epiphany works with SAT-7, which broadcasts educational programs and provides on-demand Christian-based programming to viewers in the Middle East and North Africa.
One long-standing Epiphany tradition turns this outward focus into a gift at Christmas. Each Christmas Eve, the church gives to one of its mission or outreach partners. Past gifts have included scholarships for students at Uganda Christian University, a car for a Turkish pastor, cots for the area's homeless residents, funding for a safe haven for war refugees from Ukraine, and the English-learning books that now sit in the library at Coates Elementary.
From a Middle School Cafeteria to Centerview Drive
Epiphany began in the summer of 1985, when Truro Church in Fairfax began planning to establish a mission church in Western Fairfax County. Later that year, about 15 people from Truro began meeting weekly for prayer and Bible study in anticipation of being sent out as a mission church. The first service of Holy Communion was held in the Franklin Intermediate School cafeteria in February 1986. The Reverend B. Clifton Reardon, affectionately known as 'Father Bill,' was appointed vicar, the title used for the priest in charge of a mission church.
Groundbreaking for the first Epiphany building, on the corner of Franklin Farm Road and Fairfax County Parkway, took place in March 1988, and the first service in the new building was held in February 1989. Three years after the church was established, Fr. Bill was instituted as Rector, the pastor of a self-sustaining parish. He took a sabbatical in June 1995 and retired that December, beginning an interim period.
In June 1997, the Rev. Robin Rauh was called as Rector, and soon afterward the Rev. Luke Lucas was called as Associate Rector, serving at Epiphany until January 2010. The Rev. Peter Frank came on staff as Senior Associate Rector in January 2011.
Those years also included the most consequential decision in Epiphany's history. Originally founded as a church affiliated with The Episcopal Church, Epiphany left that denomination and re-affiliated with The Anglican Church in North America in 2012, as differences in theology and focus that had grown during the first decade of the 21st century led the congregation to walk away from its original property in Franklin Farm. The church quickly secured a place of worship and ministry at 13515 Dulles Technology Drive and, with hard work from members, refurbished it and prepared it to serve the congregation through the summer of 2012.
The Rev. Michael Guernsey joined the staff in October 2012 as associate minister for discipleship. In April 2014, Fr. Robin announced his decision to retire from parish ministry, and after a period of discernment and interviews, the vestry called the Rev. Peter Frank, Senior Associate Rector since January 2011, to serve as Epiphany's third rector. His ministry began on September 1, 2014. In September 2015 Fr. Michael accepted a call as rector of Christ Church in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, and in May 2016 Epiphany called the Rev. Pamela Meeks as its next associate rector.
In the spring of 2017, after much prayer and discernment, the church decided to move to its long-term home at 3863 Centerview Drive in Chantilly, and on March 11, 2018, Epiphany joyfully held its first Sunday morning service in the new facility.
What Epiphany Believes
The Bible is the source of authority for what Epiphany believes, teaches, and practices as a church. The church holds it to be the revealed Word of God, and the Nicene Creed articulates its statement of faith. Epiphany is Anglican, a tradition that grew out of the English Reformation, and it belongs to a worldwide community of Anglicans numbering in the tens of millions. Its catechism, 'To be a Christian,' is built from short questions and answers organized around the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments.
Those beliefs show up in practice. The Lord's Supper is celebrated every Sunday. The congregation prays together each day. The church welcomes all who come seeking God, and it places great worth on the ministry of the laity in healing, leading worship, outreach, teaching, and evangelism. It values the Bible as trustworthy and authoritative in teaching and preaching, values music and makes space in worship for different styles and expressions, and values being together and learning through small groups, discipleship classes, parish gatherings, and celebrations of a common life in Jesus Christ.
The congregation is also clear about how worship should feel. Following a set pattern called the liturgy, deeply rooted in the Bible and in the way of worship of the church through the ages, Epiphany wants people to be participants in worship rather than simply an audience.
The People Who Lead Epiphany
The Rev. Peter Frank has served as Rector since his ministry at Epiphany began on September 1, 2014, having joined the staff as Senior Associate Rector in January 2011. He previously served as priest associate at Grace Anglican Church in Mount Washington, Pennsylvania, and as communications director for the Anglican Church in North America and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. He holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's degree in Classical Studies and Religion from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. A newspaper editor before seminary, he loves hearing where people have encountered God in their lives, telling the story of Jesus, reading history, the novels of P. G. Wodehouse and Gene Wolfe, and spending time outdoors hunting, hiking, and camping. He currently chairs the Examining Chaplains of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
The Rev. Pamela Meeks was called as Associate Rector in April 2016. A graduate of Trinity School for Ministry, she was ordained to the priesthood in 2010. Before Epiphany she served on a church planting team with Church of the Apostles at George Mason University and was Director of Outreach at Potomac Falls Anglican Church. Her family served as missionaries with Interserve in Turkey from 1994 to 2005, and she also worked with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
Jimmy Crawford, Director of Music and Liturgy, has been on the staff since March 2001. A graduate of East Carolina University with a degree in Church Music, he served in several churches in North Carolina before joining Epiphany.
Rebekah Ng directs children's ministry, bringing experience as a chief of staff in the Department of Justice, leadership of a preschool children's program at a neighboring church, and many years of teaching in church children's ministries.
Epiphany also receives the yearly visit of its bishop, the Rt. Rev. Chris Warner, who preaches, receives people into the Anglican Church, prays for those being confirmed or received, and leads an all-church Discipleship Hour between services. He has also joined Epiphany men on a wilderness paddling trip where the group prayed together on the water.
Finding Epiphany on Centerview Drive
Epiphany's sanctuary and offices are at 3863 Centerview Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly, Virginia 20151, and the office telephone is 703-481-8601. The 24-hour prayer line is 703-389-7292. The 10:30 a.m. Sunday service is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with a sermon archive available there as well, so worship can be joined from anywhere. Giving is available online through the church's PayPal giving page, and an online calendar carries the rhythm of parish life with worship services, choir and bell rehearsals, small group meetings, and other activities.
Those who come for the first time can expect a service built around scripture, the sacraments, and prayer, with the 8:00 a.m. service traditional and the 10:30 a.m. service carrying both organ hymns and a praise band at Communion. Children two and younger are cared for in the nursery during the 10:30 service, and Sunday school runs for children two and a half years old through fifth grade at the same hour. Epiphany's name means 'appearance,' the appearance of God in his Son Jesus Christ, and meeting that God, says the church, is the reason the congregation exists and the heart of what it does.