About Us
Who We Are
Christ Our Lord church (COL) is a congregation of the worldwide Anglican Communion, with members from many different backgrounds and religious traditions and some with no church involvement before coming to COL. Our church is part of the recently-established Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the Anglican Church in North America. The Right Reverend John Guernsey is the Bishop of this new diocese.
Our purpose is to lead people to a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church through an authentic Christian community committed, equipped, and mobilized to reach the unchurched and to serve God in the world.
Our vision is to be an authentic Christian community in Eastern Prince William County, grounded in God’s Word, enriched and informed by the inherited wisdom of the historic church, and enthusiastically employing creative and culturally relevant ways to make the unchanging message accessible to a changing world. We seek to be an open, loving, and reconciling community characterized by joyful contemporary worship; small groups as centers of friendship, growth, and ministry; and with a passionate commitment to reach the unchurched.
What We Believe
Our faith centers on the saving death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. The authority for our belief is the Bible, which records the redeeming acts of God in history. COL teaches that Holy Scripture is the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary to salvation, and that it is the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.
The Holy Spirit, given to all who confess that Jesus is Lord, seeks to transform us and develop the fruit of the Spirit and Christ-like character in us. The Holy Spirit also gives us gifts for ministry, specific abilities that enable us to do the work God has called us to do. We believe that the ministries of the Holy Spirit seen in the New Testament Church are good gifts that God still gives to Christians today. We are open to all the Spirit’s gifts, if they are exercised in humility and love, for the benefit of the whole church.
Our faith, rooted in Scripture, can be summarized in the ancient Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.
