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  "path": "/2026/05/20/anglican-attendance-up-in-mid-atlantic/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-20T05:04:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://juicyecumenism.com",
  "tags": [
    "Anglican",
    "Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic",
    "Provincial Council",
    "Cornerstone",
    "growth reported in 2024",
    "wrote",
    "2026 diocesan synod",
    "here",
    "Truro Anglican Church",
    "Trinity Church Burke",
    "Church of the Resurrection",
    "Redeemer Anglican Church",
    "Church of the Good Shepherd",
    "Grace Anglican Church",
    "All Souls",
    "Resurrection",
    "St. Barnabas",
    "Good Shepherd Lynchburg",
    "Good Shepherd Charlottesville",
    "Grace Anglican White Post",
    "completed the purchase",
    "renovate",
    "church planting",
    "Christ the King",
    "Restoration",
    "Grace",
    "Christ Church",
    "Incarnation",
    "Redeemer",
    "Incarnation Anglican Church",
    "Holy Comforter",
    "ACNA",
    "overhauls its disciplinary canons",
    "church trial",
    "Anglicans See Multi-Year Growth",
    "What are the Largest Anglican Dioceses and Parishes?",
    "Matthew Barrett and the Baptist-to-Anglican Pipeline",
    "Anglican Attendance Up in Mid-Atlantic",
    "Juicy Ecumenism"
  ],
  "textContent": "This month the Anglican Church in North America’s Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic (DOMA) released a trove of congregational data reporting a top line number of 6 percent attendance growth in 2025.\n\nThis diocesan data comes ahead of the release of provincial (North American church level) data at the annual Provincial Council meeting June 17–19 at Cornerstone in Tulsa, Oklahoma and continues growth reported in 2024.\n\n“We will also share several encouraging updates on the life of our Province, including new data from our enhanced Congregational Report, and we will share a number of ministry highlights from our first-ever Annual Impact Report,” Dean of ACNA Bishop Julian Dobbs wrote on May 8. “These documents reflect the vitality and growth of our churches and the tangible ways the Gospel is transforming lives across North America. These reports are very good news for which we give thanks to God.”\n\nSince DOMA (which overlaps Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, and portions of central Pennsylvania and coastal North Carolina) is among the larger dioceses within ACNA, it is worthwhile to investigate trends that might also apply elsewhere within the denomination. Access the full data in the 2026 diocesan synod document center here. The 2025 Average Principal Service Attendance Report is here (PDF), and the 2025 DOMA congregational report to ACNA is here (spreadsheet).\n\nTakeaways:\n\n  1. **Church planting is driving most attendance growth in the diocese.** While the top-line number for attendance in DOMA increased from 6,522 (2024) to 6,886 (2025), an increase of 364 persons (6 percent), most of that growth is seen in congregations that have been planted in the past 20 years. But, one notable exception is Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, Virginia, (founded in 1843) that has rebounded with approximately 10 percent growth each year across the past three years following the installation of a new rector after a rough patch prior. Truro grew even after planting Trinity Church Burke, which has taken root and itself reported attendance growth of 32 percent in 2025.\n  2. **The diocesan footprint has significantly expanded beyond northern Virginia.** Church of the Resurrection in Baltimore County, Maryland (473) now reports the third largest congregational attendance in the diocese, Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond (420) is the fifth largest, Church of the Good Shepherd in Charlottesville (400) is sixth and Grace Anglican Church near Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley (223) is ninth. Redeemer has planted additional churches in metro Richmond (All Souls Manchester and Resurrection Midlothian among them) as Resurrection Baltimore planted St. Barnabas in Towson.\n  3. **Buildings matter.** Among those congregations that posted significant growth in 2025, several now have their own ministry space. Growing congregations will prioritize finding a space that can meet increasing needs, but there is also a jump after a congregation moves into a space that is theirs: Good Shepherd Lynchburg (pictured above in a formerly Baptist building), Good Shepherd Charlottesville (in a formerly Methodist building), and Grace Anglican White Post (in a formerly Pentecostal building) each now meet in their own spaces and reported attendance growth of between 15-26 percent in 2025. Additionally, Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond has completed the purchase of an historic church property that it prepares to renovate as a new parish home.\n  4. **Not every congregation in the diocese grew.** Unlike in 2024, when only four congregations declined, one-third of congregations reported an attendance decline in 2025 (most minor, some significant). Those churches reporting declines include congregations planted prior to the Episcopal/Anglican realignment. Geographically they vary, but these congregations tend to be demographically more aged. In a diocese that has shown itself adept at planting new churches, renewing older congregations continues to be a challenge, even those located within regions that have undergone significant population growth. Small annual losses can add up if they continue across years.\n  5. **The Falls Church Anglican’s** church planting**shaped much of the diocese.** Six congregations (Christ the King Alexandria, Restoration Arlington, Grace White Post, Christ Church Vienna, Incarnation Williamsburg, and Redeemer Richmond) planted between 2007-2016 in 2025 report a combined attendance of 2,020, exceeding that of TFCA (1,392) and comprising nearly a third of the total diocesan attendance (and that’s not counting their own church plants). Restoration (planted in 2009) is now the second-most attended church in the diocese (744, a growth of 7 percent in 2025). It planted Incarnation Anglican Church in 2018, and Incarnation recently planted Holy Comforter Hyattsville, MD in January of 2026.\n\n\n\nThere is much to be grateful for, and a few items to keep an eye on, in this latest batch of data. The ACNA continues to be a small slice of the North American religious pie and is undergoing significant institutional stress as it overhauls its disciplinary canons and prepares for a church trial of its presently inhibited archbishop. But, the gradual, steady growth within many of its dioceses and parishes indicate that they have found a ministry niche within the mosaic of Christian churches. I’ll look for 2025 data from additional dioceses as it is released, and provide a full report on provincial data when it is released in mid-June.\n\n**More from IRD** :\n\nAnglicans See Multi-Year Growth\n\nWhat are the Largest Anglican Dioceses and Parishes?\n\nMatthew Barrett and the Baptist-to-Anglican Pipeline\n\nThe post Anglican Attendance Up in Mid-Atlantic appeared first on Juicy Ecumenism.",
  "title": "Anglican Attendance Up in Mid-Atlantic"
}