In 2002, seeing a shortage of vibrant, Gospel-centered churches in the District of Columbia, a group of people began meeting together with the vision of planting a network of smaller, interconnected churches throughout the city, rather than a single large church.  By God’s grace, The Church of the Resurrection was soon established on Capitol Hill. As Resurrection grew, the church began drawing people from different parts of metro Washington.

In June 2008, a group from Northern Virginia began meeting in an Arlington home to discern whether God was leading us to plant a church. Through the hot and cramped nights, we began to sense God’s call to extend the vision across the Potomac. We gathered weekly in a church basement through the fall, and began Sunday services in January 2009 in the building belonging to Christ Church of Arlington.

Through the years, Ascension has changed tremendously. Many newcomers are now familiar friends, and many old friends now serve the Lord in various parts of the world. Our church’s life and ministry continues to change and mature, especially with the explosion of kids in our congregation! Indeed, many things are different from our early days. However, our desire to be a flourishing church seeking the renewal of our city through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ has not changed. This is who we are.

Though we are a new church, our beliefs and practices are not new. As Anglicans, we participate in a family that reaches back to the earliest days of the Church and extends into over 165 nations today. Driven by a missionary focus, we embrace the historic creeds of the universal Church (e.g. Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed), and are committed to the heritage of the Protestant Reformation as developed in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer (1662). Ascension’s desire is to bring this rich legacy of faith and mission to bear on our great city.