Our Mission
The Diocese of Christ Our Hope’s mission is to plant, equip, and multiply disciple-making Anglican churches, and to support and serve their people and leaders in Christian life and mission.
To do so we focus on four key areas of ministry:
Our Shaping Values
Allegiance to God
The doctrine of the diocese—the content of our faith—is unapologetically biblical and orthodox. Full, detailed statements of our doctrinal positions are available here under "Foundational Documents" and in the Constitution and Canons of the diocese. Proper doctrine guides us to reach the true goal of Christian faith: a living relationship with God, who is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our allegiance to the faith is, therefore, allegiance to and worship of the Triune God. We seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength (Matt. 22:34-40). In response to God’s grace and love poured out through Christ Jesus, we follow Him in faith, trust, obedience, and love (John 8:31-32). We earnestly and actively depend on the Holy Spirit in order to live, grow, and serve as true Christians every moment of every day of our lives (Rom. 8:1-17).
Grace, Gratitude, and Generosity
When we reflect on the story of our personal Christian lives and the story of our corporate life and ministry together as a growing Diocese, we are overwhelmed by God’s grace and goodness. His grace is poured out through the Cross of Jesus, resulting in “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) The gift of the Holy Spirit is astonishing. Indeed, we have been made rich in Christ (2 Cor 8:8-9). “We have nothing but what we have received.” Gripped by this amazing love and generosity, we proclaim the Gospel with deep gratitude. We also seek to be radically gracious toward one another and toward our neighbors. We encourage generosity of time, love, resources, service, and hospitality— both within the church and for the sake of our communities, friends, and families.
Friendship and Collaboration
The Diocese of Christ our Hope was born in the context of strong personal relationships between Rwandan church leaders and American clergy—the Rwandan Connection. We guard and grow this relational DNA throughout our Diocese, among our leaders, and within its churches through genuine love, faithful prayer, solid friendships, joyous celebration, heartfelt conversations, and pastoral care. Our founding Rwandan leaders taught us to be highly collaborative and sacrificially generous. They set a course that continues to this day. We love working together with other Christians in the work of the Gospel. We particularly rejoice in the many ministry partnerships and friendships we continue to share with the Anglican Church of Rwanda and other East African Anglican churches and leaders.
Passion for Gospel Mission and Church Planting
Participating in the mission of Christ and planting healthy, multiplying churches is at the heart of our Diocese. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16-17). Jesus calls us to proclaim the Gospel with power, by word and deed, wherever we live and serve. Though we strive to spread the gospel through establishing new churches, we also view compassionate service “to the least of these brothers and sisters” (Matt. 25:40) as essential to our faith. Throughout Scripture, God has unmistakably shown His love for the poor, the needy, the afflicted, the widow, orphan, and stranger. He calls His people to be the hands and feet of compassion and service in this world. Not only do we encourage and foster local efforts of mercy and justice in every community we serve, but we also take calculated risks for the kingdom of God. We stretch ourselves to consider the possibilities. We pioneer into new territory, following the lead of Jesus, the ultimate “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2).
Thoughtful Anglican Ministry and Theologically-Attuned Leadership
We are rooted in the historic catholic Church and in a Reformed Anglican tradition. We are reformational, evangelical Anglicans who take seriously what we have received: the call to engage in common (shared) liturgical worship and prayer centered in Word, Sacrament, and Spirit; worship and mission in the language and culture of the people; lifelong discipleship for all; and missional engagement of the Gospel with the needs and questions of our communities. We are ever ancient, ever new.
In addition, God has blessed us with leaders who are not only passionate for Gospel mission—they are also zealous for the transformative power and true integrity of God’s word. We seek to develop and live within a God-centered, biblical view of the world. We believe in the enduring applicability of God’s revealed truth in the Bible to the issues and struggles of real-world people. We are convinced by personal experience and sustained testimony that God heals souls, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, ministers hope and blessing to the poor and needy, and brings all of us into the everbrightening dawn of flourishing life in Christ.
Transformational Discipleship
God desires to transform us into the image of Christ—people who think, feel, and live differently because they follow Christ (Rom. 8:31-32; 1 John 3:1-3). We take whole life discipleship seriously, with the goal of forming children, teens, and adults to live and serve effectively in the academy, industry, business, home, the sciences and medicine, and in the Church. Our Anglican heritage is a path of spiritual transformation founded on solid biblical teaching but includes much more. Discipleship begins with learning correct doctrine, but ultimately, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed into the image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:17-18). Therefore, on every level in the ministry of our churches, faithful obedience, the pursuit of holiness, prayer, worship, multi-generational relationships, and robust family life are joined to biblical teaching.
Shaping Leaders Who Serve Communities and Enrich the World
We believe that God has created humanity as stewards of creation and developers of culture. He has redeemed a people for Himself and established good works for each Christian to do, for the sake of others (Eph. 2:10). He empowers and calls us to serve Him as agents of the Kingdom in every imaginable vocation that can be done with integrity and truth. Therefore, we are passionate about next-generation leadership development for every discipline of life. We believe future Christian leadership for the city, the church, the academy, the business community, and the world of the arts starts in the nurseries of our churches and the living rooms of our home.
Our history
Gospel Passion, Risky Sacrifice, and Loving Friendship
propelled Rwandan Anglican leaders to birth a movement to reach unchurched people in North America by planting and revitalizing churches, a movement from which the Diocese of Christ our Hope emerged fifteen years later.
Planting the Seeds
The seeds of the Diocese of Christ our Hope were planted through the mission expansion of the Anglican Church of Rwanda (PEAR) in 2001. Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and Bishop John Ruchayanna commissioned American clergy to “proclaim the Gospel, reach the unchurched, and plant new Anglican churches…” forming a new entity called the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA).
Shortly afterward, two mission networks emerged in the eastern United States—the Kings Mission Network based in Charlotte, NC, and the Mid-Atlantic Network based in Raleigh, NC. In 2008, the leaders of those networks, Rev. Steve Breedlove and Rev. Alan Hawkins, joined together to form the Apostles Mission Network, which comprised nearly 30 churches. Shortly after, churches in New England, New York, and South Carolina joined this network and formed a mission-focused church planting network numbering nearly 60 congregations.
Staying the Course
In late 2011, the AMiA shifted away from both the newly formed Anglican Church in North America and the Anglican Church of Rwanda (PEAR). In response, 140 churches and missions determined to “stay the course” under the godly leadership of PEAR and the ANCA. In January 2012, they formed PEARUSA, an ongoing Missionary District of PEAR. The ACNA welcomed PEARUSA as a “dual citizenship” jurisdiction, organized into three networks, the Atlantic Coast Network, the Southeast Network, and the Rocky Mountain Network. Twelve rectors, supported by two former AMiA bishops, led PEARUSA under the oversight of Archbishops Onesphore Rwaje (PEAR) and Robert Duncan (ACNA). Rev Steve Breedlove was appointed as temporary director of PEARUSA and consecrated a “dual citizen” bishop on October 29, 2012, serving as Presiding Bishop of PEARUSA and Bishop of the Atlantic Coast Network. In January 2013, Rev Quigg Lawrence (Roanoke, VA) was consecrated Suffragan Bishop for the Atlantic Coast Network.
Leaving the Nest
In 2014, the House of Bishops of PEAR desired to give PEARUSA fully and faithfully to the ACNA. In a dramatic moment in the ACNA Provincial Assembly in June, Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje’s words were, “Time to grow up and leave the nest.” This exhortation solidified important features of the Atlantic Coast Network: we work under godly Anglican spiritual authority, and our work must always be collegial, collaborative, and generous. The Atlantic Coast Network prepared to become a Diocese within the ACNA —the Diocese of Christ our Hope (DCH). In June 2015, the Provincial Council of the ACNA affirmed DCH as a fully constituted diocese.
Loving God and Expanding His Kingdom
Today, the DCH has nearly 40 congregations and missions spread throughout twelve states from North Carolina to Maine. DCH overlaps eight other ACNA dioceses in its geographic footprint.
Throughout this exciting journey, the story of DCH has been one of loving God, loving people, and loving communities, faithfulness to the Word of God, church planting and mission, thoughtful engagement of our culture with the unchanging Gospel, commitment to generosity and partnership, transformative next-generation discipleship and leadership development, godly spiritual authority, and collaboration with other like-minded Anglicans and Christians in Gospel expansion.
Leadership
Staff
The Rev. Ryan Willers, Treasurer
Jim Cushing, J.D., a/OSA, Chancellor
Diocesan Council
Rt. Rev. Alan Hawkins, Chair
|
Jerald Walz, Vice-Chair |
Katherine Heidenthal |
| Elaine Townley | Eddie Waren |
| Rebekah Borah | The Rev. Jan Buchanan |
| The Rev. Martin Rhodes | Seth McKinnis |
| The Rev. Brian Campbell | The Rev. Dave Linka |
| Open Position to be filled in 2025 |
Ex Officio Members:
| Rt. Rev. Quigg Lawrence, Bishop Suffragan | Rev. Canon Ben Bowman, Canon to the Ordinary |
| Rt. Rev. Steve Breedlove, Assisting Bishop | The Rev. Ryan Willers, Treasurer |
| Lee Hilts, Chief Operating Officer |
Deans
