If you’re like me, you probably wouldn’t associate West Virginia with the Anglican way of following Jesus. And yet, there are Anglican pastors and their families who have felt the compelling prompting of the Holy Spirit to pack up and move to a state that has seen more people move out than move in over the last 10 years. They have a burden and a sense of urgency to, in some cases, come home to a state they left years ago. They feel called to bring hope to a place and a people drained of hope. They feel called, even to the point of great personal sacrifice, to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and the reality of God’s in-breaking kingdom to a beautiful and yet, in many ways, broken state – a place where “deaths of despair” happen far too frequently.
Not only are there Anglican planters and priests feeling the call to come to the Mountain State, but there are also native West Virginian families and individuals who are literally reaching out and saying, “Could we have an Anglican Church in our town?” Can you believe it? In West Virginia! It’s like Paul’s vision in Acts 16:9 where he sees a man of Macedonia saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” Come over to West Virginia and help us! The story of what God is doing in West Virginia, and how God is using the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, is so amazing. I hope you will take the time to watch this mini-documentary about Mission Hope West Virginia to hear the stories of people touched by God’s grace through the Anglican way. And after you have viewed the video, would you ask God how he might be directing you to come alongside Mission Hope to support what he is doing in the Mountain State?