The Church of the Resurrection (known colloquially as "Rez") is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish in the

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

area of Washington, D.C. Planted in 2002, it owns and occupies a historic church building facing

Marion Park Marion Park is a public park named after Revolutionary War leader Francis Marion also known as ''The Swamp Fox''. It is located at 4th Street, 6th Street, and E Street, Southeast, Washington, D.C., in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Locally, it i ...

. It is one of three surviving churches—alongside St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the Third Baptist Church—that were designed by Calvin T. S. Brent, generally considered to be Washington's first black architect.

History of the building

The church building, located at 501 E Street S.E., was designed by Calvin Brent for the Mount Jezreel Baptist Church, which was pastored by Temple Robinson and composed of freed slaves. The church bought the plot of land for $900 in 1882. After the building was completed in brick in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, it was valued at $20,000. The church was renovated in the 1920s and an education annex was completed in the 1960s. However, by the 1980s, the growing congregation had insufficient room to expand. In 1982, Mount Jezreel Baptist relocated, first to Riggs Park and then to Silver Spring, Maryland. In 1984, Pleasant Lane Baptist Church (renamed after 2010 to Progress for Christ Baptist Church) occupied the building.

Acquisition by Rez

Church of the Resurrection was planted as a house church in 2002 by the Rev. Dan Claire and began meeting in rented Capitol Hill space starting in 2004. Sunday evening services were held at Christ Our Shepherd Church and eventually a morning service was added at Capitol Hill Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Part of the Anglican Mission in America and the Anglican Church of Rwanda prior to the founding of the ACNA, when it joined the network that would eventually become the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, Rez planted the Church of the Advent in Columbia Heights (2008) and the Church of the Ascension in Arlington, Virginia (2009, now defunct). It also supported church plants in

Harrisonburg, Virginia Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. At the 2 ...

; Boston; Chicago; Buffalo, New York; and Salisbury, England. In 2021, after raising $1.83 million toward the purchase, Rez bought the church at 501 E Street S.E. from Progress for Christ Baptist Church. Rez is making renovations to the space while occupying it. Today the church is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the Capitol Hill Historic District.

Controversies

Easter Vigil at Church of the Resurrection 03

On April 5, 2022, a group of people from the

Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope The Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. The diocese originated from the dissolution of the Missionary District of PEARUSA, which resulted in the creation of two new dioceses, both admitted at ...

said that they had experienced spiritual abuse at the church, and claimed that leaders at the diocese, such as Bishop Steve Breedlove, failed to hold the rector of Church of the Resurrection accountable. The complaints resulted in an investigation into Breedlove's handling of the abuse allegations, carried out by Grand River Solutions.

References

External links

Church of the Resurrection website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Resurrection, Church of the Anglican Church in North America church buildings in the United States Religious organizations established in 2002 African-American history of Washington, D.C. Churches completed in 1887 Churches completed in 1894 Historic district contributing properties in Washington, D.C. Capitol Hill Churches in Washington, D.C. 19th-century Anglican church buildings in the United States