Fort Worth church purchases property for new home 4 years after eviction by ACNA

All Saints’ Episcopal Church has purchased and will renovate a former United Methodist church to serve as the Episcopal congregation’s new home. Photo: All Saints’ Episcopal Church

[Episcopal News Service] A prominent Episcopal congregation in Fort Worth, Texas, that was forced out of its church building and rectory in 2021 over a property dispute with a group of breakaway Anglicans, is celebrating a new permanent home.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church held a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 7 at the church property that it purchased from a United Methodist congregation at 6036 Locke Ave. The Methodist congregation had merged with another church and now is worshipping at another location on Fort Worth’s south side. The Episcopal congregation raised $11 million to buy and renovate the former Methodist property, with plans to move in by the end of 2026.

“The building has beautiful bones but will require extensive renovations to beautify and modernize,” Mary Caruthers, All Saints’ director of communications, told Episcopal News Service. “We are working with first-class artisans to beautify the nave, which will be a haven for traditional Anglo-Catholic liturgy.”

In addition to the internal renovations, All Saints’ plans to build two additions: a commercial kitchen and a space east of the nave for sacristies, choir rooms and other liturgical support.

All Saints’ is “a diverse but traditional parish of over sixteen hundred members,” the congregation said in a news release about the property purchase. “All Saints’ is a community that warmly welcomes, strengthens faith, invites all to a deeper relationship with Our Lord, and challenges members to spiritual, emotional and intellectual growth.”

The congregation was part of the former Diocese of Fort Worth, later renamed North Texas, which reunited with the Diocese of Texas in 2022. Texas Bishop Andrew Doyle issued a statement congratulating All Saints’ on this next chapter of its ministry.

“From its inception, All Saints’ has been a testament to the greatness of God,” Doyle said. “Established as a mission in 1946 with only 19 people, the faithfulness of All Saints’ has remained an undying gift to its congregation and our diocese. Their exponential growth over the years, with over 1600 members today, is a harvest of steadfast and intentional discipleship.”

All Saints’ was one of six Episcopal congregations evicted from their worship spaces in April 2021 after the Fort Worth-based Episcopal diocese lost a 12-year legal battle with the Anglican Church in North America, or ACNA.

In 2008, a majority of clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Fort Worth voted to leave The Episcopal Church over disagreements about the ordination of women and LGBTQ+ people. Most congregations that remained in The Episcopal Church found new places to worship after the split, but six congregations in Fort Worth, Hillsboro and Wichita Falls, Texas, remained in their buildings.

After those six were evicted in 2021, all but one found temporary homes and resumed worship. All Saints’ began worshipping in the chapel at All Saints’ Episcopal School, which is on a separate campus from the congregation’s former church property. The school was not part of the lawsuit. An ACNA congregation moved into the church building and has begun worshipping there.

All Saints’ will continue worshipping at the school until renovations and construction are completed at the new location.

“We are excited to bless this new place where they will continue to grow,” Doyle said. “We remain grateful for their continued good works; yet we continue to pray for God’s continued blessings. We await what is to come, in thanksgiving for their unwavering stewardship.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.