Why Anglican?

The Vine began as a non-denominational Waynesville community church in 2002. Those involved in its founding held a Wesleyan-Arminian theological perspective (think traditionalist Methodist). Yet, people from many different backgrounds —and none at all— found a home with us. A blending of ancient liturgical practices, contemporary music, heartfelt worship and biblically sound teaching, has always been characteristic of The Vine.

Carefully watching the long-brewing cultural and denominational upheavals of the 2000s-2010s, we resisted pressing further into independent isolation. Rather, Owen (our founding pastor) experienced a persistent, perhaps counter-intuitive urge to connect to and be anchored in a broader body which championed our values of gospel-driven mission and Reformation orthodoxy. He unexpectedly discovered this in the recently formed (2009) Anglican Church in North America.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a coalition of believers/churches who banded together in the early 2000s by holding steadfastly to biblically faithful teaching—many of whom were separating from a denomination they believed had become diminishingly faithful to the authority of scripture. In communion with the Anglican Church of the Global South (GAFCon), the ACNA consists of some 1000+ (and growing) churches in North America which seek to welcome everyone into the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ. The Anglican Church began in the British Isles during the early 1500s as the “English” part of the broader Reformation/Protestant movement of the era; yet, most Anglicans today live their lives of vibrant faith in Jesus outside Britain, including tens of millions of Anglicans throughout developing nations of the southern hemisphere.

We were formally welcomed into the ACNA’s Diocese of the Carolinas in March of 2023. Now we are exploring, learning from, and growing in our branch of the Christian faith. It is a very eventful season of our church’s story! Anglican-formed luminaries from Thomas Cranmer and John Wesley, Harriet Tubman to T.S. Eliot, to C. S. Lewis, Austin Farrer, Dorothy Sayers, J.K. Rowling, Beth Moore (recent) and Bono, each offering encouraging glimpses of the variety of those who point to Jesus in the Anglican Way. But our call to live as faithful disciples, right here and right now in Haywood County and beyond, is the real adventure which lies before us!