Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2014 Issue | Page 21

Partners in Prayer

For members of Calvary, Front Royal,
their first inclinations toward outreach
tend toward their own community:
“We are in a small community, and
the first thought is always local,” said
Frank Baxter, chair of Calvary’s mission
committee. “We have been extremely
active in that. I think what we were
looking for was expanding into an area
we have never been, an opportunity to
stretch ourselves beyond our borders.”

So when the January 2013 Annual
Council of the Diocese adopted a
resolution for peace in South Sudan,
members of Calvary felt called to
respond to the resolution with prayer.

They soon formalized a mission
committee and decided to develop
a partnership with an individual
congregation in South Sudan. After
consulting with Buck Blanchard,
director of Mission and Outreach for the

Mission Beyond Ourselves

Kendall Martin

The Mother’s Union of St. Paul’s Parish in Manikakara, South Sudan, take part in the
prayer relationship with their partner parish of Calvary Church, Front Royal.

Partners continued on page 20

From Richmond to Yangzhou
Megan Drew-Tiller

In China, less than 300 kilometers
northeast of Shanghai, lies the town
of Yangzhou. There is a small church
building there, which looks very
familiar to one congregation in the
Diocese of Virginia. Emmanuel Chapel
was consecrated in 1913 through the
support and donations of the people of
Emmanuel, Brook Hill in Richmond.

The designs of the two churches
are nearly identical, and their history
is inextricably intertwined. The Rev.
Benjamin L. Ancell served as missionaryin-charge of the Mahan School in
Yangzhou and led a congregation
of more than 100 Christians who
worshipped without a physical church
home. When the Rev. Ernest Earle
Osgood, rector of Emmanuel, Brook

Hill, heard this, he encouraged his
parishioners to donate to the cause.
In 1949, during the Chinese Cultural
Revolution, he congregations lost touch,
and the relationship was forgotten –
until Emmanuel, Brook Hill, prepared to
celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Marilyn Malone, the committee
chair for the anniversary, came across
a list of donors from 1913, and decided
to do a little more research. She finally
tracked down the church with the help
of a young Chinese woman who worked
with the Amity Foundation in Nanking,
China. Li Xue, whose hometown was
Yangzhou, discovered that while the
building still stood, it was being used for
storage. In May 2007, Li Xue talked with
the mayor of Yangzhou, who revealed

he wanted to bring the building back
into service, and at Christmas 2013,
Emmanuel Chapel officially opened
its doors as a house of worship to the
people of Yangzhou.

In celebration of their opening once
more, the congregation of Emmanuel,
Brook Hill, sent gifts and letters to
share their joy with the congregation
of Emmanuel Chapel in Yangzhou,
China. Malone reports that Emmanuel,
Brook Hill, has been invited to visit
when they can. “They don’t need our
help financially. I just wanted to create
a contact, a relationship between our
two churches, between our two nations.
When I started all this [150th anniversary
preparation], I had no idea there was a
Christian Church in China!” t

Spring 2014 / Virginia Episcopalian

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