The majority of the parishioners were once members of St. John's Episcopal Church in Glyndon, Maryland, but left the church, the diocese and the Episcopal Church over the denomination's gradual slide over many years into a revisionist theology which embraces the culture rather than standing firm on historic Biblical Christianity as stated in the creeds.

The initial group of 40 members first met in a private home and but as they grew they needed to move out and obtained a lease from Brown Memorial, said a member of the servant council of the newly formed congregation. "We are a warm and loving community composed of Christians at various stages in their walks with Christ," wrote Fr. Eliot Winks, rector of the Church of the Resurrection at their website.

"The intervention by the Maryland bishops at Christmas into this church's affairs was something they had no business doing," said an orthodox Episcopal rector who asked to remain anonymous.

A newsletter put out by the "servant council" of the Church of the Resurrection said that as they became more successful, the bigger target they became for the misguided.

On November 30 the new Anglican parish agreed to a two month trial period at Brown Memorial, starting on Christmas Eve. The deal was done with a handshake. It gave both Brown and the Church of the Resurrection the ability to walk away from the verbal agreement for any reason at the end of the term. Impressed with the offer they new church took a leap of faith and accepted the offer of sanctuary.

However things started to unravel on Friday, December 16 at a local Christmas party. Patrick Cunningham, a member of the church's servant council had a conversation with a member of the Presbyterian Church's session (vestry) in which he was told that their Executive Presbyter (bishop) was being pressured by the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland not to take us in. He told Cunningham that the topic was to be discussed at their next session meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, December 20. Cunningham received a phone call from this same representative of Brown on the evening of December 21, asking to meet for coffee the following morning. That meeting took place and he was joined by the rector of the Church of the Resurrection the Rev. Eliot Winks.

The presbyter invoked a rule of the Presbyterian Church's Book of Order (canonical law) that states that any lease has to be submitted to the Executive Presbyter for approval, and that he would never have approved of this lease.

On December 22, they were informed by a representative of Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbyterian Church that they could only stay on their campus for three weeks. Their last service will be on January 8, 2006.

"This despite the fact that they have had two other churches rent the same space over the last twenty years, never invoking this stipulation," said Cunningham. "In further conversation, it was revealed that all of this was a result of conversations between their Executive Presbyter Peter Nord and the Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland, John Rabb."

"We firmly believe that Brown Memorial Woodbrook acted in good faith and are saddened that they were pushed into this untenable position. We thank them for doing their best to take us in," Cunningham told VirtueOnline.

Revisionist Episcopal Maryland Bishop Robert W. Ihloff wrote to all his clergy following the ordination of Fr. Eliot Winks in Pittsburgh recently by Bolivian Bishop Frank Lyons blasting the actions of the Evangelical bishop and urging Winks to 'cease and desist' from clerical activity in his diocese."

Ihloff wrote at that time saying, "he will serve a small group of former-Episcopalians who have left St. John's Church, Glyndon, now meeting in a private home and calling themselves The Church of the Resurrection, Baltimore County."

Ihloff said the ordination was "irregular" and that he was not impressed with his (Winks) credentials; "obviously our judgment has proven sound."

"So what is Ihloff afraid of? What are they (both bishops) afraid of? Why would they attempt to bring the full weight of their temporal power, authority, and influence to hurt us? We left ECUSA in peace. We have never spoken ill of our former parishes, the Diocese of Maryland, or ECUSA. They are in our past and when we have looked back, it has only been to pray for those that we left behind. We have no interest in tearing anything down, but rather building something new. ECUSA has been wasting away for some time from its own self-inflicted wounds, and if these actions are any indication, that process is accelerating. We will continue to pray for John and Bob, the Diocese of Maryland, and ECUSA," said Fr. Winks.

"We have arisen from the Anglican Church and so we cherish and celebrate the many traditions and forms of worship that have evolved within the Anglican Communion. But, we are also a Church that was started by the laity and continues to be led by them. In this, we have even deeper roots than the Church of England. Our roots go back to the first century A.D., to the house churches that Paul formed as he moved through the Eastern Mediterranean. We are a blend of both. Our clergy is charged with teaching, equipping and casting vision while we, the laity, are invested with much responsibility in the governance and running of the Church."

"It is disappointing; we will have to look for another place. This is nothing more than a roadblock, but by God's grace we will overcome this and be in the place he needs us to be," said the Rev. Eliot Winks, rector of Church of the Resurrection. Fr. Winks was recently ordained by Bolivian Bishop Frank Lyons for the Anglican bishop of Chile, the Most Rev. Hector Zavala in a ceremony at the Anglican Hope conference in Pittsburgh, PA.

Neither Bishops Ihloff nor Rabb responded to e-mails from VirtueOnline requesting information on their involvement in this incident.

END