One of the questions that folks have asked me over the years is: “Why do we have the phrase ‘Truro Parish’ on the sign in front of our Church?”

The answer is a bit of a history lesson.

In colonial Virginia, the established church (The Church of England) organized itself by geographical entities known as parishes. The Virginia General Assembly set the parish boundaries, which often corresponded closely with the boundaries of the secular county.

The earliest parishes were vast in size, but usually only heavily populated in the areas closest to the capital of the colony. In these places, colonists would build their parish church, where the rector of the parish would conduct most of the services. Nearby, the settlers would also build a vestry house to serve as the meeting site for the twelve elected vestrymen of the parish. Both the rector and the vestry were responsible for seeing to the spiritual welfare of the entire (geographic) parish.

And so, as new colonists migrated out to the distant reaches of the parish, the vestry would oversee the construction of local chapels-of-ease, so-called because they made it easier for these parishioners to get to Sunday worship.

While these chapels made it easier on parishioners, they made life more complicated for the rector. About once a month, he had to ride out to each chapel to conduct a Sunday service for the distant parishioners, leaving behind a copy of his sermon with his parish church clerk, who would deliver it after he had led the home congregation in Morning Prayer. Conversely, when the rector led services at the parish church, the chapel clerk(s) did the same for the frontier congregation(s).

Once a parish had more than one or two chapels, the General Assembly would typically split the parish in half, with one of the former chapels serving as the parish church of the newly created parish.

That was what happened with our congregation in 1732. Previously, Pohick Church (then known as “Occoquan Church” and located at the present site of Cranford Methodist Church) had been a chapel - first in Overwharton Parish (ca. 1724) and then in Hamilton Parish (1730). In 1732, however, the General Assembly created Truro Parish, which included the areas between the Occoquan and Potomac Rivers, extending out into the western frontier.

The newly dubbed “Pohick Church” became the Truro Parish Church, and its parishioners elected a vestry. They in turn selected the parish’s first rector, Dr. Charles Green, on the recommendation of vestryman Augustine Washington, George Washington’s father.

Over the next several decades, the vestry also ordered the construction of several chapels, including structures to service parishioners living in the areas of the upper Potomac falls, Fairfax City, and Alexandria. These three chapels later became known respectively as The Falls Church, Payne’s Church (destroyed in 1863 and later built at a new location as Zion Church and then Truro Church) and Christ Church. During his lengthy tenure (1737-1765), Dr. Green kept very busy riding horseback between Pohick and the parish’s distant chapels.

In order to ease his burden, the General Assembly divided Truro Parish twice: first to the west in 1748 (Cameron Parish, everything west of the Fairfax/Loudon County line) and then to the north in 1765 (Fairfax Parish, everything north of Mt. Vernon). During all this time and even beyond the Colonial period, Pohick continued to be the parish church of Truro Parish, with the rector and vestry seeing to the spiritual needs of not just the local congregation, but also the larger geographic parish.

With changing demographics, including explosive growth in Northern Virginia, the Diocese of Virginia abandoned the parish system in the early 1970s. In its place, it created a system of geographic regions whose boundaries differ significantly from their colonial predecessors. Typically, about a dozen or so congregations reside within each of the fifteen regions presently defined in our diocese.

Unlike colonial times, each congregation in a region now has its own rector (or vicar for a non-self-sustained mission) and vestry. Likewise, each congregation has lay and clergy representation within their local Region Council. The council in turn elects its own (lay) officers, as well as a representative to the Diocesan Executive Board. Region clergy also meet separately in a body known as the Region Clericus, presided over by a Dean appointed by the bishop.

Which leads to the main reason I broach this topic. Last November, Bp. Lee asked me if I would be willing to serve as the Dean of our region, Region VI (Episcopal churches south of the beltway and east of I-95 in Fairfax County, and in the eastern half of Prince William). After consultation and prayerful reflection, I accepted the four-year appointment, which begins this month.

In so doing, I am mindful of Pohick’s historic role in this regard, as well as the continuing leadership offered by two of our parishioners, Don O’Connell, President of our Region Council, and Anne Poad, outgoing Secretary.

In happier times, members of the Council worked together to plant new mission congregations in our region (such as Church of the Spirit in Kingstown). While this work will continue, it must now be done mindful of the fact that all three of our region’s congregations in Prince William County - All Saints, Christ our Lord, and St. Margaret’s - have recently voted to leave the Episcopal Church and associate with one of the Anglican Churches of Africa. Of these, competing property claims remain only for St. Margaret’s, but even now I am personally hopeful that these can be resolved amicably.

In the meantime, we will continue to reach out to the families of our region (and beyond) with the Good News of Jesus Christ. While Truro Parish now exists only as part of Pohick’s historic past, our congregation’s mission to the residents of Northern Virginia continues.

Just a quick reminder that Lent begins near the end of the month with Ash Wednesday falling on February 21 this year. As in the past, we will offer four services on that day - at 7:00 am, noon, 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm - each with the Ash Wednesday liturgy, Imposition of Ashes, and Holy Communion. The Wednesday evening Lenten Suppers (6:30 pm - 7:10 pm), Classes (7:10 pm - 8:00 pm) and Services (8:00 pm - 8:30 pm) begin the following week on Feb. 28. Look for more information on these in the weekly bulletin and website in the weeks ahead.