The Falls Church Receives National Grant for Crucial Roof Repairs
FALLS CHURCH CITY, October 22, 2024 — The Falls Church has qualified for a $175,000 grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places ("NFSP"), a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Falls Church congregation is one of 24 historic faith communities to receive a total of over $4 million in funding this year.
Erected in 1769, The Falls Church was designed in a Georgian brick style by vestryman Col. James Wren. The building was constructed with the labor of enslaved persons, as most vestrymen and parishioners were enslavers, including Wren himself, as well as active parishioners George Washington and George Mason. During the Revolutionary War, the church served as a recruiting site for the Fairfax Militia, and the Declaration of Independence was read to local citizens from the church’s steps. During the Civil War, the town of Falls Church was occupied by Union forces and the church building was used as a hospital and stable. In 2006, congregational leaders voted to leave the Episcopal Church after the ordination of the denomination’s first openly gay bishop. The ensuing landmark legal battle over ownership of the building ended with a judicial decision that The Diocese of Virginia – not the disaffiliated congregation – was the rightful owner of the church and grounds. This ruling returned the building to the open and affirming congregation that continues to worship there.
Today, The Falls Church is a community-serving congregation that partners with many local organizations, including a homeless shelter, a refugee support nonprofit, and a food distribution program. The church shares space with the Rock Christian Center, a progressive, African American Baptist congregation that is similarly dedicated to outreach. Several groups meet in the church’s building throughout the week, including dance and choral groups, a community orchestra, and a Farsi language school for children.
A National Fund grant of $175,000 matched with $175,000 raised by the congregation will support repairs to church’s roof structure, which has experienced rainwater intrusion, sagging, bat and squirrel damage, and condensation issues. The structural repairs will ensure the church is able to continue serving as a historical and community touchstone.
Contact: Joel Wood, Parish Administrator, jwood@thefallschurch.org, 703-241-0003 ext. 4404.
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