By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
Four years ago, the Rev. Michael McKinnon came to Moore County with just the nudge of a calling.
He left behind a church he served for 18 years in Massachusetts and arrived in North Carolina with no building or money for his vision.
Now the church he planted in Southern Pines is growing strong enough that McKinnon is planting another.
Saint Alban the Martyr Anglican Church held its first service Sunday, Aug. 16, at The Chapel in the Pines on Seven Lakes Drive, beginning what McKinnon hopes will eventually become a permanent Anglican presence in the Seven Lakes/West End community.
Saint Alban is, for now, a satellite of the Church of the Advent in Southern Pines. McKinnon will provide oversight for both churches. His prayer is for Saint Alban to grow to the point where it can support its own priest. The congregations would eventually become related but separate churches.
“The Lord has gone before us and has been opening doors for this new church plant,” McKinnon said in a statement announcing the new congregation.
McKinnon, 58, has experience initiating churches and enjoys the challenge of starting a congregation from the ground. After settling in the Sandhills with his wife, Christine, McKinnon began getting involved in the community. He joined the Rotary Club, served as a fire department chaplain and volunteered with organizations including Meals on Wheels and Backpack Pals.
The Church of the Advent eventually purchased its own property at 240 E. New Hampshire Ave. in Southern Pines. But four years after its launch, McKinnon said the congregation is already outgrowing the space.
At the same time, he became acquainted with an Anglican priest who lives in Seven Lakes. The Rev. Bill Knapp, now McKinnon’s assisting priest, had served with him years earlier in Illinois. After the two reconnected, Knapp asked McKinnon whether he had considered starting a church in Seven Lakes.
McKinnon decided to pray about it and to take a closer look at the area. He found a growing community, a major highway corridor and the potential for development. “It may not be a bad place to do it,” he said.
He sought the support of Bishop Julian Dobbs of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word and the leadership of the Church of the Advent. Then he approached Pastor Paul James of The Chapel in the Pines.
McKinnon took James to breakfast at 7 Lakes Cafe and asked whether the church might have space to accommodate a new Anglican congregation. James and the church’s board agreed. “They could not have been more welcoming,” McKinnon said.
Saint Alban will have a traditional worship style. The congregation is part of the Anglican Church in North America and is under the authority of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word. McKinnon describes its approach as “Orthodox Anglicanism,” emphasizing scripture, the sacraments, traditional liturgy and the creeds of historic Christianity.
The congregation’s worship will center on traditional Holy Communion, with an emphasis on encountering Christ through scripture and the EuchariSaint Services may include chanting and incense.
McKinnon believes that the traditional approach to worship is part of the reason his Southern Pines congregation has attracted members, including many younger people.
He said some younger worshippers are seeking something different from contemporary services with modern production elements.
“They want great reverence in worship,” McKinnon said. He said worshippers at Church of the Advent have described the experience as entering into something larger than the physical building where they gather — a heavenly worship.
Saint Alban’s name reflects their connection to Chrstian history. Saint Alban is traditionally remembered as the first Christian martyr in Brittan, and McKinnon said the name connects the new congregation to the English heritage of Anglicanism.
McKinnon’s church planting goes back decades. Raised in Connecticut as the youngest of six children, he said he sensed a call to the priesthood when he was about seven years old. He was initially educated in the Roman Catholic tradition and spent two years in a Roman Catholic seminary before eventually finding his way to Anglicanism.
He has been ordained for more than 30 years and has served in settings ranging from an isolated village in Labrador to communities where he worked with people experiencing homelessness and addiction.
But when McKinnon talks about planting a church, he turns to the example of the early Christians who went out into the world to connect with people and share the gospel with the Holy Spirit as their only resource.
“I believe strongly that we need to get out from inside the four walls,” he said. “That’s obviously very important. It’s the house of God where we’re nourished and strengthened. But it is there in order that we may go out and connect with people.”
He hopes to bring this model of worship and service to Seven Lakes and that this new congregation will do what the Church of the Advent is doing now – plant another church.
McKinnon is sustained in this work by scripture and calls to mind the Gospel story of Jesus walking on the water. In the story, the disciples are caught in a storm and are looking for Jesus who has been praying for them on the mountain. Jesus comes to them on the water. When Peter steps out of the boat to walk to him, the storm doesn’t stop. As long as his attention is on Jesus, he is able to walk through it. “He was aware of the storm, but his focus was on Christ,” McKinnon said.
It is a particularly fitting story for a priest who has repeatedly stepped into the unknown to begin something new.
Saint Alban meets for worship at 4 p.m. on Sundays at The Chapel in the Pines, 581 Seven Lakes Drive.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
