A conservative Northern Virginia church embroiled in a land dispute with the Episcopal Church of Virginia has settled its case.
The settlement allows the Church of the Word in Gainesville to retain its property. The church was one of several that split from the Episcopal church in 2006, after the Episcopalians’ ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. The breakaway churches aligned themselves with the Anglican church. The two sides have been locked in a dispute over church properties ever since.
As part of the settlement, Church of the Word must sever its ties with the Anglican District of Virginia, the umbrella group of breakaway churches, for five years.
