St. Anne's Episcopal Church

On February 23, 1969, the Reverend Embry Rucker, the parish’s first rector, celebrated Holy Communion with 42 people in a storefront building at Lake Anne Village Center. Parishioners came from diverse backgrounds, united by their commitment to social action. The congregation supported innovative ministry and outreach to the new community of Reston, which was only five years old when the church wa

s founded. Through the Common Ground Foundation and Coffee House in Lake Anne, we were instrumental in starting a number of needed programs in the community including the Common Ground Child Care Center, Reston Interfaith, the Reston Internal Bus System (RIBS bus) and the Greater Reston Arts Center. The Common Ground Coffee House was an important center of community life for many years and a point of contact for people who needed help. In the early days of Reston, the Diocese of Virginia had the foresight to purchase a plot of land on a hill overlooking Baron Cameron Drive and Reston Parkway. The church building that now sits on this site was dedicated in 1989 and expanded in 1995 to its current 23,000 square feet. Five rectors followed Embry Rucker: Jim Miles, Paula Woods (the first woman rector in the Diocese of Virginia), John Hatcher, interim rector Tom Holliday, Jim Papile, and John Hall. For nearly two years, John Stonesifer served as interim rector, before The Reverend Jessica Holthus was called to serve as our seventh rector, beginning in February, 2022. Each rector made his/her mark on the parish throughout its more than fifty-year history. Today, we worship in a beautiful contemporary church that offers a broad spectrum of inreach, outreach, educational and fellowship programs. The church building is in constant use by parishioners, other religious groups and neighborhood organizations as a center for worship, community service, education and social events. Anne’s remains faithful to involvement in the greater Reston community, to welcoming all to our church family, and to being a progressive congregation of seekers who rely on scripture, tradition and reason to discern God’s will.