ABOUT OUR PARISH
Who We Are
St. Matthias Anglican Church is a church in the Anglican Province of America,
which is part of the continuing Anglican movement.
We uphold the importance of the Holy Scriptures – which were inspired by God –
and affirm that they contain all things necessary to Salvation and Christian living.
We celebrate the Holy Eucharist – along with the rest of the Seven Sacraments, believing that they are “outward and visible sign[s] of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive this grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof” (BCP 292).
We believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and that the Faith “was once delivered unto the saints,” and thus there is no reason to change or modify Church doctrine (ref. Jude 1:3). Scripture, tradition, and godly reason guide the Church with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We welcome all who are seeking to follow Jesus Christ in reverence, humility, and fervor!
OUr Worship
Our weekly Sunday morning service is Holy Communion and we use the traditional service found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. We also use the Daily Offices found in the prayer book throughout the week, and we will have greater opportunity to do prayer services when we move to our new building.
We pair the traditional 1940 Hymnal with the 1928 BCP in our times of worship.
Our History
St. Matthias Anglican Church was actually started in 1985! A small group in Dothan got together and wanted a more traditional and liturgical service than what was available. As is often the case, the first “church” building was a living room… and since this time St. Matthias has met in multiple chapels and even on a tennis court for a while!
But the local church is not about the building - even though our new building is a wonderful blessing! - it is about coming together as a family of the Faith to worship the Lord, learn from the Word of God, and fellowship with one another.
We have had a series of itinerant priests over the years, but finally were able to bring our first full-time priest to Dothan in 2020 with the help of funding from the Anglican Province of America. Since that time, the church has been able to do so much more than what was previously possible. We have had multiple services each week, Bible and other book studies at parishioners’ homes, and a whole lot of fun at picnics and other parties during the year!
We look forward to many years to come in our own facility and continuing the legacy of what God is doing through this Anglican parish here in the Wiregrass!
THE MOST REV’D. CHANDLER HOLDER JONES, SSC
The Most Reverend Chandler Holder Jones SSC is Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Eastern United States and Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America.
A native of Surry County, North Carolina, and a graduate of Emory and Henry College (BA) and Duke University Divinity School (MDiv), with graduate studies at Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC, he has been priested for twenty-five years and has served congregations in Virginia, Maryland, Florida, and Georgia. He has also studied English literature at Exeter College, University of Oxford, England, and Anglican history at the King’s School, Canterbury Cathedral. A convert to the Continuing Anglican Church movement, he has been a Continuing Anglo-Catholic for over thirty years. He was consecrated to the Episcopate as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese in 2010 and was elected Bishop Coadjutor in 2019. He became Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese in July 2021. He has been married for twenty-one years to Megan Baskwill Jones - together, they have four children.