Dear Friends,

Welcome to SaintNicks.com, the online presence of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church. Now that you are here, let me tell you about our congregation.

We are a young and growing congregation serving the Darnestown-Germantown-North Potomac area of Montgomery County, Maryland, a member congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, The Episcopal Church, and part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion. We are warm and welcoming, come-as-you-are and be-who-you-are kind of congregation, grounded in Scripture and centered in life. And, of course, with a name like St. Nick's, we have a special affinity for ministry to the youngest among us and a desire to involve them actively in all that we do.

St. Nicholas Church is a incarnational Christian community. We believe in resurrection because our own congregation experienced it. In the early 1990s, a group of Episcopalians attempted to plant a church in the Darnestown-Germantown area, but that congregation tore itself apart in a battle over orthodoxy and -- ultimately -- who would have the power to decide it:  the power to determine who was "in" and who was "out" -- who was "us" and who was "them." Sadly, this earlier congregation, which also called itself St. Nicholas Church, finally closed its doors in 1993.

Two years later, I and a small but determined group of lay people, were called to raise up a new congregation from the ashes (and some of the survivors) of the old. Determined to learn from the death of the first congregation, we felt led by God to a vision of Christian community in which there was no "us" and "them." A diverse community so anchored by the love of Christ that all other considerations were secondary. new middle way that transcends the artificial boundaries of conservative and liberal Christianity. A radical, third way of being Church that transcends the artificial boundaries of conservative and liberal Christianity. And in the a decade and a half that we have journeyed along this new middle way, our congregation has not only survived but thrived.

And now we would like to invite you to share in our community and in our journey.  As our vision states, we are "A Place to Belong! A Place to Become!"  Regardless of where you are on your personal journey of faith, you are welcome share in that which makes us a Christian community: Christ's unconditional love for us, which we seek to experience in all that we do: in worship, in fellowship, in learning about God and ourselves. But we don't stop there. At St. Nick's we believe that each of us has unique God-given gifts and a unique calling from God, Part of our commitment to those whom God brings to us is to help them discover their gifts and calling, and to learn from you about our own.

So go ahead and read more about us on our website, or follow us on Facebook or Twiiter.  If you'd like to read even more about our approach to incarnational Christian community, you can read my/our new book, Paradoxy: Creating Christian Community Beyond Us and Them, which can be purchased at our online bookstore (or click here to download the first two chapters for free).

Then come and check us out in person. 

I hope to see you soon!