Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” – John 20:26-28

 

From our beginning as a living room Bible study in 2014, our fellowship has been far from what most people expect. The disaffected and the doubters always seemed to be drawn to our doorstep - many would come only for a week or two, but some remained – and over time, we became a tight-knit group of people honestly seeking the Truth. In that pursuit, we found that we had all grown weary of ego-driven, program-driven, or any other agenda-driven expression of religion – we were looking for something sacred and holy in a world that is anything but.

 

This led us, like so many other Protestants before us, to form our own church and we named it Edgemoor Abbey. Our aim was noble – to embrace the call of the primitive Church: to be a refuge in our weary world, to be a vessel that is both filled and poured out by God and to be a family united in our desperate need of His grace. And early on, we found an eager receptiveness with several being added to our number, but in spite of this perception of success, there was an underlying issue that none of us recognized at the time – we were disconnected from the Body of Christ.

 

Over the years and through many challenges, the cracks in our foundation became fissures, and by the Fall of 2022, we were ready to dissolve the congregation so that our members might find a healthy church life elsewhere. But God had other plans. A sermon that began as one of resignation turned into one of conviction, and a small group of us were determined to seek God for an answer to a seemingly answerless question – how do we continue as a church when the doors to right fellowship in the Body of Christ all seemed to be closed?

 

God answered our prayer in an email response from a priest in the Evangelical Orthodox Church.

 

We have always prayed, "O Lord, give us eyes to see" and in this, He answered. For what would've been impossible for us to see prior became abundantly obvious to us in this moment – we found what we had always been looking for and that which we had always hoped Edgemoor Abbey would become. After several visits, it was clear that we were to become a mission of the EOC, and in doing so, all of us began the process of Catechism and learning how to worship in the ways of that primitive Church we had so longed to imitate. All of this ultimately led to the ordination of our clergy and the reception of our members and our parish into the EOC on April 7, 2024 – and on that day, we took the name of St. Thomas.

 

All of us doubters and skeptics have come to proclaim Christ as, "my Lord and my God!", and it would be our honor to walk alongside other "Thomases" on that same journey.