Where Truro Sits in Fairfax
Truro Anglican Church stands at 10520 Main Street in the heart of the City of Fairfax, just down the street from the historic Fairfax Courthouse, the City Hall, and Fairfax High School, and within easy reach of George Mason University. The campus holds a small brick Chapel consecrated in 1934, the larger 1959 Sanctuary that today seats five hundred, the Gunnell House that has served as rectory and offices, and the Van Dyck House where many of the church's small groups and weekday ministries meet. The church is Anglican in identity, a member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and sits under the oversight of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
The congregation first gathered in 1843, when the Rev. Richard Templeton Brown of The Falls Church organized fourteen communicants who began meeting at the Fairfax Courthouse. Truro's claim to a much older pedigree is real, however: the church takes its name from Truro Parish, created by the General Assembly of Virginia on November 1, 1732, which once stretched across what are now Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church. The cornerstone of the present Sanctuary was quarried from Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, England, and the 1934 Chapel was built to recall the original Payne's Church that once stood farther south on Ox Road.
What the Church Believes and Stands On
Truro's motto is short and defining: Celebrating and Proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel. Underneath that motto sits a four-part structure that the congregation calls its pillars. Christ is the cornerstone, and on Christ alone are built the four pillars of the Word, worship, community, and outreach. The Word comes first because Truro teaches that Scripture is the church's primary authority and the source from which everything else flows. Worship is what a redeemed people do when they gather. Outreach is the work of going out into the world in obedience to Jesus' Great Commission. Community is the recognition that Christians are made for one another as members of one body.
The church is credobaptist and paedobaptist in the classical Anglican way: baptism is reserved for the gathered community of believers, but because God's covenant promises extend to children as well as adults, infants and young children of believers are also welcomed into the waters of baptism. Future baptism Sundays are scheduled several times each year, and a baptism preparation class is required for both candidates and families. Upcoming baptism Sundays include November 1, 2026 and January 10, 2027. Confirmation, reception, or reaffirmation takes place when the diocesan bishop visits, and the bishop is expected again in 2027.
Sundays at Truro
Two Sunday services anchor the week. An early service of Holy Communion is celebrated at 7:45 AM in the Chapel, a quiet and intimate setting in the older brick building. The main service follows at 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary and is also livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with replays available later in the week for those joining online. Both services follow the historic Anglican liturgy of Word and Sacrament, and the 10:00 AM worship is supported by the choir, the band, the acolytes, readers, ushers, lay eucharistic ministers, and the altar guild.
Between the two, at 9:00 AM, the Adult Sunday School class meets in Common Grounds. Recent series have included a survey of 1 Corinthians, a ten-week walk through the Nicene Creed, a four-week introduction to Anglican Essentials taught by Dr. Paul Julienne, and a six-week study of the shorter Minor Prophets taught by the Rev. Richard Crocker, the Rev. Chris Hammond, Clint Petty, and Laura Ranson. After the 10:00 AM service, trained prayer ministers are available at the rail for anyone who would like prayer, and a Sunday hospitality team provides food and drinks for fellowship.
Worship at Truro is blended in style, drawing on the historic prayer book tradition while allowing room for the congregation to engage with both contemporary songs and classic hymnody. The choir rehearses on Thursday evenings during the program term and sings in worship roughly twice a month. Bands and acoustic ensembles rotate, and the service is led by the clergy alongside lay worship leaders.
Children and the Next Generation
Truro's children, youth, and family ministries are organized to walk with families from infancy through high school graduation.
The Nest is the church's Sunday childcare program for children from three months old through PreK. The Nest opens at 9:30 AM for the 10:00 AM service and includes a special time of worship with music in the chapel just for the children. A separate Mom's Room near the undercroft offers a quiet space with a livestream of the 10:00 AM service for mothers with infants who need a diaper change or some wiggle room.
For elementary-aged children in kindergarten through fourth grade, a children's program runs during the 10:00 AM service. Check-in happens at the Family Ministry tent next to the ramp into the church. Club 56 is the program for fifth and sixth graders and meets during the 10:00 AM service in the Gunnell House; it is designed for the pre-teen years and emphasizes friendship, fun, and following Jesus.
Youth Ministry gathers students in grades seven through twelve for a regular Sunday night program from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the Van Dyck House during the school year. The youth group adds a monthly fun event, a fall retreat to the West River retreat center, a high school winter retreat called Breakaway in February, a middle school Breakaway in late February or early March, and a spring retreat to Camp Horizons. The Truro Youth Bible Breakfast for guys meets at 6:45 AM each Thursday morning during the program season at Starbucks on Main Street.
Vacation Bible School is a flagship summer program. VBS runs for one week each June, runs from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, and welcomes children from PreK through rising sixth grade. Recent themes have included Stellar; the 2026 program runs June 22 through 26. A preschool VBS track runs in parallel for the youngest participants.
Adults: Sunday School, Community Groups, and Men's and Women's Ministries
Truro's Adult Sunday School meets at 9:00 AM on Sundays and runs in six- to twelve-week terms. Beyond the Sunday morning class, the church offers a Tuesday night Bible study series and short courses such as Anglican Essentials and a missions course titled Across the Street, Around the World.
Community Groups are the backbone of adult discipleship. More than two dozen groups meet on every day of the week, on campus, in homes, and on Zoom. The fastest way to find a fit is to read through the descriptions on the Community Groups page, which sorts groups by men's, women's, kid-friendly, meal, refreshments, prayer-focused, remote, and on-campus filters. Sunday afternoon options include a lunch group that meets at Common Grounds and a widows' and divorcees' fellowship at the Van Dyck House. Mondays feature a 7:00 AM men's Bible study in the Gunnell House, a 10:00 AM prayer-and-sermon discussion in Clifton, and a Zoom group studying Paul's later letters with N.T. Wright. Tuesdays include several Zoom groups, an in-person study in Annandale working through the BibleProject's Reading the Bible as Meditation Literature, and a long-running Acts study group. Wednesdays are the busiest day, with three morning groups at Truro (a men's Bible study at 6:30 AM, a Zoom prayer group at 8:00 AM, and HeartShapers for mothers of infants and toddlers at 9:30 AM in the Undercroft), an evening meal-and-Bible-study group for those new to the faith in Fairfax City, several other evening groups, and a new-member-style group that meets in Annandale. Thursdays include a women's Bible study at 9:30 AM in the Van Dyck House and a men's Bible study in the Gunnell House in the evening. Fridays feature two groups, one in Fairfax and one in Chantilly. A long-standing men's group gathers at 6:30 AM on Saturdays in the Gunnell House for fellowship and serious Bible study.
The Men's Ministry sponsors monthly men's breakfasts (usually on the fourth Saturday), Bible study groups on and off campus, and an annual men's retreat at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Virginia. The Women's Ministry sponsors In the Vineyard, a monthly gathering on the third Thursday evening in the Undercroft, as well as HeartShapers on Wednesday mornings and a Thursday morning women's Bible study at the Van Dyck House.
Truro International Programs and Services (TIPS)
For more than forty years, TIPS has been Truro's bridge to the international community in the Washington region. Today TIPS serves 220 or more students from over thirty countries each year, with a small staff and a volunteer base of more than fifty. The heart of TIPS is its ESOL program. Morning classes meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 to 11:30 AM in person at Truro, and evening classes meet online by Zoom on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:15 to 8:45 PM. Six levels of instruction are offered, from beginner to advanced. Two weekly extra classes, Conversation & Culture on Tuesdays and Exploring Faith on Thursdays, run from 12:15 to 1:30 PM and are designed for higher-level students who want to talk and read together in English.
Beyond the ESOL program, TIPS runs Conversation Club on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings, a Bible Story Reading Club on Thursdays, a Thursday night Zoom small group for internationals that includes a short faith video and discussion, a One-to-One Conversation Partners program that matches native English speakers with ESOL students for six meetings over a summer, a Family-to-Family dinner exchange, occasional field trips to local sites like Mount Vernon, a Thanksgiving celebration, and a Vocational and Higher Education Scholarship Fund to help immigrants pursue certifications and degrees.
Outreach Beyond the Campus
Truro organizes its outreach on three concentric rings: local, domestic, and international. TIPS and the Truro Preschool and Kindergarten are the two main campus-based outreach ministries. Locally, the church supports The Lamb Center, a daytime drop-in center for homeless and impoverished adults that was launched as a Truro ministry in November 1992 and now operates as a Christian ecumenical human services organization on Lee Highway. Other local partners include the Car Ministry and the Fairfax High School Food Pantry. Domestically, the church sends disaster relief teams through the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF), with recent trips to Black Mountain, North Carolina and Burnet, Texas. International mission partners include AOG World Missions, Operation Mobilization in the Middle East, Interserve, Five Talents, Christian Missions Overseas China, Anglican Creation Care Network, Church Army, New Wineskins Missions Network, Sudan Sunrise, and Uganda Christian University.
Marriage, Prayer, and Pastoral Care
Marriage ministry at Truro is overseen by the Rev. Steven Shalita and his wife Michelle, alongside a team of trained marriage mentors. The church performs weddings for active members of Truro or other Anglican churches, and a Special Services Coordinator walks couples from the initial request through the rehearsal. A casual Marriage Morning hosted by Steve and Libby Cannizzaro introduces engaged and interested couples to the basics of marriage.
Prayer is woven throughout the life of the church. Trained prayer ministers offer prayer at the rail after each Sunday service. Longer healing prayer appointments of sixty to ninety minutes can be scheduled through the week for anyone seeking physical, emotional, or spiritual healing. An intercessory prayer line prays daily for any request submitted by phone at 703-273-1300 (extension 450) or by email. Cindy Olland serves as the lay counselor and chaplain to the staff, and a separate team of trained spiritual directors and counselors is available for members.
The Building, the Preschool, and the Worship Arts
The 1934 Chapel is the smaller of Truro's two worship spaces and is the spiritual descendant of Payne's Church on Ox Road, the parish's 1766 building. The Sanctuary was completed in 1959 during the great Northern Virginia suburban expansion, and when the mortgage was paid off in 1974 the church was consecrated; the original 1934 building became the Chapel. The Gunnell House, once a private home that served as Union headquarters during the Civil War, was purchased as a rectory in 1882 and today serves as the church office. The Van Dyck House hosts weekday meetings, women's Bible studies, and the Sunday night youth group.
Truro Preschool and Kindergarten, known as TPK, is a long-standing Christian developmental preschool located on the campus. TPK serves as both a school and an outreach ministry to the City of Fairfax and beyond; not all of its children come from church families, yet they are on the campus nearly every day, twice a day. Registration is currently open for the 2026-2027 school year.
The Worship and Arts ministry invites musicians, dancers, vocalists, readers, acolytes, and florists of all ages and skill levels to participate. The dance program runs classes for ages three through high school, with 4th through 6th grade on Sunday afternoons, 7th through 12th grade afterward, and Preschool through 3rd grade on Thursdays. Major dances are prepared for Palm Sunday, Easter, and Christmas Eve, and participation is never mandatory. The Acolyte Ministry invites middle and high school students to lead worship every Sunday morning alongside the clergy.
Becoming a Member
Membership at Truro begins with baptism, which the church understands as the formal entry into the worldwide Body of Christ. After baptism, the path to local membership includes regular worship, attendance at a newcomer lunch or two, attendance at the monthly community dinner on the second Tuesday evening in the Undercroft, attendance at the Truro Membership Lunch offered twice a year, sharing a written testimony with a pastor, completing an enrollment form, considering confirmation, reception, or reaffirmation when the bishop visits, and finding a place to serve. Newcomer lunches are held about five times a year after the 10:00 AM service; community dinners are held on the second Tuesday of each month between 5:30 and 7:00 PM; the next Membership Lunch is announced in the Truro News.
Clergy and Staff
The Rev. Jamie Brown has served as rector of Truro since September 2022. A native of a Florida ministry family, he earned a B.A. in Psychology from George Mason University and a Master of Arts in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served on the Truro staff in various roles since 2014 and preaches regularly on Sundays. The Rev. Steve Cannizzaro serves as associate rector, with a focus on pastoral care, community life, and the young adult community; he holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Trinity School for Ministry and was ordained in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in 2020. The Rev. Steven Shalita serves as associate rector and oversees the marriage ministry with his wife Michelle. The Rev. Chris Hammond serves as pastoral associate with a focus on adult discipleship, formation, and pastoral care systems; he is ordained in the East Central Presbytery of the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO) and is pursuing ordination in the Anglican Church in North America. The Rev. Preston Hansen serves as assisting priest and oversees ministry to middle and high school students.
Dr. Ryan Shelton serves as director of worship and oversees the gathered worship of the church; he holds a Ph.D. in History from Queen's University Belfast and has led congregational worship for more than twenty years. Katrina Nicholson serves as worship associate. Anne Bronaugh serves as director of kids ministry, and Stephanie Nolasco serves as director of early childhood care and oversees The Nest. Fiona Bracy serves as director of TPK. Myra Hinote directs TIPS, supported by Heather Hall and Nahiroby Olivas. Cindy Olland serves as lay counselor and chaplain to the staff. Daria Brown serves as director of operations; Marsha Foos as financial controller; Hugo Blondel as facilities manager.
Visiting Truro
Visitors are welcome at any of the regular Sunday services, and the livestream makes both services accessible from anywhere. First-time families with children are encouraged to arrive a few minutes early so that the team at the Family Ministry tent can walk them through the check-in process for The Nest, the K-4 program, or Club 56. The campus is in the middle of the historic downtown, with easy access to the restaurant district and ample public parking nearby. Anyone who would like to talk with a pastor, request prayer, learn about baptism or membership, or ask about TIPS is invited to email [email protected] or call 703-273-1300.