About Us

All Saints Church is a traditional Anglican Church of the Anglican Province of America (See Anglicanism). The story of All Saints begins in March 1980, when an advertisement appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times asking all interested people to attend a meeting at the Community Center in Turtle Creek in order to form a new mission. Twenty-five people attended that meeting. Shortly thereafter, the first service (with twelve in attendance) was held on Palm Sunday at the Skyland Fire Department.

These were humble beginnings for the parish. As a small congregation with no permanent church and led by a retired Episcopal priest, the early prospects for success were by no means bright. Indeed, during the first year alone, All Saints had to move to three different locations. Unfortunately, by the beginning of 1985, the parish’s numbers had begun to shrink considerably. The Rev. Richard Bahr resigned and was succeeded by The Rev. Richard Bakley. As the new priest-in-charge of All Saints’ Mission, Fr. Rich (an ex-marine) set straight to work. Under his strong guidance, the parish started to see marked growth. Services were held at a Weight Watcher’s Anonymous building in Asheville.

In January, the Vestry accepted a gift of the present building site from the Charles and Ann McDonalds. At the time, there was some discussion as to whether or not the location of the site was too far out in the “boon docks.” How times have changed! Fortunately, the parish had the foresight to accept the property, and the construction of the present parish hall was begun on March 24th, 1986. Meanwhile, the parish had seen enough growth for Fr. Rich to be installed as the Vicar in July. The first service was held in the new building on Christmas Eve. According to the records, the congregation by this time had grown to sixty-three communicants.

Pulling together once again to get the job done, the mission quickly raised the funds for the construction of the new building. The 1980s had seen the congregation move from one location to another until the construction of the first church building. In the1990s, the congregation would experience the joy of worshiping in a beautiful permanent location. Dr. Paul Savory and Noel Thompson did much to add to the beauty of the church by building the pulpit, altar, prayer desks, and canopies. Other members of the congregation generously donated pews, altar hangings, and metal ware.

The completion of the new building, however, marked the end of Fr. Rich’s ministry to All Saints. He accepted a call to St. Michael’s, Charlotte and was succeeded by The Rev. Nick Henderson. The arrival of Fr. Nick marked another important milestone in the life of All Saints. Fr. Rich had served as the vicar of All Saints’ Mission; in 1993, Fr. Nick would be installed as the first rector of All Saints’ Parish. Fr. Nick continued to beautify the church. More importantly, however, he worked hard to continue the parish growth. When he decided to move on four years later, the parish was regularly seeing over eighty people on Sundays. Many who are still members today speak often of Fr. Nick’s pastoral attention to them in times of crisis.

A period of time then elapsed as the congregation searched for a new rector. During this time, The Rev. Mr. Ed. Garrett served as the primary minister on Sundays, aided by priests from elsewhere in the Diocese. Finally, in 1998, The Rev. Doug Woofter answered the call to become the second Rector and fourth priest of All Saints. He came to western North Carolina from Indianapolis accompanied by his wife, Susan, and four children. During his ministry at All Saints, Fr. Doug worked to stabilize the youth program, deepen people’s spirituality, and to bring peace in those areas where before there had been discord. In 2000, Fr. Doug stepped down as Rector. Shortly thereafter, Fr. Mark Clavier was called from Maryland to become the third Rector of All Saints. He arrived in May, 2001 with his wife, Diane, and son, Paul. Fr. Doug graciously agreed to remain as Fr. Mark’s assistant.

All Saints has accomplished and experienced much during the past twenty years. Those initial twelve members who met in a fire hall in Skyland have blossomed to over one hundred and sixty members who worship, work, learn, and enjoy each other’s fellowship. God has, indeed, blessed our parish. Our new Rector Father W.J. Martin continues to lead us on our spiritual journey into the eternal wisdom, and power of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Anglicanism is a Reformed Catholic expression of the Christian Religion which finds its source in the theological formulations of the Book of Common Prayer 1662, the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion and the inherited tradition of the Ancient and Undivided Church. During the reign of Elizabeth the First, the Church of England began to establish its unique, but by no means invalid, understanding of the inherited theological tradition of the Latin West in relation to the Protestant Reformation. The Church of England at that time intended no departure from the faith of the Apostles and ancient Fathers of the Church. Rather she sought to reform her Catholicism where the practice of it during the late Middle Ages had threatened the Church's first love for Jesus Christ.

Throughout her roughly four hundred year history, the Church of England and her missions throughout the British Empire were guided by her original formularies. The most serious threat to her confessional identity was launched during the 1950's and 1960's. Political and Civil unrest in the United States and then Britain, the advent of the women's rights movement, the invention of the pill, and the breakdown of the traditional family, brought serious challenges to all forms of historical Christianity. Many churches regarded themselves as irrelevant and thus removed from the needs of the times. At the end of the day, Christian leaders threw themselves into the secular unrest of the times and became immersed in its problems and demands. As a result, the expression of the traditional faith throughout Christendom was at best forgotten, and at worst denied.

For Anglicans, the source or cause of these changes was to be found in a radical departure from the traditional method of approaching and understanding Holy Scripture. Scripture had always been the expression of God's Word to his people as Gift - first to the inspired minds of priests, prophets and kings in the Old Testament, and then as the Word made flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit in the New. The traditional understanding of the Bible then was that it was a complete whole which interpreted itself. It was not understood to be a source book for ethical behavior or a creation of man's unfulfilled desires of imaginings. It was received as Gift - the Gift of God's wisdom, power and love as what alone saves man from himself - completely and perfectly through the Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The secular assault on traditional Christian understanding within Anglicanism meant the loss of its traditional Book of Common Prayer - the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in the United States, a denial of Biblical morality, and an unprecedented innovation to the sacred Order of Priests and Bishops with the Ordination of Women. The most radical consequence involved outright denials of the Divinity of Christ and the uniqueness of Our Lord as the perfect Way, Truth and Life as Saviour.

All Saints Church and the Anglican Province of America were borne out of the need to reassert the traditional Anglican way. Through the doctrine and worship of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, we strive to remain faithful to the content of Holy Scripture and Catholic Tradition. This means that our vocation is one of pilgrimage to salvation through Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. Our destiny is to become the children of the Father, through the Son and by the real presence of the Holy Spirit. Please join us in our spiritual quest to put on the Mind of Christ and not to be conformed to this world, but rather to be risen with Christ who sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.