The Church of Antioch
in the Northwest
 
PRESENCE IN THE NORTHWEST
 
Ascension Mission is one of two chartered Church of Antioch ministries in the state of Washington, Radiant Heart Ministries being the other. Located on Washington state's Key Peninsula, Ascension serves as a spiritual home for our operations in western Washington, also providing outreach to Olalla Recovery Center, an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab center. Other ministries include the Ashram Project, a wedding service, outreach to local hospitals, and officiating at baptisms, funerals, and memorials. Radiant Heart Ministries serves the Ellensburg community in eastern Washington.
 
Ashram Project . Within the past couple years we purchased ten acres of land on the North Key Peninsula to serve as a base for Ascension Mission. Our hope is we will make this a place worship, renewal, and retreat. We have now created a web page with a few internet resources that we hope may be helpful to us in realizing this dream.
 
Radiant Heart Ministries . Father Rand Gillen, director of Radiant Heart Ministries, is an urban hermit. He serves the Ellensburg community through a life of prayer, administering the sacraments, the Art of Sacred Anointing (massage), bodywork for the end-of-life and spiritual companioning. To speak with Father Rand or make an appointment please call him at (509) 929-1162.
 
 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR MINISTRIES
 
We are ministries of the Church of Antioch, dedicated to helping the seeker raise mind and spirit, through fellowship, meditation, prayer, healing, and worship. While our activities include outreach to the marginalized our ministry is really for any seeker who is looking to achieve deeper levels of spirituality, fellowship, and an opportunity for sacramental worship in a small but nurturing spiritual community. We welcome to our altars all sincere seekers who reverently approach. We have ordained priests who are available to officiate at weddings, funerals, baptisms, house blessings, healings, and rites of renewal and reconciliation.
 
A partner in the greater Christian community
 
Ascension Mission is a member of the International Council of Community Churches, which represents us ecumenically in the Churches Uniting in Christ and the World Council of Churches.

Our Roots
 
Our parent organization, the Church of Antioch is a small, mystically/metaphysically oriented, independent, Catholic jurisdiction. It has its roots, or apostolic succession, in the Liberal Catholic Church, the Dutch Old Catholic Church, and the Indian branch of the Syrian Orthodox Church, which is centered in the Malabar region of southern India. Its spiritual principles empasize the importance of both Christian faith and personal freedom.

An Open-Minded Alternative

We are an open-minded, alternative that offers opportunities for deep spiritual experiences yet which refrains from imposing dogma. We encourage ecumenical endeavors and the free pursuit of spiritual truth. Our priests and ministers are generally worker ministers, who maintain other jobs to support themselves. We tend not to proselytize. Instead, we prefer to rely upon the law of attraction. We also count on those we serve to help us in this endeavor, and therefore graciously accept free-will donations.
 
 

The Diocese of the Northwest encompasses the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. While the Church of Antioch does not currently have clergy in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Wyoming the clergy from Washington occassionally provide outreach and support to seminarains and communities in those states. The Diocese has recently, however, established a Washington office of Sophia Divinity School, the seminary of the Church of Antioch.

 

Worker-Ministers. As is true of all ordained clergy within the Church of Antioch, our clergy are usually worker ministers. They maintain other "tent making" jobs to support themselves.

 

Pictured left is the recently consecrated Bishop Alan Kemp, the pastoral leader of Ascension Mission and now Bishop of the Diocese.

LITURGY
 
The liturgy, especially the Holy Eucharist, is at the center of our worship. We believe that we have a very beautiful liturgy, traditional in its essential elements yet purged of language not consistent with the message of love preached by Christ. We are reproducing a few examples of our liturgies for your review. If you would like printed copies we'd be happy to send them for a donation of $2 each plus $1 for postage and handling. The Church of Antioch publishes A New Catholic Concise Liturgy (and Other Useful Writings) by Most Rev. Alan R. Kemp, D.Min. It is 220 pages, which includes these liturgies as well as a lectionary, reference material, and a compilation of prayers. Please contact the Church of Antioch headquarters in Santa Fe, NM, if you are interested in purchasing a copy.
 
• A Eucharistic Liturgy
• Malabar Rite Pooja
• Liturgy of Dom Bede Griffiths
• Morning & Evening Office
• A Liturgy of Renewal

 
 
Ascension Mission
 
The Hermitage
17206 144th St. KPN
Gig Harbor, WA 98329
 
(253) 961-9775 (cell)
(253) 884-7688 (hermitage)
E-mail: cosmas@concentric.net
Radiant Heart Ministries
 
Fr. Randal D. Gillen
314 1/2 North Pine St. #2
Ellensburg, WA 98926
 
(509) 929-1162
E-mail: hwolfofgod@yahoo.com
 
For Resources on Theology, Independent Catholicism, and Ministry go to
The Ascension Mission Home Page