The following article was written by Marissa Greene for the Fort Worth Report. She is a reporter for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report.
Fort Worth Anglican church finds permanent home, breaks ground on $6M facility
The former site of a 24 Hour Fitness gym soon will become a spiritual home for hundreds of Anglican Christians in southwest Fort Worth.
Members of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church gathered on Feb. 2 for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the congregation’s new place of worship at 5001 Overton Ridge Blvd.
With hard hats, plastic shovels for kids and a disco ball, the ceremony marked the culmination of a 17-year search for a permanent location for the church plant to call home, said the Very Rev. Chris Culpepper, rector of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church and canon for church planting for the Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth.
“I just told everybody, ‘Bring a shovel because we’re all in this together,’” Culpepper said.
Tony Rutigliano was one of over 200 people who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. He grew up nondenominational and Baptist while his wife grew up in the Western rite Orthodox faith. When searching for a place for the family to worship together, Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church offered a “happy medium,” Rutigliano said.
“The Anglican tradition is one that we both really appreciate,” Rutigliano said. “I have grown to really love the liturgical approach to worship and just the meaning behind that.”
The new location neighbors a mix of shopping centers and apartment complexes, which gives the church opportunities to connect and invite people in the community to events in the future, Rutigliano said.
“I want people to drive by and go, ‘What’s going on today?’… Maybe we’re having a little concert, or a festival, or we’re, you know, hosting a food truck,” Rutigliano said. “But just really the opportunity to reach out and grab the community around us and invite them in to participate, not necessarily for church but just to be loved on.”
Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church’s new 20,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in early 2026, Culpepper said. It will begin construction on its east wing, which will house its kitchen, interim nave and fellowship space, and the west wing, which will feature offices and classrooms, according to the church’s capital campaign.
The church will also include a playground — a highly anticipated feature for families, Culpepper said.
“We’ve been for 11 years without a place where the kids can really run around and play. So that’s another exciting piece of it as well,” he said.
In the early days of the congregation back in 2008, members would gather for worship in different homes until the church was able to gather at the Lockheed Martin Recreational Association a year later.
Nearly five years later, the facility where church members gathered was torn down to build Waterside, a 63-acre mixed-use development of shopping and restaurants.
“We had to discern whether God wanted us to go away or become more permanent,” Culpepper said.
For the past 11 years, worshippers have come together at the Mira Vista Commons business center in Benbrook.
After years of moving from one spot to another, Culpepper said he looks forward to how the church will grow after its final move in 2026.
“It’s very much like finding your home,” Culpepper said. “We can start living here in ways that you can’t live when you’re moving around from place to place and the opportunity to get to know the community and explore opportunities for ministry.”
Marissa Greene is a Reporter for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report.
