About Us
Arlington Presbyterian Church is imagining a new way to be a faith community.
For the sake of the well-being of our neighbors, APC is imagining a new way to be a faith community in South Arlington. We break bread together. We sing. We pray for each other and our neighbors. We explore the Biblical stories in community. We serve in ways that are communal and relational. We practice community organizing.
In essence, we create APC together; our life, worship and faith are all an act of equal collaboration. Here at APC, you are part of that process of dreaming and scheming for God’s holy justice on Columbia Pike.
APC has a history of dreaming and scheming. In 2016, APC sold its land to Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) to create Gilliam Place, a 173-unit affordable housing apartment building developed by APAH (incairnation.org).
It’s been said at Arlington Presbyterian that the call from God to create affordable housing on Columbia Pike was bigger than our previous building—so the walls of the building had to come down.
This was a radical act of faith to express the radical love of God.
In a continued commitment to be part of affordable housing in S. Arlington, APC is located on the entry level of Gilliam Place. It’s here that we live out the ways of the faith together.
I am honored to be the pastor here at APC where we pride ourselves on being a small-batch congregation, and where our sacred imagining is brimming with life and hope for a more equitable and just Arlington County.
Know that your hopes and dreams, struggles and questions, celebrations and sorrows are all welcome here at Arlington Presbyterian.
In order to live into that holy welcome, Arlington Presbyterian is what’s known as a More Light Congregation, a designation that a congregation takes within the PCUSA to signify it is working for the full participation of LGBTQIA people in the life, ministry, and witness of the Church and society.
Also central to our identity as a Christian community is APC proclaiming that #blacklivesmatter. It is our work as followers of God’s Holy Way to prophetically reflect, learn, and act in anti-racist ways.
Our More Light, anti-racist ways guide us in our liturgy, how we gather together, grow a garden, and build relationships with neighbors in Gilliam Place, South Arlington, and beyond.
APC is located on the entry level of Gilliam Place to maintain the commitment to the affordable housing crisis in Arlington County and be in community with our Gilliam Place neighbors. We worship on Sunday mornings at 11am in our beautiful, multi-sensory, designed-by-us worship space.
APC is a place of new beginnings—now and always. Join us on this faithful adventure of love, neighborliness, and justice.
-Ashley Goff, Pastor