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St. Anne's Episcopal Church, the only church in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington founded by lay people, celebrated its 50th anniversary Feb. 21, looking back over a half-century of growth that has carried the parish and its humble beginnings forward to the 21st century.

"We've become a pretty diverse congregation," said the Rev. Elizabeth Carpenter, rector of the parish. "We have families from Africa, India, South America and the Caribbean."

What started in 1960 with a handful of parishioners worshiping in a room at Damascus High School has evolved into a sprawling church spanning 10 acres with more than 150 active families, some of whom travel from as far as Hagerstown to attend services.

In the late 1950s, Damascus furniture salesman Herbert Cain wanted to start an Episcopal church in his town. He turned to the Right Rev. William F. Creighton and the Episcopal Diocese for permission.

"[The Rev. Creighton] was rather dubious," said his wife and active St. Anne's parishioner, Elizabeth "Lib" Cain, 89. "He didn't think there were enough Episcopalians in the area."

Herbert Cain passed away nearly two decades ago.

Creighton told Cain that in order to start a new mission, he needed to find 25 Episcopalian families. So along with friend Pat Eckloff, he began a grassroots campaign to start a church that included traveling door to door looking for potential members.

As word spread throughout the county, 25 Episcopalian families offered support and joined the new parish.

On Feb. 21, 1960, St. Anne's held its first service at Damascus High School, around the time when other church congregations were sprouting all over Damascus.

"The Baptists were on the stage of the school and the Lutherans were meeting in a private hall somewhere in town," Elizabeth Cain said. "We were in the music room."

As St. Anne's did not yet have its own rector, one from Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring delivered the first communion.

For the next two years, St. Anne's would operate out of the high school's music room until it purchased 10 acres of land on Ridge Road with the financial assistance of the diocese and All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase.

"The rector of All Saints was very ill at that time," Cain said. "So the vestry requested that he be given the privilege of naming the church."

He named the church in honor of his mother, whose birthday fell on July 26, the feast day of St. Anne.

In 2003, St. Anne's celebrated the expansion of its parish with the addition of a new building.

St. Anne's is known for its outreach and work around the Damascus community and abroad. Damascus groups that were spawned from St. Anne's include Widening Horizons, a senior ministry founded by Cain 40 years ago, and Damascus Help, a nonprofit organization providing assistance to the needy.

Abroad, St. Anne's supports an orphanage and operates a mission in Honduras. When Hurricane Mitch devastated the country in 1998, St. Anne's parishioners rallied together to build two houses in the region.

On St. Anne's property, the John T. Walker House serves a transitional home for families needing financial assistance. Families living there receive counseling, access to job training and work closely with a social worker.

Seven families have lived in the John T. Walker House since its founding in 1990. A Liberian family seeking political asylum is living there now, Carpenter said.

"St. Anne's is a small congregation, but it does so much," she said.

At the 50th anniversary service, founding and original church members, including Cain and Marjorie Jenkins-McClain, one of the church's first members, helped distribute communion.

Libby Kephart Hargrave, daughter of a former rector, the Right Rev. Roy Kephart, sang at the service.

The Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, spoke to parishioners.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) presented St. Anne's with a proclamation honoring the church's 50th anniversary.

St. Anne's parishioner Frank Ierardi, a woodworker, spent 200 hours crafting a new altar for the church, St. Anne's assistant treasurer Mimi Catlin said.

A new banner and bell choir were dedicated at the service, while a commemorative oak tree was planted on the church property last fall.

"A lot of work went into planning [the event]" Catlin said. "And it went off incredibly well."

With the 50th anniversary celebration behind them, St. Anne's parishioners will divert their attention to a new project: an on-site senior citizens home.