Fairfax County’s Board of Zoning Appeals granted One God Ministry —A Global Church, a special permit to build a church on Braddock Road, Tuesday, May 15.
The ministry currently conducts its services at Providence Elementary School on Jermantown Road and plans to move into a location currently under construction on Chain Bridge Road by the end of the year. The permit for the location, 12609 Braddock Road, is in anticipation of the growing church, said Dr. Johnson Edosomwan, the church’s apostle, chairman and trustee.
"One God Ministry provides services for Christian and non-Christian communities," he said. "We’re not just in one corner of the Earth; we need to reach out to every community."
THE CHURCH’S MAIN focus right now is opening the location on Chain Bridge Road. On Saturday, May 5, One God Ministry also opened a church and spiritual wellness nature center in Harmony Haven, Va.— about 50 miles south of Richmond. That location, the Spiritual Wilderness Solitude, offers a church and116 acres of natural environment for "personal solitude, spiritual enrichment, meetings, conferences and family events," according to a church pamphlet.
Edosomwan wants to have the next location ready in order to "manage the church’s strategic growth." He said One God Ministry never wants to turn people away, so it has to constantly think ahead in order to meet its members’ needs.
"We want to be a friendly church; open to everyone," he said.
He bought the Braddock Road property, located in the Springfield District of Fairfax County, about five years ago. He filed a special use permit application with the county’s Department of Planning and Zoning about two years later, and it was approved April 20, 2004. The permit expired last October, causing Edosomwan to refile the application in December.
Edosomwan said he has not yet figured out what the defined mission of the Braddock church would be, but called it "a strategic asset to the church." The lot is 4.84 acres, 50 percent of which would be left as open space once the 7,100-square-foot church is built. It would have a capacity of 250 seats for its services, which would be Sundays, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.; Wednesdays, from 6-9 p.m. and Fridays, from 6-9 p.m.
Edosomwan will again have 18 months to begin construction on the site before the special use permit expires.
The lot is in a residential area, with vacant land or open space and single family detached residential homes on all four sides. The Board of Zoning Appeals asked the applicant to redesign the stormwater flow so that it would go toward Braddock Road and not Colchester Road. The board was satisfied with the changes after hearing a report from an environmental expert at the May 15 meeting.