Anglican Mainstream

Notes of the greetings when Archbishop Robert Duncan spoke to the second synod of the Anglican Network in Canada Church. Not necessarily verbatim

It is my joy as your Archbishop to greet you. It is my great joy to be here among you.  We have come a long way.  These are happy days.

It is easier to escape Egypt than Egypt’s patterns and behaviours.  Let our synods be characterized by love, respect and care for one another and our commitment to the common good – committed to let Jesus have his way with the likes of us.

I give thanks to God for every remembrance of you .  This first Archbishop of ACNA always looks north with the greatest fondness.  You stretch an incredible distance from one coast to the other.  We are thankful for the way you stood and you stand. I will express my formal thanks to Moderator Don Harvey in my sermon in the consecration service.  I am grateful and thankful to Don in these years.  We have been so many places together.  You had the right man in leadership in these days. 

I greet you as the slave of the slaves of the slaves of God.  The Archbishop is tertiary and the congregations are primary.  The importance of the overseer is what is overseen.   The overseers are apostolic- but the purpose is for the church gathered in the local place. 

I am tertiary, the bishops are secondary, and you are primary. I believe that with all my heart and all my mind. I am humbled by the office you have entrusted to me: the notion of having a primate over a great church in the international family of churches. The office is a great office. The incumbent is a lowly incumbent. You honour the office.  The incumbent who approves the theme of your assembly – God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.

I bring you greetings from the other 27 dioceses in North America, 10 of whose bishops are here.

Greetings from Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates Council in which I was recently seated, which includes the primates of Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Southern Cone, Uganda and West Africa.

An increasing number of provinces are in full communion with us.  We are thankful for provinces around the communion. What we stand for is what they stand for.

We are mainstream Anglicans.  Our identity is mainstream Anglican.  We hold ourselves to the holy scriptures, to the great tradition, and to the Holy Spirit

Our mission is to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

Our method is converted individuals multiplying congregations fuelled by the Holy Spirit.  We used to think it takes money. We used to think it takes building.  It only takes the Holy Spirit.

Our distinctives are that we are loved by Jesus.  We have been called his friends. We are aware of who we are in his eyes. We are characterized by joy, love, fearlessness and mercy.

We are called to be holy

To love and know the scriptures – much of them by heart
To love the tradition – embrace the tradition.  We are not the first to believe.
To be constant in prayer.  This people talks all the time to their Father
To be committed to marriage and the family.  A lot of what the present struggle is about. Holiness is to honour the vows and the families.
To prepare the way for Him
We sacrifice for the sake of others.   We are churches for the sake of others, for those who do not know Jesus.

What is the Lord doing among us? What will the 21st century be for us in North America. It could be the Anglican century in North America. Once we are back on track as Anglicans – within the Christian church – we are the great movement that knows that the future is shaped in the same way as the past.  We are an ancient future movement of the friends of Jesus.   We will reach a rising generation.  That is the work you are an important part of, in this realignment of the Christian Church.

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