Anglican Mainstream

The Psalmist declares:

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. [Psalm 118:14]

As I write this letter to you it is Wednesday in Holy Week. I am travelling to Juba in South Sudan to spend the Great Three Days (The Sacred Triduum) with Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, his clergy and his people. I am to be away from all the things that are familiar, except that the Church is one throughout the world, and the old, old story does not change (yet changes everything). 

Flying today I could see the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays (Kent Island, Cape Henelopen, Cape May), places associated with boyhood and early ministry. Hours later there were Cape Trafalgar and Gibraltar and the North Coast of Africa, places I had never been but about which my historical studies and interests caused me to reflect over lots of years and lots of learning. 

Easters have been spent mostly with the Church communities I have known well and with those who are family (blood, marriage and church) whether in New Jersey or Connecticut or New York or North Carolina or Delaware or Western Pennsylvania. One Easter, Nara and I spent at Canterbury, which was to be surrounded by things we knew (the cloud of witnesses, the music, the architecture) and those we did not know (the worshippers we were present with.) I know that this Easter in South Sudan will be all at once different and the same. 

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By Gavin Drake, Church Times

Update:  A complete transcript is now available on AAC website

Read also the commentaries of David Ould and Stand Firm readers on this conversation.

'Notes of the Interview by William Marsh with Rev Tory Baucum, Rector of Truro Church, Fairfax, Virginia, part of the Anglican Church of North America and Bishop Shannon Johnston, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

These do not claim to be verbatim notes – and should be checked against the recording. But they seek to give the flavour of the discussion that took place in Coventry Cathedral at the Faith in Conflict Conference on February 26 2013, chaired by Canon David Porter, Director of Reconciliation for the Archbishop of Canterbury and in the presence of the Archbishop and 200 plus participants.

William Marsh began by asking the two discussants to give some background.

Rev Tory Baucum explained that he became Rector of Truro Church in 2007. The church had already been engaged in a lawsuit over its property for eight months.  There were accumulated grievances between Truro and the Diocese of Virginia and the national church (TEC). In the past Truro had helped introduce the  charismatic renewal to TEC.  It also had a strong missions involvement, for example with a 40 year long relationship with the Diocese of Kigezi in the Church of Uganda which helped shape its understanding of spirituality.

“The tipping point came in 2003 with the consecration of Gene Robinson as a bishop, a man in a sexual relationship with another man.  The Primates Meeting (of 2003) said that such a consecration would tear the Anglican Communion at its deepest level.  Anglicans especially from the Global South said it was a schismatic act, which I think it was.  This led Truro Church to align itself with another part of the Anglican Communion. This was the setting in which I came into Truro.

Bishop Shannon Johnston:  I was elected Bishop coadjutor, with the right of succession in January 2007 and consecrated in May 2007.  I do not know what it was like to be a bishop without legal issues around. I became the diocesan bishop in 2009.  Truro was one of the fifteen lawsuits in progress when I became bishop. I agree that the tipping point was the election and consecration of a gay man in a committed monogamous relationship. This became the tipping point for the churches that decided to withdraw from the diocese. Read the rest of this entry »

The Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops dedicated a week to meet together in Orlando, Florida under the leadership of the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop and Primate, to worship, pray, take counsel together and do Bible study.

by Fr Dale Matson, ACNA

by David W Virtue, VOL

VOL interviews the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Province of Nigeria

 VOL: Archbishop Okoh, The Nigerian Anglican Church's proxy church – the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) is now well established. Are you happy with the progress CANA is making in establishing an orthodox Anglican footprint on North American soil?

ARCHBISHOP OKOH: We praise Almighty God for the ministry of CANA which was established by the Church of Nigeria [Anglican Communion] in 2005 in response to the divisive actions of The Episcopal Church. We are moving from strength to strength with a firm focus on Gospel mission. Churches and dioceses are being planted, well trained candidates are being ordained, the historic Gospel is being faithfully proclaimed and people are responding to the love of God through the ministry of CANA congregations.

VOL: Are you comfortable with the relationship between CANA and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) under Archbishop Robert Duncan?

ARCHBISHOP OKOH: Archbishop Duncan is a member of the GAFCON Primates Council and we are pleased to have his leadership recognized by so many Anglican Primates. The Church of Nigeria fully recognizes and supports the ACNA as a valid Anglican Province in North America and we remain firmly engaged in the life of the new Province. CANA is a founding jurisdiction of the ACNA and many of our bishops, clergy and lay leaders contribute to the leadership and ministry of ACNA. CANA remains a missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria [Anglican Communion] as well as a full partner in the life of the ACNA.

Read here

By George Conger, Anglican Ink

The Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Jonah has called upon the Anglican Church of North America to ditch women clergy, Calvinism and the filioque in the name of Christian unity.

This is an “opportunity to return your church to its original catholic heritage” Jonah told delegates attending the ACNA’s 2nd Assembly at the Lifeway Conference Center in Ridgecrest, NC on 8 June 2012.

The ACNA can “overcome generations of schism, a schism forced upon the English church” by Rome if it eliminates the filioque from the Nicene Creed, the Orthodox leader said. The Filioque – the phrase “and from the Son” is a clause found in the Western Christian Church but not in the Eastern Churches.

The Catholic Church began to add the phrase ”from the Son” to the traditional language of the Nicene Creed between the 8th and 11th centuries, eventually formalizing the creed to state the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. The Orthodox have long objected to the addition of “and the Son” to the language of the creed and it has been a long standing theological dispute between the Eastern and Western Churches.

Read here

By David Virtue, VOL

The following greeting and remarks were delivered by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, of the Orthodox Church in America, to the Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America, meeting in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. He was among some eight ecumenical visitors from various denominations who brought greetings to this orthodox Anglican body.

There is one Body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope in God's call to us: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, It is good to be here with you again, three years after I first was with you in Bedford, Texas. I bring you greetings and, I hope, encouragement, from the Orthodox Church in America.

Over the past three years our churches have conducted a theological dialog, discussing the issues that separate us, issues that are not so much OCA vs. ACNA, but issues that separate Anglicanism from Orthodoxy. This has focused on the issue of the filioque, the addition by the Roman Church to the Nicene Creed, forced on the entire Western Church in the 11th century, and this, disrupting the unity of the confession of the Catholic Faith.

Read here

By David W. Virtue in Ridgecrest, NC, Virtueonline

In a move that took most people by surprise, the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Onesphorus Rwaje publicly handed over a number of US bishops and clergy who had been canonically resident in Rwanda to the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

"I am here to be with you as you officially receive bishops, presbyters and deacons who have voluntarily requested to be canonically transferred from the oversight of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to the ACNA," he told conferees of the ACNA Assembly 2012.

Rwaje had written to the PEAR-USA with three options following the breakdown between the Anglican Mission in the America and the Province of Rwanda. One, they could be transferred to the AMiA but that was withdrawn because the AMIA had no canonical status. Secondly, was to go directly into the ACNA and the third option to retain their canonical residency in Rwanda through the new missionary district called PEAR-USA.

Here at the ACNA conference the second option was fulfilled. "We have transferred from one room to the next room in the same house," said Rwaje to raucous applause.

Archbishop Duncan received them with these words: "I must take good care and note that the doorways between the two rooms is a well-worn doorway."

The ACNA Assembly 2012 has drawn some 700 delegates from 16 countries including nine archbishops from the Global South. END

From T19

(This was sponsored by Guildford DEF[Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship] which is part of the Church of England Evangelical Council in England). You may listen to it all through the audio file which may be found over here (an MP3 file).

Herewith a flyer sent out as an invitation to this event:

The Guildford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship invite you to an An evening with Bishop Mark Lawrence (TEC Bishop of South Carolina) and Bishop John Guernsey (ACNA Bishop of Mid-Atlantic) On 25th April 2012 at 8 pm At Holy Trinity Claygate, Church Road, Claygate, Surrey, KT10 0JP

We are delighted that Bishop Mark Lawrence, the Episcopal Church Bishop for the Diocese of South Carolina, and Bishop John Guernsey, the Anglican Church in North America Bishop for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, have agreed

• to bring us up to date with developments amongst Anglicans in North America;

• to tell us why some orthodox Anglicans have considered it appropriate to work within TEC whilst others have considered it appropriate to work within ACNA; and

• to explain to us how people within the two organisations who hold similar views are generally able to continue to support each other in spreading the Gospel.

Do invite your friends and colleagues, Roger Sayers, Secretary GDEF

Please note this is is a long evening of some 1 hour and 40 minutes. During the introduction the following people are mentioned–it is opened by Philip Plyming, vicar of Holy Trinity, Claygate, and then chairman, Stephen Hofmeyr, QC. There is then a message from Bishop Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford given by the Ven. Julian Henderson, Archdeacon of Dorking. Both Mark Lawrence (who goes first) and John Guernsey then give presentations of some twenty minutes which takes you to approximately one hour. After that there are questions from those present to the two bishops about the matters at hand. Archdeacon Julian Henderson then offers brief concluding remarks. Do take the time to listen to it all–KSH.        

by George Conger, Anglican Ink

To All Confessing Anglicans in North America: Greetings in this happiest of seasons, when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and grow in the knowledge of what it means to live as people who have been “raised up with Christ.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

We have just completed a rich week of blessing and encouragement at GAFCON’s Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans’ Leadership Conference at St Mark’s Church in Battersea, London. We joined 200+ delegates from over thirty nations as we listened to God’s word, worshipped, prayed, studied, and talked. It was deeply encouraging and challenging to share with people who serve Christ faithfully with great sacrifice in the face of revisionist opposition or outright persecution from the unbelieving world. We thank the Lord Jesus for his faithfulness and for the Gospel by which people are being saved and his Church is growing.

Read here

Letter to CEN from Canon Michael Green

Sir, Having just returned from leading a Diocesan Clergy Conference for the Anglican Church in North America, I offer my impressions, since we in UK are not always well informed about our orthodox brethren in America.

We need to be aware that the assault by lawyers of the Episcopal Church on their orthodox churches and their remaining two or three orthodox dioceses continues. These lawsuits are almost always successful and so increasingly the best and most biblical clergy and congregations are being evicted from their church buildings. The Episcopal Church can hardly ever fill them with ‘shadow congregations’ so they are empty and are being sold off as Muslim mosques and for other purposes, but never to ACNA.

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Anglican Mainstream has received this detailed comment on the Report on Relations between the Anglican Church of North America and the Church of England

1. It is good that the Faith and Order Commission, under the chairmanship of +John Hind, has identified the major issues in this regard.

2. They have shown that it is the Church of England which decides with which church it is in communion. They have not shown how this is consistent with belonging to an existing world-wide Communion.

3 They claim that churches of the Anglican Communion are those whose bishops have been invited to attend and to vote at Lambeth Conferences.

4 And they distinguish this from membership of the ACC.

5 They also make a useful distinction between churches which are in communion with the C of E and churches whose orders the C of E recognises. It is important to remember that these are not at all the same thing.

6 The statement declares unequivocally, that the C of E is in communion with the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC but says nothing about ACNA as far as this issue is concerned.

From the above a number of issues arise:-

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From ENS

Archbishops Rowan Williams of Canterbury and John Sentamu of York have suggested that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion ought to be in “an open-ended engagement” with the Anglican Church in North America.

Report submitted to Members of General Synod

Read here  Download GS Misc 1011

15. Where then do matters currently stand concerning ACNA on each of these three issues, namely relations with the Church of England, relations with the Anglican Communion and the ability of ACNA clergy to be authorised to minister in the Church of England?

16. The Synod motion rightly began by referring to “the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada.” That distress, in which we share, is a continuing element in the present situation and is likely to remain so for some considerable time.

17. Wounds are still fresh. Those who follow developments in North America from some distance have a responsibility not to say or do anything which will inflame an already difficult situation and make it harder for those directly involved to manage the various challenges with which they are still grappling.

18. We would, therefore, encourage an open-ended engagement with ACNA on the part of the Church of England and the Communion, while recognising that the outcome is unlikely to be clear for some time yet, especially given the strong feelings on all sides of the debate in North America.

19. The Church of England remains fully committed to the Anglican Communion and to being in communion both with the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church (TEC). In addition, the Synod motion has given Church of England affirmation to the desire of ACNA to remain in some sense within the Anglican family.

20. Among issues that will need to be explored in direct discussions between the Church of England and ACNA are the canonical situation of the latter, its relationship to other Churches of the Communion outside North America and its attitude towards existing Anglican ecumenical agreements.

21. Where clergy from ACNA wish to come to England the position in relation to their orders and their personal suitability for ministry here will be considered by us on a case by case basis under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967.

+Rowan Cantuar: +Sentamu Ebor:
December 2011 4

From Anglican Ink

TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA:

Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Recent events within the Anglican Mission in the Americas have challenged us all. This letter is a brief report to you all about those events and about our efforts to find a path forward. The present reality is brokenness. The vision, however, that governs our fledgling Province remains unchanged: a Biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America.

Read here

By David Virtue, VOL

A story in the Church of England newspaper suggesting a chill had descended over relations between the Church of Nigeria and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in the wake of the creation of a diocese for Nigerians in America by the Church of Nigeria is false, VOL has been told.

"I serve at Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh's request on the leadership team of a national Church conference called the Divine Commonwealth Conference. We are working very closely together. The new diocese in CANA – The Missionary Diocese of the Trinity – is something that has been discussed for a while as a way of giving more structure and visibility to our Nigerian clergy. It is an integral part of CANA and directly under my authority," CANA missionary Bishop Martyn Minns told VOL.

"George Conger has got it wrong, CANA continues and is flourishing."

"I sit in the college of bishops of CANA and ACNA and there is no chill," said recently consecrated CANA bishop Julian Dobbs.

"There is no foundation to think that a 'culturally-based diocese' indicates anything but growth for CANA. We are planting new churches, ordaining new deacons and priests and fully engaged in Christian mission across the country. It is a fiction to say there is any friction or turmoil between CANA and ACNA. We're in full    Gospel partnership with each other," noted Dobbs.

Read here