“We are encouraged by the desire of the Church of England to continue to embrace the Anglican Church in North America and remain in solidarity with us as we proclaim the Gospel message and truth as revealed in Scripture in the way it has always been understood in Anglican formularies,” said Archbishop Duncan.

The Church of England General Synod report can be viewed here.

“As we have demonstrated successfully to the GAFCON primates, the Anglican Church in North America remains committed to our growing relationships with Anglican provinces outside of North America. Our biblical orthodoxy and ministries are strengthening our bond to our Anglican brothers and sisters around the globe. We are gratified that we are already in a relationship of full communion with many Anglican Provinces and look forward to expanding that circle.”

“In that regard, we appreciate the work of the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England, whose report and recommendations to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York form the basis of the document now released for General Synod, and whose content substantially advances the same ends with the Church of England,” concluded Archbishop Duncan.

In July 2009, a resolution was brought forth to the Church of England’s General Synod to recognize its common faith and fellowship with the growing Anglican Church in North America. The following February, 2010, representatives and ecumenical friends of the Anglican Church in North America shared directly with the General Synod the vision of the church for reaching North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.  At the 2010 meeting, the General Synod first affirmed the Anglican Church in North America’s desire “to remain within the Anglican family.”

“On that day I am asking all Anglican Church in North America churches to highlight this call to world mission through prayers, testimonies, stewardship and education. In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, ‘And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.’ This is each Christian’s call to engage in mission at every geographical level, from local to global,” said Archbishop Duncan in a letter to congregations.

Part of that call includes the ask that each congregation collect a special offering on February 19 to benefit the work of one of the Anglican Global Mission Partners (AGMP). From Five Talents to the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, AGMP is a network of over 30 non-profit Anglican entities committed to making disciples of all nations in the name of Jesus Christ.

“Thank you for your partnership in proclaiming the Gospel with both word and deed throughout the world,” Archbishop Duncan concluded.

Photo credit: Anglican Global Mission Partners

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.

The resignation of nine Anglican Mission bishops, including the Bishop Chairman, from the House of Bishops of Rwanda, changed relationships with Rwanda, with fellow bishops and with the Anglican Church in North America. The resigned bishops lost their status in our College of Bishops as a result of their resignation from Rwanda. The Anglican Mission also lost its status as a Ministry Partner, since that status had been predicated on AMiA’s relationship with Rwanda. In addition, confusion and hurt has been created in Rwanda and in North America, and there is much serious work ahead of us.

Representatives of the Anglican Church in North America and of the Pawleys Island leadership met today in Pittsburgh. For the Anglican Church in North America the starting point was the importance of our Provincial relationship with the Province of Rwanda (a sister GAFCON Province) and with His Grace Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, of our relationship with the North American Bishops Terrell Glenn and Thad Barnum and all the clergy licensed in Rwanda, and of our relationship to those represented by the Pawleys Island group with whom we were meeting. We, as the Anglican Church in North America, have been deeply connected to all three, and we can only move forward when issues and relationships have been adequately addressed and necessary transitions are in progress.

The agreement from today’s meeting in Pittsburgh was that the Anglican Church in North America is prepared to enter into a process by which our relationship with those who will rally to the Pawleys’ vision and leadership (Anglican Mission in the Americas, Inc.) might be restored to a status like the one existing before the Ministry Partner decision of 2010. All those at the meeting today agreed “that there were no subjects that were not on the table.” For the Anglican Church in North America, these subjects must include leadership, relationships, and jurisdictional participation in a way that is fully Anglican.

We made a partial beginning. Bishops Leonard Riches and Charlie Masters agreed to lead the negotiations from the Anglican Church in North America. Bishops Doc Loomis and TJ Johnston will lead from the AMiA side. There is much about what has happened that will have to be faced. The other part of this beginning will be to come alongside P.E.A.R. and their designated bishops (Barnum and Glenn), clergy, people and parishes in North America as they discern their next steps. The good news is that we know a God who has called us and who is able. [I Thess. 5:24] We are sure that He wants all the pieces back together in an ever-more dynamic, ever-more-submitted, ever-more transformed and transforming North American Church.  [John 17]

Keep praying. With God nothing shall be impossible. [Luke 1:37] And besides that, He works all things together for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. [Rom. 8:28] Blessed Christmas! 

Faithfully in Christ,

Archbishop and Primate  
Anglican Church in North America

Each month of the calendar features original artwork, everything from a depiction of the wise men to a crown of thorns titled “Majesty,” and a corresponding Bible verse. It notes the artist and his or her home church as well. Throughout the calendar, ANiC relies on talented artists who were eager to offer their gifts in service of the church community.

ANiC was very deliberate in determining the focus of the calendar. Considering that many of its member churches have walked away from their buildings, it does not include a single depiction of a physical church structure, as most would expect from a church calendar.

“The liturgical calendar points beyond itself to the revelation of God in human history and guides us into communion with our God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Using this on a regular basis helps us mark the church year as we observe the birth, life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and of His sending us the gift of the Holy Spirit. When this is combined with daily Bible reading and prayer, it can become a foundation for our Anglican spirituality,” said The Rt. Rev. Donald Harvey, bishop and moderator of ANiC.

In fact, the concept for the calendar goes hand in hand with the theme of a recent Anglican 1000 conference on liturgy, formation, mission and art. The calendar’s cover artist, Ann Balch from Moncton, New Brunswick, has two works featured in the calendar (both April and October) and attended the Anglican 1000 event. She is thrilled about the growing recognition within the Anglican Church in North America of the role arts can play in the life and witness of the Church.

In addition to the beautiful art, the calendar provides an explanation of the church year and discusses the use of liturgical colors to “give visual expression to the different moods and themes of the calendar.”

It also contains information on the Anglican Network in Canada and the Anglican Church in North America. As a bonus, it includes the full Jerusalem Declaration, the doctrinal statement which emerged from the remarkable unity of spirit and purpose experienced when Anglicans from around the world gathered in Jerusalem at the 2008 Global Anglican Future Conference.

As Bishop Harvey noted, the calendar can “become a quiet form of evangelism as we share with others the wonderful heritage that has been enshrined in our Book of Common Prayer and other manuals.”

The 8x10-inch calendar includes both Canadian and U.S. statutory holidays and is available for order online: http://anglicannetwork.ca/liturgical_calendar_2012.htm.

TO ALL FAITHFUL ANGLICANS IN NORTH AMERICA:
Beloved in the Lord,

Advent begins to turn toward Christmas.  In the early days of the season, Charles Wesley’s hymn “Lo, He comes with Clouds, descending” summarizes the focus on Christ’s coming again at the end of the ages. Now the strains of “O come, o come Emmanuel” direct us toward all the prophecies of the first coming at Bethlehem in Judea.

In Britain, eight different evening antiphons were used (seven on the continent) – a different one each evening – as a “countdown to Christmas.”  These eight antiphons are the source of the hymn now known to almost everyone.  Come Wisdom (O sapientia)! Come Lord! Come Root of Jesse! Come Key of David! Come Dayspring! Come King of Gentiles! Come Emmanuel!  Come Virgin Born! 

The ancient Advent antiphons are cries to the Lord that He would come and “ransom” us, that He would fulfill His promises to us, that He would be God with us.

In this Advent of the Year of our Lord 2011, as we shift our call from Revelation’s Maranatha! [Rev.22.20] to Isaiah’s Emmanuel [Isa.7.14] there are many, many situations where we need the wisdom, the key, the dayspring and everything else promised in Scripture and rehearsed in the familiar hymn.  There are so many needs that require the Lord’s help and our conversion: hunger, homelessness, sickness, despair, oppression, conflict, addiction, abuse, no one to care…

One need is peculiar to us as Anglicans and as Christians: unity in Christ.  These last weeks have been filled with much heart-break for our brothers and sisters of the Anglican Mission in the Americas and, as a consequence, for us in the Anglican Church in North America.  At Pentecost of 2004 Bishops Leonard Riches, David Anderson, Chuck Murphy, Keith Ackerman, Don Harvey and I wrote to Archbishop Rowan Williams pledging to make “common cause for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America.”  The crisis of the moment is also opportunity.  We need the wisdom, the key and the dayspring for this as for every situation.  We need to seek the Lord’s help and commit our best efforts to this Anglican need as well as to all the other needs of our human family.  I, as Archbishop, will do my part.  As your gift to Jesus this year, I trust you will do yours. 

We received word this week of a decision by the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan that their House of Bishops had taken action to recognize “fully” the Anglican Church in North America as a “true faithful Orthodox Church” and to commit to “work with [us] to expand the Kingdom of God in the world.”  I pray we will prove worthy of the trust this Province has expressed.  I pray we will do it in the same fidelity to the Word of God and with the same Christ-like charity they have shown.  I pray we will do it with the same courage and unity in adversity as the Church of the Sudan has shown through thirty years of civil war, suffering and martyrdom.  What trust they place in us!

“O come, o come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here, until the Son of God appear.”  Our God has come and is coming.  We have nothing to fear with Him, as long as we are in Him. 

Be assured of my prayers for every one of you in these closing Advent days, in the twelve days of Christmas, and in all the days that are ahead. 

Faithfully in Christ,

Archbishop and Primate
Anglican Church in North America

“Dr. Grant LeMarquand is one of my heroes. A Canadian, with a history of service on the mission fields of Kenya and Sudan, Grant combines New Testament scholarship and passion for global evangelization in a most engaging manner,” said The Most Rev. Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America.

“Grant and his wife, Wendy, a physician of the East Liberty Family Health Service (which provides inner-city medical ministry), have both been wonderful contributors to the life of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh as well as to Trinity School for Ministry,” continued Archbishop Duncan. 

Trinity School for Ministry is an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition that has trained more than 1,000 students from all over the worldwide Anglican Communion.

“Grant is a great choice for this appointment. He and his wife Wendy have extensive experience as missionaries which should prepare them well for this new calling,” remarked the Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Trinity’s Dean and President. “We will certainly miss his presence on the Trinity Faculty, but we wish him every blessing as he embarks on this new phase of ministry.”

The Rev. Dr. Grant will continue teaching at Trinity until June of 2012, and then he and Wendy plan to move to Gambella, Ethiopia in July or August.  They have two adult children living in Canada.

Having served several different countries including Canada, the USA, and Kenya, The Rev. Dr. Grant has taught several African Anglican students that have gone on to become bishops and archbishops. He is also well-known to the Diocese of Egypt after leading several retreats and conferences in the region.

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis, Bishop of the Episcopal/Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, said in a recent statement, “I have confidence in God’s grace that will enable Grant to fulfill his Episcopal leadership duties in the Diocese.  Please pray for Grant and Wendy and their family.”

Archbishop Duncan concluded, “Our loss will be very significant, but the gift to the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa is our joy.  We have long enjoyed a deep friendship with Bishop Mouneer Anis and that key diocese where the recent ‘Arab Spring’ has unfolded.  This appointment is yet another testament.”

The Rev. Dr. Grant’s consecration will be on April 25, 2012, followed by his installation on October 27, 2012, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Photo caption: The Rev. Dr. Grant LeMarquand (Credit:http://www.tsm.edu/).

There is an urgent need for Anglican Church in North America diocesan and church partnerships to assist the Province of Southeast Asia by attending the symposium on January 26-27 at St. Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.

Participants will be able to find out how your church or diocese can be involved in the very frontier of mission in the 21st Century, hear from others who are already engaged, and leave inspired with concrete action steps to engage in the mission opportunity.

The symposium is being sponsored by the Anglican Global Mission Partners (AGMP), a mission branch of the Anglican Church in North America.

“I highly recommend this symposium for parishes and people throughout the Anglican Church in North America to find out how they can be a part of the urgent ministry need in the Province of South East Asia,” said The Venerable Canon Dr. Jack Lumanog, Canon for Provincial and Global Mission of the Anglican Church in North America.

A delegation from the Province of Southeast Asia will be present to inspire, inform and personally answer your questions. 

Friday, January 26 will be devoted to practical workshops on such topics as

-The effective short-term team
-How a short-term team can use English conversation corners for evangelism
-How a short-term team can use business skills in evangelism
-How short-term teams can foster interdependency rather than dependency

There also will be workshops on AGMP’s work in the United States with Anglicans from Myanmar living in the U.S.  It will be a time for those who are a part of ethnic immigrant populations coming into their parishes to exchange ideas about how most effectively to work with each other.

In addition to several compelling speeches, a testimony will be delivered by The Rev. Tit Hieng of Cambodia, titled, “God’s Rescue from the Killing Fields” which will emphasize the need for followers of Jesus in SE Asia.

The Rev. Tit Hieng is a survivor of Cambodia’s Killing Fields atrocities. He survived and came to faith in the process and is now the first indigenous (Khmer) Anglican priest in Cambodia’s history.

Canon Lumanog concluded his call for Anglican Church members to attend this event, saying, “If you are sensing the Lord’s call on your life for missions, pray about participating in this symposium.  The Province of South East Asia continues to be a great blessing to the Anglican Church in North America – pray about how God might be calling you and your church to be a blessing to these dear people.”

To register now or for more information, go to http://www.agmp-na.org/ and click on “SE Asia Symposium Information” in the lower right hand corner. Please register with the online form by January 12, 2012. The $100 fee includes costs for meals and registration, and can be paid upon arrival at St. Vincent’s. Checks should be made to AGMP. 

Hotel information for Hampton Inn & Suites (price includes breakfast) can be found here.
Photo captions: Marquee – elderly lady in Cambodia, Story photo – young girl in Pursat, Cambodia (Credit: www.AGMP-NA.org).

The prospect moving church felt like a mandatory road trip with ten children in a dilapidated minivan across endless dirt roads. While the actual distance would be only two kilometres from our church of many years to a rented Seventh Day Adventist one, the logistics looked overwhelming. We had new empathy for Noah.

Within our congregation, we dreaded saying goodbye to where we were baptized and married. We dreaded a new space that might not draw our hearts to worship. We ached leaving the remains of our loved ones in the Memorial Garden. We worried about squishing into smaller classrooms, and leaving behind coffee makers and chalices. Most of all we dreaded our fragility. Was it possible to move 800 people?

As with other daunting journeys, we did what large families sometimes do. We prayed, planned and categorized the tasks. Five committees were formed: Saying Goodbye, Saying Hello, Doing Sunday, Physical Move and Communicating. Through these five, we set out to do everything from helping kids say farewell to their church home to establishing strong relationships with our new landlords to creating a familiar Anglican aesthetic in a decidedly non-liturgical space.

I cannot say if it was the high stakes or the Holy Spirit, but nearly everyone seemed willing to help. Countless people volunteered. The degree of ownership and attention to detail became astounding. Out of our pews stepped artists, architects, carpenters, audio specialists, experts in large-scale logistics and many willing to do absolutely anything. Kneelers were built, lecterns carved, and family heirlooms were donated. A gift registry was set up in which parishioners could commit to cover the cost of needed items – everything from alms basins to utility carts. What was remarkable from the first was how deeply people cared that we do this move as well as possible: that we attend to every possible detail, and ensure that each other’s experience of what felt like a rotten pilgrimage – an ousting – was as good as possible. 

As painful as leaving was for us, the desire to be gracious with those who would take over our church home became a high priority. Children made banners for successors listing the building’s highlights – Bibles, the comfy couches, the cookie drawer. The Saturday before we left, 80 adults showed up to scrub every cupboard, wash every floor, and polish every piece of silver. Notes were written to explain the dishwasher. Prayers were offered.

While our morning services are usually held at 9 am and 11 am, the clergy and staff wisely opted to keep us all together during the move. So at 10 am on Sept. 18, we gathered one last time on the corner of Granville and Nanton Ave. The sanctuary was jammed – people stood squished even in the aisles. One last time each of us heard the Gospel preached and the best words of all, “the Body of Christ, given for you,” in that familiar place we loved so much. Then, behind the silver cross lifted high, with our clergy before us, tears rolling down cheeks, we processed out the front doors, singing with sadness and gratitude.

But not five minutes after we processed, we did what we dreaded most. We crammed into cars and drove to our new church. We filed into that new building to pray and sing two hymns. We were stunned. We had made it. We greeted each other like shipwreck survivors without a casualty.

This mid-service move was brilliant. It got the first look over with, but more importantly each of us now knew that we wouldn’t be the only one there. We now knew that when we sang a hymn in a new place, we still sounded like us. When our rector prayed, and spoke to us with his wonderful candour and humour, David Short was still our David.  The most precious pieces were with us.

The next Sunday, still as a combined service, was even better. In six days, parishioners had painted walls, laid a new carpet to resemble our old one, and perhaps most meaningfully, hung a huge banner above the altar, replicating the enormous etched-out cross of our former home. This cross called out “Home” as little else ever could. The pastor of the Seventh Day Adventists came to greet us with a warmth and godliness that seemed like manna. After we had felt maligned and homeless, the Seventh Day Adventists were thrilled to have us, to know us.

Now six weeks in, what has surprised and encouraged us most is the remarkable spirit that has coloured our transition. As you might hope in your wildest dreams that your children actually might behave well when the chips are down, that they might see the peril and fragility and need for them to think more about their family than themselves, so God has enabled us to make this move with astonishing pleasure. 

Not long after our first Sunday, I saw a young woman who had been at St. John’s for several years and asked her how she was coping. She confessed, “I actually feel a part of St. John’s in a way I never have before. It’s as if we are all equal now, whether you have been there six months or sixty years.” The following week I ran into an older and often curmudgeonly parishioner, who had attended St. John’s for probably 40 years, and nervously inquired, “How are you faring with the move?” He looked at me almost apologetically. “I would never have seen it coming but you know I really enjoyed it. I think it has been good for us.”

We seem to have taken far better care of each other during the move than we have ever done before – not only physically but spiritually helping each other to cross Oak Street. 

This article was first published on Anglican Planet: http://www.anglicanplanet.net/frontline-ministry/2011/11/14/moving-church.html.

Photo caption: Rev. Daniel Gifford, Canon David Short and Canon Dr. J.I. Packer stand outside the church buildings after the final Sunday service at the Granville Street location on 18 Sept, 2011. Credit: St. John’s Vancouver

For the first time since the inaugural Provincial Assembly in Bedford/Plano, Texas in June of 2009, the Anglican Church in North America is excited to announce the next gathering of the whole church. Assembly 2012 will take place Thursday, June 7 through Saturday, June 9 in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Preparations are already underway. You and all the faithful from the Anglican Church in North America are invited to attend!

“My hope is that Assembly 2012 would be a celebration of God’s favor. Many things have happened in these years that show God has blessed and prospered what we’ve done in ways we never imagined. We’ve been doing what we see the Father doing and we want to celebrate that,” said Archbishop Duncan, referencing John 5:19. 

Assembly 2012 will be held at Ridgecrest Conference Center nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside of Asheville, N.C. Offering more than just meeting space, Ridgecrest will also provide both lodging and meals to attendees, ensuring one convenient location for meeting participants. 

“Provincial Assembly is very much about building up the mission of the church and encouraging the next generation of leaders in our midst,” proclaimed Archbishop Duncan.
 
A quarter of the participants this year will be young leaders and delegates of our dioceses, between the ages of 16 and 25.

“We are in the transformation business and this Assembly is about equipping captivated disciples to transform communities. Central to that, planting new congregations is principally important if we’re going to reach North America,” Archbishop Duncan continued.

Assembly 2012 will begin following meetings of the Archbishop’s Cabinet, Executive Committee, the College of Bishops, Provincial Council, and the Anglican Relief and Development Fund earlier in the week. 

Attendees can expect powerful worship that embraces the fullness of Anglican worship and identity and the beauty of our liturgy. In addition to dedicated times for fellowship, the event will feature the following speakers as well as other special guests for Bible teachings, plenary sessions and workshops. 

• Dr. Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research and sought after authority on missional church planting
• The Baroness Caroline Cox, Honorary Chair of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, member of the British House of Lords, and tireless campaigner for human rights around the world
• The Rt. Rev. Rennis Ponniah, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Singapore, one of the most well-known Bible teachers in the Anglican world
• The Rev. Dr. Michael Youssef, Founder and Rector of Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia with more than 3,000 members and President of Leading the Way, a worldwide radio and TV evangelistic and teaching ministry
• The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America

The host dioceses are the Anglican Diocese of the South and the Diocese of the Carolinas (in formation). In addition to the talent and hospitality they will provide to all North American Anglicans, we look forward to welcoming at least a half-dozen Anglican Primates, and many other clergy and lay leaders from around the world.

As the planning and design team, led by The Rev. Steve Wood, vicar general of the Diocese of the Carolinas (in formation) and rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., prepares for the event, our prayer is that Assembly 2012 will equip each of us to Captivate Disciples, Multiply Congregations and Transform Communities. 

Please pray about joining the Assembly 2012 in Ridgecrest. We pray that all attendees will be wonderfully blessed by this gathering of God’s people experiencing awesome worship, amazing speakers, extraordinary fellowship and take-away learning.