The Future of AMiA: Is the AMiA’s New “Missionary Society” structure the best way forward?

Dan Claire, Chuck Colson, and Tommy Hinson of Washington, DC raise concerns on current developments in the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA):

AMiA Bishop Chuck Murphy

On Oct. 25-26, 2011, Bp Murphy hosted some 75 Anglican Mission clergy in Pawleys Island, SC for a Presbyters’ Retreat. The bulk of the meeting was given to the presentation of the Chairman’s new structural proposal for the AMiA. Bp Murphy explained his rationale for the proposal, and then his canon lawyer, Kevin Donlon, presented the proposal in great detail. During the Q&A following the Chairman’s presentation, the first question asked was whether the time was only for questions of clarification, or if feedback also welcomed. Bp Murphy discouraged the latter, saying, “I’m only on the sixth step out of ten. I’m in a process now of trying to tell you the latest thinking. The next steps will be four more meetings. Then when we get to the point that we’re about to pour the concrete, that’s when we would need to hear back.” When asked when this might be, Bp Murphy said only that “we might want to call a gathering” at some point, but nothing definitive was offered. Many AMiA clergy left the retreat burdened with a growing uneasiness about the future, yet no avenue for constructive feedback has been provided by the Chairman. Thus, many clergy find themselves in an impossible bind, needing to engage in genuine dialogue with the leadership about the future but wary of insubordination. As a result, hundreds of conversations are taking place—without the leadership—in secret behind closed doors. It’s a tense and uncertain time for many in the AMiA. We desire to walk in the light by bringing the ongoing conversation into the light. Our purpose in writing this document is to speak the truth in love, in hopes of fostering honest and open dialogue together, for the sake of our shared Gospel mission to North America. We have been greatly blessed by, and are indebted to, the AMiA and her leadership, and our hope is to see this mission continue as our Lord leads.

Among their concerns they write:

The proposed structure perpetuates a top-heavy polity. One of the greatest weaknesses of the AMiA is that, practically speaking, the Chairman is the sole decision-maker. While on paper Bp Murphy remains under the authority of Abp Rwaje, the Rwandan primate is nevertheless “22 hours away by air in the heart of Africa.” Meanwhile, the national officers all work for the Chairman, the missionary bishops function effectively as his suffragans, and there is no regular college of presbyters. In short, the AMiA’s current polity is extremely top-heavy. Our biggest concern with the proposed structure is that it codifies the Chairman’s unilateral leadership. It’s a fresh coat of paint on the old wineskin of the national office. Instead of an ecclesiology grounded in Holy Scripture and classical Anglican tradition, it is a monocracy legitimized by parachurch precedents. The architect of the proposal, Kevin Donlon, describes his role as telling the Chairman what he can and cannot do according to canon law. During the retreat he explained his understanding of the discipline of canon law in the traditional Roman Catholic sense: that not only is there Holy Scripture, but also natural law, from which ecclesiastical canon law is derived. In other words, in this framework, canon law does not flow out of Scripture, but runs parallel to it. Classical Anglicanism, on the other hand, understands canon law to be derived from and subordinate to Scripture (cf. Article 34). Here’s the problem: the Chairman’s canon lawyer has tailor made a structure that fits existing AMiA hierarchy not on the basis of Scripture or classical Anglican tradition. Rather, the structure is modeled after historical parachurch ministries primarily found in Roman Catholic tradition. If one must consistently resort to Roman Catholic terminology and analogies to communicate ecclesial structure, then it should come as no surprise if the end result is a Roman Catholic ecclesiology. Where are the biblical theologians advising the Chairman regarding better alternatives with more ancient, biblical historical precedents? Where are the historians recommending the checks and balances of Anglican episcopacy since the Reformation?

Read it all here.  For more commentary, check out the latest edition of Anglican Unscripted here.

UPDATE: The AMiA has issued a press release which you can read at SF here.  Here is a short excerpt of where they report they are in their conversations with the Anglican province of Rwanda:

The Anglican Mission has been in conversations for some months internally and with Rwanda leadership about shaping the best structure to both express and facilitate our consistent vision to be "a mission, nothing more and nothing less." All of the concepts discussed, including the creation of a defined "society for apostolic work," or "Missionary Society," include an expectation that we will remain connected to Rwanda, and the AM leaders are working collaboratively, as always, with Rwandan leaders. These conversations with leadership on both sides of the Atlantic remain ongoing, and it is important to note that no decisions have been made - we are in a process of conversations only, and frankly any public discussion is premature at best.

 We have learned, or I hope we have learned over the years that it is best to encourage public conversation that includes the laity over important matters that affect the people in the pews. The Episcopal Church is also going through public conversations as well as they too consider restructuring TEC with a call for a special General Convention before Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori steps down from her office in 2015. After all, structure is theology. 

NEW UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Church of England newspaper has an article that focuses on the creation of the Diocese of the Trinity by the Church of Nigeria in the United States.  I know that CANA is working on forming dioceses, as it did with the Diocese of the Mid Atlantic, that will have the opportunity to join the ACNA.  CANA is in a unique position in that its bishops sit in both the Church of Nigeria House of Bishops as well as the ACNA College of Bishops.  It reminds us that we are still in transition - the ACNA prayerfully waits to become a province in the Anglican Communion while at the same time maintain connection with provinces that are full members of the Anglican Communion as is the Church of Nigeria.  And this transition is not only applicable to the ACNA as it develops, but also The Episcopal Church as it takes a hard look at where it stands today.  Both entities show the affects of the division, a division that even the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Virgina recognized as real when it affirmed that the evidence "clearly establishes that a split or rupture has occurred within the Diocese and, given the evidence of similar events in other dioceses of TEC, the split or rupture has occurred at the national level as well."

Mending the rupture for all parties  means not only mending the structures of the Church, but in a way that best proclaims the Gospel.  Structures are indeed theology.

Jesus knew what He was doing when He prayed so fervently for us.  He is praying for His disciples that night in the Garden in the hours before He is taken away to the cross when his attention turns to us all:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

-John 17:20-23

EVENING UPDATE: Well, so much for oneness.

A Statement from the Archbishop of Rwanda and
the Primatial Vicar of the Anglican Mission in the Americas

We have recently been made aware that a number of unfounded rumors and false assertions regarding the relationship between the Anglican Mission and Rwanda have begun to swirl in various circles and on the Internet.  We are releasing this statement together to urge you not to be misled or distracted by those who would sow destructive seeds of discord through innuendo and commentary, for we know that this is the work and design of the Enemy.

The work and the relationship between the AMiA and the Province of Rwanda remains solid and cherished, as we discuss and explore together the future shape of our life and our work in the mission from the Lord which we share on two continents.  As always, we ask for your prayers and support as we continue to seek the best way forward together in growing the Lord’s Kingdom on both sides of the Atlantic.  

The Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje
Archbishop and Primate
Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda

The Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy, III
Primatial Vicar and Chairman
The Anglican Mission in the Americas

How can one not recommend to the laity at this point to pray hard and run for the exit?  Not kidding.

Anglican Unscripted: Not even a blizzard can stop them!

George and Kevin discuss breaking news in CANA and AMiA. The Church of Nigeria forms a new diocese in the United States through CANA, rather than in the ACNA and there are reports that AMiA parishes may be breaking from Rwanda. Also, Kevin has a lively discussion with Peter Ould over the recent resignations at St. Paul's in London, and other interesting news. Grab a cup of tea and a crumpet or two and take a listen!

TEC recognizes that churches will close

It's not clear to me why TEC continues to pursue litigation rather than robust settlement for church properties when they are facing the overwhelming necessity to close and sell churches in all parts of the United States. Perhaps cooler heads will prevail as the numbers show a disturbing trend. And by the way, before ACNA or AMiA folks say it won't happen here - oh yes it will. It all ready is happening. Something is happening here, but do we know what it is?

Here Rod Webster, VP and General Manager of the Church Insurance Companies lays it all out for the Episcopal Church Building Fund:



I do pray that this reality might bring those now engaged in litigation back to the negotiating table, if only just to stop and smell the roses.  Certainly the public witness of all the parties working together for a non-litigious solution will be a better way forward for everyone.

Now Online: Investiture of Diocese of Mid-Atlantic Bishop

Click here to see the investiture service of the bishop of the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic at Truro Church last weekend.

John Guernsey installed as first bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the Anglican Church in North America

UPDATED: With great thanks to Anglican TV, here is the investiture of the new bishop of the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic at Truro Church in Fairfax, VA:




Live from the Investiture of the Rt. Rev’d John Guernsey as the first bishop of the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic at Truro Church, Fairfax, VA.

Bishop John Guernsey and his wife, the Rev'd Meg Guernsey.

The service began with a joyous celebration of hymns and songs led by a joint choir made up of members of the new diocese. People are not phoning in their singing, any minute now the roof could pop off. This is awesome!

We're here at Truro Church in Fairfax and the church is packed with very joyful people. The new Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) diocese enters the ACNA as the largest diocese. It spans the area of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Last May, the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) Synod elected the Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey as the bishop of the proposed ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. In June, the ACNA's Provincial Council affirmed the creation of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Bishop John Guernsey who had been overseeing the congregations that had separated from The Episcopal Church and moved under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church of Uganda before transitioning directly to the ACNA, was confirmed as the first diocesan bishop by the ACNA College of Bishops in June.

Bishop Guernsey was the rector of All Saints, Dale City, VA. All Saints separated from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in the spring of 2006 in an amicable settlement that permitted them to remain in their property until the completion of the building of a new church. The settlement had been meant to be a prototype for the other congregations to follow in the development of the Diocese of Virginia's Protocol for Departing Congregations. The protocol was abruptly abandoned by the Diocese following the installment of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, about six months after All Saints left the Episcopal Church.

All Saints will be officially moving into their new church later this month and will also serve as the office for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

John Guernsey at 2003 General Convention.

Prior to his consecration as a bishop in 2007 by Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi (who also incidentally consecrated the Rt. Rev'd Sandy Millar, former rector of Holy Trinity Brompton in London) Bishop Guernsey served in leadership posts in the Diocese of Virginia, serving as a Deputy to six General Conventions where he served in different posts including chairman of the Evangelism Committee.

I first met John Guernsey at the 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis, working closely with IRD President Diane Knippers and Pittsburgh General Convention Deputy Jim Simons. I remember at the Philadelphia General Convention in 1997 I testified at the Evangelism Committee that John was chairing on a resolution that was calling for a doctrinal change on the trinity. I read the resolution and recognized that, as a former member of the Christian Science Church, the new doctrine would have been quite at home in Christian Science. In my testimony I pointed out the similarities between the new doctrinal change and Christian Science and wondered why I had gone through all the trouble of "kneeling before my bishop to become an Episcopalian" only to find myself back in Christian Science right in the Episcopal Church!  Why should I have left in the first place?

I also remember going back to my seat when a rather moderate bishop sitting across the aisle from me leaned over and said that he too grew up in Christian Science and appreciated the point. I was still trying to get my heart from stop beating so fiercely, I had been so nervous and close to terrified and the affirmation from an unexpected quarter brought me great relief. I was very grateful to John Guernsey for the opportunity to speak at General Convention.  Of course, I had no idea then that it was only the beginning.


Back to Truro: ACNA Archbishop and Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Bob Duncan is the preacher. He is saying from the pulpit that this is a historic moment in this historic place. I will try to type as he speaks:

We all recall that Anglicanism was brought permanently to these shores not so very far from here … in 1607. We also recall that not quite 200 years later … Anglicanism was organized so that it might be prosper and go forward in this land. And 200 years after that it might be reorganized, much of it in this place. …. God is doing something great, behold all things new …”

This is a historic moment for Anglicanism … throughout the globe. We represent not a little of that in our own persons in this place.

This is also an amazing personal moment. The fulfilment of God’s plan for three leaders. John and Martyn and I were candidates for bishop (NOTE: for the Diocese of Colorado) and it was during that time that they formed friendships that continue to this day.

Twenty-one years later I stand here as an Archbishop, Martyn now resides in the U.K. as Executive Secretary for the Global Anglican Future Conference Movement and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and John here as the first bishop of this diocese.

This diocese represents such a maturing in such a short time of this movement, but as it comes together – it’s the largest diocese in the movement at its birth. That is because of God’s favor and because of the faithfulness of all of you who stood in these days, who stood shoulder to shoulder not just those who are ordained but very much shoulder with the laity in this region.

Bishop John Guernsey becomes the bishop of the new diocese.

It is very moving to look over and see faces of many folks who have walked this long journey for the past five years and for many even more years. It is not clear yet if we will be displaced from our church homes as litigation continues between the churches that voted to separate from the Diocese of Virginia under the Protocol for Departing Congregations and The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia. The second round of briefs are due next week, followed by a third round in October. In November or early December there will be one more opportunity for oral arguments when the Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows will present his questions to the Episcopal and Virginia churches' counsels. Some time after that  that one-day oral Q&A, the judge will release his opinion.

A new day.

Kevin Kallsen from Anglican TV is present and once he has his video of the installation up I will post it here. I ran into old friend now Bishop Neil Lebhar who was serving communion. He is a former Associate Rector of Truro and now bishop for the ACNA's diocese that includes Florida. Years ago when he was still at Truro he was in charge of the Truro Young Adults. I was in my mid 20's back then and I remember asking exactly how did you know if you were a young adult? Neil said "Anyone younger than me."

In fact, it is exciting to look out and see the young church planters and new leadership rising up, all ready building and rebuilding on the foundations not just of recent years - but on the foundation of those Anglicans who sailed to the Virginia shores four hundred years ago.  As those early settlers experienced their own triumphs and great challenges, this new diocese will know such a story as well.   What will this next chapter in our lives together bring?  How will we discern what should change and what should remain?  How will we stand firm for the Gospel of Jesus while making peace with our neighbors?  One way comes to mind, which I think was overflowing today and that is in gratitude.  Whatever happens, may we be grateful.  There is so much to be grateful for, so much.

We may not know what will happen by this time next year, but what comes to mind now is one of the songs we sang at the service today and it becomes a prayer tonight:

Archbishop Bob Duncan announces reorganization of his cabinet as focus of ministry shifts to "where we are headed, rather than where we have been ..."

UPDATED: Anglican TV brings us Archbishop Duncan's State of the Church Address at the meeting of the Provincial Council in Long Beach, CA:



Archbishop Bob Duncan of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), addressed the ACNA Provincial Council meeting in Long Beach, CA today.  In the address, Archbishop Duncan highlighted the growth of the developing Anglican province by directing attention to recently published statistics of church growth from last year:

According to the data submitted in the Annual Parochial Reports there were, in the year 2010, 987 baptisms of adults over thirty, 424 baptisms of young people aged sixteen to thirty, and 1647 baptisms of children in the ACNA dioceses, not including the congregations of our Ministry Partners.  What is so stunning about this data is that the number of baptisms of those 16 and older is almost equal to the number of children baptized.  

 As the ACNA moves forward in ministry and growth, Archbishop Duncan reflected the shift in focus in his announcement of the reorganization of his office:

ACNA Archbishop Bob Duncan

As this Provincial Council meets, I am announcing a re-organization of my team of advisors (my “cabinet”) to reflect where we are headed, rather than where we have been. This change is like the change represented in the diocesan stories just told. The Lead Bishops of the Common Cause Partnership – representing all the jurisdictions and organizations out of which the Anglican Church in North America was gathered – were the original Executive Committee of the Anglican Church in North America. Last June the transition was made to an Executive Committee of six clergy and six laity, chaired by the Archbishop. Yet because we are – in the best Anglican fashion – to be “episcopally led and synodically governed” [Lambeth Conference, 1930] the need for wisdom from Lead Bishops representing our jurisdictional and organizational roots caused me to retain a body that had literally led us together into unity. They ceased to be the Province’s Executive Committee, but became the Archbishop’s Cabinet.

Now comes the next step. We are becoming one church. I think everyone here now recognizes that our most important identity is as members of the Anglican Church in North America. We treasure our originating bonds, whether as part of the Reformed Episcopal Church of as part of the Province of Kenya or Uganda or Forward in Faith or whatever, but we are now chiefly all Anglican Church.

So with this Third Annual Provincial Council I am re-shaping my chief advisors group to reflect the program and mission of the Church, to reflect where we are going, where we are being called. The Cabinet will have two arms, one provincial and one global. The provincial arm will include the leaders of five key domestic initiatives (Catechesis, Anglican 1000, Engagement with Islam, Ecumenical Relations, and Liturgy and Common Worship), as well as some others. The global arm will include many seasoned bishops long-known to you, but also the Executive Director of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund. This re-organization also means that not all the members of my Cabinet will be bishops. In two years the Lord has brought us very far and blessed us very much. In order to keep the synod in its rightful place (governing) alongside the bishops (leading) I will also ask that every meeting of the Executive Committee have from one to three reports from members of the Cabinet on the initiatives Cabinet members are themselves leading or undertaking on behalf of us all.

A year ago at Provincial Council on the East Coast (Amesbury) we agreed to the request of the Anglican Mission in the Americas to move from diocesan status to ministry partner status. This change enabled the Anglican Mission to be first a “missionary outreach of the Province of Rwanda” and then a ministry partner with us. Two of their bishops, Doc Loomis and Terrell Glenn, have been named the regular representatives in Provincial Council and College of Bishops, and one of the Mission’s key priestly leaders, Ellis Brust, is also part of their Ministry Partner deputation at this meeting.

We rejoice at our partnership in the gospel. We rejoice that the Anglican Mission was the first to champion church planting as the way forward for Anglicans in the North American context. We rejoice that the AM is here with all our other Ministry Partners. A sign of the partnership shared with both the Anglican Mission and the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas (a second Ministry Partner with congregations) is cooperation among our congregations, clergy and bishops at the local level, and the identification of all Anglican congregations, whether ACNA, AM or FACA in the Anglican Church’s church finder web tool, the most visited single feature of the Anglican Church website.

Archbishop Ian Ernest

Our global commitments remain strong and we continue to be seen as “gospel partners” and bearers of “authentic Anglicanism” (South-South Encounter IV) by most of the world’s Anglicans. The GAFCON Provinces accord our Province status as the North American Province and I am seated as a Primate in the Primates Council. I was privileged to be present at Archbishop Ian Ernest’s invitation at the All Africa Bishops Conference (of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa) last August in Entebbe and was accorded a seat there for public and state events as one of the archbishops of the provinces. It is the greatest of joys to welcome Archbishop Ian Ernest – Archbishop of the Province of the Indian Ocean and Chairman of CAPA – to this Provincial Council as speaker, observer and friend, and to our College of Bishops as Bible teacher and consultor. It is also a privilege to welcome Fr. Thomas Seville, CR, of the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England here as participant and observer, in partial response to the action of the General Synod of the Church of England in February 2010 regarding consideration of an appropriate form of recognition or relationship with the Anglican Church in North America.

The Anglican Relief and Development Fund, the official relief and development arm of the Anglican Church in North America, is a significant aspect of our global commitment, and of the growing respect for us as true partners with Anglicans throughout the world. The Primates of Southern Cone, West Africa, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Sudan, Congo, and South East Asia (as well as of ACNA) all serve on ARDF’s Global Trustees. What is more is that national expressions of ARDF are beginning to emerge in developed countries beyond the U.S. and Canada. ARDF-Australia is the first to be fully formed, embracing the concept of objective philanthropy with measurable results piloted by ARDF-US, so that ever-more first-world Anglicans can invest in the sustainable transformation of the Global South in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Two years ago we were 706 congregations. The annual parochial and diocesan reports for 2010 – the first year for which we have a system of statistical reporting in place (another provincial milestone) – identify 952 congregations as part of the dioceses of the Anglican Church in North America and its ministry partners. Statistically this represents a 34 percent growth in congregations at the end of the first 18 months of Church life.

We focus on the centrality of local congregations as the “chief agency” of our mission in the Anglican Church in North America. [Article IV of the Constitution] If we are to “reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ” the principal way we will do this is through the local congregation. We say that every Anglican Church congregation is “accountable to the Holy Scriptures, accountable to the Tradition, and accountable for the transformation of society.”

We understand that congregations are where disciples are formed and that it is through congregations that surrounding environments are changed. We have a clarity about all of this – about the absolute centrality of congregations – that allows us to focus as a Province. Bishops, archbishops, dioceses, structures, programs all exist in order to make the local congregation strong. 

Read the entire address here.  

BREAKING NEWS: John Guernsey elected to lead new Anglican Diocese based in Virginia - The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the ANCA

The Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey was elected this morning by lay and clergy delegates representing the congregations of the new Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic to be their diocesan bishop.  Meeting in a special Constitutional Convention by the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) at Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, VA.  Bishop Guernsey was elected on the first ballot.

Bishop Guernsey, who was the long-time rector of All Saints Dale City and a leader in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia serving as Deputy to General Convention for many years until his parish voted to separate from the Episcopal Church in 2006, outlined his vision for the new diocese:

Having served in Northern Virginia for all of my ordained ministry, I have a deep commitment to the work of the Kingdom in this region. I have long prayed for the Lord to move in power to renew and heal His Church, that we might reach the lost with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. The formation of this new diocese is the Lord’s doing and I believe that I am called to be a part of it.

I envision a diocese that is prayer-based and mission-focused; a diocese of congregations that are growing and multiplying, served by clergy who are walking in faith and holiness; a diocese that is passionate to reach the lost and the next generations, discipling new believers to maturity in the Word; a diocese that joyfully worships the living Lord and is transformed by His power.

Support of Clergy and Congregations
I am committed to the pastoral support of clergy and their families. I presently serve a non-geographical diocese spread across the country and it is a challenge to stay in touch. I regularly phone the clergy, I pray each day for them, I connect by email. My wife always travels with me, and we love to spend time with the clergy and their spouses and children.

In this diocese, I would continue those important links, but I would also make it a priority to meet monthly with the clergy for worship, to study the Scriptures, to share our concerns and pray for one another. I would expect to meet with several groupings across the large area of the diocese. I would help create ways for our clergy and their families to support and care and pray for one another.

My parish visitations are usually over a full weekend, which creates opportunities for teaching and discipleship, fellowship and encouragement. I come to a congregation to serve and I ask the clergy to offer a plan for how best to use the visitation to support them in the Lord’s work in that place. I love opportunities to teach the Scriptures, to talk with and counsel the leadership team, to get to know the congregation and to pray for them.

The Church’s Mission
The Anglican Church in North America is clear in its Constitution that “the fundamental agency of mission in the Province is the local congregation.” That means that the diocese exists to serve the churches, not the reverse. The work of mission is the responsibility of the clergy and people of our congregations. The role of this new diocese is to support and encourage and to do those things the congregations cannot.

Together, as the congregations and clergy, we will reach the lost, and we will do that, first, through personal evangelistic witness. It is not enough to be part of a mission-minded Province or diocese or congregation if we are not ourselves sharing the Gospel with those we know.

We will plant churches of all sorts and descriptions, using new models and methods, as well as tried and true ones. We will grow and give birth to new dioceses.

We will reach the nations. Our links with the Global South have given us a new vision for Kingdom partnerships around the world. We must engage in the task of presenting Christ to unreached peoples across the globe and here at home. The proximity of our nation’s capital is also part of God’s calling to us—how does He want us to use that opportunity for Gospel witness?

Personal Discipleship
We will be people of the Word. We proclaim biblical authority, but each of us must be deeply rooted in the Scriptures through personal reading and meditating on the Word and through disciplined study.

We will be faithful disciples, who will demonstrate to the world what it looks like to be the people of God. We will disciple others, raising up the next generations in Christ.

We will seek the healing of the Lord for our own lives, walking in greater holiness and purity. We will be quick to give testimony to His grace and mercy and transforming power.

We will worship the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength. We will offer ourselves before Him in the beauty of holiness. Worship through the richness of our Anglican heritage will glorify the Lord and it will invite others to come to know Him.

We will be faithful stewards in our finances. We will proclaim the joy and freedom that is found in trusting the Lord through tithing.

Seeking God’s Vision
I take very seriously the warning in Jeremiah 23 about the false shepherds and prophets, who “speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord...But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?” (verses 16, 18). God judges those who claim to speak for Him without first having come before Him in prayer.

Yet the Lord promises to reveal Himself to those who seek His face. “But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people” (verse 22).

If I am called to this new diocese, I know the Lord would have much more to say to me and to all of us about His will and plan. It would be my responsibility and my joy to lead us in seeking Him and His vision for our life together.

My life verse is 2 Corinthians 4:5: “We seek not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” May the Lord give me and all of us the grace to walk humbly before Him, doing all for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord.

In addition, he answered questions posed to him by the ADV:

Background
Bishop, Diocese of the Holy Spirit of the Anglican Church in North America

Education
Yale University (New Haven, CT) B.A. (Magna Cum Laude), History, with Honors Episcopal Divinity School (Cambridge, MA) M.Div., Biblical Studies

Spiritual Autobiography

I grew up in a Christian home and, through the witness of my parents, gave my life to Christ as a very young boy. My father modeled putting one’s faith into practice in the world; he was deeply committed to racial reconciliation and the church’s ministry among those in need. My mother taught me about prayer; I remember a time when I was upset over something in my homework I couldn’t seem to grasp, and she showed me how to pray it through. I knew that I belonged to Christ and I readily told people that when I grew up I was going to be what Jesus wanted me to be—though I didn’t yet know what that was.

As a teenager active in the church, I was hungry for more of the Lord. But I was aware that I didn’t see lives being changed in our parish or its youth group in which I was actively involved. I hadn’t been taught the Scriptures and so my longing for the supernatural reality of God led me to explore a number of inappropriate spiritual practices we’d now term “New Age.” I wasn’t rejecting Jesus, but I lacked guidance and discernment to seek Him rightly through the Holy Spirit.

During high school, I volunteered in many different ministries, particularly in the inner city. In college, I chose an urban studies major as a way of pursuing my desire to work with the poor, perhaps through a career in government service. After my sophomore year, however, I won a competitive internship, working for a summer as the aide to the administrator of the entire welfare and social service department of the City of New York. It was a terribly disillusioning experience. I came away knowing that God needed people in that environment, but I was not called to be one of them.

With my career goal now unclear, I decided to take time off from college; I had extra credits and could have graduated in three years, but I felt I needed clarity of direction first. I accepted an invitation from an Episcopal layman from Liberia, West Africa to come to his country and do economic planning for the Liberian government. My letter to my contact confirming my plans was lost in the mail, so the government job wasn’t arranged and I ended up being put to work for one of his companies, the Carrier Air Conditioner distributorship. I had a tremendous amount of the time alone to think and pray and reflect, and through it the Lord finally got through to me that He was calling me to ordained ministry. When I finally said “yes” to Him, I had an amazing certainty and a  peace that this was His will. He then made it clear that my time in Liberia was at an end and that I should return home to finish college and go through the ordination process.

At the conclusion of my final interview before seminary, I was asked by the committee if I had any questions to ask them. I said that I did and asked this: “Why is it that we pray to God the Father through God the Son and seem to leave God the Holy Spirit out of it completely?” It was the question of a naïve 20-year old, but it made the committee very uncomfortable. Finally, one member said, “Well, it sounds like you’ve asked a good question. Maybe when you go to seminary you’ll learn the answer and come back and tell us.”

I went off to the seminary my bishop had attended and wanted me to attend, but by this time it had become a very, very liberal place. By God’s grace, I went in believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus and came out believing it. But I didn’t learn the answer to my question about the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t, of course, simply asking an abstract question about liturgy, but about the supernatural reality of God the Holy Spirit. What I learned instead was that the Holy Spirit was controversial. I was told very clearly that there were people out there who were “into” the Holy Spirit but we were not among them and that I should not expect God to do today what I saw Him doing in the pages of Scripture.

I did, however, meet my wife, Meg, in seminary, without a doubt the best thing that came out of the experience for me! She was from Virginia and so it was that we came here after seminary, she to serve a parish in Culpeper, while I worked at Christ Church in Alexandria.

One of my duties was to assist the lay stewardship chairman, which the Lord used to begin a process of transformation of my use of money. A wise priest I met challenged me to tithe and Meg and I, after much discussion and prayer, began to do so. We discovered a new joy in trusting the Lord and a freedom from anxiety about money and possessions that we’d never known before. It turned out that money had been a logjam in my spiritual life—breaking free in the area of finances resulted in a greater openness to God’s work in my life in other ways, as well.

In December, 1981, I was called to serve as Vicar of All Saints’, then a mission of 36 families worshiping in Triangle, near the Quantico Marine base. The guidance I’d received in seminary to put the Holy Spirit aside did not, to say the least, satisfy the longing that I had for more of the Lord. I began to hear testimonies from clergy and mature lay leaders about the working of the Spirit in their lives. I had much to learn and many theological questions to ask. But finally, the Lord in His goodness led me to the place of a deeper surrender to Him than ever before. I asked one of the godly lay leaders to lay hands on me and pray for the fullness and power of God’s Holy Spirit to fill me.

While the prayer time itself was quite unemotional, the Lord who is ever faithful began from that moment to work in me and through me in ways I’d only yearned for. I developed a passion for the Scriptures. I found a new fervency in prayer and a new intimacy in worship. In my ministry, I saw new power as I shared Jesus. As much as I wanted people to come to know Christ, I had not led anyone to faith in Him in four years of ordained ministry. After I received that empowering of the Holy Spirit, people began to respond to sermons and teaching by coming into my office, falling on their knees and asking to give their lives to Christ. Nothing in seminary had prepared me for that!

The Lord began to give me a greater love for prayer, for evangelism and for the healing ministry, three priorities which have been central to my ministry for the past 28 years. In these areas I again had much to learn and He blessed me with colleagues on staff at All Saints’ who could teach me many things. What a joy to be a part of God’s transforming work in people’s lives. How exciting to be in a parish where that transformation is the norm rather than the exception. And I’ve been privileged to be sent out on many short-term missions with SOMA, training leaders in the power of the Spirit in a number of countries around the world. God has also done His gracious healing work in my own life, freeing me from the hurts of the past to be more the pastor and husband and father He made me to be.

In our family, the Lord gave us many blessings of His love. He gave us two fine sons, who attended St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, where Meg had gone in 1979 to serve as Chaplain. Meg’s mother, physically disabled all her life but a spiritual powerhouse, came to live with us for the last 20 years of her life. Both our sons are now married, and they and their wives are all walking with the Lord. Our elder son, Nathaniel, is a computer science engineer and he and his wife, Mandy, are youth ministry volunteers. Our younger son, Michael, is in seminary preparing for ordination and he and his wife, Tracy, are praying about a long-term missionary call to Uganda.

The call to serve as bishop has been a surprising journey. Twenty years ago I was nominated to be Bishop of Colorado (along with two priests named Bob Duncan and Martyn Minns!). When I wasn’t elected, the Lord spoke clearly to me that I was to stay at All Saints’ and so I declined to be considered in dozens of episcopal elections after that. In December, 2006, the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda elected me to be their Bishop for Congregations in America—without consulting me, I might add—though they delayed notifying me or announcing it publicly until the following June. I was consecrated in September, 2007 and given the responsibility to look after the then 26 U.S.

congregations of the Church of Uganda, while continuing to serve as rector of All Saints’. (The number of churches grew to 53 in June, 2009 when, at the launch of the Anglican Church in North America, the Ugandan House of Bishops transferred me and all their U.S. clergy and congregations into the ACNA.)

Meanwhile, Meg had been told by the Lord in August, 2006 that the coming academic year was to be her last at the School. The Lord didn’t tell her any more than that, but in obedience she went to the headmistress and said, “This is my last year.” Her last faculty meeting was just days before I was informed I’d been elected bishop, and so she has been free to travel with me. We’ve followed a more African model of the bishop and his wife together as we’ve visited churches across the country. Serving in this way has been a gift from the Lord to us. Meg has such a heart for clergy spouses and children and it has been so very important to us to spend time with our clergy and their families.

Early in my ministry, the Lord gave me a verse to guide my life and service of him: “We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). I constantly pray that the ministry I offer will always be a ministry of servanthood, seeking only to glorify Jesus Christ.

Here he answers questions:

Questions

Why would God be calling you to be Bishop of this new diocese?
I don’t presume to know God’s will and God’s reasons! But I do feel increasingly called to serve the Lord and His Church in this new diocese. I would hope that I could help establish the diocese as prayer-based and mission- focused. I would also hope to contribute to the continuing healing from all that we experienced in our former context.

Describe your leadership style as Bishop: how you relate to clergy and laity; what you think and have done about missions; how you feel about raising money?
I have developed a pattern of multi-day visitations to churches (usually a full weekend), with opportunities for teaching, fellowship, meeting with the leadership and spending time with the clergy and their families. Meg and I always prefer to stay in homes, often with the clergy. I go to serve the church, to teach, listen and encourage.

I have a high priority of ministering to clergy and their families. I telephone the clergy regularly to check in and to pray for them. I am always looking for emerging leaders, particularly those of the next generation, to encourage and disciple.

I am committed to continuing to engage in front-line mission work personally. In 2010, Meg and I spent a week in a remote, desert area of Kenya, working with a large team of mostly young evangelists who were on mission planting churches among unreached peoples. This sort of experience always stretches me and encourages me to keep the proclamation of the Gospel at the forefront of everything I do. In my preaching I seek to spur the church to engage in mission and evangelism and I often invite those who do not yet know the Lord to surrender their lives to Him.

Dealing with stewardship has been a priority in ministry and a significant part of my own journey in Christ. I teach biblical stewardship and readily witness to the blessing of tithing in our own family. I taught financial stewardship at Virginia Seminary for 12 years, as a consultant in dozens of dioceses and congregations, and most especially at All Saints’ Church in Dale City.
To what degree are you committed to the Anglican 1000 church planting initiative? Describe your church planting experience.

I am tremendously excited by the vision of planting 1000 churches in the first five years of the Anglican Church in North America. I assisted in the planning for the first Anglican1000 summit and was greatly encouraged by it. I scheduled the Diocese of the Holy Spirit’s 2011 Annual Synod immediately prior to the second Anglican1000 Summit and at the same venue in order to encourage our diocesan leaders to participate in the Summit. I will also be attending the Exponential Church Planting Conference in Orlando this April.

My former parish, All Saints’ Church in Dale City, planted Christ Our Lord Church in Lake Ridge, one of the most important mission experiences we ever had. I have promoted church planting in our diocese and visited and encouraged those new starts already underway. We have new lay-led fellowships, church plants served by ordained church planters (both tent-makers and those sent out by a sponsoring church) and new congregations begun as second worship sites of existing parishes. It is so heartening to see how the vision for church planting is taking hold, as even some of our smallest churches are launching new congregations.

Please describe your discipline of prayer, study and worship.
I’m an early riser and I am nurtured and strengthened by my morning time in Scripture and prayer. I’ve been reading through the Bible each year for decades, following a number of different patterns. As part of my intercessions, I pray every week through a cycle for all of my diocese’s churches and all of the clergy, their spouses and children. My wife, Meg, and I usually read the Daily Office together and we’re presently doing a study of 1 John. I’m also reading a number of books on Islam to learn more about this critical challenge facing the Church in our day.

Please describe how you spend quality time with your wife and family. Describe what rests and rejuvenates you.

Meg travels with me to all our parish visitations, so I am blessed that we get to spend so much of our time together in ministry. I also enjoy just relaxing with her. We travel so much that we have discovered the importance of having regular days off on the road. We’ve been privileged to see fascinating and beautiful places as we visit churches across the country. I’m an extrovert, but I know that I need to be freed from being “on” and around people all the time. We’ve gone to museums and lots of botanical gardens (a particular love of Meg’s), we’ve taken long walks and we’ve just sat and enjoyed spectacular scenery.

We also used our frequent flier miles to great advantage. This past spring, we took our sons and their wives on a week’s holiday to our namesake island, the Island of Guernsey in the English Channel. It was such a wonderful experience for us—from hiking the cliff walks to laughing over board games. And we’ll be going back in 2011.

Read it all here.

UPDATE:  Here is the press release from the Anglican District of Virginia:

The Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) held a Constitutional Convention on May 20-21, 2011 at Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, Va. At this event, ADV delegates voted to petition the Anglican Church in North America to become a diocese and adopted new governing documents (Constitutions and Canons). Pending approval of the diocesan petition, the Anglican District of Virginia elected The Rt. Rev. John Guernsey to serve as bishop of the diocese, to be named the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

Bishop John Guernsey has served in various clergy roles during his years of ordained ministry in Virginia. He served as rector of All Saints’ Church in Dale City, Va., for 29 years before serving as the head of the Diocese of the Holy Spirit in the Anglican Church in North America. For more background on Bishop Guernsey and to read his vision statement for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, click here.

“Our hope is that the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, under the courageous and blessed leadership of Bishop John Guernsey, will continue to follow the path Christ is setting for us as we strive to grow and share our faith,” said Anglican District of Virginia Chairman Jim Oakes.

“In just a few years, we have grown to over 40 worshipping congregations, are planting churches, and have almost 7,000 people worshipping in our churches each Sunday. My prayer is that this new diocese within the Anglican Church in North America will make the trumpet sound even louder and bring more worshippers together in mission and ministry, continued Oakes.”

ADV is hopeful that the Anglican Church in North America will accept the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic as one of its member dioceses later this year. While the new diocese will be connected directly to the Anglican Church in North America, many of its congregations will continue to be in partnership with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). CANA is a missionary branch of the Church of Nigeria and a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America.

The Diocese of San Joaquin elects new Bishop

Great news!  The Rev'd Dr. Eric Menees has been elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of San Joaquin.  He will follow the Rt. Rev'd John-David Schofield who has served as Bishop of San Joaquin since 1988.  Here is a video of an excellent teaching he did recently from Anglican TV:



Here is the announcement of the election:

Election Results
The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin
Standing Committee
4159 East Dakota Avenue Fresno, CA 93726

RE: THE ELECTION OF THE BISHOP COADJUTOR The Standing Committee, in accordance with Title I, Canon I, Sec. 1.04 (Canons of the Diocese of San Joaquin); Article X(5) (ACNA Constitution); and Title III, Canon 8, Sec. 1 (Canons of the ACNA), is pleased to announce on behalf of special convention convened in Fresno, California, at the Anglican Cathedral of St James, Saturday, May 14, 2011, the election of The Rev?d Dr. Eric Menees on the second ballot, as Bishop Coadjutor-elect of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.

Consecration is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 24, 2011, 3p.m.; and Enthronement on Sunday, October 23, 2011, 4 p.m.; both to be held at People?s Church, 7172 North Cedar Avenue, Fresno, CA 93720-3368.

Faithfully yours in Christ, The Rev'd Jack Estes, President
Standing Committee

More on Dr. Menees:

The Rev. Dr. Eric Menees currently serves as the Rector of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in San Marcos, CA. A graduate of the General Theological Seminary, Fr. Menees received his Doctor of Ministry from Seabury Western in 2006.

After he graduated from seminary Fr. Menees was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and subsequently served as the Deacon/Priest in Charge of the Church of Epiphany and the Associate Rector of the Church of the Messiah, both of which were Spanish language ministries.

The Rev. Menees served as the Chaplain to the Bishop’s School in La Jolla prior to becoming Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in San Marcos, CA. For reasons of conscience, the Rev. Menees left Grace Episcopal and founded the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in 2006. He is a vowed Third Order Franciscan.

The Rev. Menees is married to Florence Guadalupe Mira-Menees and has a daughter, Milagro, aged 17 and a son, Sebastian, aged 10.

UPDATE: The Fresno Bee reports:

The Rev. Dr. Eric Menees is the new bishop of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, following his election Saturday by clergy and lay delegates at a special convention at St. James Cathedral in east-central Fresno.

Menees, rector of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in San Marcos in Southern California, will replace Bishop John-David Schofield, who has announced plans to retire in October.

The Rev. Van McCalister, assistant to the dean at St. James, said delegates cast two ballots before a majority vote for one candidate was reached. The other candidates were the Very Rev. Carlos Raines, dean of St. James Cathedral; and the Rev. Dr. Ronald Jackson, chaplain and tutor at Trinity College in Bristol, England.

The final vote for Menees was 120 of the 168 clergy and lay delegates. Separate majority votes were required among the clergy delegates and lay representatives.

Menees is a graduate of General Theological Seminary. He received a doctorate of ministry from Seabury Western Theological Seminary in 2006.

Menees was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He served in Spanish-language ministries and as the chaplain of the Bishop's School in La Jolla. He was rector of Grace Episcopal Church in San Marcos before founding the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in 2006.

Menees and his wife, Florence Mira-Menees, have a 17-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son.

McCalister said Menees will be consecrated at a service in the larger People's Church in September and enthroned in late October, which coincides with Schofield's retirement.

Schofield was elected bishop in 1988. In 2007, Schofield helped lead a movement for the diocese to secede from the U.S. Episcopal Church over debate about same-sex blessings, consecration of a partnered gay priest and how to interpret the Bible over such issues.

The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin extends from Elk Grove south to Lancaster, and from Hollister east to Henderson, Nev.

Read it all here.

Episcopal Church Property Trial opens in Virginia

The seven Anglican churches who are being sued by both The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia will present opening arguments today in the Fairfax County Circuit Court. Six weeks have been allotted for trial. Judge Randy Bellows, who presided over the earlier 57-9 proceedings, will preside.

UPDATE: Opening arguments did go forward today - no major surprises.  On the stand tomorrow: The Rt. Rev'd David Jones, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.  Bishop Jones was once the overseer of church planting in the Diocese of Virginia.  After the 2006 vote to separate by 15 churches in the diocese, the bottom dropped out of the church planting budget.  The chair of the diocesan Church Planting Committee was among those who eventually moved to the ACNA.

TUESDAY UPDATE:  From the AP:

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A years-long dispute between the Episcopal Church and several breakaway congregations over homosexuality and important tenets of Christian doctrine was back in a Virginia courtroom on Monday, where the fight will likely be decided on mundane aspects of real estate and contract law.

A Fairfax County judge heard opening statements in the case between the denomination and seven dissident congregations, who voted nearly five years ago to leave the Episcopal Church and realign as conservative branch of the worldwide Anglican church. The move was precipitated by the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop from New Hampshire. However, it also involved fundamental differences on Scriptural matters, including what some conservatives say is equivocation from Episcopal leadership on the divinity of Christ.

The Episcopal Church and its diocese in Virginia sued to gain control of property held by the breakaway congregations, which includes some of the denomination's most prominent and historic churches. Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church — for which the city of Falls Church is named — trace their roots back to Colonial times, when George Washington served as a vestryman.

In 2008, Fairfax County Circuit Judge Randy Bellows ruled in favor of the breakaway congregations under a rarely used Virginia law dating to the Civil War governing the breakup of churches. But the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Bellows' ruling and told him to decide the case "under principles of real property and contract law."

On Monday, more than a dozen lawyers representing various parties in the dispute returned to Bellows' courtroom for opening statements in what is expected to be a six-week bench trial. The various parties plan to introduce roughly 8,000 exhibits.

Lawyers for The Episcopal Church, which has roughly 2 million members in the U.S., said the relevant contract is the one between the Episcopal Church and its congregations. Individual congregations agree to respect church hierarchy, lawyer Mary Kostel said, and the Episcopal denomination voted in 1979 that all church property held by local congregations is done so in trust for the national denomination.

Congregations that don't like the rules are not free to simply leave when they disagree with church policy or doctrine, she said.

"Authority in the church flows down" from the top, Kostel said.

Gordon Coffee, lawyer for the seven breakaway congregations, urged the judge to look at the property deeds. All of the deeds convey ownership to trustees at the individual congregations — none grants title to the larger denomination, Coffee said.

"When (denominations) want to subject property to their control, they know how to do it" on the deed itself, Coffee said. Catholic and Mormon churches, for instance, often list religious leaders like bishops on the deed, he said. Or conditions can be placed on the deed to require a congregation to adhere to church doctrine to maintain title to the property.

The legal dispute has been costly for both sides. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has lost congregations that collectively contributed $10.4 million directly to the diocese in the 20-year period before the dispute erupted.

And the breakaway congregations have spent millions of dollars in legal fees. Warren Thrasher, executive director at Truro, said the 1,200 members of that church alone have spent roughly $2 million in legal fees, raised through a legal defense fund kept separate from the rest of the church's ministry.

Thrasher said that while many church members wish the dispute could be settled, they contributed more than $500,000 earlier this year for the legal defense.

"We want to see this through," Thrasher said.

Read it all here.

BREAKING NEWS: Church of the Word reaches a settlement with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

This is the second Virginia Anglican parish to reach a settlement with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in recent weeks.  From Robin Adams and Church of the Word:

GAINESVILLE, VA – Church of the Word (COTW), one of a handful of Northern Virginia churches embroiled in a four-year long lawsuit with The Episcopal Church (TEC), will retain its church property after an out-of-court settlement signed Monday, April 18, released it from the pending litigation.
The leadership of COTW, which is a multiracial congregation made up of predominantly young families, is relieved to have achieved their major goals of separating from TEC, retaining their property, and preserving their tradition of worship and ministry.

Church of the Word is one of a number of formerly Episcopal congregations that had severed ties with the denomination over matters of doctrinal drift and novel pastoral practices. Upon breaking away from the denomination in December 2006, TEC filed a lawsuit against eleven Northern Virginia churches in an attempt to keep them from retaining their property. Currently, the next phase of this litigation will continue for the remaining seven churches with the commencement of a late-April 2011 trial in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court.

COTW’s settlement allows it to keep its property, and now free of litigation, may concentrate on its vision, which is to ‘Encounter and Share Jesus Christ’. It does, however, require that COTW sever its affiliation with the newly established Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) for a period of five years.

COTW’s pastor, Rev. Robin Adams said, “This settlement allows us to keep the church building that was paid for by us, not the Episcopal Church. It also allows us to put this painful experience behind us and move on with ministering the love of Christ to a broken world. We will not lose our Anglican identity, though we may have to rethink how we do church in the short term.

Adams said the requirement to temporally disaffiliate from ACNA is one of the more difficult aspects of the settlement, but he remains positive.

“Our goal is to return to the ACNA fold when the disaffiliation period is completed as a stronger Christian body,” he said. “We’ll continue to worship in our accustomed manner, and for most of our members, this provision will not even be something they’ll notice in our day-to-day church ministry.”
Adams called the disaffiliation requirement “a failure to ‘respect the dignity of every human being,’ as the baptismal covenant says, and is certainly unchristian.”

“It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia were unwilling to explore out of court settlement options with Church of the Word unless it severed all ties to its orthodox Anglican family,” ADV Chairman Jim Oakes said. “Church of the Word and all within the ADV have been seeking the Lord in prayer as we search for the best path forward. In spite of the separation mandate, we support the members of Church of the Word and they will remain our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Church of the Word has believed all along that its property belonged to those who paid for it – the local congregation. The Episcopal Church, on the other hand, believes that all church assets within the denomination are held in trust for the national church, regardless of state property laws. An earlier court decision sided with the breakaway churches, but was then reversed upon appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. The suit was returned to the circuit court for re-trial based on a different body of law in June 2010.

“We originally voted to leave the Episcopal Church in 2006 over theological and pastoral issue,” COTW’s former senior warden Dane Swenson said. “We felt the denomination had drifted away from basic Christian belief and practices. For example, Anglicans are supposed to hold that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, as opposed to just another possible option among many. And we believe that the Bible is the guiding authority for Christian doctrine, and must not be subservient to or shaped by the culture of the moment.”

Initially the denomination had provided a process by which the congregations could leave the denomination and maintain ownership of the properties they had purchased and maintained.

“Had the Diocese of Virginia stuck to its original agreement in its official ‘Protocol for Departing Congregations,’ then four years of expensive legal action could have been avoided,” Adams said. “Nevertheless we are thankful to have reached settlement with the diocese today.”

While Church of the Word is relieved to be able to keep its property, the congregation actually outgrew its facility long ago and has had to put building plans on hold during the years of uncertainty due to the litigation. Robin Adams says the church will develop its modest site to the best of its abilities, and will refocus on planning for the future.

“Any financial resources we might have saved toward expanding went toward our legal fees in this case,” COTW treasurer Robert Miller said. “Maybe there are people out there who think our stand against biblical compromise was worth the cost. Maybe they’ll help us raise the funds we need. You never know how God will work.”

With faith that God will supply the church’s need, Adams says it will establish a fund for anyone who might like to donate. He’s hoping like-minded friends still in the Episcopal Church might pledge a gift to help Church of the Word, even while they work for reform within that body.
“You never know unless you make your needs known,” Adams says.


Official Statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia:

April 19, 2011

Today the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church announced a settlement with Church of the Word (COTW), Gainesville, the second reached with one of the nine congregations that left the Episcopal Church in 2006 and then sought to retain Episcopal church property.  Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands reached a settlement on February 20.  "We are pleased to have reached another settlement, an important step toward enabling all involved to focus our shared energies on our important ministries," said the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of Virginia.

"This settlement has a set of unique circumstances that led the Diocese to allow COTW to retain Episcopal property," stated Henry D.W. Burt, secretary of the Diocese of Virginia.  "Changes in the immediate vicinity of the church, namely massive construction along Route 29 that eliminates direct access to the church, create significant challenges for any congregation in that space. Should COTW ultimately decide to relocate, the Diocese of Virginia has given them the certainty and control they need to determine what is best for the congregation and the day school they offer to the Gainesville community."

Under the agreement, the Diocese will retain $1.95 million from a payment by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for loss of value to the property as a result of the construction.  In exchange, COTW will retain the church building and personal property, and will be responsible for the mortgage on the property.  COTW will also retain $85,000 in cash from the VDOT payment and be permitted to negotiate for additional monies from VDOT.  In addition, COTW will voluntarily disaffiliate from the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) for a period of five years.  The pastor of COTW will be allowed to remain in the CANA healthcare plan and retirement plan, if permissible under the conditions of these benefit plans.

"This is a welcome and appropriate resolution for all involved," said Bishop Johnston. "It allows everyone to continue their important work while we will continue to preserve and expand the legacy of the Episcopal Church for future generations."

The trial on property issues for the remaining seven Episcopal Church properties will begin in the Fairfax Circuit Court on Monday, April 25.

Official Statement from the Anglican District of Virginia, which calls the settlement "heartbreaking":

FAIRFAX, Va. (April 19, 2010) – Anglican District of Virginia member parish Church of the Word in Gainesville, Va., has voted to take a settlement option presented by the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church in the matter of their property. The settlement results in Church of the Word’s outright ownership of its property for future ministry. However, it will require Church of the Word to disaffiliate from the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), and any other Anglican entity for a period of at least five years.

“It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia were unwilling to explore out of court settlement options with Church of the Word unless it severed all ties to its orthodox Anglican family. Church of the Word and all within ADV have been seeking the Lord in prayer as we search for the best path forward. In spite of the separation mandate, we support the members of Church of the Word and they will remain our dear brothers and sisters in Christ,” said ADV Chairman Jim Oakes.

“There’s no question: This litigation is a distraction from our mission and the good work our churches are doing every day to change lives. We never wanted a court battle in the first place and were saddened when amicable negotiations over properties that were purchased and maintained by our congregations were abruptly cut off.

“The litigation, which now involves seven parishes, does not define ADV and has not hindered our growth. In fact, we have grown to 32 member congregations and nine mission fellowships. We will continue to pray for a quick resolution to this matter as we look forward to the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection on Easter morning,” Oakes concluded.

The Anglican District of Virgina prepares to call a bishop and become a Diocese in the Anglican Church in North America

The Anglican District of Virginia will focus forty days of prayer during the 2011 Lenten Season in preparation for the ADV Constitutional Convention. Here is the timeline as the Constitutional Convention approaches:

Here is the timeline for the preparation for the Constitutional Convention as outlined by the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV):

1. February 1, 2011 – The Synod Standing Committee on Constitution and Canons submits to the ADV Synod Council Draft of Proposed Amendments to ADV Constitution and Canons or Draft New Constitution and Canons;
2. February 15, 2011 – ADV Synod Council circulates to ADV member congregations above Drafts, with comments;
3. April 8, 2011 – Congregations submit proposed changes to Drafts to Synod Council; 
4. May 1, 2011 – Synod Council circulates to Constitutional Convention delegates Final Proposed ADV Constitution and Canons and any alternative proposed sections.

Once the ADV Constitution and Canons are adopted, they will serve as the authority for selecting our new Bishop and will accompany our application for admission as a new ACNA diocese. 

Here is more on the call for prayer, via email:

"40 Days of Prayer" is a common theme this time of year. As Anglicans, as Christians, we devote a period of 40 days during Lent to many things.

This year, we at the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) invite you to join us for 40 Days of Diocesan Prayer during the 2011 Lenten season beginning Ash Wednesday, March 9. This season leads up to an important ADV Constitutional Convention May 20-21, 2011, during which we will adopt our new constitution and canons (governing documents) and elect our new bishop as we seek admission as a new diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

Our new Bishop will be selected from a slate of up to three candidates who will stand for election immediately after adoption of the new ADV governing documents at the Constitutional Convention.

As we move towards the May 20-21 Constitutional Convention, ADV invites the attention, prayer and involvement of our 42 member congregations—40 Days of Diocesan Prayer—to guide our application to ACNA, consideration of our new governing documents, and the selection of a Bishop to lead us as a new ACNA diocese. The following weeks and months mark a pivotal time for ADV, as we articulate our growth and formation—essentially your growth and formation—into an Anglican diocese for the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We continue to be humbled by the details and requirements for this growth, and look forward to God’s provision through your prayers and discernment.

Our current ADV Contact Bishop, Bishop David Bena, is providing a prayer below for use on Sunday mornings throughout Lent this year. We hope that the prayer will be read at all services during this season up through Easter Sunday, April 24, in preparation for the May 20-21 ADV Constitutional Convention. We look forward to updating you throughout the process and as to the outcome of the Convention.

More information about the formal process can be found here. If you are the communications contact for your parish, we encourage you to use the content herein and in the previous link to promote 40 Days of Diocesan Prayer in your parish publications and website as you are able.

Parish Prayer

Almighty and Everlasting Father, you have given the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever: Inspire, we pray, the clergy and delegates who will meet in council May 20, that the Anglican District of Virginia, being preserved in true faith and Godly doctrine, may make right choices regarding becoming a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America and in choosing a faithful bishop to lead us. May we fulfill all the mind of Him who loves us and gave Himself for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

To learn more about the Anglican District of Virginia, click here.

Podcast from the Anglican Primates Meeting

Here is a podcast of the press conference closing the Anglican Primates Meeting.  Those speaking at the Press Conference are: The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, The Most Revd Bernard Ntahoturi, Archbishop of the Province of Burundi & Bishop of Matana, The Most Revd Dr John Walder Dunlop Holder, Archbishop, Church in the Province of the West Indies & Bishop of Barbados and The Most Revd David Robert Chillingworth, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church & Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane. They are introduced by the The Most Revd Alan Edwin Thomas Harper, Primate of All Ireland & Archbishop of Armag.




It seems that Rowan is disappointed, perhaps even angry that the 1/3 of the primates didn't come when from his mind the meeting was rearranged to accommodate them (there is obviously disagreement on that point). But it's not surprising that the first question from the Church Times is focused on the elephant in the room - the major issue facing the primates is whether the Anglican Communion will continue to exist or break up for all intensive purposes. Breaking up the primates into small working groups is not a bad idea and it's helpful to know that they were all aware of those leaders who make up the majority of the Anglican Communion membership were not in the room - but that the illusion that this meeting carried on as business as usual just fosters in the end more drama.

And so while they are meeting in Ireland and writing letters, the Episcopal Church continues to block efforts for peaceful resolution between local ACNA parishes and Episcopal dioceses for an amicable separation as we see in today's statement from the ACNA where Archbishop Duncan tells us that “It is heartbreaking that even if they (St. Philip's Anglican) agree to pay a substantial settlement fee to keep their buildings, members of St. Philip’s are also being forced to separate from their Anglican family as a condition of the property settlement. Freedom of religion is at the heart of this matter and no congregation should have to stipulate that it will separate from its current body as part of a monetary property settlement." This didn't even show up as blip on these primates radar, which comes across as a global slap at the primates that stayed home from the meeting, fostering even more drama, more division.

"They utter mere words;
   with empty oaths they make covenants;
   so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds
   in the furrows of the field. "

Hosea 10:4 (from today's Morning Prayer reading, CoE)

BREAKING NEWS: Bishop John W. Howe announces retirement as Bishop of the Diocese Central Florida

UPDATED:  The Bishop's Address is now available (see below).

The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, the Rt. Rev'd John W. Howe, has announced his intention to retire in April 2012. and has called for the election of a bishop coadjutor.

Bishop Howe, a long time leader in the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church, is one of the founders of the Communion Partners.  He was became the third Bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida in 1990.


Bishop Howe was ordained deacon in 1967, priest in 1968 and became Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Central Florida on April 15, 1989.  He earned a B.A. in philosophy, University of Connecticut, in 1964 and M. Divinity, Yale Divinity School, 1967. He was awarded Doctor of Divinity degrees from Yale in October 1989, from University of the South, Sewanee, in 1990 and from Nashotah House in 1991.

He was President of the University of Connecticut Christian Fellowship from 1962 to 1964, a staff member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship 1964-69, and served as chaplain at both The Loomis School, Windsor, Connecticut, 1967-1969 and Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, Connecticut, 1969-72.

In 1972, Bishop Howe became Associate Rector, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sewickley (Diocese of Pittsburgh) serving from 1972 to 1976 and then was called as Rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia from 1976-1989. During that time, Truro grew in size to more than 3,000 members with an operating budget of over $3 million, half of which was spent on Missions and Outreach.

He was founding member of S.O.M.A. (Sharing of Ministries Abroad), an Anglican ministry seeking to bring renewal to indigenous churches, as well as one of of the founders of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

A strong leader in prolife and church renewal movements, he has also sought to build bridges between diverse groups in the church.  “I am an evangelical in the tradition of John Stott, and my ministry has been one of building bridges between renewal-oriented Episcopalians and traditionalists, moderates and liberals,” Bishop Howe wrote when he stood for election to the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church in 2009.  His diocese has been noted for it's diversity, while still remaining a beacon for biblical teaching and a commitment to Lambeth 1.10.

He co-authored the 1988 Resolution on Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life adopted by the 69th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Detroit. He is former President and Chairman of the Board of the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life (NOEL) and he is a former president of the Fellowship of Witness.  In addition, he has served as the National Chaplain to the Order of the Daughters of the King which is made up of both TEC and ACNA chapters.

UPDATE: Here's an article just in from the Central Florida Episcopalian:

In the Bishop’s Address to the 42nd Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, Jan. 29, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe announced his plan to retire in April 2012.

“I want to come directly to the point,” Bishop Howe told the group gathered at St. George Church and La Hacienda Recreation Center, The Villages, Florida. “The final episode of Star Trek, Next Generation was entitled ‘All Good Things…’ with the unmistakably hidden clause, ‘…must come to an end.' I have come to the conclusion that we are nearing such a moment.”

Bishop Howe called for the election of his successor, the Fourth Bishop of Central Florida, in a Special Convention to be held Nov. 19 at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando.

“These last two-plus decades of my life have been a roller coaster of joy and sorrow – but mostly joy – as we have seen God work in our midst in extraordinary ways,” Bishop Howe said. “I came here after 13-and-a-half years in one of the truly great congregations in The Episcopal Church.  And, as every Bishop will tell you, leaving your parish family behind is a very difficult thing to do.”

Bishop Howe stressed that, although the diocese will experience a change in leadership, the diocese should maintain the direction it has taken.

Bishop Howe specifically mentioned four projects mandated by the 40th Diocesan Convention, in 2009, that should help guide the diocese:

      Develop a Diocesan Strategic Plan – The resolution said, “It is the Vision of this Diocese to be fully committed to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission: to truly love God with all of our being and to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught his original followers.”  The resolution set out five specific, measurable objectives for the years 2010 – 2012, which the diocese is in the process of implementing.

      Create a Contemporary Worship School – The diocese held the first of what leaders expect will be annual Contemporary Worship Conferences at the Canterbury Conference Center September 16 – 18, 2010.  The next one is scheduled for September 22 – 24, 2011.

      Create a set of “user friendly” tools for Short Term Mission Trips – This was accomplished, and is available in print, on CD, and online at the diocesan website.  Many congregations  have already used these tools, and others are planning to do so in the near future.

      Develop a Parish Discipleship Weekend – The resolution called for an in-house parish conference to call members of this Diocese to commit or recommit their lives to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, and to teach all of us how to live out a countercultural form of discipleship.

Under the direction of the Standing Committee, the search for Bishop Howe’s successor will begin immediately, and will include a diocesan survey, diocesan profile, nominations, background checks, election and consecration.

Bishop Howe and his wife, Deacon Karen Howe, plan to take a cruise through the Panama Canal soon after the consecration of the new bishop.

“I told the Standing Committee last month that my love for this Diocese is so exquisite that it hurts,” Bishop said in closing his address. “If I could somehow, miraculously, make it all happen all over again I would do so in a heartbeat. Thank you for honoring me, and supporting me, for these past 21-plus years. I love you, and I pray that as ‘all good things…’ begin to wind down they may wind up giving birth to even greater things in this great Diocese of Central Florida.”

The Diocese of Central Florida, based in Orlando, is a community of about 38,000 baptized members at 88 parishes and missions in 15 counties.


Here is Bishop Howe's Address to the Diocese of Central Florida:

The Bishop’s Address

The Forty-Second Annual Convention

of

The Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida

Held in St. George Church and

La Hacienda Recreation Center

The Villages, Florida

January 29, 2011

The Right Reverend John W. Howe

All Good Things…

            “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:2)

Welcome to the Forty-Second Annual Convention of the Diocese of Central Florida!  It is good to be together again, and good to be back at St. George Church and The Villages.  We were last here in 2005, exactly a decade after St. George was admitted as an organized mission of the Diocese.  The planting, growth, ministry, and hospitality of this congregation have been among the great joys of my time in Central Florida.

So, thank you to Fr. Hugh Bromiley and all the good folks from St. George and, indeed, from around the Diocese, who have helped prepare for our time together.

Thanks, too, to Andrew Walker and all the musicians and singers who have supported our worship.

Coming to the Point

I want to come directly to the point.  The final episode of Star Trek, Next Generation was entitled “All Good Things…” with the unmistakably hidden clause, “…must come to an end.”
I have come to the conclusion that we are nearing such a moment.

I am hereby calling for the election of my successor, the Fourth Bishop of Central Florida, in a Special Convention to be held in the Cathedral Church of St. Luke on November 19, 2011.

A majority of the Diocesan Bishops and Standing Committees of The Episcopal Church must then give their consents to that election within the following 120 days.  That will bring us into the middle of Lent, and I would like to remain “in the saddle” for one more Easter and through the 23^rd anniversary of my own consecration on April 15^th of next year.

(I have frequently commented that April 15^th can be remembered for at least four things: it was the day Lincoln died, the day the Titanic sank, the date of our annual visit to the tax collector, and the date of my consecration.  Somebody has thoughtfully called these “The Four Disasters”!)
Given all of those dynamics, we have tentatively set April 21, 2012 as the date for our next Bishop’s consecration.  We have arranged to do this in Calvary Assembly in Orlando, just as we did last time around.

And that is why I said we are nearing such a moment: it is not yet at hand.  We still have nearly a year and a half to go.  And I intend to be very much engaged as your Bishop until the laying on of hands and the passing of the crosier in that consecration service.  The new Bishop will take office immediately, and I will officially resign at that point – although I will be available to assist if he or she should desire that.

The Transition Process

The Transition Process is in the hands of the Standing Committee, and, immediately following this Address, I will ask Fr. Al Jenkins, President of the Standing Committee – thank you for re-electing him! – to outline as much of the Process as we can foresee at this point.  (For your information, the Standing Committee has asked me to join them for at least the majority of their meetings.  I have agreed to do so with two caveats: 1) if ever they need to meet alone they need only ask, and I will immediately withdraw, and 2) I will comment on their proceedings only if asked to do so.  It really is their Process.)

And let me mention that the first meeting of the Diocesan Board next month will be a special joint meeting with the Standing Committee to get everyone “on the same page.”

A Look Back

These last two-plus decades of my life have been a roller coaster of joy and sorrow – but mostly joy – as we have seen God work in our midst in extraordinary ways.

I came here after thirteen and a half years in one of the truly great congregations in The Episcopal Church.  And, as every Bishop will tell you, leaving your parish family behind is a very difficult thing to do.

The experience of being so deeply involved in the lives of parishioners and families in the midst of their great joys and their tragic disappointments, seeing them day in, day out, week after week, baptizing their children, preparing them for confirmation and marriage, praying with them in the midst of crisis, visiting them in hospital, conducting their funerals, mourning with them, and sharing the hope of the resurrection – is a privilege and an intimacy that I know no other profession can match.

My fellow clergy: we are indeed most fortunate people.

But to go from that to being in a different congregation every week is a shock!

It took us exactly one Sunday to realize that my family would not be accompanying me on my Visitation schedule!

But I knew God had called me here.  There were remarkable confirmations of that, not the least of which was the truly miraculous provision of our home here and the sale of our home in Virginia.  (Both are wonderful, long stories, which I will tell you sometime if you ask.)

And I also knew that those whom God calls he equips.

So I began to live into the very different structures of relationships in a vastly extended family in which the Bishop is “at home” in every one of those far-flung congregations.  There are a few deep relationships that develop in many of those congregations, and there is, of course, a very special relationship that the Bishop has with the clergy of the Diocese.

And, by the way, you know we have some of the finest clergy in the world.  Will you join me in giving thanks for them?

I also had to learn how to work with the Diocesan Board – which is a very different critter from a vestry!  I had one fellow on that first Board who said, “I’m going to be very up front with you: I’m going to let you know when I disagree, and I think that is going to be most of the time.”   (He doesn’t remember it that way, but that is pretty much the way I heard it.)

I think he was suspicious because he had heard I was a “charismatic.”  And he was greatly surprised when I visited his parish and told him that out of all the congregations I had visited his was the one most like the one I left behind!

Three days from now he will have been my Canon to the Ordinary for eighteen years.  A better friend and a better partner in the gospel you could not find.  Please join me in giving thanks for Canon Ernie Bennett.

The (rest of the) Diocesan Staff

I want to ask the other members of our staff to stand, and let me mention them by name: (hold your applause until I am done) The Venerable Kristi Alday, Archdeacon, Chuck Dunlap, Disaster Relief Coordinator, Deacon Karen Howe, Director of Cathedral Audio, Marilyn Lang, Secretary to Canon Bennett, Carolyn LaPointe, Financial Assistant, Eric Moulton, Youth Ministry Officer, Cindy Muldoon, Receptionist and Administrative Assistant, Earl Pickett, Diocesan Administrator, Joe Thoma, Communications Officer, and Melanie Walters, Secretary to the Bishop.  Let me tell you, they work tirelessly on behalf of all of us.  They will see something that needs to be done, and they will just do it.

Nobody asks, “Who is responsible for this?” – they just do it!  They are simply a wonderful group of people and a great team to work with.  Join me in giving thanks for them, as well.

Being a Bishop

I am often asked, “What is the best thing about being a Bishop?” and “What is the worst thing about being a Bishop?”  My answer always is: they are both the same!

A crisis develops in a parish: a disagreement between the Rector and the Vestry, some kind of financial mismanagement, a violation of boundary lines, a problem between a parish and its parochial school – or whatever.  A crisis: that’s the worst thing.  But the Bishop just showing up begins to give some hope: we’re not in this thing alone; someone has been here before, we can get a handle on it.  That’s the best thing.

Most of the time the folks in a local congregation are not very aware of the Bishop, the Diocesan machinery, or the Diocesan staff.  But at three major points in the life of a parish we become deeply involved.

First, when a congregation is being formed the Diocese is at least the midwife, if not the birth mother.  Becoming organized, raising finances, acquiring land, and building the first building is virtually never attempted without the help of the Diocese.

Second, when there is a change in the leadership of a parish the Bishop, the Canon, and the Diocesan staff come alongside the Vestry and the Search Committee, walking with them through every step in the process.

And third, as I have already mentioned, when there is a crisis of some kind the Bishop and the staff almost inevitably become involved.  We try to handle things as discreetly as possible, but we are right there in the middle of them.

For most of my time here we have been on an upward trajectory, and after splits in six of our congregations over “national issues” in 2008 and 2009, I believe we are greatly into recovery, and the arrows are moving forward and upward again.

Shepherd of the Hills

How wonderful it was to begin our time together this weekend with the welcoming of Shepherd of the Hills as a parish!  Exactly sixteen years ago yesterday we welcomed the congregation as an organized mission, but they hit a bump in the road in 2003.  Fr. Ladd Harris had retired to Florida, and he thought his ministry at Shepherd of the Hills was going to be singing in the choir!  Instead he became God’s man to lead the congregation through a wonderful recovery.

In the last twelve months they have simultaneously built a magnificent new building which is almost ready to be dedicated, called my good friend Bishop Jim Adams to be their Vicar and now their Rector, and achieved parish status!  Congratulations, and well done good and faithful servants!

As we begin this period of Diocesan transition it was not by accident that I asked Julian Linnell to be our preacher at the opening Eucharist.  We are about mission, and it would be hard to find someone whose ministry more fully epitomizes mission than does his.  Thank you, Julian, for reminding us so clearly that the mission of Jesus Christ remains at the very center of our calling.

It is also no accident that running parallel to this Convention the Department for Student Ministry is offering its “Town Hall” gathering for youth ministry leaders, Sunday school teachers, and Christian Education leaders.  Bringing our youth and young people into an informed commitment to Jesus Christ remains a central priority of this Diocese.

So, while over the next few months we will be preparing for a change in leadership I am totally committed to maintaining our direction.

Keeping On Keeping On

Two years ago the Fortieth Annual Convention of the Diocese passed Resolutions to take on four new projects:

      Develop a Diocesan Strategic Plan – which we did, and Convention adopted it almost unanimously last year.  We said, “It is the Vision of this Diocese to be fully committed to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission: to truly love God with all of our being and to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught his original followers.”  We laid out five specific, measurable objectives for the years 2010 – 2012, which we are in the process of implementing.

      Create a Contemporary Worship School – which we did, and we held the first of what we expect will be annual Contemporary Worship Conferences at the Canterbury Conference Center September 16 – 18, 2010.  The next one is scheduled for September 22 – 24, 2011.

      Create a set of “user friendly” tools for Short Term Mission Trips – which we did.  It is available in print, on CD, and online at our diocesan web site.  Some of you have already used these tools, and others are planning to do so in the near future.

      Develop a Parish Discipleship Weekend – an in-house parish conference to call members of this Diocese to commit or recommit their lives to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, and to teach all of us how to live out a countercultural form of discipleship.

This one took longer than expected, but I am pleased to announce that the materials are ready at last, and I want to read from the Parish Discipleship Weekend Purpose Statement:

• “The purpose of the weekend is to provide an ‘on-campus’ retreat weekend (held at the facilities of the local church) that communicates the teachings of the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter of April 15, 2008, focusing on the prayer of Jesus Christ that we ‘live in the world but are not of the world.' "
• “The weekend is titled “Discipleship Weekend.’  However, rather than focusing on prayer and Bible study (which is often what ‘discipleship’ classes teach), this is deep discipleship.  It is ‘Discipleship 401,’ not ‘101.’  The weekend focuses on the Christian life rather than Christian belief.  This Discipleship Weekend calls us to holiness.
• “The Parish Discipleship Weekend will identify some of the values that are challenging the biblical Christian worldview, call participants to repentance for our complicity and adoption of those worldly values, and challenge participants to make a commitment toward change.”

I remind all of us that in calling for the development of this Weekend we also resolved that every congregation will hold such an on campus retreat, using these materials, sometime in the next two years.

My thanks, on behalf of all of us, to Fr. John Liebler and the members of the Parish Weekend Commission for the hard work that went into developing these materials.  (In all honesty, this was mostly John Liebler’s work: a gift of love from him to the Diocese.)  Please contact him directly to obtain the materials.  And please do use them.

I ended last year’s Address with these words: “Let’s keep on keeping on.  Let’s continue to make the main thing the main thing.  Let’s redouble our efforts to walk in love as Christ loved us.  Let’s talk to people about Jesus.  Let’s continue to plant new churches, strengthen existing ones, and do all we can to take Central Florida for Jesus Christ.”

I have no intention of loosening my grip on any of that vision and agenda.  And I ask you to recommit to it with me.

Our Work Today

I want to say a few things about our work today.  We have more resolutions before us than we have had for a number of years.  Some of these have been generated by changes in the Title IV “disciplinary canons” of the national Episcopal Church, and some seek to address ambiguities in our own Diocesan canons.

The current national disciplinary canons were patterned on the military code of justice.  And it was argued that the Church could do better than the military.  Perhaps so.  But it is my opinion that the new canons give far too much authority to the Bishop of a Diocese over his or her clergy, and they give unprecedented authority to the Presiding Bishop over the other Bishops of the Church – and there is a tremendous loss of “due process” in their implementation.

If a Diocesan Bishop, or the Presiding Bishop, is a wise and caring person there may be no danger in these new canons.  But I think there are few of us who might not be tempted to misuse the enhanced powers given to the Bishops and the Presiding Bishop to act against those with whom he or she disagrees.

I will tell you plainly: I do not want to have this enhanced authority given to me in my dealings with our clergy.  Nor do I welcome this intrusion into the life of our sovereign Diocese of the unprecedented authority of the Presiding Bishop.  (And I have told her so.)  It is a radical revision of the polity of The Episcopal Church from its inception.

So, we propose to do two things that are in tension with each other.  We propose to bring our Diocesan canons into compliance with the new national canons insofar as that is possible under the Constitution of The Episcopal Church.  But, at the same time, we ask that this Diocese memorialize the next General Convention to revisit Title IV in that it is inconsistent with the Constitution of The Episcopal Church.

The Constitution says that NO bishop – other than the Diocesan – NO bishop, including the Presiding Bishop, may intervene in the internal affairs of a Diocese, and the new canons say precisely the opposite.  The Constitution trumps the canons, so either it – or they – must be revised.

So, while all but one of the resolutions coming before us this afternoon may seem complicated, they are actually pretty straightforward: revise our canons for clarity and to be in conformity with the national canons, AND call upon General Convention to bring the national canons into conformity with the Constitution.

We can debate all of this if you like, but we really need to just pass the resolutions.  They have been very carefully crafted by our Constitution and Canons Committee, and reviewed by the Standing Committee in its role as Resolutions Committee for Convention.

The other resolution, R-1, is a Recommitment to Mission, and I hope we will pass it unanimously.

How Do You Know When it is Time?

Four years ago I told you of Karen’s congestive heart failure, and that I would retire when she needs me to do so.  Thankfully she is doing very well – and we are deeply grateful for your prayers in that regard – but occasionally she asks me, “And when, exactly, is that retirement you promised going to begin?”

I wrote to Bishop Folwell with the question, “How do you know when you are supposed to retire?”  He wrote back, “Years ago I asked Ernie Pugh the same question.  His answer was so simple and obvious when he said, ‘God will tell you when you include this question in your prayers.’”

That was a year ago last month.  I had not made it a matter of prayer until then, but since then it has been a matter of fervent prayer, and I am convinced of three things:

• It is in the best interest of the Diocese (and I have no doubt about that),
• It is in the best interest of my wife (and I have no doubt about that), and
• It is in the best interest of your Bishop (though it is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made).

For several months I have had a statement from columnist Ellen Goodman posted on my bulletin board.  It says this:

“There’s a trick to the Graceful Exit.  It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over – and to let go.  It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives.

“It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than moving out.

“The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well.  It’s hard to recognize that life isn’t a holding action but a process.  It’s hard to learn that we don’t leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office.  We own what we learned back there.  The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives.  And when we exit, we can take ourselves along – quite gracefully.”

I told the Standing Committee last month that my love for this Diocese is so exquisite that it hurts!  If I could somehow, miraculously, make it all happen all over again I would do so in a heartbeat.  Thank you for honoring me, and supporting me, for these past twenty-one plus years.  I love you, and I pray that as “all good things…” begin to wind down they may wind up giving birth to even greater things in this great Diocese of Central Florida.

UPDATE: The CF Standing Committee has also announced the timeline for the call and election of the Bishop Coadjutor (via email):

January


Bishop Howe calls for the election of the 4th Bishop of Central Florida.


This is completed today.

February

The Committees for the Diocesan Profile and Transition Process are selected by the Standing Committee in consultation with the Deans and Deanery Presidents.
A planning retreat is then held for the Standing Committee,
the Profile Committee, and the Transition Committee.


You and/or members of your congregation may volunteer the first two weeks of February to participate in positions the Standing Committee needs to fill, but please remember we may not be able to place everyone who volunteers.

March

A Diocesan survey is prepared and sent to all delegates of this Convention
and it is made available to the entire Diocese of Central Florida. 


These surveys, with instructions, will help you, as an individual, state what you see as the future of the Diocese and how that should be reflected in the gifts, skills and vision of the next Bishop.

April

Deanery Forums are held by the Deans and Presidents of each Deanery.


These open discussions will help you, as Deaneries, create our Diocesan Profile. The Deans and Presidents will summarize these discussions with those in attendance and send the summaries to the Profile Committee.

May

The Profile is prepared from the surveys and Forums.


The Profile is a collation of the information received from the surveys and the Forums that describes
a brief overview of 1) our Diocese, and 2) the kind of Bishop desired by the people of the Diocese.

June

The Profile and nomination instructions are sent to the Convention delegates.


The delegates of the Convention will serve, in effect, as the Search and Nominating Committees.

July - August

Nominations are received.


The Standing Committee receives the nominations. Nominations received in accordance with the nominating instructions, and nominees who have passed a background examination, will be placed in nomination at the electing Convention.

This process is entirely open to anyone meeting the nomination standards and the background check standards.

September – October

Background checks are done.

November


Election at the Cathedral, Saturday, November 19.
Profile and background information for all nominees will be available on the Diocesan website.

The delegates of this Convention will be the delegates at the electing Convention.
The first ballot will determine the final slate of the nominees.

April 21, 2012

Consecration of the 4th Bishop of Central Florida
at Calvary Assembly, Orlando
followed by
the Retirement of Bishop John W. Howe.