For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2Corinthians 4:5
Last week the Provinces of Kenya and Uganda took a bold step towards providing Episcopal oversight for the American congregations under their jurisdiction.
The Church of Kenya elected the Rev. Dr. Bill Atwood and the Rev. Bill Murdoch as Suffragan Bishops and the Church of Uganda announced my election as a bishop and the reception of retired Bishop Andy Fairfield into the Ugandan House of Bishops. Together with Bishop Bill Cox of the Southern Cone, we will be able to assist overseas jurisdictions by providing episcopal oversight here.
Let me stress that this is not a move to build a separate structure, but rather it is a step toward the creation of a united, biblical, missionary Anglicanism in America. We will continue to work in close partnership with Bishop Bob Duncan and the other Network Deans, Bishop Martyn Minns of CANA, Bishop Chuck Murphy of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) and all our Common Cause partners. Our focus needs to be bringing others into a saving relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Network will continue to embrace all faithful Anglicans—both those in The Episcopal Church and those who have sought overseas jurisdictions.
I will continue to serve as Dean of the Mid-Atlantic Convocation (as well as Rector of All Saints’ Church). Whether you remain in The Episcopal Church or have transferred to a Global South province, please do not hesitate to contact me or Heather Adams in my office if we can be of any service to you and your congregation.
Please do keep me in your prayers!
Faithfully yours in Christ,
John Guersney, Dean
Ministry Focus
The June Newsletter continues the focus on affiliate church misson trips by sharing reports from completed mission trips and sharing information about upcoming trips. Please send new information about upcoming mission trips and reports from completed mission trips to hreichert@acn-mac.org.
In February a three person team from Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) visited the Diocese of Nandyal in the Church of
South India.
Edwina Thomas (Director of SOMA-USA) led the group, assisted by Bill Guerard from St. George's Anglican Church, Helmetta, NJ, and Mark Mukan from Nigeria. Bishop Lawrence invited the team to lead a time of spiritual renewal for the diocesan women’s retreat, the clergy retreat, and the youth retreat. While they were there, the Bishop commissioned 16 evangelists to carry the Gospel out to the villages. The team prayed with people in open-air street services, at the dedication of a new church, at the Compassion School, and in the homes they were invited into. There was healing and deliverance in the name of Jesus Christ. The team saw a great hunger for God and an openness to receive prayer, especially among the Hindu women in the villages. Pray for the Gospel to continue to move with great power across India. Pray for Bishop Lawrence and the clergy of Nandyal Diocese as they work tirelessly to build up the Church, trusting in the Word of God.
Report by Bill Guerard
The Rev. Mark Brown (All Saints’ Church, Dale City, VA) traveled witih a SOMA team to
Jos, Nigeria from May 18-June 1, 2007. The five-member team, headed up by SOMA’s assistant director, Fr. Les Martin, had been invited by Bishop Benjamin Kwashi to attend his diocesan synod and lead a three-day stewardship event for his clergy/spouse conference. The joy of their gathering and eucharistic worship during the synod was phenomenal. The Nigerian Church deals with some of the same procedural struggles that endlessly bog down American diocesan conventions, but the overwhelming difference in the two churches is a matter of the heart and the Spirit: the Nigerian brothers and sisters have paid dearly to worship our Lord and Savior—beatings, arrests, imprisonment, death—and God’s presence, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is palpable when the Nigerian Church gathers. God, the Holy Spirit, was also powerfully present as the team led the Stewardship conference. The team delivered sound teachings on the subject of stewardship, challenging the listeners to take a fresh look at stewardship of all of life, and to include embracing the biblical tithe. Spiritual attacks, medical problems, and the simple struggles of transcending the cultural divide not withstanding, God was able to do infinitely more than the team could ask or imagine!
Report by Mark Brown
From April 28-May 25, Jim Conley (St. Stephen’s Church, Heathville, VA) and a team traveled to
Southern Sudan. The team carried the Jesus film and supplies for the people into outlying areas from Juba, Sudan. The supplies included 144 hoes for people to farm again, 300 items clothing for the naked, antibiotics, antimalaria, and fever medicine to treat approximately 2000 people, and basic books on wilderness medicine due to critical shortage there. The team delivered five teaching Bibles for pastors and 92 NIV/ Good news Bibles for distribution in discipleship classes. Hundreds responded to follow Jesus in Terakaka and over 500 in Kworojin
during nightly showings of the Jesus film in Arabic and English. Churches were encouraged to work together and young missionaries were asked to join in further evangelization of their people. A young missionary from Kenya (Festus) joined the team in Juba. The team got him a bicycle, Jim gave him his bedding, nets for mosquitoes, and the good news on tape in Bari language along with a handcrank tape player to reach out to the people in outlying areas. Festus has emailed reports of excellent progress and miracles similar to those we experienced. The hunger of people for the gospel, especially Kworojin among herders, was breathtaking. Sudan is a tough environment: temperatures reached 120 during days, swarms of flies and mosquitoes, a lack of sleep due to the heat. But the rewards are great. Please pray for a small vehicle for the next trip to Sudan. Please continue to pray for an explosion of the gospel in one of the most difficult but fruitful spiritual harvests going on in the world today.
Report by Jim Conley
----------------
The following mission trips have not yet happened. They are in addition to all the ones listed in our April newsletter (http://www.acn-mac.org/282/april%202007.aspx). Please keep all of the listed trips in your prayers.
Gulfport, Mississippi
Christ Church, Emporia
Grace Church, Jarratt
Eighteen adults and young people from these two churches are returning to God's Katrina Kitchen in Gulfport, Mississippi during the last week of June to help with continuing clean up and rebuilding work after Hurricane Katrina.
Salta, Argentina
Christ the Redeemer
Centreville, VA
Salta, Argentina is a city located at the base of the Andes mountain and Christ the Redeemer has sent several teams in the past to work and minister in the poor barios around the city. This trip will include two areas of ministry. The first will be to help build a new church/day care center in one of the barios. The second will be to train the pastors on "Restoring the Foundations" inner healing so that they then help heal their congregations. The trip will occur during late July or early August and the cost will be about $2700 per person. Call the church at (703) 502-1732 to become involved in this mission trip.
Did You Know?
Three New Ministry Initiative Websites
The Anglican Communion Network (ACN) has launched three new websites: www.anglican-church-planting.org, www.anglican-evangelism.org and www.anglican-missions.org. These new sites will inform Anglicans of upcoming events and conferences, connect leaders in each of these ministry areas to one another, and link to other related ministry tools and resources. These websites will also be a primary communications tool for the Network’s Church Planting Initiative, Good News Initiative and Global Missions Initiative.
Upcoming Events
Annual Council Meeting
Anglican Communion Network (ACN)
July 30-31, 2007
St. Vincents Cathedral
Bedford, Texas
Over 80 representatives of the Anglican Communion Network will gather for ACN’s third Annual Council Meeting. The Bible teacher for the meeting will be the Most Rev. Greg Venables, Archbishop of the Southern Cone.
Festival of Faith
Forward in Faith (FiFNA)
July 28, 2007
Washington, DC
St. Luke’s Parish
The theme of the Festival of Faith is “The Anglican Covenant – Upholding the Faith.” The program includes the Archbishop’s discussion on the Anglican Covenant and the future of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Primate of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, chairman of the group that is developing an “Anglican Covenant” and a leader among the Global South primates, will celebrate and preach at the High Mass at the invitation of Father Mark Lewis and the parish of St Luke’s, Bladensburg, Maryland. Father Lewis and St Luke’s Parish are members of FiFNA. Details are available at http://www.stlukesparish-bladensburg.org/parish_002.
Anglican Fellowship with Archbishop Orombi
Covenant College as part of the
Neal Conference on True Spirituality
September 19, 2007
Covenant College presents the Neal Conference on True Spirituality September 19-23, 2007, featuring keynote speaker The Most Reverend Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda. The Neal Conference will include a Wednesday evening sermon at Covenant College, a Friday afternoon gathering of PCA pastors, Sunday morning worship services at Chattanooga's First Presbyterian Church, and an all-presbytery worship service Sunday evening at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Contact Matthew Bryant, director of church relations, at 706.419.1651 or
bryant@covenant.edu with questions.
Sharing Our Faith
Anglican Communion Network
Calendar Year 2007
Throughout the country
“Sharing Our Faith” conferences include workshops to train in evangelism, as well as actual outreach gatherings. Details are available at: http://www.anglican-evangelism.org.
August 24-26: North Florida
September 14-16: Bluffton, SC
September 28-30: Cleveland, OH
October 5-7: Savannah, GA
October 26-28: New England
November 15-18: San Jose, CA
February 8-9, 2008: Herndon, VA
If your church is having an event, we would be happy to publish it, not only so that interested people might attend, but so that we can be praying for you. Send information to newsletter@acn-mac.org .
Feel free to forward this newsletter to members of your congregation.
I have but one candle of life to burn,
and I would rather burn it out
in a land filled with darkness
than in a land flooded with light.
-- John Keith Falconer
John Guernsey, Dean | George Beaven, Church Planting Director | Heather Adams, Executive Assistant | Heidi Reichert, Administrative Assistant
Mid-Atlantic Convocation | Anglican Network Communion
c/o All Saints' Church | 5290 Saratoga Lane
Woodbridge, Virginia 22193-3455
Tel: 703-670-0093
www.acn-mac.org
If you have received this newsletter in error, visit this link to unsubscribe: unsubscribelink1
To change your subscription information or update your email address, visit this link unsubscribelink3