Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 118:1
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer and found some time for rest and relaxation. The summer has flown by for me.
Dean Guernsey is in Uganda preparing for his consecration on September 2nd. The Rev. Bill Murdoch, Dean of the New England Convocation and the Rev. Dr. Bill Atwood will be consecrated as bishops of the Church of Kenya August 30th. Please pray for these men as they begin this new ministry.
In this newsletter, our four delegates to the Anglican Network Council meeting share their thoughts. Anglican TV live-streamed the council, which is still available at
www.anglicantv.org. Information from the meeting can also be found at the ACN website:
www.acn-us.org. Highlights for me included Bishop Duncan’s address, the excellent thought-provoking Bible studies given by Archbishop Greg Venables, and the adoption of the Common Cause Theological Statement. We were also honored and encouraged by our Common Cause partners who supported us with their attendance. The first ever meeting of the Common Cause bishops is set for September 25-28 in Pittsburgh, PA. Please keep these meetings in your prayers.
I would also like to introduce the first in a series of articles by The Rev. Tom Herrick, the National Director of Church Planting for the Network. Within these articles, he will share his vision for church growth. I know what Tom has to share will both encourage and motivate.
Yours in Christ,
Heather Adams
Executive Assistant to the Dean
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“It was a pleasure to meet other Network and Common Cause members. While the highlights of the meeting focused on furthering the Common Cause Partners and dealing with the issue of modifying the Network's charter, the reports of the Deans and the grass roots work of the convocations is where our Godly purpose is lived out to its fullest.
I am pleased that the Anglican Communion Network charter was not modified and consider the amendment to the bylaws to be the appropriate measure. Fundamental differences within the Common Cause Partners and within the Network itself (relative to our ongoing relationship with Canterbury) will pose ongoing challenges in the months and years ahead. I pray that, in Him, we will 'oust the chaos' by knowing God's will for us individually and corporately.” --Frank J. McCarthy
"In this time of uncertainty and confusion, I was most encouraged that the Anglican Communion Network agreed to continue its partnership with our other Anglican Common Cause Churches by formally ratifying the Common Cause Theological Statement of Anglican Belief. I was also encouraged to be with former Episcopal priests who soon will be consecrated as bishops. It is clear that the groundwork is being painstakingly laid for faithful Anglicans in N. America to have a Church that is faithful to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the Authority of God's Holy Word. Under Bishop Bob Duncan's leadership and with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit I believe that Anglican Orthodoxy will not only survive but thrive in the coming years. However, we must all remain vigilant and committed to staying the course through these unchartered waters of change. The most recent ACN Council Meeting was one more step to seeing us through this tumultuous journey." --Fr. Art Ward
"This is the third year I have attended the annual council meeting as a lay representative from the Mid-Atlantic Convocation. While I came away from my first two meetings with a sense that our Lord was working among those gathered to bring about a resolution of the challenges we have been addressing since GC 2003, I was aware of a more focused sense of hope and servanthood at the most recent gathering.
As those gathered at St Vincent’s cathedral worshiped together, worked through issues brought to the floor for action, reviewed operating reports, heard reports on various mission efforts for the Network and were confronted and consoled with blessed teachings on Scripture from Bp. Venables, a palpable sense of a graciousness of spirit and more outward focus among those gathered was evident. I’m sure you all know the signs: a peace in your soul in the midst of passionate discussions, God incidences, and even goosebumps!
My friends, the way ahead will not be easy but as we continue in the spiritual battle we have been called to fight, I came away from this meeting with a reassurance of the strength we take with us if we continue in a prayerful effort to discern God’s call on our individual lives and then move together to accomplish the tasks set before us." In His Service --Ann Cox
"It was a great honor and privilege to serve as a delegate at the 4th Network Council in Ft. Worth, Texas. My sense is that what was accomplished at this Council meeting will be seen as far more monumental from the standpoint of future generations than it, perhaps, has seemed in the present. Two ratifying acts in particular, the Council’s assent to the Articles of Common Cause Partnership and to the Common Cause Theological Charter, represent great strides forward in reassembling, restoring, and reuniting orthodox Anglicanism in North America. God is repairing a fellowship that was broken many years ago. These documents seal and bind orthodox Anglicans to a level of common charity, ministry, and association unknown since the departure of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the late 19th Century.
What this means will ultimately depend on our commitment to keep promises made to one another before God. I, personally, believe it is the beginning of a new birth of Anglicanism; a new structural framework for the promotion of Anglican Christianity moored once more to Scriptures and to the classic doctrines of the Christian faith---hence my use of the word “monumental” above. But this will require sacrifice. Not the sacrifice of essentials, but of those non-essential matters, to which we have all clung quite fiercely, that have historically served to prevent the sort of reunification we seek. I believe this 4th Network Council demonstrated that we are ready and that our hearts are willing to take this path and to lift this cross onto our shoulders. I pray that God will fill us with the charity, humility, and constancy to keep to the road." --The Rev. Matt Kennedy
Ministry Focus
The August Newsletter continues the focus on affiliate church mission trips by sharing reports from completed mission trips and sharing information about upcoming trips. Please send any photos and reports from completed mission trips to hreichert@acn-mac.org.
Katrina Relief
Camp Coast Care
St. Matthew's Church
Richmond, VA
July14-21, 2007
Seven youth and seven adults from St. Matthew’s, Richmond, recently returned from the Mississippi Gulf Coast where they spent a week helping homeowners rebuild two years after the area was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The team worked under the direction of Camp Coast Care, a comprehensive Katrina Relief facility run under the executive management of Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi.
The St. Matthews’ team found themselves working in a variety of jobs. Most crews were assigned to rebuilding houses, but standing assignments always included one crew on “grounds,” keeping the Camp orderly, and one to “kitchen,” which involved not only preparing the three meals consumed daily, but cleaning the entire dormitory/dining hall/kitchen facility daily. In addition, one of the volunteers helped field phone calls in the Case Management Office, which put her in touch with some of the needs this community still experiences two years after Katrina.
In addition, the Youth Minister, Ken Langley, and several youth and adults led worship before the nightly meetings and provided music for the Wednesday evening healing service. The youth were outstanding in their attitudes and behavior—they all worked extremely hard and were eager to lead God’s people in worship, even after eight hours of laying ceramic tile, painting, unloading lumber, etc., in the 90-degree heat!
See photos from the trip at Camp Coast Care’s website:
http://www.campcoastcare.com/index_Page502.htm
Katrina Relief
Pass Christian, MS
All Saints' Church
Woodbridge, VA
July 2007
This past July, seven members of All Saints’ Church teamed up with several churches in Northern Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky, to help build a house in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
“[This year] we helped to build a house for Joann York, a single mother who lost her house
and business in the storm. She and her son have been living with family since that time,” said a member of the All Saints’ team. “Joann and her son were so blessed by our being there. She said to me more than once with tears in her eyes that she didn’t think ‘God had anything more for her in this life’ and now she was going to have her own house again. We wrote scriptures all over the studs and fascia boards around the house, and talked with her about why we chose them. She was very blessed by us doing that.”
This is the third house All Saints’ has helped to build, and it is scheduled to be completed by October. Last year, All Saints’ joined with The Falls Church to build two houses.
Did You Know?
Church Planting; First in a Series
The Rev. Tom Herrick
Director for Church Planting
Anglican Communion Network
As a Christian leader, I have always believed in the power of vision to inspire, unify, and motivate God’s people. Dr. C. Peter Wagner defines vision as “a picture of the preferable future.” Practically speaking, vision shows us where we are going so we can all head in the same direction together. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.” (NASB) This shows us that without a defined vision, we are at the mercy of the next good idea and are doomed to going in any and all directions. But where does vision come from? How do we get it and make sure we are all following the same path?
Jesus demonstrates the scriptural principle that all vision begins in the heart of God. He said of himself, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do
nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (John 5:19, 20, NIV) Picking up on this, Dr. Bob Logan says that effective leaders take time to cultivate vision from God through listening prayer and help others embrace that vision as their own. The prophet Habakkuk emphasizes the need for vision-casters to be clear and for their adherents to be patient when he writes, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” (Hab 2:2,3, NRSV). When vision is clearly discerned and communicated, the results are abundantly obvious. Jesus was so careful to spell out what he was doing and why and how that 21 centuries later we are still following his lead, carrying on his work.
Nowhere have I seen this maxim being lived out on a more massive scale than in Nigeria where I was sent for a 16 day visit with four team members by the Anglican Communion Network in October, 2006. The team consisted of five clergy from the Network: The Rev. Canon Warren Tanghe (FIFNA), The Rev. Joe Carr, The Rev. Kathleen Adams, The Rev. Lynne Ashmead, and myself. Given the fact that the Church of Nigeria has more than doubled in the past six years under the leadership of the current primate, The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, to become the largest entity in the Anglican Communion with an overall membership of around 20 million, our purpose was to study the methods of church planting which have
fueled their growth. The Church there is growing so quickly they simply cannot keep up with it. There are more congregations than there are clergy. There are more people coming into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ than there are bishops to confirm them. We sat in one confirmation service that lasted almost 4 hours, with confirmands coming up in groups of four, wave upon wave, for over 30 minutes. I lost count after 250. So what is fueling their growth? The answers, though numerous and complex could be distilled down to a single word: Vision. This article will explore the guiding principles of the vision under girding the Church of Nigeria and how we saw it operating. In a companion article, I will explore some suggestions for ways we can translate these principles into our own context, knowing that we cannot simply transplant them, but rather find ways to appropriate the underlying truths to see what form they might take to come alive in 21st century America.
(Tom will begin to discuss each of the four guiding principles mentioned above in the September newsletter.)
Upcoming Events
The Archbishop of Uganda Henry Orombi
Church of the Apostles
Fairfax, VA
September 14, 2007 , 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Archbishop Orombi, a godly and anointed man, will be speaking at the Church of the Apostles in Fairfax (3500 Pickett Road) on Friday, September 14, 2007, from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Apostles is a wonderful church with Spirit-led worship and ministry. Phone Church of the Apostles, 703-591-1974, with questions about childcare.
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.
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.
Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God
whose ways you may not understand at the time.
--Oswald Chambers
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
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