John A. M. Guernsey - 2006 Reports

Report of the Deans of the Anglican Communion Network
Meeting of the Network Council
July 31, 2006

The Rev. John A. M. Guernsey, Dean of the Mid-Atlantic Convocation: Introduction.

First I want to say how deeply grateful the Deans are to the Lord for the privilege of serving Jesus Christ in this role.

We want to thank all those who pray faithfully for us: especially Rose-Marie Edwards and her team of intercessors, and the prayer warriors in each Convocation; we are well aware of how intense the spiritual battle is and we could not be doing this without our intercessors.

We also want to thank those who work closely with us: first and foremost, Bishop Duncan, who has that amazing anointing to say what we need to hear (not to be confused with what we want to hear), to pick us up and dust us off when we’re down, to encourage us and correct us and challenge us to lead and to persevere.

And we are thankful for the Moderator’s Cabinet; for Daryl Fenton and Wicks Stephens and the Pittsburgh office staff; for Bishop Jecko and Bill Atwood; for the Pastoral Suffragans who support us; and for our Executive Assistants and the volunteers who serve alongside us so faithfully.

We thank God for you all.

This afternoon we want to report on the work that we are engaged in and share some of the challenges that are before us.

The Convocations embrace the 90% of the Episcopal Church that is not in one of the Network Dioceses, plus we include numerous partner churches which are outside of ECUSA. The Convocations are not a monolith.

A year ago I reported on the crisis facing many of churches due to the seemingly never-ending calls to wait until the next meeting—and then the next, and the next—and the inability of many congregations to hold on. As Bishop Duncan has reported, the General Convention has broken that logjam. But the realities facing congregations—including threats of legal and/or ecclesiastical action—haven’t necessarily changed. Many of our congregations are under intense pressure and, while the bold appeal by the Network dioceses for Alternative Primatial Oversight has been a great sign of hope, it hasn’t brought relief or a way forward—at least yet—for our churches that are still in ECUSA.

As a result, the Deans are putting great emphasis now on helping the biblically orthodox churches form effective coalitions within their non-Network diocese. If they are to proceed with negotiated settlements along the lines suggested by Bishop Duncan, then they will need to form as large and as strong a coalition as possible. The coalition which my own parish is a part of in Virginia—with regular meetings of clergy, wardens, attorneys and other leaders—has been a tremendous blessing; we know that the wisdom, the support and the prayers of other faithful churches has made all the difference for us.

I now want to call on each of the Deans to share in this report.

The Rev. Bill Ilgenfritz, Dean of the Forward in Faith North America Convocation: Pastoral Care in the Convocations.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” II Corinthians 1:3-4

Perhaps no other area of the ministry we share better reflects the heart of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, than pastoral care. When one of His sheep is in need, the Good Shepherd puts down all that He is doing in the pasture and goes to the aid of that one.

The very nature of pastoral care involves giving of one’s self, becoming vulnerable and bearing the burdens of others. We strive to serve the other, offering ourselves and our gifts to them for their benefit. Even in the best of circumstances, we will become depleted ourselves, exhausted and worn out. If we are not very careful we can become bitter and isolated.

Faithful servants of God are expected to be givers of pastoral care. “Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 Is it not also true that for many providing pastoral care on the front-lines, so to speak, it is difficult to receive for ourselves that which we so freely give to others? Believe it or not, clergy have the same spiritual needs as lay folks.

As with all believers, we must remain in close fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Jesus often went alone to pray, to be with the Father. We need to do so as well, to be still and be with God. God’s care for us is also manifested in healthy human relationships. We need Christian relationships which are reciprocal in which we give and receive with each other. A priest friend of mine once described it this way, “I need to be in a relationship with someone who is not impressed with me.”

How will our need for pastoral care be met and who will meet it? Many of the clergy gathered here have ministered or are ministering in revisionist and hostile dioceses. This is certainly true of your Network Deans. We’ve been there…done that…got the T-shirt. We understand.

Serving the people of God, providing for their pastoral needs in a hostile environment is difficult to say the least. The feeling of isolation is sufficient to numb the senses. Clergy stand out there in no-man’s land and fight the good fight of faith. Sometimes clergy are blessed to have the support of their lay parish leadership. But sometimes (and I speak from personal experience) it only seems as if they do. The experience of some clergy is that when the going gets tough, the “tough” run for cover.

Back to the question: How will your need for pastoral care be met and who will meet it? Where do you turn when there is a pressing need in your family? Where do you go for support, advice or strategic counsel? Who is there to be Christ for you?

Serving in a hostile diocese, you recognize your vulnerability. Not surprisingly, you simply cannot turn to your revisionist bishop…the one who is charged by God to be your shepherd just may turn out to be “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” In the light of recent events, I think it reasonable to conclude that many revisionist bishops have earned a black belt in pastoral care.

Those of you serving in Network Dioceses are truly blessed. You have bishops who embrace the Good Shepherd’s call. For the rest of you, the Network Deans are ready and quite willing to help provide the pastoral care you need and deserve. We recognize that since we are not bishops there are limitations to the care and oversight we are able to provide. Nevertheless, we hope that our willingness to be there for you serves as encouragement.

Finally there is this. We’ve been saying it for the better part of the last year or so. In the New Alignment of Anglicanism we are all praying and working for a new DNA. Part of what that means is that we cannot do to one another what we dislike having some of our parishioners do to us. For example, have you ever had a conversation like this one? “I was in the hospital for three weeks and you never came to visit me.” “Well, why didn’t you call me?” “Oh, I didn’t want to bother you.”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ please let’s not criticize for not reading one another’s minds. Pick up the phone. Never be afraid to “bother us.” Be proactive. Share information. Have a good sense of humor. Trust in the Lord. Speak the truth in love. Share with us as we “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

The Rev. Bill Thompson, Dean of the Western Convocation: the International Conference of the Network.

It changed my life when, on February 2004, I received a letter. It was from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Bishop Duncan was asking me to be one of the deans of the six convocations of the newly formed (just 5 weeks earlier) ACN. What’s a convocation? What’s a dean of a convocation? My life has not been the same since.

After GC2003, I knew that things had changed, probably forever. I had no idea how much things would change at home. I was now being asked to support, pastor, and care for those parishes in the Western Convocation who had felt called to maintain full ties with all of the Anglican Communion by joining the ACN. It was an exciting challenge. The very best part of it was to be associated and working with the other deans of the Network.

My job became even more complicated when five months later on August 16, 2004 my parish, All Saints’, Long Beach, along with two others in the Diocese of Los Angeles disassociated from the diocese and from TEC. As more congregations or portions of congregations felt God’s call to leave TEC, the number of congregations out of TEC began to grow. Early on, the ACN had established two categories of membership: affiliates (within TEC) and partners (outside TEC). The needs of these two groups were different from one another. The former were still in TEC dealing with the many pressures and challenges of seeking to continue their witness for Anglican Biblical orthodoxy under various levels of oppression. The latter were struggling to define themselves and their ministry in a new liberated ecclesiastical environment.

Those who were out were experiencing a new sense of freedom, being out from under a very difficult spiritual environment, but there were challenges. They were the seed of a new North American orthodox Anglicanism, but it was yet unclear how they would be able to arrange for ordinations, confirmations, and find cooperative fellowship with others in the same position. It appeared that a domestic “structure” was not going to come as quickly as many had hoped. How would we make the transition?

There were other challenges. Scattered across the country were over seventy parishes who were under the interim oversight of some 15 diocesan bishops in 4 overseas provinces (Southern Cone, Uganda, Kenya, and Central Africa). To be able to have received the support and rescue from all of these godly men and provinces has been a gift of love beyond compare. Those of us who have been blessed to be in the care of these bishops have been blessed beyond means, and our gratitude will always be great.

Nonetheless the deans, along with others, realized that this oversight from thousands of miles away, while welcome and being a great blessing, carried inherent problems in the long run. With fifteen jurisdictions, there were dangers of incoherence and disunity. Instead of having one line of spiritual authority, there are fifteen. In the long term, the deans saw that this would not encourage us being the united, biblical missionary church we wish to become.

In March of 2006, Bishop Duncan and the deans called a meeting of clergy and wardens from all the Network congregations that had left TEC and gone under overseas oversight. Close to seventy of these congregations participated. At that meeting, the International Conference of the Network (ICON) was born. The four overseeing primates agreed that the deans would function on their behalf, providing local care and oversight. This did not remove the ultimate oversight of their bishops, but was an interim step to keep everyone together.

We had anticipated that after GC06 the number of congregations moving out of TEC for the ICON would be increasing, and we are seeing that take place. The ICON is growing. It is the “start of something big.” Despite our efforts in forming ICON, we realize that as it grows, the challenges in maintaining unity will continue to increase.

We all see the ICON in its present form as a very important step forward, but we, the deans, also know that this must be seen as just the first step in these congregations moving toward a recognized orthodox Anglican “structure” in the United States. We have not lost sight of that ultimate goal. Our job will not be finished until that happens. We realize that until then what we have put together remains transitional. In carefully thought out steps, we are moving forward to this goal. The forming of ICON was step one, and the MD mentioned by Bishop Duncan in his talk is a very big second step of many steps planned in the future.

God is moving in this moment and in this time. Along with the rest of the leadership of the ACN, I can promise you that we will continue to lead toward the united, biblical missionary Anglicanism that is our future, God willing.

Remember the ultimate victory is ours in Christ Jesus.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Cor. 4:8-11)

…as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way; by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit; genuine love; by truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as imposters and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. (2 Cor. 6:4-10)

The Rev. D.O. Smart, Dean of the Mid-Continental Convocation: Mission Fellowships as a way of serving faithful laity who do not have an orthodox parish.

Good afternoon. In order to give context to my remarks, let me begin by telling you that I am a member of Christ Church Anglican in Overland Park, Kansas. Christ Church is approximately 45 years old, a “cardinal parish” with average Sunday worship attendance of about 1000 souls. We hold services on 2 campuses. In April, 2005, Christ Church separated from the Diocese of Kansas and the Episcopal Church and became a parish in the Diocese of Kampala, Uganda. On 29 June of that year, having served for 11 years as a deacon, I was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Bill Cox.   You heard from Bishop Duncan that Bishop Cox may be facing presentment charges because of his actions. Shortly after my ordination, I was commissioned Dean of the ACN’s Mid-Continental Convocation. This convocation encompasses a 20-state area in the center of the country and contains about 2,200 Episcopal parishes.

In my role as dean, I find myself in the communications business and the problem solving business. As the ACN has matured and has been able to provide more and more support to us deans, some of our tasks have become more straightforward. Among my responsibilities, I screen clergy and parish applications to affiliate with the Network. That’s pretty straightforward. I coordinate Alternative Episcopal Oversight for clergy and parishes in hostile dioceses. With the help of Bishop Steve Jecko and Bill Atwood, that’s pretty straightforward. I’m involved with the discernment and ordination process. With help from Doug McGlynn, coordinator for my convocation, that’s pretty straightforward.

What is not so straightforward is what to do about groups of lay persons who are committed to leaving ECUSA, but who are not supported by their (revisionist) clergy. Christ Church has provided ministry, care and support to such groups. Typically, though, these groups have been small in number and have had the ability to periodically commute to church in Overland Park for services. Indeed, we have people from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas who, perhaps once a month, commute over 100 miles each way to attend services. I know of similar relationships elsewhere in other convocations, for example, in New Hampshire and Vermont.

But I was recently contacted by an orthodox group of lay persons seeking to leave their Episcopal parish that’s located 1,300 miles distant from Overland Park. Here were 30-50 families in a hostile diocese whose priest, once aboard, turned out to be quite different from the orthodox priest they interviewed during the search process. This group reported that they had been adrift and in turmoil for 3 years.

The size of this group and the geographical considerations signaled the need for some “new DNA” or, at the very least, some kind of more formalized covenant relationship.

In consultation with my fellow deans, rector and parish council, and with the blessing of our bishop, Henry Orombi, God led us to develop a new Mission Fellowship Covenant with the following provisions, Christ Church Anglican would agree to:

Provide a formal organizational structure for the Mission Fellowship

Provide encouragement to stand for and live into historic Biblical Anglican orthodoxy,
       the formation of authentic disciples through evangelism and life transformation,
       mission and unity

Coordinate sacramental ministries for the Mission Fellowship

Provide periodic clergy visitations

Conduct periodic training conferences on congregational development, organization, leadership and administration, small groups, worship, etc.

Appoint Lay Eucharistic Ministers to administer Holy Communion

Provide “growth” curricula and resources
       Alpha Course
       Crown Biblical Financial Studies
       Marriage Course (Holy Trinity Brompton)
       Purpose-Driven Church

Assist with the discernment and ordination processes, when appropriate

The Mission Fellowships would in turn:

Become active members of Christ Church Anglican, each member executing
       the “Membership Covenant”

Embrace and live into Christ Church’s Core Purpose and Core Values

Conduct weekly worship and report on attendance and contributions

Encourage financial support of the Anglican Communion Network

Be permitted to create its own identity (e.g., St Mark’s Fellowship of Christ Church Anglican) and/or its own 501(c)3 corporation

Operate with reasonable autonomy

Seek to become a disciple-making community, ultimately with resources to call
       its own priest and to become independent of Christ Church Anglican


Three weeks ago I traveled the 1,300 miles to this remote site to present this proposal, first to a leadership group and then to a larger body (90-100 people) assembled for an afternoon Eucharist. That Eucharist was simply precious! It was held in a barn on one of the member’s ranch. There were hay bales around the perimeter of the space with little kids crawling around on them during the service. It would be hard to describe to you the excitement, the enthusiasm and the thanksgiving with which this proposal was received.

Already, Membership Covenants are rolling into Christ Church. Now I am excited!

But let me remind you that the Missionary Fellowship model is, at best, only a temporary fix. We all look forward to the day when those of us who subscribe to historic, missionary, Biblical Anglicanism will be united together under a single umbrella of faith.

But I am now convinced of the validity of this interim working model. It will certainly find application elsewhere in my convocation and perhaps beyond. We would welcome the opportunity to share more detail about the Anglican Missionary Fellowship Covenant as it may be helpful for you. So, as I can be of help, please do contact me.

The Rev. Jim McCaslin, Dean of the Southeastern Convocation: Ordination and Deployment.

Good afternoon, my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. As the realignment of American Anglicanism picks up speed, there’s much good news in our six ACN convocations regarding the ordination process and clergy deployment. Just as is the case in the ten Network dioceses, the convocations are experiencing a growing need to raise up and assess candidates for Holy Orders, get them into appropriate spiritual formation and theological education programs, and then assist in placing them in congregations. These congregations currently comprise the International Conference of the Network, or ICON, which contains the 80 or so congregations which are partnered with the Network under the temporary oversight of overseas bishops.

While some of the necessary discernment work has been done under the direct guidance of overseas bishops, most of this work flows through each convocation’s Ministry Discernment Committee up to Pam Stephens, our Ministry Discernment Coordinator in the Pittsburgh office, all under the watchful eye of Bishop Andy Fairfield, our suffragan for ordinations. During the last 12 months, some 20 men and women have been ordained to the transitional diaconate or the priesthood, and more are in the pipeline. These ICON ordinations have been performed by Bishop Fairfield for Bolivia and Kenya, Bishop Cox for Uganda, Bishop Lyons for Bolivia and Chile, Bishop Kisekka for his Ugandan diocese, and Bishop Githiga for his Kenyan diocese.

I believe that the deans are going to find themselves much more involved in the ordination process and in clergy deployment in the aftermath of last month’s General Convention. More and more orthodox laity and clergy throughout the country are realizing that they can no longer remain in ECUSA. An increasing number of congregations in non-Network dioceses are in various stages of fracturing. We’re seeing the following situations:

Some orthodox rectors report that their parishes are starting to bleed to death as parishioners refuse to stay in ECUSA. More and more rectors are deciding that they must leave with whatever percentage of their congregations they can before they lose too many more. Most have had to leave their property to re-start their churches.

Other orthodox rectors serving ICON congregations are retiring, thereby leaving their congregations in need of a new pastor.

In some parishes, groups of orthodox laity are deciding that they can no longer worship in ECUSA, and so they leave with the intent of finding a new pastor and starting a new congregation.

In other cases, orthodox laity who have left two or more neighboring ECUSA churches are banding together with the intent of finding a new pastor and starting a new congregation.

Given this increasing fracturing in ECUSA, I am convinced that we deans are going to be getting a lot more calls for help in restarting churches and in finding new pastors. I believe that in the short term we will see more of these than we will of pure new church plants. More and more laity who have left or are about to leave ECUSA churches are asking us how they can start a new church and find a priest.

Churches in search can post their clergy openings on the ACN web site after we vet them, but more congregations are beginning to ask us for direct assistance. Some will be large enough to afford a full-time priest. Others, however, especially if they are a group that has left an ECUSA church, may be smaller and only able to afford a supply priest for Sundays or a bi-vocational tent maker priest. Other small congregations will need to share a circuit rider priest. We will also need to be creative enough in this new era to consider the appropriateness of using deacons in charge or lay pastors and lay evangelists.

My sense is that the demand for new congregational leaders will outstrip supply in the short term. Where will these leaders come from? We’re looking for those existing priests and deacons who are no longer in or are ready to leave ECUSA. We will have to be ready to discern the suitability of ordained ministers from other denominations for Anglican ordination. In the last few weeks, I’ve been contacted by a Methodist minister, a Presbyterian minister, and a priest from the CEEC who believe that they are called by God to become part of the new orthodox American Anglicanism and are asking me how apply. Some congregations may have to be served initially by lay pastors, augmented by periodic supply priests, under a mentor from a larger resource church, while attending a nearby seminary to work on their theological education.

In order to continue to raise up new seminarians and to receive quality ordained ministers for Anglican orders from other denominations, we’re going to have to ensure that our Convocation Ministry Discernment Committees are adequately resourced to do the job. We do not want to return to old DNA. We want to ensure thorough discernment for godly candidates who are called to be servant leaders in all humility and mutual submission in the body of Christ. While such discernment must be excellent, it does not have to be overly lengthy.

Since we are not bishops, we will still need to rely on existing ordinaries to complete the ordination and clergy deployment process. And yet, these needs will not wait. We must rebuild orthodox American Anglican congregations now.

The Rev. Bill Murdoch, Dean of the New England Convocation: Theological Education in the new alignment.

Greetings from the New England Convocation and All Saints West Newbury, Massachusetts.

I am going to frame this report by telling you a background story, describing a project and asking you two questions.

Last year before the Hope and a Future Conference, I received an invitation to meet with Dr. Walter Kaiser and his Executive staff following the conference to report and reflect together with them on what takes place there and the implications for the Anglican Communion around the world. While I was at the Hope and a Future conference I asked two of our seminary deans, Dr. Robert Munday and Dr. Paul Zahl, if I could explore with Gordon Conwell Seminary a new arrangement of collaborative education between their schools for training Master of Divinity students in Anglican Studies. Both Dr. Munday and Dr. Zahl demonstrated great leadership in being willing to begin this kind of conversation, seeing the possibilities of a new opportunity to increase the number of men and women trained to serve the church in the new alignment. These two seminaries continue to show their leadership in this kind of outside-the-box thinking and their willingness to risk.

Both Nashotah House and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry have online learning and distance learning possibilities that made this conversation easier to conceive of but their flexibility is really what moved the project along.

The president of Gordon Conwell, Dr. Walter Kaiser, released his academic dean, Dr. Barry Corey, to work the project out with a committee of people from all three seminaries and Gordon Conwell alumni who are now Episcopal priests serving in Network parishes. This group was eventually to be comprised of the following people: Dr. Robert Munday, the Rev. David Montzingo, the Rev. Larry O’Connell, Mr. Patrick Ware, Ms. Katherine Frey, the Rev. Dr. Dean Borgmann, Dr. Barry Corey and me.

The project team stated their goal as follows: “The goal of our proposal is to receive the approval of the curriculum committee to provide a recognized concentration in Anglican studies, woven into the existing GCTS Master of Divinity degree which both appropriately trains students for Anglican ministry and meets the rigorous academic standards Gordon-Conwell is known for.”

The proposed six courses in Anglican Studies are:
            1)            Liturgy 1 (History of Christian Worship)
            2)            Liturgy 2 (Pastoral Liturgy)
            3)            Anglican Church History
            4)            Ascetical Theology: (Introduction to Anglican Spirituality)
            5)            Anglican Ethics and Moral Theology
            6)            Anglican Parish Ministry

This Anglican concentration would require approved students to successfully complete the proposed six courses through any one, or combination of the following avenues:
            a) Nashotah House (In residence or via Distance Education)
            b) Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (In residence or via Distance Education)
            c) Possibly GCTS-approved visiting professors coming to New England, Charlotte, or
    Jacksonville in January and summer terms for Liturgics courses.

Students in this proposed Anglican studies track would be encouraged to establish mentored ministry relationships within local Anglican parishes.

Dr. Robert Munday, supported by the executive assistant to the Dean of the New England Convocation, Patrick Ware, did a great job of putting this project together. The lion’s share of getting the work done was really Dr. Robert Munday’s and he deserves our thanks and recognition.

A leader can be described as a person who sees a preferred vision of the future and is able to cast that vision in such a way that people follow it; Dr. Munday has led us into such a preferred vision of theological education in the realignment.

If we are truly to lead the church into a place of reformation of behavior and if we are really trying to leave a ministry behind us that carries with it all the rich tapestry of what is the Anglican Church, Catholic, Evangelical and Charismatic, then I have two questions for us:

What is the new partnership of the academy and the local church going to look like in the new realignment?

And what is the role of the laity in the spiritual and theological formation of the future clergy for such a church?

We all must share in this investment in the future or we will leave empty museums behind us rather than vibrant life-giving ministries.

The Rev. John Guernsey: Concluding Remarks.

Allow me to conclude with a personal word. I know I speak for all of us in saying that of all that the Lord has done among us, perhaps the thing the Deans are most thankful for is the gift of one another. The Lord has given us a deep love for each other, and we rejoice in the openness, trust and mutual submission we share. It’s a blessed experience of the spiritual DNA, that reformation of behavior, that we long for in the new alignment of a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in America.