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ANiC news
ANiC and ACNA events calendar
April 12-13
- Men’s seminar offered at Blackburn Hamlet Community Church (Ottawa,
ON)
April 17-19/20
– ANiC regional
assemblies in both Vancouver and Burlington
April 27
– Bible-in-a-day seminar, Kwantlen
Polytechnic University (Richmond, BC)
May 3-4
– Women’s
conference at Faith Mission (Milton, ON) hosted by St George’s Burlington
May 7 –
St Aidan’s appeal to be heard at Osgood Hall, Toronto
May 11 – Bible-in-a-day seminar, Robson Square (Vancouver,
BC)
May 13-15
– ACNA clergy women’s retreat in Woodbridge, Virginia
October
21-27 – GAFCon 2 planned for Nairobi, Kenya
Assemblies
Online
registration is now closed.
Open
evening sessions – Those unable to attend the full assemblies are invited
– and warmly encouraged – to join in the following sessions. No
cost and no registration needed. Full information is on the ANiC website: www.anglicannetwork.ca
For the
assembly in Burlington, ON the open sessions are:
| • |
Wednesday,
April 17, at 7pm – Bishop Don Harvey is the celebrant at the Opening Eucharist
and Archbishop Tito Zavala from the Southern Cone (in South America) is the
speaker. |
| • |
Friday,
April 19 at 7pm – Bishop Charlie Masters is the celebrant and speaker at
the Closing Eucharist. |
For the
assemblies in Vancouver (Good Shepherd Church, 189 West 11th Avenue) the open sessions are:
| • |
Thursday,
April 18 at 7pm – Bishop Abraham Nhial, a former “lost boy of Sudan” who
was featured on CBS’s TV show 60 Minutes just two weeks ago, will tell his
story and provide insight into the current situation in Sudan and South Sudan. |
| • |
Friday,
April 19 at 7pm – Keynote speaker the Rev John Coles, Director of New Wine
(UK), will focus how we can know God better. New Wine is dedicated to helping Christians
and churches grow into Spirit-empowered world changers. |
60
Minutes feature – If you missed the 60 Minutes program which featured Bishop
Nhial, you can watch both part 1 and part 2 of that
episode online on the CBS website. Or read the script here.
Ordinations
April 6 – Bishop Charlie Masters ordained the
Rev Jared Driscoll to the priesthood at Good Samaritan (St John’s, NL). Do pray
for Jared+ as he embarks on this new stage of his calling.
May 6 – The Rev Lyle Lewis is to be ordained
to the priesthood on Monday, May 6 at 7pm at the Living Water Anglican Fellowship,
Athabasca, Alberta. Please keep Lyle in prayer and, if you are able to be
present, it would be a great blessing and encouragement for him in this step of
faith.
Curacy
opportunity
Anglican
Church of the Ascension (Langley, BC) is offering a part-time training curacy
for a two-year term. Applications close May 31. The position
is responsible for implementing programs that will widen the church membership,
and support children, youth and young families in their walk with Christ. It is
an opportunity to receive supervised experience in all aspects of parish
ministry. For more information, please see the ANiC website.
Southern
Ontario women’s conference, May 3-4
St George’s (Burlington,
ON) is hosting a Women's Conference at Faith Mission near Milton on the weekend
of May 3-4. All women are
invited. For more information including
costs and registration see the St
George’s website.
Newspaper
profiles BC truck driver who moonlights as an ANiC priest
There's a great media
story in The Province newspaper on ANiC priest the Rev Doug Beattie.
Doug+ is rector of Church of the Holy Cross in Abbotsford – and drives a
big rig during the week.
Do you
know of an ANiC-related “story” that might interest the media? A good “human
interest” story with an unusual twist? Please let Marilyn know so we can
work together to generate media interest.
Get
involved in the Civil Rights movement of our day
“Canada
is the only western nation with no protection for the unborn… Since 1969, over
4 million children have been killed by abortion in Canada. This year, another
100,000 babies will be put to death, at taxpayer expense, while society turns a
blind eye.” (From the Campaign Life Coalition website.)
We in ANiC would like to have a strong presence at
this year’s (non-partisan) March for Life in Ottawa on May 9. People travel
across the country to join the thousands of participants in this event, seeking
to shift our country’s attitudes and policies on valuing and protecting life
– especially the lives of the most defenseless. For more information on the
March and all the activities surrounding it, see the Campaign Life Coalition’s March for
Life website.
ANiC priests the Rev Paul Donison and the Rev Vicky
Hedelius are heading up our participation and will have a presence at the
Eastern Assembly to promote the active participation of ANiC churches’ youth
groups and individuals. When you register for the Ottawa March for Life event, you can note that ANiC is the group you
are with.
Even if you are not able to travel to Ottawa, you
can get involved. There are regional
marches being organized for provincial capitals – many also on
May 9. In addition, Life Chain
events are held in 200 communities across
Canada on Sunday, September 30 this year. And the Campaign Life Coalition has more information
on becoming engaged and aware of the issues on their website.
We can
take a stand for the innocent unborn as well as healing for those who have been
hurt by abortion by getting involved.
Bishop
Don reports from the New Wineskins conference…
Trudy and I had the
pleasure of attending the New Wineskins Conference at Ridgecrest, North
Carolina, during Easter Week. This event, which takes place every three years,
has its main emphasis on Mission and draws together an amazing number of
missionaries and their families, as well as the Bishops and Primates with whom
they are serving. It also coincides with the SAMS [the South American Mission Society]
gathering and a CANA conference.
While the presentations
were excellent, the Bible Study by Bishop Ken Clarke of Ireland was
outstanding, and the personal testimonies on the still unfinished task were
challenging and at times heart rending, the great strength of this event is the
opportunity to check in with old friends in the mission field and to make new
ones.
It was very moving to
hear a panel of first generation Christians tell their stories and in some
cases, the danger they still face from families and hostile regimes back
home. The cameras were shut off for this presentation and a strong request that
this section not be put on the social media was made.
The enormity of the task was emphasized by the fact
that out of every ten missionaries, seven are ministering to people who already
are Christians, two and one half to those who are exploring the faith, and less
than one to the unreached - that is
those who have never heard the name of Jesus and have never seen a Bible. In
terms of the Great Commission, that is very sobering.
Much of the programme
can be viewed on Anglican TV and is well
worth watching.
Anglican Church in North America
(ACNA) news
Models of church planting
Two of the three models of church
planting advocated by the Anglican 1000 leadership – the jurisdictional
model and the congregational model – are explained further on the Anglican 1000 website.
Easter
letters from our Primate and the Chair of the GAFCon Primates Council
Our Primate Archbishop Bob Duncan writes his Easter letter en route to Africa to spend Easter with Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul and our
brothers and sisters in Christ in South Sudan. Reflecting on being absent from
his home church during Holy Week, he concludes: "...what I testify is that the Gospel is my
strength and my song, and that Jesus has become my salvation. Easter is the day
that lights and gives meaning to all the others, wherever I – we –
spend it and with whomever I – we – spend it. The tomb is empty.
The world, the flesh and the devil are defeated. Jesus is alive. In Him, the
alien becomes familiar, loss becomes gain, sorrow becomes joy, and death
becomes life."
In his Easter message,
Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the Global Anglican Future Conference Primates’ Council
says:
“As a
movement… [GAFCon is] focused on seeing that work of new creation which God
achieved by the death and resurrection of Jesus become a living reality across
the world… We are delighted that one of the major achievements of the GAFCON
movement has been to facilitate and recognise the formation of a new Province,
the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). We give thanks for this new thing
that God has done… It’s relief agency, the Anglican Relief and Development Fund
(ARDF) works to change lives physically and spiritually and has competed
projects in 34 countries…
“It
also has a bold vision for church growth known as Anglican 1,000… A basic
element in this church growth strategy is teaching believers to have a
straightforward and robust understanding of biblical faith through the use of a
catechism, echoing a practice of the early church when people were being converted
from pagan backgrounds…”
The
Word and the Creeds
Trinity
School of Ministry in Ambridge, PA is holding a conference, June 5-7 focused on
“The Word and the Creeds”. Information is on the school’s website.
ACNA-related
questions for the Archbishop of Canterbury
Writing
in the American Anglican Council’s weekend newsletter, Canon Phil Ashey encourages us to input the best possible motives, however he lists concerns he would like
Archbishop Justin Welby to address, including: Why the Primate of the ACNA was
not invited to Archbishop Welby’s enthronement while Primates from Provinces
which have caused the rending of the Communion were; and Why there has been no
effort to meaningfully engage the leadership of the ACNA despite the
Archbishop’s clear focus on restoring relationships. He concludes, “May we continue
to pray for Archbishop Welby and his family, for courage empowered by faith in
Christ Jesus, and for good and godly counselors to stand with him in that
courage all along the way.”
ACNA
clergywomen’s retreat May 13-15
The registration
deadline for ACNA’s clergywomen's retreat is April 12. You can get information
and register online for the May 13-15 event which will be held in Woodbridge,
Virginia. The speaker is the Rev Alison Barfoot, Assistant to the Archbishop
for International Relations in the Anglican Church of Uganda and the theme is “Then
you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.”
(Joshua 1:4). Bishop David Hicks, chair of the Archbishop's Task Force on Holy
Orders, will also present.
Other news in brief
Canada
As Bishop Michael Ingham, of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Diocese of New
Westminster, announced his early retirement effective August 31, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC) announced that it will be recognizing him with an honourary degree for being the first
bishop in the
worldwide Anglican Communion to authorize the blessing of same-sex unions
(2002). The Australian-based Anglican Church League has compiled a history of
Bishop Ingham’s actions.
United
States
A statement from the now independent Diocese of South Carolina, commenting on the Episcopal
Church’s (TEC’s) latest legal maneuver, says, “We are saddened
they filed their suits on Maundy Thursday in the middle of Holy Week and that
they have made the lawsuit personal by suing individuals who make up the
leadership of our parishes. However we are not surprised that TEC’s filing now
makes clear its intention to seize all the properties of the Diocese of South
Carolina and its parishes. The court filings are consistent with the scores of
lawsuits The Episcopal Church has filed against dioceses and parishes across
the United States.”
Uruguay
The Anglican
Journal reports that “The Anglican Province of the Southern Cone has
reconsidered the diocese of Uruguay’s appeal and has voted to ratify the
election of [Canadian] Archdeacon Michael Pollesel as co-adjutor bishop. The
decision came 10 months after the province’s house of bishops rejected
Pollesel’s election” and came after new background material was considered. Archdeacon
Pollesel once served the Anglican Church of Canada’s general secretary.
Iran
International Christian Concern reports that “Four Christian converts from Islam arrested last year for alleged
evangelistic activities had to post enormous amounts of bail [$80,000 each] to
be released… [after five months in] an Iranian prison… The judge intentionally
set the bail amount… to financially cripple the Iranian Christian community…”
Vietnam
Christians in minority tribes have been systematically harassed and
persecuted. The most recent
incident was the arrest, beating, and murder of a Christian elder of
the Hmong ethnic group in mid-March.
Indonesia
Local government officials, bowing to Islamist pressure, have been
closing – and in some cases tearing down – church buildings since
2006. Now you can add your
voice to those protesting these closures.
North
Korea
A report from
Open Doors as posted on VirtueOnline asks prayer for Christians in
North Korea who are reporting an intensification of war-like conditions in the
country. Open Doors, which works with persecuted Christians around the world
ranks North Korea as the worst country in the world for persecution of
Christians. Of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Christians in the country as
many as 80,000 are in unimaginably harsh political prison camps.
Soul food
Resources
Children’s Bibles – Looking for a Bible for children (of various age groups)? This blog rating some of the options available might be helpful.
Watch me! – A short
(4½ minute) animated video, suitable
for use in church services challenges us to mentor young people in the faith
while modeling Biblical teaching in our lives.
Of abortion and evil and
the glory of God – In a meditation entitled “The darkness shall not overcome it”, John Knight reflects on the enormity
of the abortion evil – 336-million lives cut short in China alone during
the last 40 years – but recounts the story of one disabled child that was
amazingly saved by God’s grace. He concludes with a quote from John Piper: “…the final argument for the righteousness of God in a world with so much
evil and destruction is that this evil serves the revelation of God’s glory.
That is, God’s just judgment of it and God’s gracious rescue from it display
more fully the glory of God than if there had been no evil.”
Christian
yoga – The Rev Ed Hird of the rector of St Simon’s (North Vancouver, BC),
an Anglican Mission in the Americas parish, provides a
compelling critique of the concept of Christianizing a deeply Hindu
practice.
The
wrath of God – Author and pastor Tim Keller explains how he came to understand that the wrath of God actually magnifies –
rather than diminishes – the love of God. He notes that “Because [a cup
of poison] was the method of execution for many people… the Hebrew prophets
came to use the cup as a metaphor for the wrath of God on human evil.” Keller then
discusses Jesus’ suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane as He anticipated what
lay ahead on Calvary where He would drink the cup of God’s wrath – and face the full force
of God’s justice against all human wickedness and evil. He says:
It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that I came
finally to grips—I made my peace, as it were – with… the very idea
of a God of wrath, a God who sends people to Hell…. I realized this: The reason
why people get rid of the idea of Hell and wrath is because they want a loving
God…. And I came to realize in the Garden of Gethsemane that if you get rid of
the idea of Hell and wrath, you have a less loving God. Because if there is no wrath by God on sin, and there is no such
thing as Hell, not only does that actually make what happened to Jesus
inexplicable – Jesus staggering the way He is, asking God, “Is there any
other way?” [and] sweating blood – but…the main thing is, if you don’t
believe in the wrath and Hell, it trivializes what He’s done…. If you get rid
of a God who has wrath and Hell, you’ve got a god who loves us in general, but
that’s not as loving as the God of the Bible, the God of Jesus Christ, who
loves us with a costly love.”
Just for laughs
You know you’re old when…
…You fall down and begin to
wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
…You get the same sensation
from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
…You know all the answers
but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
www.mikeysFunnies.com
Thought
You can
do little about the length of your life, but you can do much about its width
and depth.
(Attribution
uncertain)
And now
a word from our sponsor
Incline your ear, O Lord,
and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am
godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
Gladden the soul of your
servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good
and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my
prayer; listen to my plea for grace.
In the day of my trouble I
call upon you, for you answer me.
There is none like you
among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have
made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do
wondrous things; you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
I give thanks to you, O
Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast
love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
O God, insolent men have
risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you
before them.
But you, O Lord, are a God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness.
Turn to me and be gracious
to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your
maidservant.
Show me a sign of your
favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord,
have helped me and comforted
Psalm
86 ESV
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