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Handle with prayer!
News – ANiC and AEN
Edmonton fellowship forming
If you
live in the Edmonton area or know someone who does… an ANiC home fellowship is forming
in the Edmonton area. Please contact the Rev Lynette Kent at 780-435-7545.
Prayer
service for the Sudan, December 12, 2:30pm at St John’s Surrey
St John’s
Surrey (formerly St John’s Sudanese) is hosting a special prayer service for
the upcoming referendum in the Sudan. The prayer service will be on December 12
at 2:30-5pm at St John’s Surrey,
12642 – 100th Avenue, Surrey, BC. Please join us if you can. But whether
you can attend the service or not, please intercede with us for this war-ravaged
country where the potential for renewed conflict is so very real. Pray that the
referendum regarding independence for Southern Sudan will proceed as scheduled
on January 9 – without controversy or conflict – and that both
sides will honour the outcome. May God's hand and his wisdom rest upon
those in leadership. May the Lord use His Church to bring lasting peace to this
troubled land.
Faithful
Synod volunteers honoured
Synod
volunteers were feted at a Volunteer Appreciation Dessert Fellowship on Saturday, December 4 at St George's Anglican Church
(Ottawa) with Bishop Charlie Masters.
More on
the recent Vancouver court decision
Writing
in his regular monthly meditation – the 1st Friday
of the Month Call to Prayer – ANiC’s national prayer coordinator
the Rev Garth Hunt reflects on the court decision and urges us to forgive from
the heart – by God’s grace.
David Virtue,
in offering his
commentary on the court decision, quotes an unnamed source close to
the legal battle saying, “[Bishop] Michael Ingham is our own best friend - the
very instrument God is using to grow us up to maturity in Christ. We are
refined in the refiner's fire. Character is forged in the anvil of God's heat. God
knows and He is sharpening us daily for the battle ahead. He has always worked this
way since the beginning of Israel."
New
resource on the website
You’ll
appreciate reading a letter
written some time ago by the Rev Paul Donison to his parishioners
explaining his reasons for relinquishing his Anglican Church of Canada licence
to come under the episcopal authority of Bishop Don Harvey.
2011
Liturgical Calendar online
A
reminder that ANiC’s 2011 liturgical calendar prepared by our registrar, the Rev
Tom Carman (St Aidan’s, Windsor, ON), can be downloaded from the ANiC website.
The
major ACNA church planting event of the year is only weeks away!
The Anglican1000 Church Planting Summit in Plano,
Texas is January 25-27. Although the ANiC Church Planting working group is
unable to provide subsidies this year, they are eager to have other church
planters and potential church planters join the ANiC contingent in Plano. You
can register for Summit 2011
online; then email Bishop
Ron to let him know you’ll be there.
New
Brunswick meetings
Bishop Charlie Masters and the Rev Garth Hunt,
ANiC’s prayer coordinator, spoke recently at a series of meetings held in five
New Brunswick communities. The meetings were arranged by the
Rev Don Hamilton and the Rev Alan Reynolds to help interested Anglicans
understand the ministry of the Anglican Network in Canada and the relationship
of our province, the Anglican Church in North American, to the rest of the
global Anglican Communion.
Developing
strong community relations
St
Luke’s (Pembroke, ON) is deeply involved in its community. Recently, they had a
float in the local Christmas parade featuring Bishop Don – who was in
town to ordain Jane Manary Parent to the diaconate. (See a photo of the float here and of the
ordination here.) The Rev Tim Parent, rector, says some of the other
ways St Luke’s stays closely connected with its community are:
| • |
participating in the annual Cancer
Relay for Life – raising over $12,000 in two years |
| • |
booths at local home shows and
fairs |
| • |
participation in parades |
| • |
supporting the Salvation Army by
manning kettles and providing a team for the soup kitchen |
| • |
cooking a free Christmas Dinner
for 300 that is provided by several churches and charities for those in need |
| • |
ongoing collection for the local
food bank |
| • |
sending Christmas shoe boxes to
Samaritan's Purse |
AEC blog welcomes new moderator
Gordon, a member of an Anglican Church of Canada
parish, has joined the team of moderators on the AEC blog.
AEN
parish votes to join the Roman Catholic Church
The congregation of St John the Evangelist, a
parish in the Anglican Church of Canada diocese of Calgary and a member of the
Anglican Essentials Network (AEN) has voted to
accept the Pope’s offer of entry into an Anglican Ordinariate once
it is set up. This is the first Canadian parish to vote to join the Roman
Catholic Church since the Anglican Ordinariate was announced. The National Post
quotes the rector, Father Lee Kenyon, saying, “We are prepared to lose everything to make this move. But we are hoping
the Anglican Diocese of Calgary will deal with us fairly.” In response, the CBC
reports the Archdeacon of the diocese said, “It’s not the case that…
they take the property with them. It’s not theirs.”
A column in the
Calgary Herald (which later appeared in the Vancouver Province)
– entitled “Anglican church abandoned its parishioners” – comments
both on the St
John the Evangelist’s vote to join the Roman Catholic
Church as well as on the recent court decision affecting the four Vancouver
area ANiC parishes. Columnist Susan Martinuk says the reason parishes are
leaving is that the Anglican Church of Canada…
“…has increasingly rejected Biblical teachings and Anglican
doctrine in favour of popularizing the Anglican faith so that it fits in with
today's cultural mores. Many church leaders have denied the authority of
Scripture and one bishop publicly denied the bodily resurrection of Christ at
an Easter Service.
“As
such, the real story isn't that parishioners are leaving the Anglican Church -
it's that leaders of the Anglican Church in Canada and the US have left the
basic tenets of their faith and, in doing so, abandoned their parishioners.
When such trust is broken, it's no wonder that people are leaving and that
there is such widespread discontent.
“The real schism that truly broke apart the ACC - occurred in 2002; everything
that has happened since then is just fallout. That's when the Diocese of New
Westminster in Vancouver (under the authority of Bishop Michael Ingham) voted
to bless same-sex couples. Global church leaders immediately met to draft a
letter requesting that the Diocese (and Ingham in particular) refrain from the
practice…”
Fair
warning…
Please
note that there will be some changes to ANiC communications from about mid-December
through the end of January to accommodate vacations.
Parish
news
Church
of the Good Samaritan (St John’s, NL) has a spiffy new website. Check it out!
Grace
Anglican Church (Clayton, ON) has a very attractive
new website as well.
Peninsula
Anglican Church (Saanichton, BC) will henceforth be known as Cross Road
Peninsula Anglican Church – a name that better describes its mission and
ministry.
If your
parish has news that would be of interest to others in ANiC, please email Marilyn or call
1-866-351-2642 extension 4020.
Calendar
of upcoming events – for your interest and prayer support
Dec 12,
2:30pm – St John’s
Surrey – Prayer service for the referendum in the Sudan
Jan
25-27 – ACNA 2011 church
planting summit in Plano, TX with speaker Tim Keller
Jan
25-31 – Anglican Communion Primates Meeting (Dublin, Ireland)
March
21-22 – Asian Mission
inaugural conference, Vancouver, BC
March 29-31 – ANiC’s 2011 pastors’ retreat
near Abbotsford, BC
More ANiC news
Church
of England Newspaper – Nov 26 2010 – New
Westminster legal win in church property fight
News shorts – US
Other US news
Church
of England Newspaper – Nov 26 2010 – Episcopal
Church takes a legal hit in California
News shorts – International
GAFCon
Primates reject current Covenant, decline
to attend Primates Meeting
Following
their meeting in Oxford, England in October, the Primates of the GAFCon
movement issued the “Oxford
Statement” in which they make the following statements (among
others):
| • |
“As we
have made clear in numerous communiqués and meetings those who have abandoned
the historic teaching of the Church have torn the fabric of our life together
at its deepest level. We have made repeated attempts to bring repentance and
restoration and yet these efforts have been rejected. We grieve for those who
have walked apart and earnestly pray for them and the people under their care. |
| • |
“For
the sake of Christ and of His Gospel we can no longer maintain the illusion of
normalcy and so we join with other Primates from the Global South in declaring
that we will not be present at the next Primates’ meeting to be held in Ireland
[in January]. |
| • |
“And
while we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the
introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the
conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this
initiative is no longer appropriate. |
| • |
“We
remain convinced that the unique character of GAFCON/FCA with its diversity of
cultures and its embrace of the Jerusalem Declaration as a common theological
confession is a vital contribution to the future of the global Anglican
Communion. |
| • |
“…we are planning a leadership conference in the latter part
of 2011 that will focus on the need to “Contend for the Faith in the Public
Square.” We are also beginning preparations for an international gathering of
Primates, Bishops, Clergy and Lay leaders in 2012, provisionally designated
“GAFCON 2”.” |
You can hear an
interview with Bishop Martyn Minns on BBC – about 34 minutes
into the program – in which he comments on the Primates Statement. Or you
can read a transcript
here. Bishop Minns explains trust is gone and until the decisions of
past Primates meetings are implemented, that trust cannot be restored. He adds
that the structure of the Communion is shifting from a hierarchical colonial
structure to a global network structure. He says, “…the Anglican Communion has
got a huge contribution to give to the world… in many parts of the world it’s
thriving and growing… it’s simply the way in which we operate together that has
to change… I believe that the Anglican Communion is incredibly healthy and
doing some remarkable things… it’s the institutional structure that’s simply
not kept up with its life. And I think that that’s what needs to change. And as
you know institutional change has always been very hard. Those in power are
always reluctant to give it up.”
The Anglican
Communion Alliance (formerly Anglican Essentials Federation) posted a
response on their website criticizing the GAFCon Primates for ““Stepping
away” from both the Primates’ table and the Covenant without offering a
constructive alternative… We urge the GAFCON primates to consult beyond their
number to bring forward an alternative that would meet with wide acceptance in
order to “reform, heal and revitalize the Anglican
Communion and expand its mission to the world”.
List of
Primates declining invitation to Primates Meeting grows
The Church Times
reports that a number of Primates, in addition to the GAFCon
Primates, are expected to decline the invitation to January’s Primates Meeting
called by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is expected that among the
“no-shows” will be:
The
Most Rev Dr John Chew (South-East Asia)
The
Most Rev Dr Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem & the Middle East)
The
Most Rev Ian Ernest (Indian Ocean)
The
Most Rev Tito Zavala (Southern Cone)
The
Most Revd Onesphore Rwage (Rwanda)
Nevertheless,
the Church of
England Newspaper reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury has
refused requests to call off the meeting, including a request for postponement contained
in a letter from the Chair of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa,
Archbishop Ian Ernest.
Church
of England General Synod votes to further consider Covenant
Calling
the Covenant an “attempt to set out a structure of consent rather than a
structure of discipline”, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged members of synod
to vote to consider the Covenant. The Church Times
reports the motion passed with ease in all three houses of synod. A Living Church
article provides additional insight into the synod debate.
Future
of Anglican Church debated
Writing in
the National Post, Prof Ian Hunter comments on the pilgrimage of
five Church of England bishops heading to Rome and questions whether the
Anglican Church has a future. In reply,
National Post religion reporter Charles Lewis reminds Prof Hunter that
Anglicanism is alive and flourishing in Africa.
Discredited
committee appoints new members
The Church of the
England Newspaper reports that the Standing Committee of the
Anglican Communion, a recently formed and very controversial body, has acted to
fill some of the vacancies created when a number of members recently resigned
in protest, “…citing their lack of confidence in its integrity”. The
resignations included: Archbishop Henry Orombi (Uganda), Archbishop Justice
Akrofi (West Africa), Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem and the Middle
East), Ms Nomfundo Walaza (Southern Africa) and Bishop Azad Marshall (Iran). The
new appointments are: Bishop Paul Sarkar (Bangladesh) and the Rev Maria
Christina Borges Alvarez (Cuba). However, the article notes more irregularities
and illegalities in the committee’s appointments.
News in
brief from around the world and around the Communion
Nigeria – The Anglican Church of Nigeria plans to
build a third university, this time in Jos,
Plateau State. This is the region that has seen so much violence directed
toward Christians this past year.
Thailand – Archbishop John Chew, (Southeast Asia) has ordained the first Thai
Anglican priest. The Church of
England Newspaper reports that the Anglican Church has been in
Thailand for 105 years, but only recently began to actively plant churches and
evangelize among the Thai people. Today there are six congregations, three
schools and various community ministries.
Egypt – Compass
Direct News reports that Muslim mobs in a small southern village
firebombed houses and businesses when they heard a rumor of a romantic
relationship between a Christian and a Muslim. “At least 23 homes and numerous
businesses, all Christian-owned, were damaged or destroyed in the village of
Al-Nawahid in Qena Governorate, 454 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo. Five
people were injured, two seriously.”
Somalia – Compass
Direct News reports that another of Somalia’s few Christians has
been killed. This time a 17-year-old girl who had endured months of terrible
beatings and abuse from her Muslim parents after converting to Christianity was
shot to death.
Malawi –
The Church of
England Newspaper reports that there is a newly consecrated bishop
in the Diocese of Northern Malawi, paving the way for the election of a new
Primate of the Province of Central Africa. The Primacy has been vacant since
2007.
Other
international news
Church
of England Newspaper – Dec 3 2010 – GAFCon
primates vote of no confidence in the Covenant
Reuters
– Nov 24 2010 – Conservative
bishops deliver blow to Anglican pact
Church
Times – Nov 26 2010 – Empty seats
in Dublin as Primates opt out
Huffington
Post – Nov 30 2010 – Church of
England gives OK to Anglican Covenant
Christian
Today – Nov 24 2010 – …Covenant in
question after conservatives withdraw support
Guardian
– Nov 24 2010 – Unity document
exposes Anglican divisions
Soul food
Just
for laughs
Copyright Gospel Communications
International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com
Thought
"God
uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for
sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength
each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the
stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away. To live with
your ‘thorn’ uncomplainingly – that is, sweet, patient, and free in heart
to love and help others, even though every day you feel weak – is true
sanctification. It is true healing for the spirit. It is a supreme victory of
grace." – J I Packer
Of
interest
An innovative
Christmas ad depicts the pre-born Jesus as He might have appeared in
an ultrasound image. The text announces, “He’s on His way: Christmas starts
with Christ”.
The King
James Bible turns 400 in 2011! The Guardian
reports that the influence of this translation of the Bible has been
profound – “one bestseller of unprecedented literary significance”. It
has sold an estimated one billion copies in four centuries.
Please pray...
For the
Sudan and especially the upcoming referendum on independence for the South. Pray
for a fair and peaceful referendum, for lasting peace,
and for wisdom for Church leaders
For Jennifer,
the adult daughter of an ANiC clergy member, who is very ill and needs healing of
both body and soul – healing from emotional hurts and from a severe
chronic health problem
For
ANiC’s financial officer Pat Decker who will have surgery for cancer on
December 13
For the
people, clergy, lay leaders and legal counsel for the ANiC churches in
Vancouver as they consider their next steps in light of the BC Court of Appeal’s
decision. Also, for all other ANiC parishes involved in legal disputes as they
wrestle with their options in light of this decision.
For other ongoing legal challenges faced by ANiC parishes, including:
| • |
The mediation process involving St George’s & St Alban’s (Ottawa) and their former Anglican Church of Canada diocese |
| • |
The ongoing litigation involving St Aidan’s (Windsor) and the ANiC
parishes that were formerly in the Diocese of Niagara – and their mounting expenses |
For all the congregations involved in court proceedings and disputes. Pray for a continued focus on, and blessing
upon, their ministry in the midst of this turmoil. Pray for peace for the wardens
and trustees who are on the front lines and bear the
burden of risk and responsibility
For the leaders and parishioners of the ACoC dioceses pursuing eviction
of and legal costs against ANiC congregations and wardens
For donations to the ANiC legal defense fund supporting
parishes in disputes with their former dioceses
For our bishops and clergy and their families – especially those battling illness
For ANiC
projects, church plants and parishes, and for their proclamation of the Good
News of Christmas to those in their communities who desperately need new life
in Christ
For funding of the ARDFC’s malaria
prevention project in Kenya
For persecuted Christians, especially in Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and
other Muslim lands
For repentance and revival in our hearts and in our nation – as
well as a hunger for God and a thirst for His Word
For all those in positions of leadership and influence in the Anglican
Communion, that they would seek to honour and obey God above all else
And now
a word from our sponsor
There
shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots
shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He
shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the
meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness
shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The
wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young
goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little
child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
In that
day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him
shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11: 1-10
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