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Friday, August 31,
2007
"Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my
fingers for battle..."
Psalm 144:1 ESV
A Message from the President
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
President & CEO, American Anglican Council
Beloved in Christ,
This commentary is being sent from
Nairobi
as text mail from my cell phone so
it will be brief. On Thursday eight primates and representatives of
two other Anglican provinces gathered at All Saints Anglican
Cathedral for the consecration of Bishops-elect Bill Atwood and Bill
Murdoch as Suffragan bishops of the Cathedral Diocese. They will be
responsible for pastoral care of the Kenyan congregations in
North America
. On Sunday,
Uganda
will have a similar consecration of
Bishop-elect John Guernsey.
These bold actions taken by two
Anglican provinces signify the resolve of Global South provinces to
move forward in addressing the situation in
North America
.
What is also clear is that many
provinces have seen enough evidence of the US Episcopal Church's
defiance, and they are not anticipating anything further from TEC
except deception and further movement forward on the revisionist
agenda.
The AAC will be releasing our
Communiqué Compliance Report Summary prior to TEC’s House of Bishops
meeting, in time for the AB of Canterbury to "read, mark, learn, and
inwardly digest" what will be obvious: the leopard hasn't changed
its spots. Indeed, TEC is pursuing its agenda with audacity: a
lesbian priest is a nominee for bishop of
Chicago.
Honestly, we couldn't make this up. And down in
Lexington,
Kentucky
Bishop Stacy Sauls - former trial
attorney and understudy to TEC Chancellor David Booth Beers - is
asking for help in compiling a massive list of all the TEC
congregations who have fled "overseas" so that in their litigation
efforts they can leave no one un-sued.
While Bishop Sauls is compiling
names, he can add Fr. Chuck Reeder and
Holy
Comforter
Church,
Broomfield,
Colorado,
who have announced this week that they are departing their diocese
and TEC. For congregations and clergy in hostile dioceses things are
becoming progressively more difficult.
And five retired TEC bishops are
asking, “Where is TEC getting the money for all this litigation?” Be
sure to read their letter in this Update.
On a positive note, I look forward
to another refreshing time of fellowship and worship in Africa this
coming Sunday, when John Guernsey will be consecrated in
Uganda.
May the Lord richly bless the ministries of these three new Anglican
bishops in
North America
.
Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
President & CEO of the AAC
Announcing AAC
Online Courses
By Linda Newton
Affiliates Administrator
American Anglican Council
The AAC is committed to
supporting the needs of our affiliate parishes, ministries, chapters
and lay affiliates by providing free educational material on topics
that are relevant. The courses are available through the AAC
homepage at
www.americananglican.org . Once on our homepage, simply click on
the link titled "AAC Course Offerings." This current free of charge
offering is made up of three entirely different types of materials.
"Engaging the Culture" is an AAC evangelism course created to help
orthodox Christians dialogue with people influenced by the new
atheists, secular Christianity, and our multicultural society. The
course contains 12 classes and is designed for small to medium sized
groups and encourages lively discussion.
The second course,
"Church Planting Basics," is a booklet developed by the AAC staff
because of the many requests from lay people for information on how
to plant new churches. The booklet contains practical ideas about
team building, some considerations for setting up the administration
as well as the spiritual aspect of discerning if the new church
plant is God’s will.
The third course in this
initial offering is Kathi Fairman's excellent class "What On Earth
is Happening in the Anglican Communion?" Mrs. Fairman has graciously
allowed the AAC to re-publish this course free of charge. The class
materials include a Leader’s Guide, handouts for participants and
PowerPoint slides for all four classes.
Our most recently
developed course, "Engaging the Culture," is truly unique in that it
combines the efforts of two men who have built their life’s work
around reaching people for Christ: Nick Pollard and Dr. James W.
Sire.
Several months ago we
began work on the evangelism course by going to an online book
seller and reading through available titles. One of the books we
ordered was Nick Pollard’s Evangelism Made Slightly Less
Difficult – How to Interest People Who Aren’t Really Interested
. Nick Pollard’s approach to reaching people by respectfully
engaging them in a dialog lit a fire in our imagination. His
processes make clear that while we cannot argue a person into
becoming a Christian we can and should reason together and encourage
a careful examination of the beliefs that underlie their worldviews.
In the process, we can become even more confident Christians as we
work with people who challenge us. And once we understand their
thinking, we can raise questions that stimulate them to rethink
their assumptions about Christianity. Mr. Pollard’s processes and
ideas form the backbone of this course.
We loved Nick’s way of
approaching people but acknowledged right away that we lacked the
understanding of language and concepts necessary for more than a
superficial conversation. The information we needed for the class
came with the latest edition of The Universe Next Door
(published in 2004) by James W. Sire. In this new edition, Dr.
Sire, who has been writing and teaching about worldviews for 50
years, provides an up to date comparison of the Christian worldview
with the most pervasive secular worldviews. Dr. Sire’s work provides
the language and core concepts necessary to facilitate conversation
with people who see the world from perspectives that we may not be
familiar with. His text goes in depth, explaining the key points of
commonly (but subtly) held worldviews and is extremely thought
provoking.
Our offering to you is a 12 class course integrating Nick Pollard’s
insights and evangelism processes with Dr. Sire’s wisdom about the
key points of worldviews. We (the AAC staff) have brought together
their work into a course with a Leader’s Guide, a Participant’s
Manual, PowerPoint slides and case studies that invite dialog and
build practical understanding. You can request the course by going
to the AAC web site and clicking on AAC Courses Online. Once you
complete the course request form, we will be back in touch with you
to facilitate your accessing the material.
We are very grateful to
InterVarsity Press for allowing us to make this material available
to you. The course materials are free with the sole stipulation
that anyone who participates in this class has both books. The
coursework requires that you read the books so we know that
stipulation is not only important to satisfy copyright issues but is
also absolutely necessary to gain an accurate understanding of the
material.
Also, we were very
excited to speak with and receive support from both authors. Keli
Pryor, the co-author of the course, and I (Linda Newton, AAC
Affiliate’s Administrator) were delighted to find Mr. Pollard and
Dr. Sire as warm and engaging when we met them by phone as we did
when we spent many hours reading and building a course around the
information in their books.
We hope and pray that the Lord will use these courses to his glory.
Five Retired
Bishops Call for TEC Transparency
Source:
Bishop Maurice Benitez (via
e-mail)
Date:
August 27, 2007
A SECOND OPEN LETTER TO
THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Last month, four of us
wrote you to express our concern with your threats of litigation
against four dioceses that affirmed their membership in the One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and to ask you to make a public
report of the following:
1 ) How much money has
the Episcopal Church spent on litigation against congregations and
individuals who have chosen to depart TEC since 2003? What are the
sources of those funds?
2) In what budget(s) are those expenditures accounted for?
3) Has any income from trust funds been used to support these
litigations? If so, how much and from which funds?
4) How much compensation has the law firm of the Episcopal Church's
chancellor, David Beers, received for servicing this litigation?
To date we have received
no reply from you in any form to address our call for financial
transparency. And we are now joined by another bishop who is asking
the same questions.
View the rest of the
letter
here.
CO Church
Announces Resignation of Church Leadership
Source:
John Bosio, Senior Warden, Holy Comforter
Date:
August 27, 2007
The Church
of the Holy Comforter Announces Resignation of Church Leadership
BROOMFIELD, COLORADO – The Church of the Holy Comforter today
announced the resignation of its leader, The Reverend Dr. Charles
Reeder and his departure from The Episcopal Church effective October
1, 2007. Holy Comforter also announces that Vestry, the Children’s
Minister, Youth Minister and Treasurer will resign and follow Father
Reeder’s move within the greater worldwide Anglican Communion
Network (ACN).
“We are saddened by the
current state of The Episcopal Church in the US which we believe has
strayed from the orthodox, scriptural beliefs of the worldwide
Anglican Communion,” said Reeder. “Many church members have
demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the Episcopal Church’s
actions and words through the withholding of contributions. This has
led us to examine the best possible future for Holy Comforter and
our desire to remain part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.”
Near term, Reeder,
Vestry, the core ministry team and members of Holy Comforter
continue in a period of prayer and fasting as they look for guidance
around the future of the congregation. Reeder has not yet determined
his future place within the Anglican Communion.
View the rest of the
press release
here.
Lesbian Could
Head Episcopal Diocese
Source:
Chicago Sun Times
Date:
August 29, 2007
BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH
A lesbian priest has
been named a finalist for bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Chicago.
The Rev. Tracey Lind's
nomination comes as conservatives in the worldwide Anglican
Communion are demanding that its U.S. branch no longer consecrate
openly gay bishops.
"I believe that
accepting this nomination is what God is asking of me," Lind said in
a statement. She's dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland and author
of Interrupted by God.
Lind is among a list of
five bishop candidates that includes three women. No woman has ever
been a finalist, the diocese said. Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, a
catalyst in the global effort against gay bishops, called Lind's
nomination distressing.
"It's an action that
says Chicago really doesn't care what the rest of the Anglican
Communion says," he told the Sun-Times.
View the rest of the
article
here. |
