The offer from Siler Presbyterian Church to share their worship space is an answer to prayer, and a miracle of God. The space satisfies our need for size and flexibility, is within our budget, and is located centrally for most of our members. Siler's generosity seems to know no bounds. While Siler has not given us any termination date for our "lease", we are actively searching for alternative space and anyone being aware of something suitable and available should contact the Transition Committee or the new Vestry when it is elected.
In a sense, the new American Anglican province already exists. From a functional point of view, we already have bishops that are committed to each other as fellow American bishops in spite of their differing jurisdictions and allegiances to foreign primates. The umbrella organization that they have formed is called "Common Cause". The institutional divisions in the Common Cause ranks are increasingly insignificant. In the months following September 30th (2007) all of the constituents (parishes, dioceses, and foreign-based missionary jurisdictions) will tear down what remains of the walls between them and become fully allied institutionally as members of a singular American Anglican Province.
Download a parish membership registration form here (Excel) or here (PDF) . Send it to layanglican@glimfeather.com or turn it in at our Founders' Meeting on October 7th.
Our Bishop is the Most Reverend Dr. Justice Akrofi. He is Bishop of Accra (Ghana) and Primate of the Province of West Africa. He has been a friend and mentor to Filmore Strunk for many years, and Filmore presently serves as his Canon. Many of the members of our new parish have an active and ongoing interest in mission work in Ghana. Bishop Akrofi, together with other African primates, has a vision for an Anglican province in America with solid Biblical principles, and as soon as such a province is formed, he is committed to allowing our parish to re-affiliate with a diocese in that American province.
In addition to the personal efforts of Bishop Akrofi to help us, he has assigned Bishop John Guernsey (from Virginia) to help with various practical matters of oversight including parish visitation. Rt. Rev. Guernsey is co-licensed in Uganda and Ghana, and is similarly committed to becoming a part of the developing Anglican province in America. Read this recent interview with Bishop Guernsey.
What is the Status of Persons we Left Behind?
As The Plan states, we believe that leaving The Episcopal Church is a salvation issue, that TEC's disregard for the Word of God, for the vows that priests and Bishops have made, and disrespect of the institutional authority of The Anglican Communion will result in persons missing the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their saviour, and therefore their salvation. We don't have any concern for those who have accepted our Lord as their saviour but are staying with TEC pending greater clarity as to its determination to dishonor Christ. They have salvation and we honor their right to judge for themselves how to deal with these problems. We do not judge the soul condition of any such person and we apologize to any person who understood the language in the Plan in a way that was not intended.
That being said, it is well to heed the advice that was given to the Allied troops that landed on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. They were told that they had to move inland or die. You can't stay on the beach or you will be torn apart. Staying where you are means certain death. The same is true of orthodox Anglicans remaining in TEC.
This is easily the most controversial issue in the new Anglican Church. The answer depends on the diocese or jurisdiction. As it stands, we expect about half of our dioceses in the new Anglican Provinces to permit women priests, and half not. The amazing fact is that American Anglicans do not presently use their disagreement on "women's orders" to destroy their bonds of fellowship or mission. It appears that "diocesan option" will remain for the forseeable future. As for our own parish, we have decided specifically that we must be in a diocese that permits female priests even though we do not have one at the present time. In fact, the bishop that presently oversees us, Justice Akrofi from Ghana, has promised us that if we were to call a qualified, orthodox, and female priest to the parish, he would not object.
Q1: Who can be a charter member?
A1: Any member who joins this new Anglican Church before 1/1/08 and is a confirmed Anglican/Episcopalian will be recognized as a charter (or founding) member of this church.
Q2: When and where do worship services start?
A2: The leadership of Siler Presbyterian Church is graciously and unanimously allowing us to use this facility until we find a permanent home-when we leave will be up to us. Because we are sharing this facility we will have our regularly schedule Sunday worship service in the afternoon. We will begin officially meeting on November 4, 2007, All Saints Sunday. At this time our schedule will be Sunday School beginning at 4:00, worship starting at 5:00. Other details and updates will be published on the website.
Q3: Can I contribute money to the new church?
A3: Yes. This church is a tax deductible not-for-profit organization and can receive contributions as such. This information package contains procedures for making financial contributions. If you have more detailed questions or would like to make a contribution today, please visit the Administration Table at the Interest Fair.
Q4: Who is providing the oversight for this church?
A4: This question will be addressed in greater detail at the business meeting. Some points of clarification are outlined below:
A5: Yes. Details are in the process of being finalized and a facility should be in place by our first service on 11/4/07. This information will be distributed as soon as it is available.
Q6: Is Waxhaw Anglican Church the real name of this church?
A6: No. This name was arbitrarily selected to allow the transition team to move forward with the process of setting up legal and financial status. You have the opportunity tonight to submit a recommendation for a new church name. The recommendations received tonight will be submitted to the vestry elected 11/4/07. The selection of the official name is the responsibility of the vestry and will be one of their first orders of business.
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The Transition Team now includes our former parish's Vestry plus the following individuals:
With respect to theology and the establishment of a uniform Anglican identity (but not with respect to liturgy), all of these partners have signed a document called "The Anglican Statement of Faith" in which it is agreed to use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as the standard. By common understanding, the 1928 BCP is closer to the 1662 in terms of doctrine, Biblical conformity and Anglican tradition. Very few if any parishes in America use the 1662 for everyday liturgy even though this version has been revised many many times since then. Our own parish uses the 1979 Book of Common Prayer almost exclusively. This is a function of our tradition and habit as opposed to doctrinal conviction. How big is the Orthodox Anglican Movement? According to some of TEC's leaders, the number of their parishes is 7,115 and the number of parishes seeking to leave TEC is around 160, or about 2.2%. This is not a very helpful or even honest way of counting. Within the Anglican Communion Network there are 851 parishes, all of which we presume are leaving. In addition, there are 500 orthodox Anglican parishes which are poised to join the new American Province and which left TEC at varying points in recent history. So the total comes to 1351 parishes, not 160. Even this however does not count the orthodox Anglican parishes that have not yet made a committment to the new Province (a number which may approach 559). Neither does it count the membership drainage from TEC parishes to Anglican and non-Anglican parishes that has occurred in the past few years, or the remaining TEC parishes that, upon seeing the whole picture in the days following September 30th (2007), will initiate steps to remove themselves from TEC. Finally, TEC leaders ignore the fact that orthodox Anglicans prefer to count their numbers in terms of actual attendance whereas liberal Anglicans trumpet "members" who are on the roles but who rarely attend.
What should be our relationship to other Anglicans? |
