Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America will be attending the GAFCON/Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates meeting in London next week. The gathering set for 13-17 April 2015 is expected to plot the future course of the global Anglican reform movement as well as review the agenda set by its 2013 Nairobi Conference.

Next week’s London meeting is expected to discuss the issue of whether to support a parallel Anglican jurisdiction akin to the Anglican Church in North America for England, and how such support should be shown.

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Calvinist-inclined Baptists and Presbyterians attending this year’s upcoming national conference of the Gospel Coalition are adding a place at the table for a new constituency: conservative Anglicans who have broken with the Episcopal Church.

Joining mainstays like Danny Akin, Mark Dever, Albert Mohler and Russell Moore scheduled to speak at the April 13-15 gathering in Orlando, Fla., is John Yates II, rector of The Falls Church Anglican in suburban Washington.

Other Anglican leaders are offering seminars and workshops at the Gospel Coalition 2015 National Conference, and there will be an informal gathering one evening for Anglicans to come together for fellowship and encouragement, Yates said in a Gospel Coalition blog titled “Who Are These Anglicans in TGC?”

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I still remember a letter I received as a young rector. The letter concluded with, “Always remember, Fr. Mark, the Church primarily exists to serve the needs of its long-time members.” Even in the relatively more churched-culture of the late 1980s it struck me as shocking statement. Former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, wrote in the 1930s that the Church is the only institution in the world that exists to serve the needs of those who are not yet its members. But there is something more foundational than the recent debates about Missional vs Attractional. The Church by its very nature is missional. It is not that the Church one day decided to have a resolution, brought it forward and voted to be missional. It was the Risen Jesus Christ, whose mission we continue, who commands us””“As the Father has sent me so I am sending you.” The only thing left to ask is to whom, and where, and how He would have us go!
Missionalisation on a diocesan level also means to intentionally create a culture within the diocese that cultivates a missional approach to ministry and life. Cultures, as it has been observed, cultivate. To initiate outward thrust in congregational life and witness; to celebrate that which goes out in creative ways to where people gather rather than hunker down in Christian circles; to interact with the unchurch, unreached, uninterested is the challenge we face in today. It is to recognize that Jesus often crossed boundaries in his ministry and once he crossed boundaries he made contact, cultivated curiosity and then touched the place of need in the other person’s life which they hardly knew they had or could even whisper to others. It is, among other things, to take pre-evangelism, as well as evangelism, seriously. What is pre-evangelism? It is conveyed well by what an agnostic said upon the death of Pope John XXIII: “Pope John has made my unbelief uncomfortable.” Missionalization is to have such an aroma of Christ that when we go into the world meeting others we graciously make the agnostic and religiously unaffiliated uncomfortable in their unbelief.

Missionalisation also means for us to practice Big Picture thinking. As your bishop I have been mindful of the need to look at the big picture within the emerging Anglican world. Through the 2008 Lambeth Conference; the Global South gatherings in Singapore or elsewhere; the various GAFCON conferences; and from bishops or primates who have come to us from abroad to sojourn a few days or weeks in the Diocese of South Carolina the challenges and opportunities have been kept before me. Certainly the Anglican Communion Development Committee (ACD) has been a diocesan committee which has strategically looked at the larger world seeking to address what we could do to help shape the Anglican scene in the 21st Century. I am heartened that some of our larger parishes, such as St. Helena’s, Beaufort and St. Michael’s Charleston (which has a vital missional thrust through its Global Impact Celebration) are now seeking input from the ACD Committee as they rethink their missional relationships around the world.

Nevertheless I am often troubled by a recurring personal concern regarding the Big Picture….

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What the Lord showed me as I read history and studied the Bible is that it is crucially important to assess what faithfulness requires. I came to the position that St. Augustine was right and there is the possibility of a just war. Though I had not thought about it consciously, I was also greatly influenced by the Nürnberg War Trials, having grown up there while the echoes of those trials were still reverberating around the city. Eventually, I came to the position that it was possible for me to serve in the military as a Christian, but I also had to monitor orders to assess if they were lawful or not. Righteousness may demand refusing an unlawful order, but then it almost always comes with a terrible price when we stand against unrighteous deeds. Sometimes that prices is our freedom, reputation, or even our life.
The question at the heart of the challenging times I was facing then is much like the question we face in the church and culture today. Each query can be spoken from one of two different””essentially opposite””perspectives. One perspective will say essentially, “Lord, how far can I stray and still keep my salvation.” That is not, however, the way that faithful people are called to live. Instead, there is another way. I was blessed early on in my walk as a disciple to be taught by some very mature and wise Christians. They taught me that faithful Christians say, “Lord, show me ways that I can be more faithful; ways that I can be more closely conformed to your heart and will. Even if it is costly, show me what is right. Show me how I can draw more closely to You and to Your Cross.”

In this fallen world, the easy way is almost never the righteous way. It is also almost never God’s way. Of course, we should not choose a solution just because it is hard, we should choose a path because it is right. Whatever else we might say about choosing a righteous path, it is going to be costly. Those faithful leaders were very helpful in assisting me in taking the first steps of fidelity. They taught me how to weigh my heart in the Kingdom justice balance of Scripture and what to do in repentance when I came up on the wrong side. Over time, I was able to learn some things about how I was called to live.

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For years, I thought I was called to be an Anglican priest. My wife and I wanted to plant an Anglican church in Minneapolis. To that end, I attended a beautiful Anglican seminary couched in the forests of Wisconsin. There, surrounded by men and women much holier than myself, I was challenged to grow up in Christ. During the course of my studies and discernment, I came to believe that Christ intended his Church to be apostolic””and also that Rome had greatly exaggerated Peter’s role in the apostolic college. I had many opinions about the papacy, most of them clouded by exaggeration and fabrication, and considered myself to be more Catholic than the Catholics.
“Are you Episcopalian?” people asked.

“No, I am Anglican,” I said.

“But aren’t Episcopalians Anglican?” they asked.

And I would try my best to explain how the Anglican communion is full of national churches and independent provinces that are out of communion with one another. By my senior year, I was tongue-tied.

Schism””however sincerely felt, conventional, or culturally imperative””remains schism. Anglicanism has not essentially changed since the moment King Henry VIII had, in the most frightening sense of the phrase, an original idea. Time and habit””together with popular acceptance and the enduring appeal of fresh breaks (I was in the ACNA, a break-off from TEC)””do not transform the Church of England into a “branch” of the Catholic Church. Time’s passage does not a Catholic Church make. In fact, just the opposite happens: the longer Anglicans remain out of communion with Peter’s successor, the pope, the longer the principle of decay can take effect. As in the moment of the original break, the result of schism is something schismatic every single second.

We should not mistake the gradual numbing of our awareness of schism with its disappearance or release from our ongoing responsibility for it; much less should we excuse such visible disunity by appealing to an invisible “unity in Christ”””at least not while we’re praying “on earth as it is in heaven.” The Church is more than a surface-level illusion.

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Christ Church Anglican will end its three-year worship arrangement with Independent Presbyterian Church on Sunday before moving to its own church at a new site on Feb. 1.

The congregation, which left historic Christ Church on Johnson Square in 2011, has gathered to worship at the 207 Bull St. facility since. The congregation will leave the Bull Street site at 10:45 a.m. Sunday and proceed to its new location at Bull and 37th streets.

The first services there will be at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Feb 1, said the Rev. Marc Robertson, senior pastor.

The church’s new home is in the newly renovated 100-year-old church building that was originally home to Hull Presbyterian Church. It most recently was owned by the Christian Revival and Restoration Center.

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A handful of other congregations, including All Saints Anglican Church in Charlotte, NC, Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Raleigh, NC and Saint John’s Anglican Church of Americus, GA have also announced building plans. This summer All Saints’ Anglican Church in Springfield, MO and All Saints’ Anglican Church in Peachtree City, GA, completed and consecrated new church buildings.

The churches range from a modest colonial-revival brick building in the case of Restoration to a 30,000-square-foot gothic structure built for the congregation of St. Peter’s.

In addition to making the churches more visible in their communities and accommodating growth in the size of congregations, the new structures are allowing for new programs and events. St. Peter’s is partnering with Trinity School for Ministry to offer theological education far from the seminary’s Ambridge, Pennsylvania campus. Other congregations plan to use their news space for conferences, or to begin hosting programs such as Vacation Bible School which were impractical or not possible in leased spaces.

“Our new church is just the beginning of what we hope to build,” explained Fr. Andrew Rowell, associate rector of St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

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The text of the Preface regarding Confirmation is brief enough that I’ll print the text of the first three out of four paragraphs as I go, one paragraph at a time, followed by a few comments. The statement begins like this:

Anglicanism requires a public and personal profession of the Faith from every adult believer in Jesus Christ. Confirmation by a bishop is its liturgical expression. Confirmation is evident in Scripture: the Apostles prayed for, and laid their hands on those who had already been baptized (Acts 8:14-17; 19:6).

I keep toying with this first sentence in my mind. If they mean this to be an accurate description of how the majority of Anglicans think about confirmation, I think they may be correct. But if this is meant to be descriptive of Anglicanism in any historical sense, than it is certainly misleading and probably just flat out wrong. Why?

At least one implication of the practice of requiring both baptism and Confirmation before reception of Holy Communion in the English and American BCPs (until 1979) is that God administers something in Confirmation (as opposed to it being simply a ritual acknowledgement that one is now mature enough to willingly give themselves to the Christian faith). Or at least that there is a sacramental encounter with God in that moment (which, by definition, would mean that it is an encounter unique to that sacrament). Otherwise, why does the bishop pray not only for a strengthening of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, but for the seven-fold gifts of the Spirit? The petition that the candidate be defended “with thy heavenly grace” is also interesting, as it has no parallel in the baptism rites (that is, it’s not a repetition of something already requested in that ritual). In short, what the bishop petitions on behalf of the candidate are things not requested at baptism.

The rest of the ACNA statement reflects in many ways the tension that persists around this controverted rite, a tension that began in the twentieth century and endures into the twenty-first. While the adage that Confirmation is a “rite in search of a theology” is maybe a bit too cavalier, it is true that the intention of Confirmation and its relationship to baptism remain hotly contested.

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I once accompanied a friend to visit a church plant with roots in a non-denominational tradition. He was excited to take me because his church shared the Lord’s Supper weekly and he knew I was “into Communion.” On this particular occasion the Pastor concluded the service with a prayer, the exit music came over the sound system and he walked off the stage. We were gathering our things to leave when he jogged back up on stage, turned his mic on and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention that on your way out we have some bread and juice on a table by the door. Christians call this Communion and have done it for thousands of years. If you are into that kind of thing, we’d love to have you grab some on your way out.”

As an Anglican, my sacramental soul shriveled. I literally stood where I was and said a silent prayer interceding for the people as the words of 1 Corinthians 11 ran through my head, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died (29,30).” I felt like Moses waiting for a plague to spread like a wave until it stopped at my outstretched hands. It was a profound juxtaposition to hear the lackadaisical language of the pastor “if you’re into that kind of thing” and Paul’s clear language of warning of the importance of approaching the Eucharist with preparation, solemnity, respect and awe, “this is why some of you have died.”

While mistakes like this are common among well-intentioned planters and pastors, new missional works do not always have careless sacramentology. I have celebrated the Eucharist with linens draped over a plastic table in a gym that smelled like sweaty kids and experienced something transcendent and beautiful, something ancient but immediate. What makes the difference in a church plant between an experience of the sacraments that is holy and one that is sloppy?

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We were enriched and strengthened in our apostolic ministries through the inspiring sessions presented by the Rt. Rev. John A.M Guernsey, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and Dean of Provincial Affairs, and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Ray Sutton, Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Mid America (REC) and Provincial Dean.

Bishop Guernsey spoke about the importance of a bishop’s prayer life and accented his presentations with powerful testimonies of the ways Almighty God had answered prayers of faith and vision. We were reminded that Jesus himself instructed the disciples to pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (Luke 10:2). Each afternoon the College of Bishops was enriched by Bishop Sutton’s outstanding and anointed teaching on the office of the Bishop. He presented an historical survey of the ministry of the bishop, highlighting many godly examples for us as we seek to live, pray, love, and minister.

In surveying seven eras in the history of the Church, from the Apostolic Age of the New Testament to the present day, Bishop Sutton challenged the College to recover the best of the apostolic office as it has been revealed in Scripture and experienced in the life of the Church. His presentation concluded with a tremendously stirring call to us to fulfill our vocations….

We gave thanks for the presence of Bishop Mark Lawrence throughout the meeting. Our prayers continue to be with him and the faithful people whom he leads in the Diocese of South Carolina

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During this year past year, I made a very difficult decision to leave the only church I have known. I grew up in an Assemblies of God (AG) church. My family has been AG since the 1930s and is one of the oldest Pentecostal families in New Orleans. My father is an AG pastor and I have two brothers who are ordained AG ministers. I have held AG ministerial for a couple of years, but with the recent transition of the New Year (2015), my AG ministerial credentials have lapsed. God willing, I will be confirmed on January 25th into the Anglican Church by Bishop Todd Hunter at Holy Trinity in Costa Mesa.

I am not leaving with hurt, bitterness, or resentment. Quite the contrary, I maintain a deep love and respect for the church that taught me the name of Jesus. The last AG congregation I was a part of (in Pasadena, CA) was a wonderful group of people led by a theologically capable pastor that I appreciate greatly. I am excited about the direction of the AG (under George Wood) and I am confident that it will continue to thrive in the decades to come.

Because of my positive wishes toward my friends and family in the AG, I was not planning on sharing publicly my reasons for leaving. That is, I am not trying to convince people to leave the AG or even that it was a good idea for me to leave the AG. I actually want people to stay and make the AG even better. (I tried myself really hard to stay, and finally had to acknowledge that God was calling to the Anglican Church””or perhaps more accurately, God was making me into an Anglican). However, my friend (and fellow AG minister) Dan suggested that I give a public explanation for why I am leaving. His reasoning was that if people continue to leave silently, how will the AG address those issues which led to their exit from the church? I think Dan is right and so I am taking some time to explain how I became Anglican.

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Far worse than death itself is the prospect of being separated from the love of God for all eternity. Of course we should be motivated by love to reach out to people with kindness and to share with them about God’s love. It is not particularly effective to try to preach people into the Kingdom from a fear of Hell, but, nonetheless, a genuine relationship with Christ does deliver people from eternal death. The assurance of His love for us and His relationship with us can carry us through terrible temporal times.

Last week, four young Iraqi boys all under fifteen were captured by ISIS. They were told that they would be killed unless they renounced their faith in Jesus and promised to follow The Prophet. They refused, saying “No, we love Jesus.” As a result, all four were beheaded. Such things used to seem far away from a different land and a different age, but now, the truth is that those same pressures are coming against us. It could be any place and any time that we are challenged.

For decades now we have been fighting the liberal message that there are no consequences from sin, either temporally or eternally. We went so far as to break with those who preach this false Gospel. It is not that we insist on puritanical behavior because otherwise our sensibilities would be offended. We have stood up against the departure from Scriptural faith because the faith that we have received teaches us that to depart from it brings the consequence of eternal death. The battle has been about whether or not people go to Hell.

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Imagine that the bowls of heaven, which are filled with the prayers of the saints (us!), are what God pours out in order to reach those of “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” As we pray to extend His Kingdom, I imagine those bowls filling up. When they overflow, it is not hard to imagine the grace of the Kingdom pouring out of the bowls and into the dreams of those whose hearts are ripe. Of course we still do all we can to carry out mission, but in this season, more fruit with M**lims is coming from supernatural means.

Dumped fuel has a tremendous impact on the atmosphere. It is profound and negative. It should only be done when there is no other way to save lives. Joining in prayer for the extension of the Kingdom and the conversion of hearts and souls to Jesus Christ through all manner of means both natural and supernatural has a tremendous impact on the spiritual atmosphere. It is profound and life giving. It does not cost anything but time, and it pays tremendous dividends.

By the way”¦you might wonder why I chose to spell M**lim or Isl*m with “*” instead of just spelling it out. It’s because of search engines. Radical M**lims can Google for articles that mention both Christ and Isl*m looking for ways to identify those whom they view are committing apostasy. A simple thing like an * in the spelling is just a safety net for our brothers and sisters in Christ who came from a M**lim background.

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Grace and peace to you in the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord!!! I hope this email finds you well and walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I am writing from Sydney where I just arrived after an incredible time of ministry in South East Asia (Singapore, Kuching, and Yangon). More on that another time.

I am writing to you because there has been alot of discussion in recent days about taking “The Marriage Pledge.” If you have not been following the online conversation, you can read the Pledge here at First Things, as well as a critical commentary here on Doug Wilson’s blog.

Some of our bishops and clergy have been in favor of signing this pledge, some are not in favor of signing the pledge, while others need more time to consider the consequences of making such a commitment.

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On November 8th, 2014 Archbishop Foley Beach met with Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, Chairman of the Department of External Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The meeting, welcomed by Metropolitan Hilarion at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York, was an opportunity to meet Archbishop Beach, as well as continue the ecumenical dialogue between faithful Anglicans in North America and the Orthodox Churches.

Bishop Ray Sutton, Provincial Dean and Dean of Ecumenical Affairs was also present at the meeting, and was encouraged by the extension of ecumenical continuity, “Metropolitan Hilarion was with us when we met together for dialogue at Nashotah House in 2012, at which time he expressed a desire to continue Anglican/Orthodox dialogue through the Anglican Church in North America, and this meeting tonight with Archbishop Beach further encourages the strengthening of ties between the Anglican Church in North America and Orthodox churches in this part of the world.”

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Shortly after the TEC House of Bishops met in Taiwan, a group went to West Malaysia. They announced that they had heard the consecration of a new assistant bishop was about to take place and they were there to participate. Leaders in the Anglican Church in Malaysia said, “You are welcome””to our country. You cannot participate in the service however, because of the actions you have taken to tear the fabric of the communion and you remain unrepentant. We are not in Communion with you, so you cannot participate in the service.”

The visit was part of TEC’s initiative to demonstrate that they are fully part of the Communion and are in relationships with other Anglican Provinces. The tactic has been used in a number of places in Africa where they visit, are received with hospitality (because that is the culture of those people), and then take pictures to demonstrate that there are no significant issues even though there may be disagreement over things like sexuality.

In this case, the TEC plan did not work in Malaysia. The leaders in the Diocese of West Malaysia are very well informed and steadfastly faithful. Not only did they turn TEC away, they knew I was traveling in South East Asia so they sent me a message. “Can you change your travel plans to be at the consecration we are having in Kuala Lumpur? We want to demonstrate that we are not in Communion with TEC, but we are in Communion with the ACNA. If you can get here, we’d like to make your visit highly visible.”

I was able to change my itinerary and arrived in time to participate in the Consecration including the laying on of hands for Charles Samuel, consecrated as Assistant Bishop for the Panang district of the Diocese of West Malaysia.

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Listen to it all (the clip lasts just over 9 minutes).

Statement in pdf

9th October 2014
Mercy, grace, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We, the undersigned primates, were honored to participate in the joyful investiture of the Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach as Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, and to receive him as a fellow Primate of the Anglican Communion.

Though our contexts vary in our different parts of the globe, the heart of our calling is to share the transforming love of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We celebrate that the Anglican Church in North America shares in that same mission and purpose. We and our Provinces will continue to share in Gospel work together, and pledge our continued partnership with the Anglican Church in North America to pursue the work of Christ.

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis
Chairman of the Anglican Global South; Bishop of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa; President Bishop of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East

The Most Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala
Archbishop and Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans

The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh
Archbishop, Primate, and Metropolitan of All Nigeria, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Vice-Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans

The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali
Archbishop and Primate of Uganda; Bishop of Kampala

The Most Rev. Dr. Onesphore Rwaje
Archbishop and Primate of Rwanda; Bishop of the Diocese of Kigali

The Most Rev. Stephen an Myint Oo
Archbishop of Myanmar; Global Trustee of The Anglican Relief and Development Fund

The Most Rev. Hector (Tito) Zavala
Archbishop of the Southern Cone and Bishop of Chile

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Other recent related posts:
Archbishop Venables’ Message and Greetings from Pope Francis to Archbishop Foley [Transcript] – October 14, 2014
Prebendary Charles Marnham’s Greetings from the UK and Ireland to Archbishop Foley [Transcript] – October 13, 2014
Phil Ashey: Anglicanism at Its Best – October 10, 2014
WCC staff member appointed Unity, Faith and Order Director for the Anglican Communion – October 10, 2014
[Anglican Ink] ACNA is Anglican – October 10, 2014
(Anglican Ink) Papal greetings for newest ACNA Leader Foley Beach – October 10, 2014
A Local Paper article on ACNA, Anglicanism+Archbishop Justin Welby’s recent interview – October 10, 2014
The Investiture Sermon of new ACNA Leader Foley Beach – October 10, 2014
The Investiture of Foley Beach as new ACNA leader on Thursday Evening – October 9, 2014
Phil Ashey: Anglican Identity? Canterbury’s loss, not ours – October 8, 2014
Mark Thompson: Who or what defines the Anglican Communion? – October 8, 2014
All About Canterbury [Video] – October 8, 2014
(ACNS) Abp Welby: “Next Lambeth Conference a decision for the primates” – October 6, 2014
(Anglican Ink) Has Archbishop Welby buried the instruments of Anglican unity? – October 4, 2014
The Audio Link to the Full Interview of Justin Welby by Canon Ian Ellis of the C of I Gazette – October 4, 2014
(David Ould) Diocese of NW Australia Recognises ACNA as Anglicans – October 4, 2014
(Telegraph) Tim Walker””Archbishop Justin Welby snubs the Royal College of Organists – October 3, 2014
Archbishop Justin Welby sends good wishes for Yamim Nora’im – October 2, 2014
Archbp Justin Welby””Survivors of abuse are never the ones to blame – October 1, 2014

Can be watched here from to 2:37:12 to 2:43:44

[Note: On 25th May Archbishop Greg and Sylvia Venables surprised intruders in their house who savagely beat and kicked him. Pope Francis phoned to see how they were]
Can I just say – it’s a strange thing – two or people have come up to me in the short time I’ve been here in the United States this time in Atlanta and said, er: “We thought you were dead.” [laughter – adjusts stole ”“ more laughter]

Well I do want to assure you all, that I’m very much alive. [Applause]

And so is Sylvia, who is down at the ends of the earth where it’s been our privilege for many years to serve God and of course she sends her warm greetings to you Foley, and to your precious family this evening. She says to tell you, darling, (addressing Archbishop Foley’s wife, Allison) to follow the advice she was given when she began to walk with me many years ago. It was a hymn with two words: Go on go on go on go on ”“ Go on go on go on ”“ Go on go on ”“ Go on go on ”“ Go on go on go on, and there are I forget how many verses. [laughter] So darling, go on!

Can I say also that it is a wonderful privilege: when we began this whole process, many of you here will remember when this was, some of you didn’t have white hair in those days and I had some hair.

And today we are celebrating that not only am I still very much alive, but the Anglican Church is still very much alive! [Applause]

This is a celebration of true Anglicanism, and remember what Foley said earlier on this evening: this evening, meeting in this place is the majority of the Anglican Communion. This evening here the vast majority of the Anglican Communion is represented, because the vast majority of the Anglican Communion: believe that the word of God is true; believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God; and believe that he is our only hope as we move forward. Amen [Applause]

Now I am here also this evening as a messenger, and I will try and fulfil my responsibility as well as I can and as briefly as I can…
When I was nearly dead, in May, as some of you might have heard, and I was lying there wondering if I ever wanted to be alive again, the phone rang. And I picked the phone up and said [I’ll do this in English, it’ll be easier for most of you] ”“ I said: “Hello”

And a voice said: “Hello, Gregory, how are you?” ”“ not with that accent of course.

And I said: “Yeah, who is this,” and he said: “Francis”.

And I was thinking, Francis, Francis, Francis: “Francis who?” ”“ and he..[laughter]

And he said with a wonderful degree of humility and patience which marks him as many of you now know: “No, it’s Father Jorge” ”“ Father George.

Now many of you know that in Argentina up until last year we had a very, very, very wonderful personal and close working relationship with Cardinal Bergoglio. It was our joy and privilege to work with him and walk together with him in the Gospel, because our brother is a Bible-believing, born again, Christ-centered Christian.

And he has asked me this evening, in fact he wrote to me just a few days ago and said: when you go to the United States, please in my name give my personal congratulations and greetings to Archbishop Foley and assure him of my prayers and support at this moment and in the future as he leads the church in this very important moment of revival and mission.

So if you will come and stand here, I’ve got to do this the way we do it in Argentina: God bless you. [passes on greeting to Archbishop Foley]

Thank you very much

[Applause]

Archbishop Gregory Venables has served as Primate of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and is Bishop of Argentina

Can be watched here from 2:22:54 to 2:28:56
Archbishop Foley ”“ I bring warm greetings, congratulations and good wishes to you at this very special moment, and our prayers and thoughts to your wife and family too:

Firstly from the Executive of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the United Kingdom, that is Wales, Scotland and England ”“ and Ireland too. [laughter] They are not part of the United Kingdom – Northern Ireland is ”“ my wife is Northern Irish. The Primates of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans recognises this regional body as the expression of orthodox Anglicanism in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

I have been asked Secondly to bring the greetings and prayers of the Executive of the Church of England Evangelical Council, whose existence owed much to the late Dr John Stott.

And Thirdly the recent ReNew Conference of Anglican clergy and leaders, consisting of members of three organisations: the Anglican Mission in England, which is the mission society of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans UK and Ireland, Reform and Church Society. They also wanted me to convey their good wishes at this key moment in the life of the province. You and fellow members of this province of the Anglican Church of North America should be in no doubt that you have many friends in the Church of England who admire and respect your costly, courageous and principled stand in recent years.

You have taught us valuable lessons as we respond to the challenges of a collapsing culture in the United Kingdom both within and outside the Church…
Outside the Church the redefinition of marriage by a government without a manifesto commitment or mandate caused a great shock, not only within the Christian community, but wider nationally.

Within the Church of England the Pilling Report recently submitted to General Synod of which I am a member, recommended that the subject of sexuality be addressed through facilitated discussions. However it states that it has not found the arguments from Scripture, theology, science or social trends to be conclusive, either for or against the Church’s current teaching.

In his minority dissenting report, the Bishop of Birkenhead, Keith Sinclair who sends his personal greetings to you too today records that as far as the Report is concerned the jury is still out. But he wrote:

“that is a conclusion and a rationale and basis for further discussion which I do not share. No one who reads the signs of the times will be reassured that the foundations are secure as the tectonic plates are already shifting.”

We have learnt at least two valuable lessons from you:

In particular, ”˜united we stand, divided we fall’. We can spend a great deal of wasted effort focussing on where we disagree. It is Satan’s best weapon. You are here today because you have worked so hard on maintaining unity. I am encouraged that I have come with greetings from a number of bodies from the United Kingdom which demonstrates a greater understanding of our need for unity at this time.

The second lesson: ”˜make the main thing the main thing’. Guarding the Gospel is a priority, but its twin is Proclaiming the Gospel. We note how urgent you are in mission and discipleship, and recognise that we must follow your lead.

But this is a moment of celebration, and we rejoice with you and thank God that He has brought you safely thus far. Never think for a moment that you don’t have many friends and admirers in the Church of England who hugely respect your integrity in the face of provocation and persecution.

This year marks the Centenary of the beginning of the First World War and I am reminded of the remark by Marshall Foch to Marshall Joffre during the first battle of the Marne in September 1914:

“My center is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent ”“ I am attacking”

[laughter and applause]

Our attack, if it be so called, is the message of the transforming love of God in Jesus Christ, and nothing and no one can defeat it. Archbishop Foley, may that be your constant inspiration and we will pray for you but we also ask you to pray for us.

May God bless you all. [Applause]

The Reverend Prebendary Charles Marnham is Vicar of St Michael’s Chester Square in London, member of General Synod and the originator of the Alpha Course.

Pope Francis has signalled his blessing to the breakaway traditionalist American church at the centre of the split which has divided the 80 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion over the issue of sexuality.

He sent a message offering his “prayers and support” to Archbishop Foley Beach, the new leader of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the conservative movement which broke away from The Episcopal Church after the ordination of the first openly gay bishop.

His message underlines the pressure facing the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, as he attempts to avert a formal schism in worldwide Anglicanism.

Read it all.

Pope Francis has communicated his personal greetings and blessings for the new ministry of the Most Rev. Foley Beach, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America [ACNA].

Speaking to the congregation of over 1500 gathered at the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta on 9 Oct 2014 for the installation of Archbishop Beach as leader of the ACNA, the Anglican Bishop of Argentina, the Rt. Rev. Gregory Venables stated that he had received a telephone call last week from “Fr Jorge”, the former Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio — now Pope Francis. Bishop Venables noted that he had long had a warm personal relationship with Pope Francis from his days as leader of the Argentine Catholic Church, and added Anglicans should rejoice in the current occupant of the chair of St Peter as he was a “Bible-believing, born again Christian.”

Read it all.

In essence, [Justin] Welby’s comments have re-stirred a critical question: Is being Anglican about being in communion with Caterbury, or is it about holding certain shared theological views?

Wood noted that Welby also said in the interview, “There is no Anglican Pope,” and that “decisions are made collectively and collegially.”

“The status of the ACNA within the Anglican Communion would, by extension of the same logic, be dependent upon the decisions of the primates and not solely upon the personal opinion Archbishop Justin,” [Steve] Wood said.

Read it all.

What is the kind of Church that He wants us to be? I’m sure there are many things we could say in answer to this question, but I am going to have the audacity to use an historic term to help us move forward together in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we seek to make the Father famous, and glorify Jesus Christ.

I will call these the “Four Marks of Continuing a Spirit-filled Movement” or rather “Four Marks of Modern Anglicanism.”

Read it all.

At 7 pm Eastern Time, Midnight London Time

With many thanks to Anglican TV

Read it all and note the livestream link. Also, a brief Atlanta Journal-Constitution article is there.

Two Anglican churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Christ Church Plano and All Saints Dallas, recently partnered in hosting the Rev. Canon Dr. Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad, at their churches, raising more than $200,000 for Canon White’s ongoing missionary efforts in Iraq. “The wonderful links we have in the Anglican world brought us all together and gave the people of our two churches a common purpose: to uphold and support a vital ministry,” said the Very Rev. Canon David H. Roseberry, rector of Christ Church Plano.

Canon White is the Vicar of St. George’s Church, just outside the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq. This congregation is the only remaining Anglican church in the country. He is also the President of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, which promotes peaceful relations and mutual respect amongst religious groups and their members, as well as provides humanitarian aid and assistance to persons and communities in need.

Read it all.

The Diocese of NW Australia, meeting in synod this weekend, passed the following motion,

That this synod:

welcomes the impending investiture of the Most Reverend Dr Foley Beach, the Archbishop of The Anglican Church in North America;

recognizes the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) as a member church of the Anglican Communion, in full communion with Diocese of North West Australia; rejoices that the orthodox faith is proclaimed in word and deed through ACNA and its member churches…

Read it all.

What unites members of this fledgling congregation, many of whom have migrated from evangelical Christian churches, is not necessarily ritual and dogma. It is the church’s mission, based on a passage from the Book of Jeremiah, to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” in which they live.

“What draws them together is the love of the neighborhood, and the desire to be in mission here,” said Ryan Boettcher, one of Christ Redeemer’s three lay pastors, who lives in Riverwest with his wife and infant son. “There’s this community vision that our welfare as a church is so tied to the neighborhood that, unless our neighborhood is flourishing, we can’t see our church as flourishing.”

Christ Redeemer, which has grown to about 45 families, worships in rented space at the Holton Youth + Family Center, at 510 E. Burleigh St. It is one of about 500 new churches planted by the Anglican Church in North America…

Read it all.

An alternate title for this excellent commentary by Bishop Atwood might be “Manure and the Anglican Soup.” It pairs well with the article from Christianity Today which I’d just read and posted below.

[…]There is nowhere in the Church where there is more vulnerability for the Gospel to be undermined than in the Anglican Communion. Certainly, there are other churches and denominations where the historic faith has been more fully and formally abandoned by the official decisions of institutional leadership, but the current vulnerability in the Anglican Communion is that the historic faith and Gospel commitment which has driven missionary zeal and Biblical fidelity for centuries is being de-emphasized in order to “get along.”

Right now, there are countless initiatives at the institutional level to attempt to convince people that the “cut-glass crystal punch bowl” is so beautiful that when it is polished, preserved, and appreciated the recipe of the punch it contains is unimportant. The challenge, however, is how much adulteration to the punch is acceptable. I addressed the House of Bishops in one of our Anglican Provinces and pointed out that the soup that was being made (to switch metaphors) has lovely carrots, beautiful potatoes, succulent chicken, and tasty broth. “How much manure can be added to the soup before you no longer can consume it and stay healthy?” I asked them. Not surprisingly, they did not want to have any manure added to the soup, and yet, quite a number of them were participating in conferences sponsored by liberal entities that completely undermined the Gospel, replacing it with institutional focus and uncritical acceptance of sin.

While I was tremendously excited at the selection of Justin Welby as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and had hoped and prayed for his selection believing that he was the best of the available candidates, I have been concerned at what appears to be a perspective that everything can be reconciled with everything else. While most relational disruptions can be reconciled, theological positions are another matter. It is impossible, for example, for the position “Jesus is Lord of all” to be reconciled with “Jesus is not Lord of all.” While theological disagreements may not seem to be that stark, it is precisely that revelation that is at stake in the Anglican Communion. The Lordship of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture, and how He viewed Scriptural authority is very much in play.

Read it all.

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach has called for special prayer this Sunday, August 24, for those suffering in Iraq and Syria, and the ACNA has put together a special prayer resource.

You can find Archbishop Foley’s exhortation here
The prayer resource is available as a PDF file or as Word Doc. Please pray and please share this widely! The elves