Read it carefully and read it all.
Update: Here is the press release:
September 30, 2007””Savannah, Georgia: The vestry of historic Christ Church has voted to continue in a province in good standing with the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion by placing itself under the pastoral care of The Rt. Reverend John Guernsey, Rector of All Saint’s Church in Woodbridge, VA and a bishop of the worldwide Anglican Communion’s Province of Uganda, Africa. The vestry was unanimous in its decision.
The vote follows a period of discernment and prayer that stretches back to 2000. “For seven years we have studied scripture, prayed and engaged in deep and significant conversations within the vestry, the congregation and the diocese,” Senior Warden Steve Dantin said. “It became clear to us that this was the best direction for us to take in order to proclaim the authority of Holy Scripture and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.”
“We have witnessed how The Episcopal Church (TEC) has separated itself from the historic Christian faith over the last few decades,” Dantin continued. “In February 2007 TEC received a final call from the Anglican Communion to return to the central tenets of Christianity, and TEC failed to comply with the request by the September 30 deadline. Therefore, TEC has abandoned the communion previously existing between TEC (including the Diocese of Georgia) and Christ Church. This is a sober moment for us, but our first allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s word revealed to us in the Holy Bible.”
“Traditional Anglican worship will continue at Christ Church just as it has for almost 275 years,” said The Reverend Marc Robertson, Rector of Christ Church. “We have had an established mission relationship with Uganda for several years. Bishop Guernsey in Virginia is well known to us, and I welcome the opportunity to serve under his authority.”The province of Uganda, under the leadership of Archbishop Henry Orombi, has a membership of 9.5 million people, including 33 churches in the U.S. Christ Church is one of over 1,000 congregations representing more than 200,000 U. S. Anglicans and 1,200 clergy who are associates of the Anglican Communion Network, an ecclesial, Anglican body in the U. S. Christ Church is also an affiliate of the American Anglican Council, an advocacy group for Anglican orthodoxy in the United States.
Founded in 1733 with the establishment of the Georgia colony, Christ Church is the Mother Church of Georgia and the oldest continuous Christian congregation in the state. Christ Church predates the establishment of The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Diocese of Georgia. Early rectors include British evangelists John Wesley and George Whitefield. Located on its original site on historic Johnson Square in downtown Savannah, Christ Church continues as an active and thriving congregation.
Christ Church is a Bible-based, mission-minded congregation. The Christ Church Parish House hosts Emmaus House, started in the 1980’s, which feeds 30,000 meals to homeless people annually, including a Christmas morning breakfast. Christ Church is a full partner in the Savannah Tour of Homes and Gardens, which it founded in 1935, returning the bulk of its proceeds to community ministries and mission. Christ Church also supports missions in Pass Christian, Mississippi; Belize; Romania; Russia; South America and Uganda.
Wow.
This is a major parish in that diocese. It is just one consequence of the New Orleans failure.
Truly sad.
But the presiding bishop said…
freihofer,
I’ll go you one further: it is the crown jewel in that diocese, and they are in for a real fight. God be with them.
The bleeding continues. At some point it will become terminal.
TEC will do all in their power to keep the property. No amount of money will be too large to expend on this one. In terms of property, this is the crown jewel of the diocese.
I had the pleasure of visiting there almost a month ago. I was on vacation and circumstances led me to worship there on Sunday 9/9. They were already in the process of discerning. Congratulations!
Don’t be ridiculous David+ (#6); this only make 46 parishes that have departed.
I was going to see the relative position of this congregation in terms of membership, ASA and pledge-n-plate in DioGA, but the Office of Congregational Development graphs are not available–the infamous Error 404.
Nope, ECUSA is fine and dandy. Nothing to see here…its a figment.
Now is the time for all Parishes who are thinking about it to decide. TEC cannot stem a flood. +KJS manniacle sell but not if going to second province is a change in policy as she and her comrades realize the scale of the problem is larger than 1/2 of one percent.
[blockquote] TEC will do all in their power to keep the property. No amount of money will be too large to expend on this one. In terms of property, this is the crown jewel of the diocese. [/blockquote]
TEC does have a financial interest in keeping the property. But we would make a significant error to think this fight is primarily about property. Far more important – and far more visceral – is TECs desire to prevent the emergence of a competing Anglican entity in the US. The leadership of TEC hates traditional Christianity, and wishes to see it completely displaced. Deprivation of property is simply a means to that end. I suspect TEC would rather see the entire Anglican presence in the US collapse before it would tolerate a successful orthodox Anglican alternative which might be juxtaposed with its own withering future. The humiliation would be too great for TEC to endure.
carl
A brief proposal based partially on reality, partially on faith, and partially on wishful thinking – all after a great deal of prayer –
Why not true alternative oversight? God forgive us, it’s about power.
Why not true alternative oversight? God forgive us, it’s about pride.
Why not true alternative oversight? God forgive us it’s about money.
Why don’t we say that a parish must pay a fair proportion of their income to the episcopal geography with which they are associated? This maintains common facilities and ministries. A further portion of their income would be used to provide salary and travel expense for the bishop from whom they receive oversight. Additional monies and resources could go to inward looking programs and expenses and to outreach of the parish’s choice. I truly believe that a parish doing God’s work will have the resources necessary for this.
Benfits are that: everyone gets their share of the pie; law suits (clearly condemned by Paul) are eliminated; property becomes less important than mission; and, just maybe, we can begin to worry about more important things.
I would like to see this kind of discussion continued if a separate thread could be started.
YBIC,
LayJim
#2: It did not matter what the HoB dis in New Orleans, they would have left anyway
Don’t fail to read the last paragraph and see what ministries are listed.
jayanthony, if you believe that you have a “terminal” problem of your own. TEC bs is deadly! But then, I know are kidding. May your future be blessed!
Since this Church existed BEFORE the Episcopal Church existed in the U. S., they have a strong case to keep their property.
David #16, lol. I am alive and well under the care of a godly bishop of the Southern Cone.
Carl nailed it.
Methinks a lawsuit over this in GA is going to play out about as well as it will in VA.
Good for them! A key was the open communication and discussion among the parish members. Most rectors and their bishops try to keep that sort of thing down.
I sure wouldn’t want the vestry to make a decision like that for the entire congregation!
This is phrased as not “leaving TEC” but “remaining a parish in good standing in the Anglican Communion.” Wise wording, if it works.
Kevin Babb:
Try this:
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_102200792152PM.pdf
Aye, TEC is starting to feel the humiliation. All those years of keeping the churches going, through good times and bad. Sunday schools and Christmas plays. Those Faithful who are the True Believers….are leaving TEC to the minorities. It will be interesting to see if the minorities will take as good care of things in the future.
bl
It’s obvious that prior to October 1, having still been in the Episcopal Church, there was a decline in membership and pledges. It seems that, for some people’s consciences, it was too much for them to bear and they decided to leave before any final decision of the parish itself.
#14, you are entirely correct. When I visited on 9/9, it was clear that their leaving was only a matter of time. I already learned about their mission relationship with a Ugandan diocese, so it was obvious that would be the diocese that they would affiliate with.
#17, I agree with you in principle. I don’t know anything about Georgia law, however. As we all know in Florida, state law is highly preferential to the diocese. Fortunately, for Christ Church, Georgia is one of the original 13 colonies, so the parish pre-dates TEC. Their claim is “We were an Anglican Church before (i.e. pre-Episcopal Church of the USA). We are once again. We’ve held the deed even BEFORE the Episcopal Church existed.” Let’s hope that argument holds.
loonpond, where are you getting the correct url? At the official website it has a slightly different, obviously incorrect url.
I think that the colonial churches in Georgia were given charters by the newly-formed state legislature placing ownership with the wardens and vestry. I don’t know if any of these churches (including Christ Church) ever signed property over to the Diocese of Georgia. There are several other colonial churches – I wonder what they will do.
Yup, Carl is right. It’s now definitely more than just property. They want absolutely no other Anglican structure in the U.S. See Kendall’s recent posting of +KJS’s stipulations that sale of TEC property should not go to alternative Anglican structures [url=http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/6529/]http://http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/6529/[/url]. By this reasoning, I suppose you can imagine any sorts of pagan uses for former TEC property but not for the Glory of God if it’s another Anglican structure not under TEC control.
LOL. A deep South congregation leaves the TEC for Ugandan-African oversight! If no one believes that our Lord is working on the hearts of true believers, this should be a lesson.
#30, they admitted as such at a parish meeting on 9/9. Here they are a Deep South church with a congregation mostly Anglo (English heritage) and high income now looking to join with the Global South which is mostly African, and definitely low-income. What really matters? In their case, the Gospel of Jesus Christ prevails above all else.
Flaanglican, you said it well! The power of the Lord and his Gospel prevails! There is no better example than this. 815 take notice.
Perhaps if Christ Church’s bishop’s father [url=http://www.vulcanhammer.org/palmbeach/around.php#pike]had been heeded to start with, this event–and the many like it–could have been avoided.[/url]
I liked Henry I. Louttit’s reaction to VGR in 2003, something so different from my Atlanta’s Bishop. I pray he will accept this with genuine grace.
I should add and not be hammered by Atlanta’s Bp. Alexander and ++KJS, neither of which have any idea about the Lord’s Will shown in Scripture. What a glorious day Christ Church, Savannah has given us. God be with them!
It’s amazing how things work. Before I left for vacation, I received an email from the Anglican Alliance of North Florida about an upcoming conference with The Rev. Canon Michael Green at Christ Church, Savannah in early-October (the same conference recently held in Gainesville, FL). My vacation took me through Savannah over the weekend of 9/8 and 9/9. So naturally, I decided to worship at Christ Church at their 10:30 am service, having already known about the church from the info about the upcoming October conference. I returned for their 9:00 pm Compline service the same evening (A beautiful and moving service by the way. I highly recommend it). During that day, I was able to share with them that I am a member of a church that already broke away from TEC which is already affililiated with the Church of Uganda. They seemed geniunely pleased and comforted by the reinforcement. I learned they were already in Mission partnership with the Diocese of Soroti, Uganda, so I knew that would be the Diocese they would eventually come under, and now have. I already think of them as extended family and am overjoyed that they have “stepped out in Faith.”
What can Schori and her kin be thinking? Do you really think that they can look at such defections and not see the handwriting of the wall? Can they not truly be afraid of that end their actions are bringing them to? They are about to lose an enormous amount of money, and there is an loss of prestige tht cannot readily be measured. How can they not be frightened. And to lose it to a pack of upstart African prelates! Can they really continue to deceive themselves? And it must be the case that there are dozens of parishes who are watching and waiting,who sense in TEC a fatal flaw, a kind of death wish, greater than the fight over homosexuality, that gives them a foreshadowing of what is to come for TEC, an end they would like to avoid participating in.Surely they must see the ship is sinking inexorably? I confess I still cannot understand what TEC really must be thinking and feeling. Larry
Psalm 68:31 [i]Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.[/i]
Mary and Joseph found protection in Egypt. The first Muslims sought refuge in Ethiopia. Who says you can’t go home again?
“Far more important—and far more visceral—is TECs desire to prevent the emergence of a competing Anglican entity in the US. The leadership of TEC hates traditional Christianity, and wishes to see it completely displaced. Deprivation of property is simply a means to that end” —Carl
Very good points.
“The leadership of TEC hates traditional Christianity, and wishes to see it completely displaced.”
An interesting perspective from Carl above. Does the Enemy attack the faith, or does he leave it alone? I doubt many in the TEC leadership even believe Satan exists. But if he does, would the form of his attack wear the cloth and carry the cross, or would he be more obvious, so we could see him clearly?
Angel of Light, William#2. Simple parade ground exercise. See THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by CS Lewis for a 20th Century take. Or you could try that pestilential fellow Paul for the NT era.