The denomination’s path has not been without conflict: in 2010, the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), a founding organization of ACNA and part of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, announced it was transitioning to “missionary partner” ”“ a lower level of affiliation with ACNA. Eighteen months later, the AMIA experienced a crisis when its officials unilaterally severed their connection with the Rwandan church, forfeiting ACNA missionary partner status. The dispute was partly resolved when two-thirds of AMIA congregations opted to affiliate with ACNA by directly joining its dioceses or through a new Rwandan-sponsored missionary jurisdiction. The remaining third of AMIA congregations recast themselves as a mission society with connections to the Anglican Church of Congo.
Many ACNA congregations that departed the Episcopal Church have also endured litigation over disputed church properties with their former denomination. While Duncan has acknowledged the pain of the past split for many congregations and the difficulty of contentious litigation, he has encouraged congregations to prioritize evangelism and not to dwell on past disputes.
Don’t miss the link to the latest ACNA Provincial data showing the stats for 2009, 2011, 2013.
[url=https://c119b78671d19b8aee34-1ab073aa91389396dfc8b6aabc9b141e.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/Congregational_Report_to_Provincial_Council.pdf]ACNA report 2013[/url]
It’s very good to read how ACNA is strengthening its Provincial reporting system and prioritizing accurate parish reports (providing help and tutorials to ensure accuracy.) Nice.
And it’s good to see the growth.
Yes, Karen — the new system appears to have made a significant improvement in the percentage of parishes reporting.
I am heartened to see the most recent growth in ACNA. Only a handful of parishes have moved to ACNA from the Episcopal Church in the past two years, so this sustained growth is evidence of “growing the [Anglican] pie” rather than just taking a larger slice of it.
FWIW, my diocese (Mid-Atlantic, under +John Gurnersey), achieved 100% compliance in reporting this year.
Thanks, Jeff. Nice historical summary.
David Handy+
I wonder if the recent TEC stats for 2012 include the Diocese of South Carolina? If so, those numbers need to be downsized by about 22,000. We left in October 2012.
Its good to see ACNA has been continuing to work on stats reporting. Whilst numbers aren’t the most important thing, its still important to have accurate figures, whether for good or ill.
#2, good point. Less people self-identify as Anglicans in USA than in Australia – which has about one fourteenth the population!
There is ample room to grow the Anglican presence in all of North America. If TEC and ACoC won’t do it (and its pretty obvious that they are accomplishing the reverse) then all the more need for ACNA to plant churches and spread Anglicanism into areas that don’t have an Episcopalian presence any more.