MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE AAC!

• A Message from the AAC President
• Press Release: AAC Applauds Virginia Churches’ Faithfulness
• Brief Summary of Virginia Churches Situation
• 9 Churches Depart Virginia Diocese - A Report from the Church Times
• Letters from Archbishop Akinola and Bishop Minns to New CANA Congregations
• Presiding Bishop Downplays Significance of Virginia Departures

A MESSAGE FROM THE AAC PRESIDENT, THE REV. CANON DAVID C. ANDERSON

December 22, 2006

Beloved in Christ,

Let me begin by wishing you, each one of you, a very blessed Christmas. When Christian soldiers have been in foxholes during battle, they have paused for a moment at Christmas and remembered that this is their Savior’s birthday. Many of our priests and bishops feel very much “in a foxhole” this Christmas, but in the midst of it all, they and we re-think - maybe the word anamnesis is better - vividly relive - the great gift that God our Father has given us in his Son, Jesus the Christ.

Our God seems to prefer the incarnation model - first his own Son, but then through saints, well known and unknown, and on to us, you and me - to accomplish his purpose. Jesus was God incarnate in a unique and singular way, and we continue the incarnation action in a much less profound way. My prayer is that we all may be faithful to the high calling that our Lord gives us.

Back on the battle front, things are jumping in Virginia. Charlotte Allen, in a column in The Guardian , says, “Jefferts Schori pooh-poohed the mass departure of the Virginians, declaring that they were a splinter collection of malcontents...” It is interesting that the former bishop of Nevada, whose elevation from parish cleric to backwater bishop to Presiding Bishop makes the term “fast track” seem inadequate, has demeaned the northern Virginia people who left the Episcopal Church for safety under an orthodox Anglican bishop by calling them a splinter of malcontents.

When she was bishop of Nevada, her baptized membership was appoximately 6,000, with an average Sunday attendance of just over 2,300, for an entire diocese! The group she lightly dismisses as a "splinter" constitutes nearly 7,600 baptized members who have an average Sunday attendance of 4,300. She has dismissed and demeaned a group of departing Anglicans that is considerably larger than her entire former diocese. The numbers would also seem to indicate that the Virginia Anglicans go to church on Sunday a good deal more often that the ones in Nevada. The former bishop of Las Vegas becomes the “take a chance” Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (TEC), and she demeans those whose faith is firmly rooted and their actions godly.

As new orthodox congregations are starting up all over North America in response to the realignment in Anglicanism, one of the pressing needs is an inexpensive or free (free is always better) supply of basic necessities such as processional crosses, candlesticks, altar linens, chalices, patens, etc. The Lord has put it on my heart to do something about this, and the American Anglican Council could act as a redistribution center for such basic necessities. If your church has more of any of these, and if they are in decent condition (no junk please!), would you consider it a mission to the larger church to send them to us; we will store them; and when a church is in need, we will redeploy them to those who will gratefully receive the items and use them for the furtherance of the kingdom of God? Most churches I have known have extras, and if you could share your abundance with those who are struggling to restart the church, it would be a great blessing. I pose this request at a time when we celebrate the greatest gift of all, the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas.

Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,
 
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
CEO & President of the AAC

THE AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL APPLAUDS VIRGINIA CHURCHES' FAITHFULNESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2006

Contact:
Jenny Abel
770-414-1515

The American Anglican Council (AAC) fervently applauds the faithfulness of the nine Diocese of Virginia churches that announced Sunday, December 17, 2006, their plans to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the U.S. missionary district of the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The nine churches, with a combined membership of nearly 8,000 and average Sunday attendance of just over 4,300, join four other Diocese of Virginia churches that have disaffiliated from TEC over the past year.

“CANA is growing rapidly, and the AAC joins the Virginia churches in our gratitude to the Church of Nigeria and its archbishop, the Most. Rev. Peter Akinola, for providing much-needed oversight and support during this difficult time in the United States,” said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, AAC President and CEO.

TEC has continually rejected biblical orthodoxy over the past four decades, and the speed of its moral and theological decline has increased since General Convention 2006, when the convention failed to adequately respond to the Windsor Report and worldwide Primates’ requests.

“The top leadership of the Episcopal Church is rapidly leading TEC away from being a Christian church, and we strongly support churches that choose to leave in order to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word,” Canon Anderson said. “These Virginia churches represent a significant segment of TEC, and they will serve as a beacon for other churches nation-wide who face the same decision regarding their relationship with TEC and the Anglican Communion.”

The climate of the national church has become increasingly hostile toward the orthodox since General Convention, and bishops such as that of Virginia, the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee, have leveled threats against those who choose to disaffiliate while hoping to retain their property. All nine churches voting to disaffiliate in Virginia last weekend overwhelmingly voted to keep their property.

“As in California, litigation against the Virginia churches would be a grave misuse of church money,” Canon Anderson said. “The Virginia churches have been gracious and charitable in their dealings with the diocese, for which we praise them. We pray that they and Bishop Lee will be able to find a way to amicably settle the church property issues without further hostility.”

Continuing, Canon Anderson added: “While TEC continues to live in denial of the split that their revisionist theology has caused in the church, they are losing individual members and whole churches on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, a strong presence of orthodox Anglicanism is being built in the Americas and is growing daily. The AAC commends those who continue to take a stand for the biblical faith and urges others to take note of the Virginia churches’ courageous stand for the sake of generations to come.”

BRIEF SUMMARY OF VIRGINIA CHURCHES SITUATION

Churches that announced Dec. 17, 2006 their decision to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Diocese of Virginia:
(These nine churches also voted overwhelmingly to retain their property and to affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).)

Church of the Apostles, Fairfax
Church of the Word, Gainesville
Truro, Fairfax
The Falls Church, Falls Church
St Stephens, Heathsville
St Margaret’s Church, Woodbridge
Potomac Falls Episcopal, Sterling
Christ the Redeemer, Centreville
St. Paul’s, Haymarket

Churches that announced their decision to disaffiliate from TEC/Diocese of Virginia prior to Dec. 17:

All Saints’ Church, Dale City (Dec. 10, 2006)
Christ our Lord, Lake Ridge (Oct. 2006)
Church of the Holy Spirit, Ashburn (Feb. 2006)
South Riding Church, Fairfax (Nov. 2005)

Churches in the Diocese of Virginia still in a "40 Days of Discernment" period to determine their status in TEC:

Church of the Epiphany, Herndon
Our Saviour, Oatlands

The Significance:
The Diocese of Virginia reported that the above 15 churches represent 11% of baptized members in the diocese, or nearly 10,000 members, and 18% of the Average Sunday Attendance of the diocese. Once the largest diocese in TEC with just over 90,000 members (based on the most recent TEC data), the recent losses puts the diocese below the Diocese of Texas in number of active baptized members.
(Info from a Dec. 18, 2006 "News Update from the Diocese of Virginia" (http://www.thediocese.net/press/pressroom.shtml) as well as 2004 Episcopal Church statistics tables.)

9 CHURCHES DEPART VIRGINIA DIOCESE - A REPORT FROM THE CHURCH TIMES

Source: Church Times
December 22, 2006
by Douglas LeBlanc

Property at Issue as Nine Churches Quit ECUSA

Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola, said in 2005 that non-Nigerians would be welcome in what is now the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Now he has just over 7000 new members, mostly non-Nigerians, after nine churches in the diocese of Virginia announced that they had voted to leave the Episcopal Church in the United States and align with CANA instead.

Another two churches will vote in January. Four others left the diocese earlier this year and aligned themselves with other Anglican provinces. The 15 churches account for 11 per cent of baptised members and 18 per cent of average Sunday attendance, the diocese said.

Most of the nine congregations have fewer than 300 members, but three of them have megachurch numbers by Episcopalian standards: The Apostles, Fairfax (1050 members); Truro, Fairfax (2500); and The Falls Church (2800), which meets in a city of the same name.

The nine voted on two proposals: to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church, and to contend with the diocese for property rights. Truro and The Falls Church, both founded in the colonial era, are worth a combined $25 million.

No parish reported a vote of lower than 75 per cent in favour of leaving the Episcopal Church. Mostly, the proposal to contend for property rights gathered a higher percentage of support than the proposal to depart.

The Bishop of Virginia, the Rt Revd Peter Lee, writing a public letter to vestry members at Truro and The Falls Church, said that the diocese would contend vigorously for the properties, and would consider suing individual vestry members.

Most of the earlier relations between the Bishop and the departing congregations had been characterised by patience and grace. A special commission, composed of the Bishop’s supporters and of leaders from both Truro and The Falls Church, has spent the past year discussing how to preserve the deepest possible communion.

That commission recommended a protocol for congregations that were considering separation. As the nine congregations moved steadily toward their voting days, which came after “40 Days of Discernment”, the diocese and the parishes bickered about whether the protocol bound the diocese.

The Rt Revd Martyn Minns, consecrated by the Church of Nigeria as CANA’s missionary bishop in America, said that he believed the congregations and diocese could work through their property disputes. But both sides have used language in public letters which indicates a willingness to go to court if that is what it takes.

After the Bishop’s letter to vestry members of Truro and The Falls Church, the vestries fired back in a joint letter: “Any attempt by the Episcopal Church or the diocese to interfere with our interests . . . will be met with the strongest possible response, including legal defense.”

On the evening after the nine-congregation vote, the diocese announced a “standstill agreement” that will delay any legal actions from either side for 30 days.

The diocese also established a property commission, which will make case-by-case recommendations to diocesan leaders.

LETTERS FROM BISHOP MINNS & ARCHBISHOP AKINOLA TO NEW CANA CONGREGATIONS

Source: Convocations of Anglicans in North America (CANA)

Bishop Minns: A Pastoral Letter for the new CANA Congregations

December 19, 2006

My Dear Friends,

Welcome to your new home in the Anglican District of Virginia as part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Your congregational votes were a remarkable testimony to your desire to find a way to continue to remain true to your call as faithful Christians within the Anglican tradition. I am delighted that we will be walking together into an exciting future. A verse from Scripture that has meant a great deal to my wife Angela and me is from Paul's letter to the Christians in Corinth who were going through their own challenges — "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). This is a promise for all of us . . . the precise shape of the future may be uncertain but one thing we do know is that the God who has led us to this point will continue to show us the way to an even more exciting future.

Media coverage of our actions has been quite extensive. It has been prompted by the national and international implications of our decisions along with the reality that this is an unprecedented movement of congregations out of The Episcopal Church. As expected, not all of the media coverage was positive. I want to address one recurring untrue accusation concerning our attitude towards homosexual persons. Our vote was not an "anti-gay" vote. We affirm that as Christians we believe that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, is made in the image of God, and deserving of the utmost respect. As the Dromantine Communiqué (issued by the Primates when they met in Ireland last year) states, ". . . we continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support of homosexual people" and oppose "the victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex." And we have and must continue to witness to these convictions by our words and actions. I have attached a recent letter from Archbishop Peter Akinola that addresses this same issue from his perspective. Please notice the difference between what he actually says and believes and the dismissive tag lines that are often attributed to him.

Another persistent untrue theme is the way in which we care for those who voted to remain in The Episcopal Church. As I have said repeatedly, and I am sure you have heard from your own clergy and lay leadership, everyone is welcome to participate in our common life regardless of their vote on this or any matter. We are not monochrome congregations but diverse communities whose unity is in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If someone tells you that they voted against the resolution, then I encourage you assure them that they are loved and included as full members of the family of God in this place. If there is any way in which I can help in this matter please let me know. My calling is to provide for the care and nurture of every member of our growing fellowship.

You may have read a response to our actions from Bishop Peter Lee. While his disappointment was to be expected, I am saddened that his language seems strangely harsh. I am particularly troubled by the rather blatant attempt to create fear and division by the use of the phrase "Nigerian Congregations Occupying Episcopal Churches". This is not the Bishop Lee that I know and respect. I look forward to the return of his more usual tone of creativity and generosity. We all know that while we may have changed our ecclesiastical allegiance we remain loyal and faithful Anglican Christians in America. The character of our communities remains the same.

The question of property seems to loom large in many people's minds. I draw your attention to the following press statement that was released yesterday by Truro and The Fall Church, "Anglican Churches Comply with Virginia Statute Requiring Reports of Their Congregations' Votes." It clearly states our belief that we have a valid and compelling claim to the various church properties which we have for generations "occupied". We also believe that this should be handled in a respectful conversation with the leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. We are trying to avoid both costly litigation and a media circus. Initial signs from the meeting of the Standing Committee and Executive Board are encouraging and we are preparing to engage in substantive conversation after the Christmas Holidays.

Finally let me assure you of the truth and wonder of this Christmas Season. We worship a God who entered this messy world as a vulnerable baby to demonstrate his abiding love for all of us. It is a miracle. God spoke his Word of Grace and Truth for all the world to see. My prayer is that through the events of the past few days we will all be able to bear witness to this Word of radical inclusion and profound transformation. I pray that we will look to the future, confident that God's love will continue to sustain and guard us . . . "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

Angela and Rachel join me in wishing you Joy in Jesus.

Your brother in Christ,
+Martyn,
Missionary Bishop of CANA

A Letter of Greeting from Archbishop Peter Akinola to the congregations who have recently joined CANA

December 19, 2006 - Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our only Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishop Martyn Minns has informed me of your courageous decision to separate yourselves from The Episcopal Church and become part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

This action demonstrates your desire to stay faithful to the Gospel of Christ and to remain firmly connected to the world-wide Anglican Communion through this Convocation, a mission initiative of the Church of Nigeria. I welcome you to our family.

Sadly, I have also heard that some are suggesting that you are now affiliated with a Church that seeks to punish homosexual persons. That is a distortion of our true position. We are a Church that teaches the truth of the Holy Scriptures and understands that every person, regardless of their religion or sexual orientation, is made in the image of God, loved by God, and deserving of the utmost respect. That is the conviction that informs our passion for evangelism and drives our determination to establish new dioceses and congregations. We have no desire to place anyone outside the reach of God's saving love and that is why we have supported well reasoned statements such as Resolution 1.10 from the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and also the section of the Dromantine Communiqué, which condemns the "victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex."

As I am sure you have heard, there is a bill currently being debated by the Nigerian Legislature that addresses the topic of same-sex marriages and homosexual activism. The Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria, in its desire to see the strengthening of marriage and family life in our society, has commended the legislators for tackling this difficult issue. We have no desire to see our nation follow the path of license and immorality that we have witnessed in other parts of the world. And we also oppose the severe sanctions of Islamic law.

We recognize that there are genuine concerns about individual human rights that must be addressed both in the framing of the law and its implementation. I am glad to inform you that while the Honorable Speaker of the House, a Moslem, wanted the immediate and outright passage of the bill, the Deputy Speaker, an Anglican, persuaded his colleagues to allow full public debate on it.

I am troubled, however, by the silence of outside commentators concerning the rights of the clergy, Christians, and particularly converts to our Church whose lives are threatened and too often destroyed because of mob violence. I see no evidence of compassion for those whose rights are trampled on because of the imposition of unjust religious laws in many parts of the world. There seems to be a strange lack of interest in this issue.

We are concerned about eternal destiny and the need of every person to know the saving love of God. We preach a Gospel for all people that not only offers welcome but also the promise of transformation. We are delighted that you share these convictions with us and look forward to mission and ministry together with you in the coming years.

To God be the Glory — great things He has done . . . and is doing!

The Lord be with you.
+Peter Abuja,
The Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, D.Div.

PRESIDING BISHOP DOWNPLAYS SIGNIFICANCE OF VIRGINIA DEPARTURES

"Reconciliation Is the Episcopal Mission"
Source: On Faith (Newsweek/Washington Post religious forum) (editorial column)
December 19, 2006

By Katharine Jefferts Schori

The Episcopal Church continues to focus on its mission of reconciling the world, particularly as it cares for the least, the lost, and the left out.

While the Episcopal Church laments the recent votes by some persons in Virginia congregations to leave this Church, we are clear that individuals may depart, but congregations do not. Congregations are created and recognized by the diocese in which they exist, and can only be closed by action of the bishop and diocesan governing bodies. Even if a large percentage of a congregation departs, the remaining people will be assisted by the diocese and the larger Church to reconstitute their congregation and continue in mission and ministry in that place.

These recent departures have received a significant amount of publicity, but they represent a tiny percentage of the total number of Episcopalians in the Church. We regret and grieve their departure, and pray that they may continue their journey as Christians in another home.

In the hope that some may decide to return, we intend to keep the door open and the light on.

Those Episcopalians who remain will be offered every pastoral assistance we can provide, in the hope and expectation that mission and ministry continue in their communities. Our Anglican tradition is a broad and comprehensive one, with space for people of widely varying theological opinions. We will continue to model an expansive welcome for all people.

Our mission as a Church is the reconciliation of the world. We will continue to feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate children, heal the sick, minister to those in prison, and speak good news to those who have only heard the world's bad news. That is the work to which Jesus calls us, and that is the work we shall continue - with a priority of peace and justice work framed by the Millennium Development Goals. May God bless that which seeks to unite and build up and heal this broken world.