Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The news from the first day of ANIC's 1st Synod is
excellent. The report on the clergy day beforehand on 12 November was
very good and so is today's report on the opening day yesterday. I know
that a lot of you will have received it directly, so I have put an
OPTIONAL flag in the Subject of this e-mail to warn those who might wish just
to delete it. I didn't want any of you to miss it, though, so I have
appended the ANiC e-mail below, complete with the link for the blog and the two
attachments providing the Agenda and the Bishop's Charge.
I thought I should draw your attention especially to Bishop
Don's words on the importance of Unity in Christ and urge you all to pray most
earnestly and persistently for that.
Bishop's Charge (excerpt):
There is
one other item that I want to raise in what already has become a longer Charge
than I intended it to be. That involves
our Unity in Christ.
It is
obvious that while we are bound together by very strong ties indeed, the fact
that we have travelled side by side so far again is nothing short of Divine
Guidance - step by step. Geographically, we span a whole continent. Many of us come from a variety of distinctive
cultures and most certainly there are vast liturgical differences among us even
at this Synod. Each one of our 23
parishes has a background that in some way makes it distinctive and one hopes
that always will be the case.
One of the
Devil’s most successful ploys is to have Followers of The Way fall out and
disagree among themselves. It is rampant
in the Book of Acts, even among the Apostles, and it is always a pressing
danger - especially when he realizes that a Movement such as ours can do him
much harm. All of us, I am sure, have
felt very depressing times when we have been under attack, even at the heights
of our exuberance.
In that
knowledge, I am calling upon all of you, and the parishes you represent, to
become involved in frequent prayer for our unity during these turbulent times
when the way forward is not always as clear as we would like for it to be.
I take much
comfort in Colossians Chapter 3, verses 12 – 17
Put on
then as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness,
meekness and patience, forbearing one another, and, if one has a complaint
against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you
also must forgive. And above all these
put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms,
and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word and deed, do
everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through HIM.
With many blessings to you all
and wishes for a delightful weekend,
Lovingly,
Patricia.
Patricia Birkett
Anglican Gathering of
Prayer Co-ordinator
www.anglicangathering.ca
613-238-4680
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Begin forwarded message:
From: "ANiC Communications"
Date:
Subject: ANiC synod - highlights of day 1
Our inaugural synod opened today with:
·
a Eucharist
·
a message from the Rev David Short, “A
Gospel to proclaim”
·
the Bishop’s Charge
·
a message from Dr J I Packer, “ANiC: Our
position and our prospects”
·
reports from eight ANiC parishes and one
ANiC project
·
a presentation on GAFCon, the Jerusalem
Declaration, the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, Common Cause and the
emerging Province in North America
·
a presentation on church planting within
ANiC
·
a testimonial regarding youth ministry (
·
a report on ministering to young adults (
·
a call to ministry beyond our borders
·
the announcement by Bishop Don that he
was making Dr J I Packer “Theologian Emeritus” of ANiC
·
Motions were passed:
o Establishing the “rules of order”
o Endorsing the
o Instructing the board of directors to pursue
membership for ANiC in the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
o Expressing gratitude to the GAFCon primates
o Expressing gratitude for the ongoing work of the
Common Cause Partnership in the development of the
It was a very full day!
For a play-by-play of days two and three of synod,
you can follow the Anglican Essentials blog (www.anglicanessentials.ca/wordpress)
where David Jenkins is “live blogging” synod. As well, Christian
Schoepke and Claurelle Poole are videoing the key sessions and we will
get those posted to the ANiC website as soon as we are able to. I hope, very
soon, to post to the ANiC website a copy of this agenda, the Bishop’s
Charge, Dr Packer’s message and the parish presentations.
·
The importance of prayer
·
This synod is follows the template of
synods in the
·
While we are under the jurisdiction and
protection of the
·
“We will be active participants in the
formation of the canons and constitution of the new Province of North America.”
·
The business synod will focus only will
only be that necessary to make ANiC a viable corporation. All other
constitutional aspects will be presented in detail to this synod, then sent to
the parishes for discussion before being voted upon at the next synod.
·
Selection of bishops… “Both of us
[Bishop Don and Bishop Malcolm Harding] have a shelf life and I am only too
aware that ‘best before’ date is approaching and that neither of us want to
wait until it is obvious to everyone that our “expiry date” has passed… The
Anglican Network in
·
Call for ongoing prayer for unity
amongst us during these turbulent times.
·
Warriors in the Gospel… “Of all the
moments I have experienced during the four years that I have been active in
this ministry, none moved me more than just a few weeks ago in
“Now, my brothers and
sisters, as I invoke God’s Holy Spirit on this Synod, I want to share with you
that same tribute that so recently and movingly was paid to me. It is an
honour and privilege to stand in your presence – my fellow warriors in the
Gospel.”
Dr J I Packer’s message, “ANiC: Our position and our
prospects”
·
“We are a community of conscience,
committed to Anglican convictions…”
·
“We are a community of church people,
committed to the Anglican Communion… because we recognize in the historic
Anglican blend of biblically based, creedally shaped, liturgically ordered,
pastorally and evangelically oriented Christianity, with its heritage of human
breadth, spiritual depth, theological wisdom, personal piety and irrepressible
vitality, the richest version of Christianity that is on offer anywhere. So we
stay with global Anglicanism, despite its current disorders, and even though we
have been forced to leave our own geographical province, and we contend for a
re-reformation that will restore Anglicanism where it is ailing to full purity
and health. We are not evangelical, Anglo-Catholic or charismatic in
party or sectarian terms, but under the guidance of Scripture we seek to enter
into the strengths of all three, and thus to model what we hope and pray will
be the Anglicanism of the future. Meanwhile, we do not abandon the
Communion, but realign within it.”
·
“We are a community of consecration,
committed to the Anglican calling… [which] covers worship and work, doxology
and discipline, evangelism and education, holiness and mission.”
·
We are a community of courage, committed
to the Anglican confidence in the faithfulness of God…”
·
“…within Anglicanism, we are
travelers…but ANiC belongs to that category of travelers whom nowadays we label
refugees… displaced from the home we once had…by God’s good providence,
we have been given jurisdictional sanctuary and a welcome by the Archbishop of
the Southern Cone…”
·
“…the grand scale of Archbishop
Venables’ action has effectively demolished the historic Anglican rule of only
one bishop with jurisdiction for each geographical area…The bar of alternative
episcopal oversight has come down, and cannot be put up again in its old
form. In days like this, in which bishops are being elected who will not
uphold the fullness of historic Anglican faith, this is a development for which
to thank God.”
·
“If a credible constitution can be
produced, we may expect that the Primates’ Council within the Fellowship of
Confessing Anglicans formed at GAFCon will recognize it as a component of the
inner circle of authentically Anglican provinces that the GAFCon strategists
evidently hope to see formed as a first step to re-establishing Anglican
soundness worldwide… We cannot however guarantee that it will come to fruition,
so while we pray for its success we must continue the work that this synod is
beginning, namely to construct an infrastructure for ANiC that will stand even
if the planned third province for North America never becomes reality.”
·
“…what hope do we see for Archbishop
Williams’ attempts to hold the Anglican Communion together by means of a
covenant, leading to a state of affairs in which refugees like ourselves fell
able to return to the places from which they came? Little hope, I think,
is the answer to that question. The Archbishop’s public gesture reminds me, at
least, of the Canadian hero, Red Green of Possum Lodge, who reckons to hold
things together with lashings of duct tape, while the equivocal nature of his
own position… robs his leadership of moral authority… this entire enterprise of
patching the cracks seems forlorn. The cracks are, quite simply, too wide
for that to work.”
·
“There was a meltdown of churchly
prerogative in the 16th century, which proved to be God’s way of
establishing the Reformation; could anything similar be on the horizon for us
today? … this might be God’s heroic surgery, whereby he is using the upheaval
to squeeze liberalism out of Anglican leadership…join me in praying that this
is what will finally happen.”
·
“…we are trustees, God’s trustees, on
the one hand for truth and on the other hand for training. Both are
matters of vital importance…”
·
“Concerning truth…ANiC should develop a
strong inner theological life, in which, under the authority of Scripture, we
mine together the full wealth of the expository traditions that we label
evangelical, catholic and charismatic…”
·
“And concerning training: it is vital,
in my view, that we work from the start for a renewal of catechetical life, and
of adult catechesis in particular, in all our congregations… as the need for
lifelong Bible study is unquestioned among us, so the need for continuous
doctrinal study in face of constantly mutating paganism should today be
recognized as a means both to personal maturing and to effective witness, and
should henceforth be pegged into the regular round of weekday congregational
activities.”
·
“…our calling is fourfold: to adore our
Saviour God, to adorn the doctrine of the gospel with lives of righteousness
and holiness, to accept and work through the current pressures, as part of our
preordained pilgrimage… and… to address the tasks of pastoral care, evangelism,
congregational education, church-planting and mission, with all the resources
of energy and enterprise that God has given us.”
Marilyn Jacobson
Anglican
Network in
604
929-0369 OR 1-866-351-2642 ext 4020
Cell: 604
788-4222