INTERIM FEDERATION COUNCIL

NEWSLETTER #1

This is the first of a series of Newsletters that will be posted by the new Anglican Essentials Federation Council in an effort to keep you informed, educated and encouraged as we move forward in our mission to recover and uphold orthodoxy in the Anglican Church of Canada. (ACC). We encourage you to contact us with any questions, comments or suggestions you may have to enable us to serve you better as a source of communication and unity among Essentials supporters. The Federation (so named for the time being) represents a gathering of orthodox, conservative Anglicans in Canada who seek to witness faithfully within the Anglican Church of Canada. We are united in spirit, fellowship and communion with the group called The Anglican Network in Canada  (AniC) whose members will support and care for those who find themselves at the point of impaired communion as a result of the actions of their bishop, diocese or the General Synod of the ACC. The ANiC is also networking closely with all orthodox groups in the global Anglican Communion to ensure that orthodox Canadian Anglicans can remain in full membership with and are an integral part of the global church. Together, both groups contribute to a transformation of the former Essentials Coalition into a movement that will better represent the entire national constituency of Anglicans who share a deep concern for the preservation of orthodoxy within their church. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of what might now be called Anglican Essentials Canada is to help co-ordinate the vision and effort of Canadian Anglicans across our country endeavoring to uphold orthodoxy through faithful witness to the truth of the Gospel.

AIMS

At The Way Forward Conference 2004, held in Ottawa at the end of August, the body of Anglican persons and parishes gathered there elected a Council, dedicated to a renewed Anglican orthodoxy. The aims of the Council are to accelerate the work of recovering the foundational principles of Anglicanism in Canada and to seek ways to reinstate them in the life of the Anglican Church of Canada. This council is made up of Bishops, Clergy and Laity from each ecclesiastical province in Canada.

DEVELOPMENTS

There have been many developments within the Anglican Communion since the end of the Ottawa Conference . Here are some of the steps which have been taken in the past few weeks.

*         The Interim Federation Council has met four times (three of them by teleconference) since the Ottawa Conference. It has effectively begun the huge task of "putting the wheels" under an entire new national movement and presence. The entire Council met together in Toronto on the weekend of November 27 for a two-day workshop. Its developments will be detailed in a later newsletter.  

*         Bishop Peter Mason and Canon Charlie Masters met with the new Primate Archbishop Andrew in a cordial meeting where Charlie updated the Primate on the history and work of Essentials, up to and including The Way Forward Conference. Bishop Mason outlined the theological position of Essentials members and their hope for a meaningful say in the Anglican Church of Canada.

*         The existing constitution of the Essentials Council is being rewritten and will shortly be submitted to the three founding groups, Anglican Renewal Ministries, Barnabas Anglican Ministries and The Prayer Book Society of Canada, for their approval. A restructured model of constitution is being formed to be passed at the next general conference Anglican Essentials Canada to be held in June of 2005. These changes will expand the membership and representation of Essentials to become a nation-wide congress of orthodox believers from all levels within the Anglican Church of Canada.

*      Anglican Essentials Canada was represented at the issuance of the Windsor (Eames) Commission report October 18 in London, England, by Bishop Donald Harvey of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador and the Reverend David Short. Our representatives responded with a position statement after the release of the Report which is more formally available on the Essentials website. Bishop Harvey stayed on to meet with various Bishops from the Southern Cone.

*         On October 19, 2004 the formal response of the Interim Council (to the Windsor Report) was published. These reports will be posted on our website anglicanessentials.org and have been distributed via email to our many members.

*    Subsequent to that, on Oct 27, National Director Canon Charlie Masters was welcomed to a gathering at the home of Bishop Wallace Benn in Eastbourne, England at which the bishop invited a number of leaders of the Church  of England simply to express their appreciation and support for the stand that is being taken in Canada by Anglican Essentials.

*         The Essentials Network executive met at the end of September for three days in Calgary, Alberta and have organized formerly under the name of The Anglican Network in Canada and have their own website at www.anglicannetwork.ca.

"He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." 2 Thess. 2:15

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Tim. 1:7