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Dear friends in Christ, You are encouraging to mark your day timers for our 18th Annual Renewal Mission 2005 on March 11th-13th with our new bishop, the Right Reverend TJ Johnston*. His theme will be 'Transformed for Mission'
In The Great Commission, Ed Hird+ St. Simon's Church, North Vancouver, BC Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC) http://www3.telus.net/st_simons
*The Rt. Rev. Thomas William (TJ) Johnston Jr. is rector of St. Andrew's Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and has served this congregation since 1998. St. Andrew's is the first lay initiated church plant in the Anglican Mission in America. This church has grown from a living room of fifteen people to over two hundred in attendance each Sunday. St. Andrew's remains committed to planting new Apostolic churches. TJ graduated from Sewanee with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. After working as a forester with Union Camp Corporation in Virginia, he entered law school in the fall of 1980. After graduating from Cumberland School of Law, he returned to Charleston, South Carolina to practice law as a trial lawyer until 1991 when he followed God's leading to seminary and along a path to ordained ministry. TJ attended seminary at the University of the South, The School of Theology, and graduated in May 1994 with a Masters in Divinity degree. He served Grace Church, Charleston, SC, as an assistant fro two years, when in 1996 he became the assistant to the Rev. Chuck Murphy at All Saints Parish, Pawley's Island, SC. TJ has worked as a volunteer with the Episcopal Bishop in Haiti, the Right Rev. Luc Garnier. His role has been to coordinate partnership relationships between churches and school in Haiti and churches and schools in the United States with a focus on rural education and health issues. TJ continues to be involved with this work. He presently serves as Team Leader for the Anglican Mission in America's church starting efforts. TJ and his wife Rees have two children.
1) http://www.vaxxine.com/eves/britishcolumbia.htm Advance Notice for the 2005 BC Christian Ashram Retreat Date: July 28th Thursday 6pm to July 31st Sunday 12noon Location: Camp Alexandra, 2916 McBride Ave., Crescent Beach (White Rock, B.C.) (not far from the USA/Canadian Border) Phone the registrar Norma Carruthers for application forms: 604-533-5509
a) Evangelist/Key Note Speaker: Bishop Sandy Greene The Rt. Rev. Alexander Maury (Sandy) Greene is Bishop of many churches in the Rocky Mountain AMiA Regional Network. Before becoming a bishop in the Anglican Mission, Sandy served five years as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church. in Denver, Colorado for five years. Before coming to Denver, he was rector of St. Andrew's-by-the-Sea, Destin, Florida. Sandy's passion in the ministry has been the raising up and mentoring of clergy and lay leaders. He is a graduate of Yale University and the General Theological Seminary. Moreover, he has experienced a lifetime of training in ministry and congregational leadership from a number of clergy and many gifted lay folk in parishes that he has served.
He and his wife Georgeanna or "Gigi", are celebrating their thirty-fourth year of marriage. They have four sons, three daughters-in-law and a grandson.
Bishop Sandy travels extensively as well as overseeing churches in the Rocky Mountain region. He works with churches in the Chicago area, with a network of churches in Phoenix and the S.W, as well as developing a new network among a growing Latino population in North America.
b) Bible Teacher for the 2005 BC Christian Ashram Pastor Todd Wiebe of Sutherland Church, North Vancouver, BC Todd is an excellent Bible teacher and writer with a great sense of humour and strong people/pastoral skills. Graduating from Regent College, Todd has spent many years as a youth and associate pastor before becoming the Senior Pastor at Sutherland Church.
2) http://www.purposedriven.com/ 40 Days of Purpose Over 15,000 Churches from North America and 50 other countries overseas have already taken the 40 Days of Purpose Course. Another 7,000 Churches are currently doing 40 Days of Purpose this fall. The average Sunday Attendance increase with these churches has been 20%, along with 102% increase in Home Group attendance. I would encourage your congregation to consider undertaking such a campaign, using the 19-million bestseller book "The Purpose-Driven Life". Billy Graham said: "You're bringing a whole new way of doing ministry. You're taking the Church a whole lot deeper. It's amazing how God is using 40 Days of Purpose".
Our congregation has grown from 10 to around 20 home groups during our own 40 Day campaign this fall. Please pray for us at St. Simon's North Vancouver this Sunday Oct 3rd at 6pm when we kick off the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign with a Simulcast Potluck.
To register or find out more about the Winter 40 Days of Purpose, click on http://purposedriven.com/content.aspx?id=5282
You may be interested that Dr. Gil Stieglitz has written a book for wives entitled : a) Becoming a Godly Wife What does God expect a wife to do? How do I understand my husband and draw him to me?
Do you feel caught between old fashioned ideas of the perfect wife? In this series Dr. Gil shares the dynamic and exciting realities of being all that God called a wife to be. It will change your marriage and it will release you to be all that God wants you to be. If you are looking to improve your marriage, then this is the series for you.
b) - a video series entitled: http://www.ptlb.com/fiveproblems.htm THE FIVE PROBLEMS OF MARRIAGE Video Series by Dr. Gil Stieglitz This video series, recorded at a Relationships Conference in Tennessee, Dr. Gil shares with us the five basic problems common in many marriages. In fact, Dr. Gil states that, "there really are only five problems". Dr. Gil has taught and counseled hundreds of couples across the country using this material, resulting in many saved or strengthened marriages. This series is broken into sessions that are perfect for a Sunday School class or small group study. This series is available as a set of six DVDs with an accompanying manual.
c) http://www.ptlb.com/vibrantchurch.htm GROWING A VIBRANT & HEALTHY CHURCH Video Series by Dr. Gil Stieglitz
In this video series, Dr. Gil shares insights into why so many churches experience barriers to church health and growth. Drawn from his personal experience in pastoral ministry and from extensive study, this series will help churches of every size understand the 10 systems that need to be in place and continually developed to move their ministry forward. This series is available as a set of nine DVDs with an accompanying manual.
4) http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/news194.asp Sandy Millar - Interview: 28th September 2004
At one of many introduction suppers this autumn, Anglican Mainstream managed to talk to Sandy Millar, Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, home of the Alpha Course.
Anglican Mainstream: Sandy, we're here in Oxford at an "Alpha Supper Banquet", a guest evening to introduce the Alpha course. Can you tell us something about Alpha?
Sandy Millar: Well Alpha as you probably know is an introductory course to the Christian faith, to give to people an opportunity to explore the meaning of life. It's now running in nearly 30,000 places worldwide, 7000 in this country. Actually, in this city alone (Oxford) there are already 23 courses running and 128 in the county of Oxfordshire.
The reason for Alpha is simply to give people an opportunity to explore the Christian faith, in an atmosphere where they won't be made to look stupid, won't be made to look guilty but can ask any question they like. What we've discovered of course is that there's a lot more spirituality out there sometimes then there is in the church.
People want to explore these things but what they want to find is an atmosphere where they can do that safely.
Mainstream: So is Alpha just an English thing or just an Anglican idea?
Millar: No, not at all. It's running all over the world now in 152 countries and it's astonishing the way it's grown and the reason it's grown I think is that people are simply hungry to discover the basic Christian faith.
The Roman Catholic Church is running it hugely successfully, particularly in North America and elsewhere as well, French Bishops have adopted it, so it's not an Anglican thing at all. It started with us at Holy Trinity but now it's gone into every denomination, every tradition within denominations - Anglo-Catholics, Salvation Army, Roman Catholics, Methodists - they're all running it.
In the past fortnight I've been speaking at events in small churches in Inverness, Ely Cathedral and to contrast that out in Kazakhstan! I was wondering how we could help them but when I arrived I found that they were running one course on a Tuesday evening for 500 and another of Wednesday for 400. The church had a specific building set aside just to run Alpha! Then I met a lady who had become a Christian through Alpha and was now running a course in her tiny flat with just 6 people. Alpha runs in all kinds of places with all kinds of people.
Mainstream: You're about to retire as Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton after far too many years. Tell me something about Nicky Gumbel who's taking over from you.
Millar : Nicky and I have worked together now for nearly 17 years and Nicky picked up the Alpha course and made it what it is, so he's the man behind it really.
We had an Alpha course when he joined us, which was then really a course for new Christians.
We had guest services and people came to faith, but what they sometimes didn't know was what they had come to, they just knew they wanted Jesus! So Nicky developed it, videoed it and lengthened the talks, altered the order of them and made it what it is and that's part of the reason why it's now running in so many countries and had been translated into about 47 different languages. So he's the man behind that.
I've been Vicar now for 20 years, I shall be 65 in November and it's not a job for an aging cleric! I could go on for a bit but I asked the Bishop of London if it would be possible for us to change places so that Nicky could become the Vicar and I could work on the staff with Nicky in the way he's worked with me for the last 17 years.
Mainstream: Finally Sandy, I wonder if there's anything you want to share with the Anglican World as we all wait for the release of the Lambeth Commission report on the 18th of October?
Millar: I think we ought to wait and see what happens. It may be very good news, who knows.
Mainstream: Sandy Millar, thank you very much.
5a) http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004d/100104/100104k.htm Issue Date: October 1, 2004 Anglicans at the crossroads It may take more than a report to mend growing fissure By AUSTEN IVEREIGH
Shortly before a battle breaks out there is a period of uneasy calm. Nothing, outwardly, is happening; each side has staked its position, with a commanding view of the other. The bullets are ready at hand, the rifles clean, the forward positions calculated. In the case of the Anglican church, the armies even know the date when the fighting is to be joined -- Oct. 18.
That is the date of publication of the report of the Eames Commission, which was formed in October last year by the archbishop of Canterbury shortly after the Anglican primates solemnly declared, "We have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican communion."(...)
o Mainstream traditional Anglicans believe that the U.S. church and the Canadian diocese of New Westminster (which last year approved same-sex blessings) have flouted agreed Anglican teaching on human sexuality, and must be disciplined(...)
September 28, 2004 LA Times, REGION & STATE Bishop to Hold Off on Charges * L.A. Episcopal leader says he'll wait until next month before deciding whether to act against a cleric working with breakaway parishes. By Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer
SPOKANE, Wash. - Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno said Monday he would not immediately file ecclesiastical charges against a retired Texas bishop who is helping three Southern California parishes in their efforts to leave the Episcopal Church in a dispute over homosexuality and biblical interpretation.
Bruno had been considering filing formal church charges against the Rt. Rev. Maurice Benitez, the retired bishop of Texas, for ministering to two of three breakaway parishes in the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese without Bruno's permission.
But after a closed door meeting here of the 2.3-million-member denomination's House of Bishops, Bruno said he had decided to wait until mid-October before deciding whether to press charges against Benitez.
The date is important because Oct. 18 is when an international panel is scheduled to make public its recommendations on the future status of the Episcopal Church in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Episcopal church is the U.S. arm of Anglicanism.
That panel, known as the Lambeth Commission, was appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams after the U.S. Episcopal Church had approved the consecration of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire and had given local bishops the option of allowing same-sex blessings in their dioceses. Those decisions provoked an outcry from parts of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Speculation about the Lambeth Commission's recommendations is wide-ranging. Some church observers think that they could lead to a relatively mild reprimand of the Episcopal Church or, more seriously, a demotion to observer status in the worldwide, 77-million-member Anglican Communion.
Some conservatives have called for more drastic action: expelling the Episcopal Church from the communion unless it repents and returns to what conservatives consider to be traditional teaching on homosexuality and scriptural truth.
Last month, the three parishes - All Saints Church in Long Beach, St. James Church in Newport Beach and St. David's Church in North Hollywood - broke from the Episcopal Church and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Church in the Anglican Province of Uganda.
That church, in turn, appointed Benitez as its official representative.
After Monday's discussions at the House of Bishops' meeting, Bruno said he decided to wait for the Lambeth Commission before possibly seeking a formal rebuke against Benitez. Monday's meeting was not open to the press or public(...)
Here are some helpful web links to learn more about the five International Anglican Primates' TAEO offer to Canadian Anglicans.
a) The ABCs of the Anglican Communion in Canada http://www.acicanada.ca/abcs/ b) News of the Anglican Communion in Canada http://www.acicanada.ca/news/index.html c) Joining the Anglican Communion in Canada http://www.acicanada.ca/join/ ci) Application for Church Affiliation with the ACiC http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Application%20for%20Church%20Affiliation.pdf cii) Guidelines for lay-initiated new works http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Guidelines%20For%20Lay-Initiated%20New%20Works.pdf ciii) Introduction to the Office of Leadership Development http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Introduction%20to%20Office%20of%20Leadership%20Development.pdf civ) How Clergy Affiliate with the ACiC http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/How%20do%20clergy%20affiliate.pdf cv) Application for Clergy Affiliation with the ACiC http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Reception%20Application.pdf cvi) Sample Letter Accepting the 5 Anglican Primates' Offer http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Sample%20letter%20accepting%20offer%20from%20Primates.pdf cvii) Reference Form re Clergy Application to ACiC http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Providing%20a%20Reference.pdf di) The 5 Anglican Primates' TAEO Offer to Canadians http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Offer%20from%20the%20Primates.pdf An Offer of Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight WHEREAS, a crisis of faith and leadership has been created in the Diocese of New Westminster by the passing of a motion to bless same-sex unions, and the actual performance of the same in a church with the authorization of Bishop Michael Ingham; and
WHEREAS, a special October 2003 meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion called upon the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide "temporary adequate episcopal oversight" to those churches and clergy who, because of their refusal to accept the revisionist direction of the diocese, are now in a state of broken communion; and
WHEREAS, said episcopal oversight was to have been offered in consultation with the global Primates through the Archbishop of Canterbury; and
WHEREAS, to date no such episcopal oversight has been offered, but instead church members have been lost, leadership has been threatened, and churches have been closed and their standing threatened; and
WHEREAS, the clergy and congregations of New Westminster cannot be left to fend for themselves while the task force of the Canadian House of Bishops and the Commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury are doing their work.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned Primates of the Provinces of Congo, Central Africa, Rwanda and South East Asia hereby jointly offer temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the clergy and congregations of New Westminster, and to other Canadian clergy and congregations who seek such covering, on the following basis:
1 The temporary adequate episcopal oversight, as contemplated by the Primates Meeting of October 2003, will be offered in consultation with the Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
2. The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung has been requested and will serve as Chairman of the sponsoring group of Primates.
3 The Rt. Rev. Thomas Johnston, with the support of the administrative resources of the Anglican Mission in America, will coordinate the provision of this oversight on behalf of the undersigned.
4 Representatives of the Canadian clergy and congregations seeking oversight will meet with Archbishop Yong and/or Bishop Johnston to work out the administrative details of this offer.
TRUSTING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, the undersigned present this offer of temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the faithful Canadian Anglican clergy and congregations. Signed by the Primates
dii) Solemn Declaration of Principles http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Solemn%20Declaration%20of%20Principles.pdf div) Anglican Communion in Canada Constitution and Bylaws http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Constitution%20and%20Bylaws.pdf dv) Montreal Declaration of Anglican Essentials (affirmed by all ACiC Clergy & Congregations) http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Montreal%20Declaration%20of%20Anglican%20Essentials.pdf e) ACiC links http://www.acicanada.ca/links/
And finally, the ACiC Canadian solution offered by our five Anglican Primates (Provinces of Congo, Kenya, Central Africa, Rwanda, & South East Asia) is available to you and your congregation, if you live in Canada and wish to be free. The five Primates offer an 'outside strategy', in the sense that as Canadian Anglicans fully linked to the worldwide Anglican Communion, you will be free to get on with your Anglican ministry and mission, outside of the box of the canons and constitution of the ACC. For a complimentary CD of the five Primates' TAEO Canadian solution offered to you, just e-mail our Anglican Communion in Canada Acting Network Leader, the Rev Paul Carter <paulandlois@shaw.ca> or phone 604-222-4497. We would love to have you join us in this exciting Canadian pioneering mission. Isn't it time to join the future?
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