Report from Essentials St. George’s Church, Ottawa, February 11, 2005

Rev. George Sinclair, National Chairman, Anglican Essentials Canada

There really is a crisis in the Anglican Church and the Windsor Report warned that the Anglican Communion might have to learn to “walk apart.”

That is a real possibility and has been precipitated by the actions taken by the churches in Canada and the US.

Since the Anglican Essentials conference in Ottawa at the end of August and the beginning of September the crisis has only deepened.

Not only has Canada not done anything to deal with the actions which have precipitated this crisis, it has not done any of the things that were requested in the Windsor Report,
and at the same time it has done further things which deepen the crisis.

Most notably there was the passing of the motion in Niagara requesting that same sex blessings be authorised in that diocese, although the Bishop withheld his consent. And then the diocese of Toronto confirmed, as the General Synod of our Anglican Church did,
the sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships.

I urge you to pray for the Primates and for the leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada,
because it would be a terrible thing if we become two separate churches.

I am the chair of something called Essentials which was started in 1994. Our mission which we believe we have from God is to call the Anglican Church of Canada to embrace its orthodox Anglican heritage in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our vision has been to be a spiritual and theological rallying point for God's Anglicanism in Canada. Essentials sponsored a national tele-conference early last year, entitled "For such a time as this" and we sponsored a major presentation at General Synod.
Then we sponsored a conference in Ottawa called "The Way Forward" which was at the end of August and the beginning of September. That conference culminated in a decision to have Essentials, in a sense, come to an end and form a new structure.

So what Essentials and the 700 people who gathered from across the country decided to do was to start two organizations.

One,  called The Federation, now legally called Anglican Essentials Canada, was sort of like the old Essentials Council, only, let’s say, on steroids.

It has five bishops, several of them sitting bishops and has representation from all across the country.

It was to be a rallying point for the people of the Anglican Church of Canada in the hope that the Church, which has been walking towards a precipice since 1998, might not step over that precipice.

Then there is the Network, a smaller  group  who would build a “lifeboat”.  In some ways something similar to the Anglican Gathering of Ottawa.

No one who goes on a liner ever hopes that they will ever use the lifeboat and nobody on the Network Steering Committee hopes that we will ever have to use the lifeboat. But if the ship hits the iceberg, you sure want to have lifeboats.

And the Anglican Network is really just a group of people sharing the same Essentials vision but also working away in case the Anglican Church of Canada does in fact leave the Anglican Communion, and helping those Canadian Anglicans who desire to remain faithful to the Anglican way and remain part of the Anglican Communion.

Since then a lot of the work has been done  - a lot of it is boring, and a lot of it is things like getting incorporated, seeking charitable status, filling out the committee and building teams, and getting to know each other.

We have also done press releases; we have started a news letter and Essentials will have
a new major web presence.

We have been at Lambeth, we've met with other Primates, we've met with people connected with the Archbishop of Canterbury about the agenda of upcoming meetings.
So there have been a lot of behind-the-scenes things.

We are planning a major follow up conference June 16-18 in Toronto, to take this work to the very next level.

What I want to tell you is that as this work continues, our prayer continues to be that the Anglican Church of Canada will stay true to its course.

I love being an Anglican!

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Anglican Gathering of Ottawa