http://fca.net/ Latest news fom FCA North America en-us Tue, 10 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT Tue, 10 Jun 2009 09:41:01 GMT Expression Engine webmaster@fca.net webmaster@fca.net 5 /northamerica/news/fca_leadership_conference_2012/ FCA Leadership Conference 2012

CHRIST: UNIQUE AND SUPREME

Monday April 23rd to Friday April 27th 2012
St Mark's Anglican Church, Battersea Rise, London

By invitation only

Click here for more information

2011-12-12T09:43:24+00:00 /northamerica/news/fca_leadership_conference_2012/ /northamerica/news/nairobi_statement_released/ GAFCON Primates, meeting in council in Nairobi after Easter, have issued a communique.

You can view the statement at the GAFCON site. 2011-05-11T01:50:17+00:00 /northamerica/news/nairobi_statement_released/ /northamerica/news/communique_from_the_primates_council_of_the_fellowship_of_confessing_anglic/ A Communiqué has been issued Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON/FCA) from its meeting in Bermuda, in April 2010.

The full statement can be read on the GAFCON site. 2010-04-10T03:39:02+00:00 /northamerica/news/communique_from_the_primates_council_of_the_fellowship_of_confessing_anglic/ /northamerica/news/being_faithful_now_available_for_download/ The Commentary on the landmark Anglican ‘Jerusalem Declaration’ has been released in digital form and is available for immediate download.

More details at the GAFCON site and a copy has been posted in FCA resources. 2010-02-17T13:28:14+00:00 /northamerica/news/being_faithful_now_available_for_download/ /northamerica/news/anglican_relief_and_development_fund_reports_on_haiti_work/ Anglicans have donated more than $70,000 through the Anglican Relief and Development Fund to support immediate relief in Haiti in the first week following the earthquake that struck the impoverished island nation on January 12.

According to Nancy Norton, executive director of Anglican Relief and Development Fund, the organization is partnering with World Relief, a large and well established evangelical Christian relief agency. Working with World Relief ensures that these donations have an immediate positive effect in Haiti, where current estimates are that more than 200,000 have died and more than a million people are without shelter in the aftermath of the earthquake.

World Relief has had a long presence in Haiti, empowering the local church with health, economic and social development projects. World Relief's Disaster Response team is providing urgent medical care to hundreds of injured people at the Kings Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's devastated capital. They have also set up feeding centers in partnership with local churches, providing thousands of hot meals to hungry earthquake survivors. Volunteers from local Haitian churches are operating the centers. World Relief can feed a person two meals a day - lunch and dinner - for less than $2. It costs approximately $375 to feed 200 people rice and beans at lunch and milk porridge for dinner.

"Thank you to everyone who contributed through Anglican Relief and Development to help in Haiti. The generosity of our donors has been overwhelming. This financial outpouring will allow us to not only assist in immediate relief work, but also to be part of the rebuilding process through development projects in Haiti later this year. The needs in this terribly damaged nation will continue," said Norton.

Donations for our continued work there can be made online at http://www.anglicanaid.net or by sending a check to the Anglican Relief and Development Fund at:

ARDF
PO Box 3830
Pittsburgh, PA 15230-3830 2010-01-22T19:56:47+00:00 /northamerica/news/anglican_relief_and_development_fund_reports_on_haiti_work/ /northamerica/news/the_fellowship_of_confessing_anglicans_and_the_anglican_church_in_north_ame/ This article first appeared in the September 18, 2009 edition of the American Anglican Council's weekly email update. If you would like to receive this free email, click here.

By The Rev. Phil Ashey, J.D.

The mission of the American Anglican Council has included from our very inception the renewal of Anglicanism in North America, and a commitment to build "A Society of Great Commission Churches." While some would say that the battle for renewal of orthodox Anglicanism in The Episcopal Church is largely over, the battle for the renewal of orthodox, Biblical, confessional Christianity in the Anglican Communion has only just begun. It is in this context that we continue to rejoice in the beginning of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in North America (FCA-NA).

What is the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans?

On the 29th of June, 2008, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), issued the Jerusalem Declaration and announced the establishment of "a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of its mission."

a) It is a global fellowship of people united in the communion of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ.
b) It is a 'confessing fellowship' in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future.
c) It is a global fellowship of Anglicans, including provinces, dioceses, churches, missionary jurisdictions, parachurch organizations and individual Anglican Christians whose goal is to help reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world.

Since GAFCON, we have seen regional organizations of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans form in the U.K. and South Africa. Over 1,000 people attended the launch of the FCA in London in July, and the South African FCA was launched earlier this month.

The Secretary for the GAFCON Primate's Council and FCA director, Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen, has asked the AAC to organize the FCA in North America.

Leaving no Anglican

The announcement of the launch of the FCA-NA last weekend during the SEWAAC meeting at Nashotah House was greeted with applause. And why not? The American Anglican Council has applied for recognition of FCA-NA as a "Ministry Partner" of the Anglican Church in North America (AC-NA) under its Canons. People applauded because they recognized that FCA-NA meets a need to "leave no Anglican behind."

We know there are many individual Anglicans who would like to be moré closely affiliated with the AC-NA and its promise to renew orthodox Anglicanism in North America. According to the Constitution and Canons of the AC-NA, membership comes through joining a local AC-NA congregation. But here is a problem: what about those individuals in the great diaspora across North America who are isolated and far removed from an AC-NA church or church plant? If no reasonable opportunity exists to join a local AC-NA congregation, how can they become connected?

If approved as a Ministry Partner by the AC-NA, the FCA-NA will enable such individuals, otherwise isolated and scattered, an opportunity to be connected as ministry partners of the AC-NA, if they so desire and until they can become full members by establishing or planting a local AC-NA church.

The FCA will help the AC-NA plant churches across North America:

When people join FCA-NA at http://www.fca.net, the information they submit includes their location. One of the primary goals of FCA-NA will be to encourage connection and networking among FCA-NA members within a geographical area. When there is enough interest, inspiration, and motivation for planting a new and local AC-NA church, FCA will work with the leadership of the AC-NA to raise up from the community a church planter and/or church planting team, connect them to church planting resources, and perhaps in some cases work to identify an AC-NA church planter to move in and help build the church. We believe this will be a significant contribution to the AC-NA's goal of planting 1,000 new churches-especially in areas that are not contiguous to existing AC-NA dioceses.

What about those who wish to join FCA-NA but not the AC-NA:

Any person who agrees with and signs The Jerusalem Declaration is welcome!

As members of the FCA-NA connect and network with each other within a geographical area, we recognize that each person will choose the church with whom they wish to affiliate and worship. Some will choose to remain in TEC. Some will choose to work for the establishment of a new AC-NA congregation. Others will choose another alternative.

Strategies will differ according to local circumstances, but a common declaration of faith lies at the heart of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. The Jerusalem Declaration and the commitment to the renewal of orthodox, biblical, Christ-centered, confessional and missional Anglicanism are what bind members of the FCA-NA together.

The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is not synonymous with the Anglican Church in North America. The FCA is a voluntary membership association dedicated to the renewal of confessional Anglicanism worldwide. The Anglican Church in North America is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction - a Church and, God-willing and 2/3 of the Primates and Provinces consenting, the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion. As we share the same goals for the renewal of Anglicanism, we hope to work together as partners in mission and ministry.

We invite every orthodox Anglican in North America to join the FCA-NA. Why? Because it gives you a connection to GAFCON and the millions of fellow confessing Anglicans across the world And because it connects you to a fresh wind of Holy Spirit renewal within the Anglican Communion!

Are there significant theological differences between FCA and the AC-NA?

Some object to differences they see between the Jerusalem Declaration and the Fundamental Declarations in Article I of the AC-NA Constitution. The same GAFCON Primates who authored the Jerusalem Declaration also called for the formation of Constitution and Canons for a new orthodox province in North America. They have given their unequivocal blessing to the AC-NA and its Constitution and Canons. They do not see differences between the Jerusalem Declaration and the Fundamental Declarations as preventing partnership in mission. And the AC-NA bishops (then "Common Cause Partners") signed the Jerusalem Declaration at their December 2008 meeting at Wheaton. Surely there is sufficient agreement on the Gospel message to be able to proclaim it in peaceable fellowship with each other.

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:3-6

May it be so, as we partner together in Kingdom mission and ministry, committed to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of all, and for the renewal of Anglicanism!

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Phil Ashey, COO and Chaplain, American Anglican Council 2009-09-23T02:01:42+00:00 /northamerica/news/the_fellowship_of_confessing_anglicans_and_the_anglican_church_in_north_ame/ /northamerica/news/fca_welcomes_new_primate_of_nigeria/ GAFCON/FCA welcomes new Primate of Nigeria

Media Statement 16/9/09

Archbishop Nicholas Orogodo Okoh has been elected as the Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

The news of his election was announced after Episcopal Synod held on 15th September, 2009.

56 year old Archbishop Okoh is currently the Archbishop of Bendel Province and bishop of Asaba.

Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen, general secretary of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) welcomed the news "Nicholas Okoh was present at the foundation of GAFCON and has played a leading part in the movement. Archbishop Okoh has made a significant contribution as the Chairman of the Theological Resource group. He is an able and committed Christian leader and we warmly welcome his appointment."
2009-09-15T23:41:39+00:00 /northamerica/news/fca_welcomes_new_primate_of_nigeria/ /northamerica/news/cursillo_finds_new_anglican_expression/ Source: Anglican Church in North America - Via Email

August 29,2009

Ambridge, PA - On Saturday, August 29, 2009, a group of Cursillo leaders from the Anglican Church in North American met in Bedford, TX, to form Anglican 4thDay.

The name Anglican 4thDay was selected as it best symbolizes the Cursillo experience, which begins with small group interactions and leads to a three-day retreat. The emphasis on Piety, Study, and Action provides pilgrims with a pattern to living a meaningful and robust Christian life.

"Though we are changing our name," said Kathleen Adams, one of the original organizers," we will be continuing the traditions passed down to us in the Cursillo experience."

The day and half meeting in Texas was exciting and productive. From it, Articles of Incorporation were approved and signed, Board members were elected, By-Laws were adopted, and the first draft of the Anglican 4thDay handbook was reviewed.

Cursillo (Cursillos en la Cristiandad) was originally founded in the mid-1940's in Majorca, Spain, by Roman Catholic priests and laymen as a method for developing Christian leaders.

"We are very pleased," said Ms. Adams," that this evangelical experience will continue in the new Anglican Church in North America."

By of the first of 2010, the Anglican 4thDay National Board will be ready to receive applications for affiliation from Anglican Cursillo leadership groups across our Province. 2009-09-09T16:08:17+00:00 /northamerica/news/cursillo_finds_new_anglican_expression/ /northamerica/news/archbishop_duncan_open_letter_to_the_anglican_communion/ Two Cities: One Choice
An Open Letter to the Anglican Communion

Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There are times in the history of God's people when the prevailing values and behaviors of those then in control of rival cities symbolizes a choice to be made by all of God's people. For Anglicans such a moment has certainly arrived. The cities symbolizing the present choice are Bedford, Texas, and Anaheim, California. In the last month, the contrasting behaviors and values of the religious leaders who met in these two small cities made each a symbol of Anglicanism's inescapable choice.

Jerusalem and Babylon come to mind as the Scriptural cities which are enduring symbols of choices to be made by God's people, and of what can happen when God's people make a choice for something other than God's Way, God's Truth, God's Life, as set out in God's Covenant, whether Old or New.

Charles Dickens contrasts London and Paris in the last quarter of the 18th Century in his Tale of Two Cities. Both cities are in crisis, but one operates from received values and behaviors, while the other attempts to re-make the world to its own revolutionary tastes.

St. Augustine of Hippo in his De Civitate Dei contrasts the City of God and the City of the World, explaining the fate of Rome in terms of the favor that comes from conforming to the behaviors and values of the Heavenly City as over against the Earthly City.

The Anglican Church in North America, whose leaders met at Bedford, Texas, from June 20th to June 25th, embraced the values and behaviors familiar to Christians in every age: daily repenting of human sin in disobeying the one Lord, embracing the need (both personal and corporate) of a divine Savior, and recommitting to the proclamation in word and deed of the gospel of transforming love. The unity at Bedford, despite very real differences, was palpable.

The Episcopal Church, whose leaders met at Anaheim, California, from July 8th to 17th, blessed the values and behaviors of a re-defined Christianity: enabling a revisionist anthropology, budgeting litigation rather than evangelism, and confusing received understandings of Scriptural truth, not least concerning the necessity of individual salvation in Christ Jesus. At Anaheim, there were those who valiantly stood against the revolutionary majority, and their pain and grief at what was happening was heartbreaking for all who saw it, not least for their brothers and sisters in the Anglican Church in North America.

The North American poet, Robert Frost, once wrote: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by. That has made all the difference." For Anglican Christians, for the Instruments of Unity (Communion), for interdependent Provinces, for ordinary believers, there is a choice to be made. The choice is between two religions, two roads, two cities, two sets of conflicting values and behaviors. In Deuteronomy, chapter 30, Moses sets the choice as between blessing and curse, life and death. For contemporary Anglicanism the present choice is this stark.

I write this humbly and as a sinner. I also write it as one whose hope is in Christ alone, and with deepest love for all for whom He died and rose again.

Faithfully and Obediently,
The Most Reverend Robert William Duncan, D.D.

Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America
Anglican Bishop of Pittsburgh



2009-07-21T18:26:29+00:00 /northamerica/news/archbishop_duncan_open_letter_to_the_anglican_communion/ /northamerica/news/acna_news_release_new_group_installs_archbishop_duncan/ Anglican Church in North America NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 24 June 2009


North American Anglicans reaffirm their traditional mission: New group installs Archbishop Duncan, emphasizes evangelism


PLANO, Texas – Orthodox Anglicans from the United States and Canada, meeting Wednesday night at Christ Church in a Dallas suburb, celebrated the creation of a Christ-centered, missionary Church - the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

"It is a great day because working together, we have been able, by God's grace, to reunite a significant portion of our Anglican Church family here in North America," said Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh at a news conference before his installation as the ACNA's first archbishop. "We are uniting 700 congregations, and more importantly, committed Anglican believers in the north and in the south, on the west coast, and the east coast."

The ACNA held its first Provincial Assembly this week, working to ratify the constitution and canons drafted by their bishops, clergy and lay leaders at a meeting in suburban Chicago last December when they announced they were forming a new "province" - a large regional Anglican jurisdiction in North America.

Mrs. Cheryl Chang, a member of the Governance Task Force that helped draft the constitution and canons, said, "Our task was to ensure that the structure was supporting the mission, not the mission supporting the structure."

The preamble to the constitution says that orthodox Anglicans are "grieved by the current state of brokenness within the Anglican Communion [Anglicans' worldwide church] prompted by those who have embraced erroneous teaching and who have rejected a repeated call to repentance."

During the news briefing, many of the ACNA officials said the formation of a new province was a reaffirmation of the traditional values of the Anglican Communion.

"The teachings we hold to are the teachings that have governed the Anglican branch of Christianity for decades," said Bishop Martyn Minns of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. "So, in that sense, we're not doing anything particularly new, but what we are doing is establishing that we want to stay within the [Christian] mainstream."

Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth said that central theme of this new Provincial Assembly was an emphasis on evangelism and mission. "What I think is significant about that for Anglicans and Episcopalians in North America is that this is the beginning of the recovery of confidence in Anglicanism as a biblical, missionary church," he said.

ACNA officials said that formal recognition as an Anglican province will take time. Duncan said he is in regular contact with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal leader of the Anglican Communion.

Nine Anglican provinces, representing the vast majority of Anglicans from as far away as Africa, Asia and South America, sent official delegations to the ACNA Assembly, indicating their support.

"We are in the process of being recognized by and partnering with churches around the world," Duncan said. "Just the other day, the Church of Uganda recognized our new province." Earlier this year, the Anglican Church of Nigeria also recognized the ACNA. Together, these provinces represent the Anglican Communion's two largest provinces and tens of millions of Anglicans.

Duncan went on to say that Anglicans are part of a worldwide movement. "We are part of something big," he said. "God isn't just bringing Anglican Christians together. Across the Church, people are re-embracing Scripture's authority. Christians are once again discovering the beauty, wisdom and grace of our 2,000-year-old tradition."

Jurisdictions that have joined together to form the 28 dioceses and dioceses-in-formation of the Anglican Church in North America are: the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin; the Anglican Mission in the Americas (including the Anglican Coalition in Canada); the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the missionary initiatives of Kenya, Uganda, and South America's Southern Cone. The American Anglican Council and Forward in Faith North America also are founding organizations.

The Anglican Church in North America unites some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes into a single church.

"The events of this week and the months leading up to it represent the answers to decades of prayer," said Dr. Michael Howell, executive director of Forward in Faith North America. "And, I am fully convinced that only God could have brought this about."

The Provincial Assembly concludes Thursday at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.acnaassembly.org.

The Anglican Church in North America unites some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes into a single church. Jurisdictions which have joined together to form the 28 dioceses and dioceses-in-formation of the Anglican Church in North America are: the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin; the Anglican Mission in the Americas; the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Anglican Coalition in Canada; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the missionary initiatives of Kenya, Uganda, and South America’s Southern Cone. Additionally, the American Anglican Council and Forward in Faith North America are founding organizations.

2009-06-29T10:43:15+00:00 /northamerica/news/acna_news_release_new_group_installs_archbishop_duncan/