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2002-024

AMiA 'under construction' during second winter conference

by Jan Nunley
jnunley@episcopalchurch.org

     (ENS) The Anglican Mission in America's (AMiA) 
(http://www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org) Second Winter Conference in Little 
Rock, Arkansas on January 17-21 was held in a hotel that is still very much under 
construction--much like the AMiA itself.

     More than 500 people, from 28 states and seven countries, gathered at the 
Peabody Hotel and the Statehouse Convention Center for worship, teaching, 
presentations, and workshops, most of them aimed at answering questions and 
meeting the needs of start-up congregations. Keynote speaker for the event was 
Leith Anderson, (www.wooddale.org/faith_matters/) senior pastor of Wooddale 
Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and author of numerous books on church growth 
and cultural change, including Dying for Change, A Church for the 21st Century, 
and Leadership That Works.  

     They also heard from Archbishop Yong Ping Chung, one of two archbishops who 
participated in the consecrations (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/2001-
169.html) of four AMiA clergy as bishops last June in Denver. At an opening 
service that included the ordination of two deacons for AMiA congregations, Yong 
issued a threefold "trumpet call for 2002": adoration of God, assurance of their 
calling, and action on behalf of the gospel.  "God loves you and God has chosen 
you, not only as a part of AMiA but also as an individualI believe this is the 
assurance that God wants to give to our young AMiA today," Yong told the group. 
"I believe God has chosen AMiA at such a time in our history."

Congregations featured

     In between sessions, participants heard from various AMiA congregations 
about their ministries. The Rev. Phil Lyman, rector of one of the newest AMiA 
affiliates, St. John's in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, boasted of the 
parish's commitment to the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life 
(NOEL), an anti-abortion group on whose board Lyman serves. "NOEL sees its future 
with AMiA," Lyman said to a chorus of "amens." 

     Another featured congregation was Church of the Holy Spirit in Roanoke, 
Virginia, whose rector, the Rev. Quigg Lawrence, introduced his congregation as 
one that was "kicked out, thrown out of ECUSA." But Lawrence also took time to 
introduce representatives from a Houston congregation composed mostly of 
expatriate Nigerians who don't feel the Diocese of Texas is conservative enough. 
"You notice that we tend to be pretty vanilla in this crowd?" Lawrence 
challenged. "And you notice that the two churches that sponsored us are in Asia 
and Africa?" He urged them to reach out to traditionalist African and Asian 
Anglicans who have immigrated to the US.

Pioneers wanted--no settlers

     But perhaps the most anticipated event was a pair of back-to-back plenaries 
held on the conference's first full day. First AMiA senior bishop Charles Murphy 
and then Murphy and Yong together laid out their vision for the AMiA in the 
coming year.

     Murphy frequently referred to the AMiA movement as "catching a wave"--a 
"wave of God's Spirit," a "wave of mission," a "global wave of what God is doing" 
that is "rolling this way." Seeding his comments with the latest from church-
growth gurus such as Leonard Sweet, Peter Wagner, and Rick Warren, Murphy 
punctuated his talk with PowerPoint outlines and had assistants to pass out fill-
in-the-blanks handouts for which he provided answers. Murphy maintained that 
"what we're after is not people who are Anglicans" but those who "check 'none of 
the above'" on religious affiliation surveys. He spoke of the necessity to "crack 
whips and knock over tables to the glory of God" and proclaimed that AMiA is 
looking for "innovators, pioneers, not settlers." 

     But Yong reminded them that AMiA was formed in response to a very different 
group: "those who want to continue to be Anglicans but cannot stay in ECUSA" 
because of issues such as General Convention's reluctance to condemn 
homosexuality. Yet, said Yong, "we are not propping you up to fight other people. 
You are to be instruments of God"--planting new churches, attracting new 
adherents to the AMiA. "A wild man from Borneo doesn't know how to play 
politics," Yong, a native of the Malaysian island, said to laughter from the 
audience.

More people, more money

     In a later news conference, Yong refused comment about an upcoming meeting 
with the other three members of South East Asia's House of Bishops, who have 
publicly dissociated (www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/2001-160.html) themselves from 
his consecration of new bishops for the AMiA last summer. He also declared it 
"inappropriate" to comment on the election for the new Archbishop of Canterbury 
and what implications it might have for relations between the AMiA and Lambeth 
Palace. The AMiA's two senior bishops, Murphy and John Rodgers, consecrated by 
the Archbishops of South East Asia and Rwanda in 2000, and four junior bishops, 
(http://ecusa.anglican.org/ens/2001-156.html) elevated to the purple in 2001, 
have yet to be recognized as bishops by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

     Asked about specific growth plans, Murphy said the group is finalizing an 
affiliation agreement with a congregation in Vestavia, Alabama, a suburb of 
Birmingham. He also hopes they can move outside the South and West, where most 
congregations are located, into New England, where there are "areas we haven't 
touched yet." He anticipates between 15 and 20 new churches will be planted this 
year, but acknowledges that "finding people and money" is a major obstacle for 
the AMiA, which needs to raise an additional $1.7 million to meet its $3.5 
million budget. 

     Another "distraction" is the issue of several ongoing lawsuits involving 
AMiA congregations seeking to take their former parishes' property with them out 
of ECUSA. So far, the results have been mixed--"we're 2 for 2," Murphy says--but 
he declines the suggestion that any of the congregations, including his own home 
parish (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/2001-315.html) in South Carolina, 
should give up and attempt to build anew. "That would be poor stewardship," he 
said.

Principles in progress

     Even the foundational documents of the AMiA are still works in progress, 
including the version of the Book of Common Prayer that will be in use. Most of 
the liturgies used are from the 1979 American book, but the South East Asia and 
Rwandan orders have been used, too. Rodgers has said that until the group has its 
own version, the only liturgical requirement will be agreement with the 
"classical" Anglican theology of the 1662 English Prayer Book.

     At one of the break-out sessions in Little Rock, termed "trade shows," 
Rodgers assured the room that assent to the as-yet-unofficial "Solemn Declaration 
of Principles" of the not-yet-constituted Anglican Missionary Province of North 
America was the sine qua non of membership in the AMiA, not just for clergy but 
for lay leaders as well. "If you can't affirm these principles, then we're not 
well matched," he said, adding, "Otherwise, we end up with the same diversity 
that we had in our previous" Laughter drowned out his last word, but the 
allusion to ECUSA was plain. 

     Rodgers was asked about the inclusion of the "dogmatic definitions of the 
first seven general councils" of the undivided Church in Article III, Section 
1,"Further Doctrinal Norms and Formularies." Especially, the questioner wanted to 
know, did this mean AMiA required of all its leaders an affirmation of the 
perpetual virginity of Mary, a decision made in 431 A.D. by the Third Ecumenical 
Council at Ephesus? "Well, we were thinking of the great Christological 
definitions," a visibly flustered Rodgers answered. "Gee, it's dangerous to have 
someone who's read all these things!" 

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News Service.

     

2002-024s

AMiA identity, procedures still in formation

by Jan Nunley

     (ENS) They're not a "separate church," AMiA leaders insist, but part of the 
Anglican Communion, through connections with the Anglican provinces of South East 
Asia and Rwanda. They're not a province, although their "Solemn Declaration and 
Constitution and Canons" 
(http://www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org/meetamia/archives/constitution.html) 
refers to them as the "Anglican Missionary Province of North America." They are, 
technically, missionaries from the Anglican provinces of Rwanda and South East 
Asia, though no one in their US leadership has lived in either Africa or Asia and 
few have visited there. 

     When the group became official just a month after the Episcopal Church's 
General Convention in July 2000, with a charge from its authorizing primates  to 
"go ahead full steam" in "any part of the USA, no limits," some enthusiasts 
predicted they would add 80 congregations before the end of their first year. But 
by September, 2000, only 17 congregations had signed up, most of them portions of 
ECUSA congregations with a long history of conflict with their bishops, not all 
of it doctrinal. 

     Resentment over the 1979 passage of the "Dennis Canon" 
(http://www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention/pdf/candC2000.pdf) instituted 
by General Convention also motivated some of the clergy and laity. Title 1, canon 
7, ' 4 of the Episcopal Church canons is an express trust provision which states: 
"All real and personal property held by or for the benefit of any Parish, Mission 
or Congregation is held in trust for this Church and the Diocese thereof in which 
such Parish, Mission or Congregation is located. The existence of this trust, 
however, shall in no way limit the power and authority of the Parish, Mission or 
Congregation otherwise existing over such property so long as the particular 
Parish, Mission or Congregation remains a part of, and subject to, this Church 
and its Constitution and Canons." Many conservatives continue to feel the canon 
was passed in order to limit the ability of traditionalist congregations to 
control their property after General Convention approved the ordination of women.

     By the first AMiA Winter Conference, 
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/2001-16.html) held at Pawleys Island in 
January, 2001, they claimed 21 congregations totaling 5,000 members, although 
officials said they had fielded "hundreds of inquiries." Six months later, at the 
Denver consecrations of four new bishops, their membership was given as 8,000 
members in 37 congregations. As of January 2002, the official number of 
congregations has increased to 40, but the number of congregants has remained the 
same.  

'Practical diversity'

     Although its Constitution and Canons calls for a "provincial synod" or 
representative assembly of bishops, priests, deacons, and laypersons, the AMiA 
has not yet held such a synod. Decisions appear to be made by Archbishops Kolini 
and Yong in consultation with an AMiA Council of Bishops and a Standing 
Commission, neither of which is elected by the AMiA's membership. None of the 
currently half-dozen AMiA bishops were elected by a diocese gathered in 
convention, as is the rule in the Episcopal Church. But there are no dioceses in 
the AMiA to elect bishops, at least not yet. Its six bishops govern by "affinity" 
rather than geography, and congregations are invited to choose which one they 
prefer to minister to them. 

     There are women among its priests and deacons, but AMiA's leaders at its 
inception declared a two-year moratorium on the ordination of women to the 
priesthood or episcopate until completion of a study of the "appropriateness" of 
women's ordination, chaired by Rodgers. Since the AMiA is in dialogue with anti-
women's ordination organizations such as Forward in Faith and "continuing 
Anglican" bodies such as the Reformed Episcopal Church that decline to accept 
women as priests or bishops, the issue retains the potential for a future rift.

     At present, the group engages in what is called "practical diversity": those 
congregations that don't accept women are clustered under Rodgers and the 
Province of South East Asia, those who do under Murphy and Rwanda, and all-male 
Eucharists are the rule at corporate gatherings. Should the AMiA eventually 
decide not to ordain women, its canons effectively leave the issue of existing 
women clergy to attrition; should it affirm them, however, opponents of the 
practice are invited to remain or leave with no financial penalty either way. 

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News Service.