Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The Anglican Mission Story

http://www.theamia.org/amia/index.cfm?ID=FC74816E-B15F-4E69-BFBE8961A34015FD

[Anglican Mission in America] 25 Jul 2006--The Anglican Mission in America was born in Amsterdam in August of 2000 following three years of preparation.

At Amsterdam, Archbishops Kolini of Rwanda and Yong of South East Asia gave the signal “Full Speed Ahead” to what had been the First Promise Movement and AACOM (Association of Anglican Congregations on Mission),and the Anglican Mission in America was born. Bishops Chuck Murphy and John Rodgers—who had been consecrated Missionary Bishops to the United States from Rwanda and South East Asia January 29, 2000, Singapore—became the overseers of a dynamic Anglican mission on American shores. Four additional bishops were consecrated in Denver in 2001, and things have been full speed ahead ever since.

The Anglican Mission provides a way for congregations and clergy to be fully Anglican—connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion through the leadership in Rwanda and South East Asia—while, at the same time, being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church USA.

Specifically, AMiA is now focusing on planting new Anglican congregations from coast to coast throughout the United States.

In global developments, Christianity is becoming the fastest growing faith, at a time when it is diminishing in the United States. Professor Philip Jenkins of Penn State (The Next Christendom) and others have noted this phenomenal shift “southward,” as Africa, Asia and South America are witnessing extraordinary growth in the Christian church. Closer to home, Christianity in the U.S is losing ground, as we have become the largest English-speaking collection of un-churched and spiritually disconnected people in the world.

As Newsweek magazine proclaimed in a major article in 2001, “Countries that were once considered Christian homelands have become the mission territories of the new millennium.”

We are becoming the mission field
That is our story at AMiA. We are a missionary outreach to the United States sanctioned jointly by the Anglican Archbishops of South East Asia and Rwanda. The Anglican Mission in America is directly connected to its Archbishops, under their authority. God is doing a major work in their countries and they are willing to share that blessing with us, at great cost to themselves.

We invite you to prayerfully join with us in this exciting mission venture.

For more information regarding the Anglican Mission in America, visit the AMiA website.

No comments: