News from around the Anglican Communion

New Zealand congregation quits Anglican Church over gay marriage vote

A second New Zealand congregation and its clergy have quit the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia over the May vote by that church’s general synod to begin the process towards permitting gay marriage. Read more

West Indies applauds General Synod's vote on women bishops

Leaders of the Church of the Province of the West Indies have applauded General Synod’s vote last week to permit the consecration of women bishops, saying the Caribbean churches will follow England’s lead. Read more

The West Indies and other provinces were waiting to see what the Church of England would do. They did not want to be the first to take that step but were ready to fall in behind the Church of England if it took the first step. I do not think what we are seeing is a domino effect. These provinces had already made up their minds. Folks in the Anglican Church in North America who are surprised by these developments simply were not paying attention to what has been happening elsewhere. While they may aspire to lead the global Anglican Church, ACNA leaders have a tendency to be fairly provincial. The ACNA clergy and laity also tend to be fairly provincial. Its provincialism is one of the ACNA's major drawbacks.

Slaughter of Nigerian Christians rises sharply

Boko Haram extremists and others have killed nearly as many Nigerian Christians in the first seven months of this year as were killed in all of 2013, the advocacy group Jubilee Campaign reported Tuesday (July 29). Read more