ACNA Seeks Expanded Foothold in Dallas & Albany

For the second time this year, a diocese of the conservative Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has announced plans to expand into the geographic boundaries of a conservative Episcopal diocese. The theological solidarity of traditional Anglicanism is bumping up against the imperatives of emerging jurisdictions.

Since ACNA was founded in 2009 by clerics who rejected the perceived liberalism of the Episcopal Church, there has been an unwritten understanding that ACNA would not compete with the remaining handful of conservative Episcopal bishops.

But on April 16, ACNA’s diocese in the Fort Worth region said it seeks to establish a “Missionary District of Dallas, to operate temporarily as a Deanery of the Diocese of Fort Worth.” The district would include churches inside the borders of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, which is headed by the Rt. Rev. George Sumner, a member of the traditionalist Communion Partners organization, which is opposed to same-sex marriage. Read More

I have been keeping abreast of developments in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) since the days of the Common Cause Partnership and the Anglican Communion Network and earlier. What I have observed is that the ACNA tends to plant new churches in areas in which the Episcopal Church has historically planted new churches and has enjoyed a measure of success and has generally not planted new churches beyond these areas. It largely avoids areas where the Episcopal Church planted new churches but was not as successful in establishing self-supporting parishes. Now these conclusions are based upon observation of the geographic dioceses in the ACNA. I do not have sufficient information on the non-geographic dioceses to draw any conclusions.