12 Ways the Anglican Church in North America Differs from the Episcopal Church in the USA

By Robin G. Jordan

The Anglican Church in North America in its constitution, its canons, and its other doctrinal statements takes the position of unreformed Catholicism ( Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, etc.) that bishops and episcopacy belong to “the essence of Christianity.” This view had its adherents in the US Episcopal Church at its founding – such as Bishop Samuel Seabury.

The Anglo-Catholic Movement that made major inroads into the US Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century espoused this view to the point that its adherents did not regard the ministers of evangelical denominations as having valid orders since their respective denominations did not have bishops. Since the ministers of these denominations were not in their estimation validly-ordained, they did not regard the congregations of such ministers as a part of the visible Church of Christ.

The Anglo-Catholic Movement’s adherents adopted measures that prohibited evangelicals in the clergy of the US Episcopal Church from fraternizing with their evangelical brethren outside that denomination. They rejected evangelical proposals to revise the American Prayer Book to comprehend evangelical views on baptism. Their rejection of these proposals was a departure from an earlier policy of comprehension evident in the 1789 Prayer Book in the rubrics permitting the omission of the signing of the cross on the newly-baptized’s forehead at baptism and the optional use of an alternative formula at the imposition of hands in the ordination service for presbyters. Anglo-Catholics in the Diocese of Kentucky refused to permit the Bishop of Kentucky to leave the diocese and assume the position of Presiding Bishop until he agreed in writing not to give full authority to the Assistant Bishop who was a conservative evangelical.

These actions were among a number of developments in the US Episcopal Church that eventually led to the secession of conservative evangelicals from the denomination in 1873 and their formation of the Reformed Episcopal Church. The US Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops, which was at the time dominated by Anglo-Catholic bishops, would adopt a resolution maintaining bishops and episcopacy were one of the four parts of the “sacred deposit” of the Christian faith in 1886.

Among the doctrinal positions that nineteenth century Anglo-Catholics would take in relation to bishops and episcopacy was that bishops as the successors to the apostles were the divinely-instituted governors of the Church. All authority in the Church flowed from them. What authority that was exercised by synods of clergy and laity was derivative. A bishop’s acceptance of the decisions of such gatherings was voluntary and non-binding. A bishop retained all authority even the authority that he delegated to these synods. Their decisions had no force unless the bishop approved their decisions.  

For the Anglican Church in North America the Articles of Religion (1571) and the Book of Common Prayer (1662) are not authoritative formularies that they are for historic Anglicanism and its modern-day counterpart—confessional Anglicanism. The wording of the ACNA fundamental declarations waters down their authority to nothing and substitutes other standards of doctrine and worship by specific reference or inference. Its attitude toward these formularies has its origins in the US Episcopal Church from which it broke away, the Anglo-Catholic and Broad Church Movements, and the more recent Convergence Movement.

The ideology that is observable in the Anglican Church in North America is more a conservative form of Episcopalianism than it is a variant of Anglicanism. There is clear continuity between attitudes toward bishops and episcopacy and the Anglican formularies that were evident in the US Episcopal Church from its founding and those that are evident in the ACNA today. The ACNA may have broken away from the US Episcopal Church but it has not entirely broken away from the ideology that dominated thinking in the US Episcopal Church from the nineteenth century on.

How then does the Anglican Church in North America differ from the US Episcopal Church? The ACNA differs from the US Episcopal Church in 12 ways:

1. The ACNA retains a traditional view of marriage and human sexuality. The ACNA does not ordain individuals who involved in same sex relationships. It does not bless or celebrate same sex relationships or authorize liturgies for blessing or celebration of such relationships. It does not lobby for the legalization and recognition of gay marriage.

2. While the ACNA has women deacons and presbyters, it does not have women bishops. Women’s ordination is an issue that divides the ACNA.

3. While bishops play a large role in the governance of the US Episcopal Church in practice if not on paper, bishops play a much larger role in the governance of the ACNA. There is a widening gap between the form of governance envisioned in the ACNA’s governing documents and its working form of governance. While the ACNA Provincial Council may be its official governing body, the real locus of power is its College of Bishops, which functions in many respects like a conference of bishops in the Roman Catholic Church.

4. The laity plays a much more limited role in the governance of the ACNA than they do in the US Episcopal Church. The largest representative body in the ACNA, its Provincial Assembly, has no legislative powers. It is a rubber stamp for the Provincial Council, which has increasingly become the puppet of the College of Bishops. The College of Bishops strongly influences the decisions of the ACNA task forces. Only legislation that enjoys the support of the College of Bishops makes it to the floor of the Provincial Council.

5. While modernism is not entirely absent from the ACNA, it does not dominate the ACNA in the way that it dominates the US Episcopal Church.

6. The ACNA is more creedal than the US Episcopal Church in its beliefs. Both denominations recognize the catholic Creeds. The ACNA adheres more closely to the teaching of the Creeds than does the US Episcopal Church. At the same time the US Episcopal Church does have pockets of creedalism, congregations and clergy that adhere to the Creeds’ teaching.

Note that I avoided describing the ACNA as more Scriptural than the US Episcopal Church in its beliefs. Due to the influence of Anglo-Catholicism in the ACNA and liberalism in the US Episcopal Church, both denominations may be characterized as not fully accepting the Bible as canon—as their guiding rule of faith and practice. Consequently, in the words of J. I. Packer “their Christian profession… is flawed.”  The GAFCON Theological Resource Group in The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future identifies Anglo-Catholicism and liberalism as the leading challenges to the authority of the Bible and the classic formularies in the Anglican Church since the nineteenth century (p. 32).

What is extremely weak in both denominations is Anglican confessionalism, which recognizes not only the teaching of the catholic Creeds but also the doctrine of the Articles of Religion and the Homilies. The Homilies are one of the earliest statements of the Protestant and Reformed principles of the Anglican Church. The Articles of Religion commend the Homilies as containing “Godly and wholesome doctrine.” Article 11 describes the Homilies as going into greater depth and detail about the important New Testament doctrine of justification by faith. The GAFCON Theological Resource Group in The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future stresses that “the recovery…of the classic doctrinal and liturgical formularies” is vital to “an adequate definition of Anglican orthodoxy" (pp. 32-33) The ACNA, like the US Episcopal Church, does not share that view.

7. The ACNA officially as a denomination has shown greater interest in church planting than the US Episcopal Church. Church planting has been at low ebb in the US Episcopal Church since the events of 2003. It did not receive the priority that it should have received in the abortive Decade of Evangelism in the last decade of the twentieth century. What new churches that the US Episcopal Church planted before 2003 were negatively impacted by the events of that year as were existing churches in that denomination. There have to my knowledge been no studies of how widespread interest in church planting is at the diocesan and local levels in the ACNA. Some dioceses and local churches are active in church planting; others are not. While the ACNA may showcase church planting networks like Green House, there is nothing to indicate that they are representative of church-planting throughout the denomination. The statistics that the ACNA has published are not particularly detailed or reliable. Some ACNA clergy doubt the need for research and accurate statistics. As long as this attitude prevails, we will not have a complete picture of church planting activity in the ACNA.

8. While we may not agree with the doctrinal views articulated or inferred in them and their use of gender-inclusive language, and feminine imagery for God, the commissions that prepared the 1979 Prayer Book and its supplements have done a much better job in putting together rites and services than the ACNA Liturgy and Common Prayer Task Force has done to date. It is noteworthy that the liturgies of the 1979 Prayer Book is what attracted evangelicals and charismatics to the US Episcopal Church in the closing decades of the twentieth century, not the 1549 Prayer Book, the 1928 Prayer Book, and the Anglican Missals. As well as showing a strong affinity with Roman Catholic teaching in its liturgies, the ACNA also displays a similar affinity with Roman Catholic liturgical practice. On the other hand, the liturgies of the 1979 Prayer Book reflect the influence of the Gallican and other non-Roman liturgical traditions of the Western Church and the influence of doctrinal and liturgical traditions of the Eastern Church.

9. The ACNA differs from the US Episcopal Church in its view of confirmation, penance, matrimony, ordination, and unction. The ACNA catechism describes them as “sacraments of the Church.” The US Episcopal Church catechism describes them as “sacramental rites.” The ACNA view of these rites is very close to if not identical with that of the Roman Catholic Church. See “The Sacraments of the Church” in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

10. The ACNA countenances the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of eucharistic sacrifice in its liturgies. The US Episcopal Church officially subscribes to the doctrine of eucharistic sacrifice that the 1958 Lambeth Conference commended to the provinces of the Anglican Communion. The ACNA also admits this doctrine as acceptable in its liturgies.

11. The ACNA takes a definite position on the ordo salutis, the order of the application of salvation, in its catechism.  It takes the position of Anglo-Catholics, Arminians, Wesleyans, and Pentecostals that faith precedes regeneration. While tying regeneration to faith and teaching the imparting of the Holy Spirit at baptism, the ACNA catechism does not entirely exclude baptismal regeneration. The ACNA catechism, however, does exclude positions of the conservative Evangelical school of thought in Anglicanism. These positions are:

1. Regeneration precedes faith.
2. Regeneration may occur before, at, and after baptism. A person may be regenerate without receiving the sacrament of baptism. A baptized person may be unregenerate.
3. The imparting of the Holy Spirit is not tied to baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit may be given apart from baptism.

These positions have a long history in the Anglican Church. They were held by the English Reformers themselves. They represent legitimate positions on regeneration, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Anglicanism.  Their exclusion is evidence of the anti-Reformed bias of the ACNA catechism, a bias that is not restricted to the catechism.

12. The ACNA in its trial eucharistic rites and its catechism countenance the omission of the filoque clause from the Nicene Creed.

If one is familiar with the science fiction concept of alternate time lines, the Anglican Church in North America is the Episcopal Church in the USA in an alternate time line. In the twenty-first century the two time-lines have intersected and merged, resulting in two Episcopal Churches, one conservative and the other liberal.  One has to wonder what would have happened if the Anglo-Catholic and Broad Church Movements had not made major inroads into the US Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century or the Anglo-Catholics had accommodated the evangelicals in US Episcopal Church in the same century and made room for them. Would the crisis in doctrine, morality, and leadership that led to what is the ACNA to break away from the US Episcopal Church have occurred in the first place? One also has to wonder what the ACNA might have become if its leaders had sought to comprehend conservative evangelicals rather than excluding them from that denomination. On its present trajectory the ACNA appears to be headed in the direction of becoming the latest Anglo-Catholic Continuing Anglican Church in North America. The older Anglo-Catholic Continuing Anglican Churches have not fared well on the North American mission field. Will the ACNA over the long haul do any better? Will it be able to sustain its much-touted initial growth spurt?

Also see

The Anglican Church in North America: Catholic but NOT Reformed

The Anglican Church in North America: Pulling Back the Curtain
The Anglican Church in North America and the Struggle over Anglican Identity
The Anglican Church in North America: Different Emphases?
The Anglican Church in North America - a Church for All Conservative North American Anglicans?

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

Missional Angst and Western Church Norms

We need to be willing to do church differently than we may feel is comfortable and easy.

Consumer-driven forms of Christianity are creating much angst.

The prevailing model of how we do church in our Western context has been called into question, and many are proposing alternative expressions of church life.

Sharing much of that angst, I have been writing and speaking to challenge consumerism in the church. Others feel similarly, but are responding in different ways. However, certain patterns emerge from these responses.

For the sake of conversation, I'll divide the response in the evangelical world into three groups: the radicals, the conservatives, and the critics. Granted, overlap exists, but maybe this will help us consider how people are dealing with the issue and how we might reply.

Let me add that I'm focusing on leaders here, but the same realities are true for all parts of such churches.

As I see it, whether you are solidly within the prevailing church model or have abandoned that model for a more organic ministry approach, the other view is not your enemy, or even your competitor. The way forward is a cooperative effort with each group working according to conviction and faithfully engaging the people within the context God has called them. Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

7 Suggestions for Planting a Church or Revitalizing in a New Community

I am consistently asked for suggestions I have for moving to another city to plant a church or revitalize a church.

I planted once in my hometown, so I am very familiar with that community, but I also planted a church in a city in which I didn’t know anyone well, so I have some experience in that area too. In my present church, I moved to a city where I knew only one other couple.

Recently someone who was about to move to a new city to minister asked a very good specific question.

What advice would you give me that people don’t always give?

Good question. It made me think. I don’t know that any of these are original, but I don’t hear them talked about as much as other suggestions.

And, I think the things I would do would be the same in any ministry position. Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

The Heresy of Indifference

Doctrine matters—it matters in life and in death. Our doctrine determines our destiny. It not only affects our view about God but our view about everything. We are doctrinal beings by nature. Everyone holds to some sort of doctrine; the question is whether or not our doctrine is biblical. Consequently, we dare not be indifferent about doctrine. Indeed, there is a reason we’ve never heard of a Christian martyr who was indifferent about doctrine. Indifference about doctrine is the mother of every heresy in all of history, and in our day indifference about doctrine is spreading like wildfire in the pulpits and pews of our churches. Ironically, the assertion that doctrine doesn’t matter is in fact a doctrine in itself. Keep reading

This assertion is one that I have read in comments left by members of the Anglican Church in North America and even ACNA clergy on other web sites. I do not know how prevalent this attitude is in the ACNA but it may in part explain the ACNA's drift way from authentic historic Anglicanism. Those who do not believe that doctrine matters through their indifference are permitting those who know that doctrine matters to shape the theological direction of the denomination. 

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain 

One Practical Reasons Some Churches Struggle to Find a Pastor

In the last few years, several pastoral search teams at large and megachurches have asked me to offer insights I may have about the pool of candidates they are prayerfully considering pursuing to possibly become the church’s next senior pastor. And it has been fascinating to me that the lists are very similar. The same 5-6 pastors were on everyone’s list to consider (no, I will NOT share with you the list).

I am very grateful for the leaders these churches were prayerfully considering approaching. They are godly men who love their churches, love their communities, and serve Him faithfully. But it is also concerning that the same names show up on every list. Where are the other leaders? Are we failing to develop a new generation of leaders to serve as senior pastors?

While those are questions we must wrestle with, there is one practical reason. Demographically, there are fewer leaders who fit the typical senior pastor profile. Keep reading

Reform's Chairman Rod Thomas Next Bishop of Maidstone

Downing Street has today announced that the next Bishop of Maidstone will be the Reverend Prebendary Roderick Thomas, currently Vicar of Elburton in the Diocese of Exeter.

The appointment of Rod Thomas follows a meeting of the Dioceses Commission in December at which unanimous agreement was given to a proposal from the Archbishop of Canterbury to fill the see, which has been vacant since 2009, with a bishop who takes a conservative evangelical view on headship.

This flowed from the public commitment given by the Archbishops and the House of Bishops, in the run up to the final approval by the General Synod of the legislation to allow women to be admitted to the episcopate in July 2014 (see paragraph 30 of House of Bishops Declaration and the Archbishops' note of June 2013- GS Misc 1079). In agreeing with the proposal to fill the see, the Commission was conscious of the needs of the national church for a member of the College of Bishops to be able to act as an advocate for those who hold a conservative position on headship. Keep reading

Also see
Reform Chairman made Bishop of Maidstone
Topical Tuesday: Bishop Rod Thomas

United Methodist Church Considering New Process for Homosexuality Debate

The United Methodist Church is considering a new process for proposals given at General Conference for agenda items pertaining to the debate over the denomination's stance on homosexuality.

The Commission on General Conference, which plans the regular Church legislative gathering, proposed something called a "Group Discernment Process," according to Heath Hahn of the United Methodist News Service.

"Under the plan, the first stop of all sexuality-related petitions would not be legislative committees. Instead, all 864 delegates would review the petitions in small groups with no more than 15 members," reported Hahn.

"The groups would each have geographical, linguistic, ethnic, gender and age diversity, along with a mix of clergy and lay people … The commission asks each small group to make recommendations on the petition. Members will have the opportunity to review and sign the recommendations." Keep reading

I was struck by the similarity between this proposed new process for the debate over homosexuality in the United Methodist Church and the indaba process that Rowan Williams introduced at the last Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. We should not be surprised if it results in the United Methodist Church taking a more liberal stance on homosexuality and alienating its conservative global South wing, causing a major split in the denomination.

Reactions to shooting at Muhammad carton contest reveals divide over Islam in United States

I am posting links to a number of articles related to the Texas attack. These articles show that Americans are divided over Islam. Liberals are displaying their characteristic penchant for political correctness. They show a strong distaste for what they perceive as extreme views in others (but are quite oblivious to extreme views in themselves). They have appointed themselves as defenders of American Muslims against what they perceive to “Islamophobia,” or anti-Muslim bias. They see people like Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders as motivated by deep-seated prejudice and irrational fear, blowing the threat from militant Islamists out of proportion ,and engaging in hate-mongering against Muslims. Their attitude toward such people and indeed toward anyone who publicly expresses their concerns about Islam and its adherents is very close to the attitude that they have taken toward those who view homosexual practice as immoral on religious grounds. There is a real danger that free speech will be stifled in the debate over Islam and its relationship to terrorism as has happened in the debate over homosexuality. Islam, its beliefs, and its practices, like other religions in the United States, should be the subject of open and free discussion. Christianity has been the subject of such discussion for decades—indeed for the entirety of US history. Islam should not be extended a special protected status that is not extended to other religions in the United States.

Muhammad cartoon contest: Note to jihadists, in America, we shoot back
Texas officer saved lives in shooting outside Muhammad cartoon contest, police say
At Texas mosque, anger at both shooters and Mohammad exhibit
Anti-Muhammad cartoon contest: Free speech or deliberately provocative?
Mohammed cartoon event group pushes religious envelope
5 Things To Know About The Organizers Of Muhammad Cartoon Contest
Stop comparing Pamela Geller to the murdered staffers of Charlie Hebdo
Don't be fooled by Pamela Geller
Dutch lawmaker Wilders on mission to stop 'Islamisation'
FBI had investigated accused Texas gunman for years
US struggles to counter 'homegrown' terror threat

While Americans argue in the media about the Muhammad cartoon contest and its organizers, militant Islamists have destroyed a proposed World Heritage site in Mali.

Militant Islamism is making inroads in the Balkans.

Las Masjib - the militant Islamist Red Mosque -in Islamabad, Pakistan is indoctrinating a new generation of mujahidene - holy warriors for Islam.

The militant Islamist group ISIS has also claimed responsibility for the Texas attack.

The Anglican Church in North America: Catholic but NOT Reformed

A Survey of the ACNA Doctrinal Statements and Their Theological Leanings: The Canons – Part 2

By Robin G. Jordan

On Saturday I posted the first part of this article on the theological leanings of the ACNA canons and the implications of a number of provisions of that doctrinal statement. Today I am posting the second part of the article.

Title III Of Ministers, Their Recruitment, Preparation, Ordination, Office, Practice and Transfer

Canon 5, Sections 1 and 3. As used in these two sections of Canon 5, the term “the Historic Episcopate” is a reference to a line of succession of bishops that is believed to go back to the apostles. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Old Catholic, Moravian, and Independent Catholic churches and the Assyrian Church of the East take the position that apostolic succession is such a line of succession of bishops and only an individual in this line of succession of bishops can be a bishop. Only such an individual can validly ordain clergy and only clergy ordained by such an individual are validly ordained.

This view of apostolic succession underpins the sacramental theology of these churches. It is believed that the imposition of hands and/or anointing with oil by bishops in this line of succession of bishops conveys a special gifting or grace of the Holy Spirit to the individual so ordained as a bishop. Through these actions the individual ordained as a bishop is not just recognized as having authority to confirm and ordain but is spiritually empowered to do so. In these churches confirmation and ordination are viewed as sacraments along with Baptism, the Eucharist, matrimony, penance, and unction.

When a bishop imposes hands on the baptized and/or anoints the baptized with oil at confirmation, he imprints a character upon the baptized and enriches the baptized by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When a bishop lays his hands on a candidate for ordination to the priesthood and/or anoints such a candidate with oil, he imprints an indelible character upon the candidate and empowers him spiritually to infuse the water of Baptism with the Holy Spirit so that those baptized in the water are made regenerate. The bishop empowers the candidate spiritually to confect the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the Body and Blood of Christ and to reiterate or represent the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. What the priest offers at the altar are not representations of Christ’s Body and Blood but Christ himself substantively present in the eucharistic elements. The sacrifice that the priest offers is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, not a repetition of that sacrifice. Christ having offered himself to God on the cross at Calvary through the ministry of the priest continues to offer himself at each celebration of the Eucharist. His self-offering on the cross and his self-offering on the altar are one and the same. As well as offering himself to God in the Eucharist, Christ gives himself to his people as spiritual food.

Through the imposition of hands and/or anointing with oil the bishop also spiritually empowers the candidate to bless, to remit sins, and to anoint the dying and convey to them the grace of salvation.

When a bishop lays hands on a candidate for ordination to the episcopate and/or anoints him with oil, he transmits to the candidate the special grace or gifting of the Holy Spirit that he himself received at his ordination as a bishop, a grace or gifting that Christ bestowed upon the apostles and which they bestowed upon their successors.

This view of apostolic succession or a variation of it is held by Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England and other Anglican provinces but it is not shared or accepted by all Anglicans. The English Reformers rejected the belief that apostolic succession was a line of succession of bishops going back to the apostles. They found no real basis for this belief in the Holy Scriptures. They, like the Continental Reformers, took the position that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops. Whatever linage a bishop might claim, if the bishop did not uphold apostolic teaching, he was no successor to the apostles. For a variety of reasons the English Reformers chose not abolish the office of bishop or to conflate the offices of presbyter and bishop together. Up until 1662 a number of clergy who had been ordained in the Continental Reformed Churches were appointed livings in the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 would bar from ordained ministry in the Church of England anyone who lacked episcopal ordination. This development was a reaction against the abolition of episcopacy during the Interregnum that followed the English Civil War.

The belief that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine has its share of adherents in the present day Anglican Church. Ordination is not viewed as a sacrament conferring a particular grace. It is viewed as the public recognition of an individual’s calling to ordained ministry and to a particular office and of the individual’s gifts and qualifications for that office. Ordination in the case of deacons and presbyters and consecration in the case of bishops confers the authority to execute a particular office in the Church and to do the work of that office. This view of apostolic succession and ordination is commonly but not exclusively held by Anglicans who are evangelical in their theological outlook and loyal to the Protestant and Reformed principles of the Anglican Church, which are based on Holy Scripture and are set out in the Anglican formularies.

It is evident from the use of this terminology in Canon 5 that those who drafted the canons favored the Anglo-Catholic position on apostolic succession and incorporated it into the canons to the exclusion of any other view of apostolic succession even though the excluded view is a legitimate one in historic Anglicanism, the view held by the English Reformers, present day conservative Anglican Evangelicals, and other Anglicans. In making the Anglo-Catholic position on apostolic succession the canons’ position on apostolic succession, they also made the Anglo-Catholic position on ordination the canons’ position. If they had wished to comprehend more conservative schools of Anglican thought in the ACNA – specifically the conservative Evangelical school of thought, they would have used different wording. See Canon 1, Section 1. The wording in this section does not reflect the doctrine of any particular school of Anglican thought. All it requires is the recognition and acceptance of the orders of the church in which an individual was ordained. It does not set out the basis of this recognition and acceptance and side with the doctrinal positions of one school of Anglican thought. They would also have used different wording not only in this part of the ACNA canons but elsewhere in that doctrinal statement.

Canon 5, Section 2. This section of Canon 5 contains a provision that enables a bishop who is strong proponent of the Anglo-Catholic school of thought favored in the ACNA doctrinal statements or an institutionalist to require the examination of ordained ministers from other denominations in the teaching and liturgical practice of that school of thought as a requirement for reordination in the ACNA. The bishop may defer reordination until he is satisfied that such ministers are sufficiently indoctrinated in its teaching and liturgical practice. This is one of a number of provisions in the ACNA canons that bishops may use to ensure that the ACNA’s clergy, if they are not entirely Anglo-Catholic in their theological outlook, are in alignment with Anglo-Catholic teaching and liturgical practice. Among these provisions is Canon 1, Section 4, which enables the bishop of a diocese to determine the norms for ordination in the diocese, subject to the provisions of the canons.

  

Canon 8, Section 2. Canon 8 relates to bishops. Section 2 of this canon is adapted from the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law – specifically Canon 375 §1.

“Bishops, who by divine institution succeed to the place of the Apostles through the Holy Spirit who has been given to them, are constituted pastors in the Church, so that they are teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship, and ministers of governance.”

Canon 8, Section 2 reflects the unreformed Catholic view of apostolic succession and the episcopate. It also infers Church tradition is more authoritative than Holy Scripture.

With Canon 5, Sections 1 and 3, Canon 8, Section 2 establish the position of unreformed Catholicism as the position of the ACNA canons on apostolic succession and the episcopate. They exclude any other position on apostolic succession and the episcopate from the doctrine of the ACNA.

Canon 8, Section 4. Section 4 of this canon relates to the election of bishops in the ACNA. Subsection 3 of this section commends the practice of the College of Bishops electing the bishop of a diocese rather than the diocese itself. This practice would enable any party or faction that has come to dominate the College of Bishops to maintain its dominance of that body and its influence over the direction of the ACNA. While the diocese would nominate a slate of two or three candidates for the College of Bishops’ consideration, the College of Bishops is not bound to elect any of these candidates. There is nothing in the canons to prevent the College of Bishops from rejecting the candidates that a diocese nominates until the diocese nominates a candidate to its liking. There is also nothing in the canons to prevent the College of Bishops from nominating and electing its own candidate for bishop of the diocese. While such a nomination and election might be irregular, it would not be unlawful under the current provisions of the canons. In a number of areas the College of Bishops has encroached upon the authority of the ACNA’s official governing body, the Provincial Council, as well as assumed authority that the ACNA governing documents do not assign to that body or recognize as inherent in it. The College of Bishops strongly influences the proposals of the various ACNA task forces and vets any legislation that is to go before the Provincial Council. Once a party or faction has gained control of the College of Bishops, it would be in a position to shape the doctrine of ACNA along whatever lines it preferred. At the present time the College of Bishops is dominated by Anglo-Catholic – philo-Orthodox bishops, which accounts for the particular theological leanings of its doctrinal statements to date.

Canon 8, Section 5. Section 5 of this canon requires all candidates for ordination to the episcopate in the ACNA to subscribe to a similar declaration to the one that all candidates for ordination to the diaconate and the presbyterate in the ACNA are required to subscribe. The only difference is that the vow of canonical obedience is to the archbishop instead of to the bishop. In subscribing to this declaration the candidate binds himself to conform to the official doctrine of the ACNA with all its implications. He is not free to preach or teach any other doctrine even though it may be consistent with Holy Scripture and the Anglican formularies and preached and taught by Anglicans outside of the ACNA. He is not at liberty to permit the preaching and teaching of such doctrine in the diocese where he will carry out his episcopal ministry.

Title IV Ecclesiastical Discipline

Canon 2 lists the charges or accusations on which ACNA clergy, including the archbishop and bishops, may be presented. It includes “heresy, false doctrine, or schism;” “violation of ordination vows;” “a violation of any provision of the Constitution of this Church;” disobedience, or willful contravention” of the provincial canons or the pertinent diocesan constitution or canons; “acceptance of membership in a religious jurisdiction with purpose contrary to that of this Church”; and “willful refusal to follow a lawful Godly Admonition,” that is, the written directive of his bishop. One or more of these charges or accusations could be used to present, try, and censure, suspend, or depose clergy who fail to conform to official ACNA doctrine or join an organization that while upholding doctrinal positions consistent with the Bible and the Anglican formularies is not in alignment with the ACNA doctrinal statements on key issues.

There are those who scoff at the idea that the disciplinary canons might be used to enforce the doctrinal uniformity that the ACNA canons impose upon that jurisdiction. But they are whistling past the graveyard. The ACNA doctrinal statements make no real attempt to comprehend other conservative schools of Anglican thought beside the one favored in these documents. The ACNA constitution and canons do not provide any safeguards to prevent their use to discourage other conservative schools of Anglican thought from flourishing in the ACNA. These schools of Anglican thought have no official standing in the ACNA.

This completes our examination of the four main parts of the ACNA canons. The canons do have a fifth part which contains the provisions related to the enactment of new canons and the amendment or repeal of existing canons. On paper this is a two-step procedure involving the Provincial Council and the Provincial Assembly but in practice it is a three-step procedure since no legislation finds its way to the floor of the Provincial Council for its consideration unless it enjoys the backing of the College of Bishops. The role that the Provincial Assembly plays in this process is largely cosmetic. The Assembly has no authority to initiate or modify legislation. It may only ratify it or send it back to the Provincial Council without amendment. There is little likelihood of meaningful reform making the ACNA comprehensive of other conservative schools of Anglican beside the one favored in its doctrinal statements coming from within the ACNA itself. To date those occupy influential positions of leadership in the ACNA have shown no inclination to move in that direction. 

Also see
The Anglican Church in North America: Pulling Back the Curtain
The Anglican Church in North America and the Struggle over Anglican Identity
The Anglican Church in North America: Different Emphases?
The Anglican Church in North America - a Church for All Conservative North American Anglicans?

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

5 Significant Attitude Differences That Separate Growing and Declining Churches

So what’s the difference between a growing church and a declining church?

Well there are many, but one of the biggest differences I see is the attitude of the leaders.

The leaders of growing churches almost always share a common attitude.

So do the leaders of declining churches.

And the attitude has a huge influence over the results each church sees.

Attitude may or may not be everything, but it’s close.

Here are 5 attitude differences I see again and again in growing churches and declining churches. Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

Anticipating the Change You’re Not Expecting (Orange Conference 2015 Talk Notes)

This week I’m excited to be speaking at the Orange Conference in Atlanta Georgia.

As a way of serving those who attend my talks (and couldn’t be there but want to track with what’s happening) I’ll be posting the outline to each talk I give here on the blog.

Even if you don’t attend the conference, I hope you can glean a few insights from them that might help you lead better now. And if you’re in the session, you won’t have to guess what that pesky blank you forgot to fill in was all about.

Here’s my talk outline for my Anticipating The Change You’re Not Expecting session, along with some additional posts and references if you want to go deeper. Keep reading

The Gracious Calling of Matthew

There are many examples of irresistible grace in God’s Word. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. The apostle records his own conversion in his Gospel: “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (Matt. 9:9).

Consideration of this verse makes clear the basic teaching of irresistible grace. The Lord Jesus had just returned to Capernaum from His missionary visit to the region of the Gadarenes. Capernaum had become His Galilean headquarters, and many of His most spectacular miracles already had occurred there. Seeing Matthew at his tax collector’s booth, Jesus went to him and called, “Follow me.” At these words, the tax collector immediately was transformed into a disciple. It is a striking illustration of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Keep reading

SCOTUS marriage decision could threaten seminaries

Southern Baptist seminary leaders are among those expressing concern at the U.S. solicitor general's admission that nationwide legalization of gay marriage could lead to the removal of tax-exempt status from religious institutions that stand for traditional marriage.

Also expressing concern are the National Religious Broadcasters and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

New Mohammed cartoon shooting: two dead after Texas police return fire

Two gunmen have been shot dead in Texas at a "draw the prophet" art exhibition and contest that offered a $10,000 prize for the best cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. The event was attended by the controversial far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

About 20 shots rang out and an unarmed security guard was injured before police opened fire on the gunmen. Members of the public were evacuated amid apparent concerns that the dead gunmen, their car and surrounding areas might be mined with explosives. A bomb squad has been called in and the site is still in lock-down.

The exhibition was organised by Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. The shootings took place at around 7pm last night Texas time. Keep reading

Also see
The real reasons cartoons of Mohammed offend so many Muslims
Why images of Mohammed offend Muslims

Photo credit: Pixaby, public domain

The Anglican Church in North America: Pulling Back the Curtain

A Survey of the ACNA Doctrinal Statements and Their Theological Leanings: The Canons - Part 1

By Robin G. Jordan

In this article I examine not only the theological leanings of the canons of the Anglican Church in North America but also the implications of a number of provisions in the ACNA canons. An understanding of the implications of these provisions is essential to an understanding of the significance of the canons’ theological leanings. The canons are divided into four parts. I examine each part in the order that it appears in the canons. I have divided the article itself into two parts. I begin my examination of the canons in the first part and complete it in the second part.

The canons of the Anglican Church in North America may be found here.

Title I Organization and Administration of the Church

Canon 7, Section 1. Mission partners, affiliated ministries, and religious orders must subscribe without reservation to the ACNA fundamental declarations stated in Article I of the ACNA constitution. Ministry partners are the founding entities of the Province listed in Article II of the ACNA constitution and jurisdictions or coalitions deemed to have a special relationship with the ACNA (Canon 7, Section 2). Affiliated ministries include seminaries, mission agencies, ministry organizations, religious societies and sodalities and dioceses and other entities that are a part of a jurisdiction other than the ACNA (Canon 7, Section 3).

The position that ACNA takes in its fundamental declarations as to what defines core Anglican identity is not the same position as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA) takes. The GFCA believes that Canon A5 of the Canons of the Church of England expresses the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines core Anglican identity. Under the provisions of Canon 7,Section 1 an ecclesial organization or network that fully accepts the authority of Holy Scripture and the Anglican formularies and agrees with the position of the GFCA as to what defines core Anglican identity but has reservations concerning the doctrinal positions set out in ACNA fundamental declarations – specifically the third, sixth, and seventh declaration - would not qualify for affiliation with the ACNA. This includes any such organization or network that accepts the principles of Prayer Book revision articulated by the GAFCON Theological Resource Group in Being Faithful: The Shape of Historic Anglicanism Today that all new liturgies should be measured against the 1662 Prayer Book. Those that depart significantly from the 1662 Prayer Book should be subject to Communion-wide scrutiny.

Title II Worship and the Administration of the Sacraments

Canon 1, Section 2. Section 2 of the Canon 1 reiterates the sixth fundamental declaration of the ACNA. It also includes a provision not found in the ACNA constitution. It restricts the use of only the “authorized Books of Common Prayer of the originating jurisdictions” in ACNA congregations. It permits their use until such time as a Prayer Book for use in the ACNA has been adopted. Under the provisions of this section only the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the 1928 American Prayer Book, the 1979 American Prayer Book, An Anglican Prayer Book (2008), the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book, the Anglican Church of Canada’s The Book of Alternative Services (1985), the Anglican Church of Kenya’s Our Modern Services (2002, 2003), the Nigerian Prayer Book, the Southern Cone Prayer Book, and the Reformed Episcopal Church Prayer Book (2005) and its contemporary language edition may be used in the ACNA.

These Anglican service books differ significantly in their doctrine and liturgical usages. For example, the 1662 Prayer Book, like the 1552 Prayer Book on which it is based, excludes anything suggestive of eucharistic sacrifice and takes the position that Christ is not substantively present in the eucharistic elements. On the other hand, the 1928 American Prayer Book is open to interpretation as teaching the medieval Roman Catholic doctrine that the eucharist is a reiteration or representation of Christ’s sacrifice.  The 1979 American Prayer Book affirms the 1958 Lambeth doctrine that the eucharist is a participation in Christ’s ongoing sacrificial activity.  Both the 1928 Prayer Book and 1979 Prayer Book take the position that there is an objective real presence of Christ in the eucharistic elements.

Excluded under its provisions is the Church of England’s Alternative Service Book 1980 and Common Worship (2000), An Australian Prayer Book (1978), A Prayer Book for Australia (1995),  and the Diocese of Sydney’s Sunday Services (2001) and Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings (2012) and other more recent Anglican service books. It is noteworthy that the excluded Anglican service books include several books that seek to accommodate the different schools of Anglican thought represented in their respective provinces or are designed for the use of conservative Anglican Evangelical congregations.

The ACNA ordinal, the two trial ACNA eucharistic rites, the ACNA catechism, and the proposed ACNA rites for admission of catechumens, baptism, and confirmation exhibit a definite theological bias. They for the most part reflect Roman Catholic teaching and liturgical practice. There is a strong likelihood that the final version of the ACNA Prayer Book will exhibit the same theological bias. Once it is adopted, it will be the only service book authorized for use in the ACNA. This has serious implications for congregations and clergy that are evangelical in their theological outlook and loyal to the Protestant and Reformed principles of the Anglican Church based on Holy Scripture and set out in the Thirty-Nine Articles and 1662 Book of Common Prayer. They will be required to use a service book that on key doctrinal issues conflicts with what they understand the Bible to teach and the Anglican formularies to uphold. The canons leave them with no other option.

Canon 4, Section 2. Section 2 of Canon 4 requires all ACNA clergy to instruct their congregations “in the doctrine, sacraments, and discipline of Christ, as the Lord has commanded and as they are set forth in the Holy Scriptures, in the Book of Common Prayer, and in the Church Catechism.” The Book of Common Prayer and the Church Catechism to which this section refers is not 1662 Prayer Book and its Catechism but the ACNA prayer book and the ACNA catechism.

Canon 4, Section 3. Subsection 4 of Section 3 of Canon 4 permits the admission of “young baptized children” to the Holy Communion. It does not specific at what age they may be admitted and under what conditions. It appears to leave their admission solely to the priest, subject presumably to any instructions that the bishop of the diocese might give the clergy of the diocese. The subsection does not require any uniformity of practice on the admission of young baptized children to the Holy Communion. Nor does it require young baptized children to evidence repentance and a vital faith before they may be admitted to the Holy Communion

Article 25 of theThirty-Nine Articles sets out the doctrine that the sacraments “have a beneficial effect or working only in those who receive them worthily.” On the other hand “those who receive them unworthily bring condemnation on themselves.” This doctrine does not distinguish between adults and children.

Article 29 of the Thirty-Nine Articles sets out the doctrine that those who are unrepentant or devoid of a vital faith, while they may eat the bread and drink the cup, they are in no way “partakers of Christ.” Rather they eat the bread and drink the cup to “their condemnation.” This applies to unrepentant, unbelieving children even though they may be baptized.

Subsection 5 of this section permits “members in good standing of other branches of Christ’s Church, who have been baptized, with water, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It contains a reference to what it describes as the “qualifications” of receiving the Holy sacrament of Holy Communion “rightly, worthily, and with faith” in Article 28 of the Thirty-Nine Articles—one of the few references to the Articles in the ACNA canons. However, the specific passage to which it alludes does not concern “qualifications” for receiving the sacrament but rather sets out the doctrine that only to those who “rightly, worthily, and with faith” receive the sacrament are the elements of bread and wine a participation in Christ’s Body and Blood.

Whoever drafted this subsection either did not properly understand the passage in question or they deliberately misrepresented its meaning—an example of what GAFCON Primates’ Council Chairman and Kenyan Archbishop Iliud Wabukala has described as taking the Articles and doing whatever one pleases with them.

The subsection applies what it describes as the “qualifications” of a right, worthy, and believing reception to “members in good standing of other branches of Christ’s Church, who have been baptized, with water, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It does not apply these “qualifications” to young baptized children.

Subsection 4 represents “a desertion of the Articles” and subsection 5 a putting of one’s own sense to the meaning of a particular Article. See the Royal Declaration of Charles I prefaced to the Thirty-Nine Articles.

Canon 7, Section 1. Section 1 of Canon 7 describes matrimony as a “sacrament” whereas Article 25 describes matrimony as a state of life allowed in the Scriptures. Article 25 emphasizes that matrimony does not “belong in the same category as the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper” as it has it has “no visible sign or ceremony commanded by God.” The Form of the Solemnization of Matrimony in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer describes matrimony as “an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man’s innocency.” The view that matrimony is a sacrament reflects Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox teaching. It is also the view of matrimony set out in the ACNA catechism. Under the provisions of Canon 4, Section 2 it is the view of matrimony in which all ACNA clergy are required to instruct their congregations even though it conflicts with the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies, which are in agreement with the teaching of the Bible.

TITLE III Of Ministers, Their Recruitment, Preparation, Ordination, Office, Practice and Transfer

Canon 2, Section 1.  According to Section 1 of Canon 2 clergy in an ACNA diocese owe canonical obedience to the bishop of the diocese and the bishop of the ACNA diocese in turn owes canonical obedience to the archbishop of the ACNA.  This obedience is “in all things lawful and honest,” which includes teaching and liturgical practice. Under the provisions of this section clergy are expected to obey the bishop in such matters and the bishop, the archbishop.

As we shall see clergy may, under the provisions of the ACNA canons, be disciplined for disobedience to their bishop and presumably bishops for disobedience to the archbishop. A priest in a diocese may disagree with the ACNA doctrine that matrimony is a sacrament but the canons require him to instruct his congregation in that doctrine and the bishop of the diocese may require him to do so. If he does not, disciplinary proceedings may be instituted against him for violating the canons and disobeying the bishop of the diocese.

Under the provisions of the ACNA canons clergy and bishops may be disciplined for conforming to the teaching of Holy Scripture and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies. This should give us pause. There are those who argue that the institution of such disciplinary proceedings will never happen but they have no real basis for their opinion. The ACNA constitution and canons do not recognize freedom of conscience or diversity of opinion upon matters over which Anglicans have historically been divided. The two documents side with one particular school of thought on a number of key issues.

Canon 2, Section 1.  Section 1 of Canon 2 gives a bishop full discretion in determining whether a candidate for ordination is “sufficiently instructed in Holy Scripture and in the doctrine, discipline and worship of this Church, as defined by this Province.” If the bishop is a strong proponent of the particular school of thought favored in the ACNA constitution, canons, and other doctrinal statements or simply an institutionalist, this section enables the bishop to delay the ordination of candidates whom he does not believe are fully indoctrinated in that school of thought’s teaching and liturgical practice or to deny ordination to them altogether. It permits ACNA bishops both individual and collectively to exclude from ordained ministry in the ACNA individuals who are in their estimation too evangelical in their theological outlook and too loyal to the Protestant and Reformed principles of the Anglican Church based on Holy Scripture and set out in the Thirty-Nine Articles and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Bishops who do ordain such individuals may be subject to disciplinary proceedings on the grounds that they did not ensure that they were “sufficiently instructed in Holy Scripture and in the doctrine, discipline and worship of this Church, as defined by this Province.”

Canon 2, Section 7 prohibits the ordination of anyone who “has not been properly trained in Holy Scripture, and the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of this Church.”  It does not explain what it means by “properly trained,” presumably leaving that final determination to the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese. The Anglican Standards Task Force has prepared a set of seminary standards which were approved by the ACNA College of Bishops in 2011. These standards are not binding upon the bishops. Their compliance with the standards are voluntary. A canon would be required to make the standards mandatory. Based upon their past actions such a canon would offer no assurance that the bishops would comply with the standards. 

Canon 3 is related to deacons and their ordination. Among the provisions of this canon, which are worthy of note, is the provision in Section 1 requiring candidates for the ACNA diaconate to demonstrate “sufficient knowledge of Holy Scripture, the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of this Church, and any other topics the Bishop shall deem necessary for the office and ministry of Deacons.” This means that the bishop may require examination of a candidate in his knowledge of the theology, vesture, and ceremonial that the particular school of thought favored in the ACNA doctrinal statements associates with the office and ministry of a deacon. To this end the bishop may require a candidate to receive instruction in this theology, vesture, and ceremonial. To put it more bluntly, the bishop may require the candidate to undergo indoctrination in the teaching and liturgical practice of that school of thought. Since ordination as a deacon is a prerequisite to ordination as a presbyter, such indoctrination will be an integral part of the formation of clergy in ACNA dioceses in which the bishop is a strong proponent of the same school of thought or an institutionalist. Clergy whom the teaching and liturgical practice of this particular school thought has not influenced will be a rarity in the ACNA.

Section 2 of this canon is also noteworthy. It requires subscription without reservation to the following declaration as a condition of ordination to the diaconate in the ACNA.

“I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation, and I consequently hold myself bound to conform my life and ministry thereto, and I do solemnly engage to conform to the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of Christ as this Church has received them.”

The key phrase in this declaration is “as this Church has received them.”  It is a reference to the Anglo-Catholic and high church tradition and unreformed Catholic theology given prominence in ACNA doctrinal statements. In subscribing to this declaration a candidate for Holy Orders in the ACNA is agreeing to conform to this particular tradition and theology. If he fails to conform to the official doctrine, discipline, and worship of the ACNA once he is ordained, disciplinary proceedings may be instituted against him. His subscription to the declaration may be used as evidence against him in such proceedings. This also should give us reason for hesitation.

Canon 4 is related to presbyters and their ordination. Among the subjects on which candidates for the presbyterate must demonstrate satisfactory knowledge is doctrine, which the canon defines as “the Church’s teaching set forth in the Creeds and the Offices of Instruction.” This wording comes from an earlier version of the canons of the Episcopal Church in the USA. “The Offices of Instruction” in this earlier version of the Episcopal Church’s canons is a reference to the offices of instruction in the 1928 Prayer Book. In the case of the ACNA this reference would presumably be now to the ACNA catechism. As we shall see when we examine the ACNA catechism, it is in doctrine for a large part Roman Catholic and to a lesser extent Eastern Orthodox and Arminian/Wesleyan. Nowhere in the list of subjects on which such candidates must demonstrate satisfactory knowledge is found any reference to the Book of Homilies, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer—historic formularies of the Anglican Church based on the Holy Scriptures and setting out the Anglican Church’s Protestant and Reformed principles.

Only in the ACNA seminary standards are found references to “the Articles of Religion and the classical prayer books.” They set out the following standard: “Approved Anglican Seminaries and Approved Anglican Tracks must provide dedicated course work on the Catholic Creeds, the 39 Articles of Religion and an approved Book of Common Prayer.” Note that it does not require study of the 1662 Prayer Book and the 1552 Prayer Book on which it is based—only “an approved Book of Common Prayer.” There is no mention of the Book of Homilies.

Like Canon 3, Canon 4 contains a provision that enable a bishop to require a candidate for the presbyterate to undergo indoctrination in the teaching and liturgical practice of the particular school of thought favored in the ACNA doctrinal statements.  Canon 4 also requires subscription to the same declaration as in Canon 3 as a condition of ordination to the presbyterate. 

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12 Ways Millennials Can Serve the Local Church

One (of the many) ways we love to give Millennials a bad rap is by saying they’re a bunch of selfish lazy jerks who sit around in their parents’ basements playing video games and eating Cheetos.

Part of the stereotype is true, like any stereotype, but in a lot of ways young people aren’t selfish, especially when it comes to serving the local church. Below are 12 ways young people can serve their local churches.

Young people: church is not about you and your feelings. Church isn’t about personal fulfillment as much as it is about selfless service.

Stop treating church like a Broadway show or a therapy session and start serving people. Here are 12 ways to do it.... Keep reading

The 12 ways suggested in this article are just a few of the ways that your church can involve young people. Your church can also involve Millennials in community service projects, short-term mission trips, fund-raising, small group leadership, guest ministry, worship ministry, and more. Remember -  they are not the church of tomorrow. They are the church of today. 

Photo credit: Trinity Episcopal Church, Fulton, Kentucky 

Teamwork: Two Articles

6 Ways to Build a Better Team

1. Help them see their future.

One of the quickest ways to endear yourself to your team is to ask them questions about their goals and aspirations. This cant be just lip service, you have to actually want to see them develop and be willing to invest yourself in the process as well…even if it means you will have to replace them. In fact, if you’re good, they may even replace you. Put your money where your mouth is and be sure you have the necessary dollars set aside for training and development, but be sure you both have a destination in mind. There are far too many churches and organizations out there that put money aside for development but don’t have a clear plan in place their people. Have a clear development pathways for your staff and key volunteers roles. Without a destination in mind many are on a “Cruise to Nowhere.” Keep reading

7 Ways to Reach Bull-headed Teammates

You’re banging heads with bull-headed teammates. It’s not the facts. It’s personal disposition.

Personal disposition often determines the “right” decision.

It doesn't help to call a bull-headed person bull-headed. Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

Multiple Hats: 5 Advantages of Bi-Vocational Pastors

Jeff wears multiple hats. He pastors a church and works full-time in the medical field. After a long night shift, Jeff and I at a local coffee shop. Although I knew he must have been exhausted, the topic of local church ministry brought about an energy and passion in his voice.

In the midst of talking about current trends in ministry and the needs of churches, Jeff made an interesting comment that caught my attention. He said that he preferred bi-vocational ministry because of all of its advantages.

He went on to explain that even though many full-time pastors have given him the “bi-vocational pastoring is second-rate vibe,” he sees things differently.

The advantages to bi-vocational pastoring that he shared with me excited my heart and caused me to wonder if God might be preparing to raise up a new generation of pastors from men who already have careers in progress. Keep reading

How to Become a Highly Effective Pastor – Rainer on Leadership #120 [Podcast]

Effective pastors are grounded in the ministry of the Word and in prayer. And in today’s podcast we build on that foundation with seven principles of highly effective pastors. Keep reading

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:32 — 19.7MB)

Worship as the Ultimate Act

Historically, worship has been a divisive part of the local church experience. How might we rightly understand worship?

Worship is one of those fascinating topics that can both unite and divide the church. I’ve heard it said that “worship matters most”—seemingly a bit of a strong statement, but the question is: Is it true? Keep reading

Photo credit: ligonier.org

Safeguarding Children: Two Articles

Catching American Sex Offenders Overseas

Christian law professor calls for federal international mandated reporting law.

Imagine you are the elderly wife of a low-level missionary at a remote Christian hospital and elementary school in the developing world.

By happenstance, you witness the highly esteemed chief physician repeatedly spending long hours alone with a young girl in a private area of the mission compound. You suspect child sexual abuse and sound the alarm, but no one believes you. Your colleagues shun and ostracize you until you leave the mission field. Years later, you discover your suspicions were right and the physician is convicted for sexual abuse and sentenced to years in prison. Keep reading

Will Your Church's Insurance Policy Cover an Abuse Claim?

Why your leaders must review insurance coverages before something ever happens.

Ashley: What kind of insurance coverage do churches need to make sure that they’re covered in the case of sexual abuse?

Peter: Thanks for asking this. The process is complex.

What strikes me the most in my experience is the fact that coverage is often seen as a means to ‘rest’ relative to accountability and ministry protection. In light of this, I might say the best is organizations that are actually self-insured, meaning they have long been putting money away to be prepared for allegations, mindful that they can truly respond with a ministerial arm given they are not ‘controlled’ by the carrier per se.

However, smaller churches [often] rely on coverage as one level of protection, and this is prudent.

So I suggest that churches look at both claims-made and occurrence type coverages first off. These are very different yet need to be understood. And if you go from one to the other, then there are other elements to make sure there are no gaps. Keep reading

What can you church do to better protect children in your community and beyond? What can it do to better protect children in your congregation? What is preventing it from doing more? What can be done to eliminate or reduce these obstacles?

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain 

Growing Your Church: Three Articles

“We’re Not Growing. Why?”

We’ve got a great church family. But we’re not growing. We’re not reaching new people or making a difference in our community. I desperately want to lead our church to fulfill our God-given mission. What are some things I should consider?

First, you need to be aware of something I missed in the early days of my pastoral ministry: Everybody likes the idea of reaching new people (at least they say they do), but not everybody likes the reality of it. Keep reading

The #1 Obstacle That’s Holding You Back (and What To Do About It)

Here’s something you don’t hear at most conferences and seminars: Behind every opportunity are obstacles. Keep reading

When You Assume… (Church Growth Edition)

We all make assumptions.

I do. You do.

And they’re almost always wrong.

Especially on complex subjects, like those that involve God and people. Subjects like church health and growth.

But over the years I’ve made many assumptions about church growth anyway. And I’ve heard others make them.

Then I lived a few decades as a pastor. Experience challenged, then changed my assumptions. It showed me that many of them were not valid.

So what should we do when our assumptions are challenged? Let go of them.

With that as a backdrop, here’s a partial list of assumptions many people make about church health, growth and size – many of which I made myself – that have proven to be wrong.

So we need to give them up.

(If you’re new to my blog, this might also help you clear up any assumptions you might have made about me and this ministry. Some have links to previous posts that explain them in more detail.) Keep reading

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

Viewpoint: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’

Bass reverberates through the auditorium floor as a heavily bearded worship leader pauses to invite the congregation, bathed in the light of two giant screens, to tweet using #JesusLives. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafts in from the lobby, where you can order macchiatos and purchase mugs boasting a sleek church logo. The chairs are comfortable, and the music sounds like something from the top of the charts. At the end of the service, someone will win an iPad.

This, in the view of many churches, is what millennials like me want. And no wonder pastors think so. Church attendance has plummeted among young adults. In the United States, 59 percent of people ages 18 to 29 with a Christian background have, at some point, dropped out. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, among those of us who came of age around the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all, making my generation significantly more disconnected from faith than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their lives and twice as detached as baby boomers were as young adults.

In response, many churches have sought to lure millennials back by focusing on style points: cooler bands, hipper worship, edgier programming, impressive technology. Yet while these aren’t inherently bad ideas and might in some cases be effective, they are not the key to drawing millennials back to God in a lasting and meaningful way. Young people don’t simply want a better show. And trying to be cool might be making things worse. Keep reading

I have seen the research findings of the Barna Group and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network and they do not point quite to the conclusions that Rachel Held Evans draws from them.

The church in which I am involved does not fit the description of a "classical church" nor does it worship in a "sanctuary." We are not liturgical or sacramental. On Sundays we have a large number of Millennials in attendance and a substantial number of Millennials active in its various ministry teams.

The church is located in a university town, which is also the county seat. The larger setting is rural. We have a number of liberal, liturgical, sacramental churches in the region. Whatever may happening in the area where Ms Evans is. Millennials are not flocking to these churches in my area.

Ed Stetzer has pointed out in a number of articles that the research does not show that Millennials are flocking to liturgical churches throughout the United States.

Millenials do not appear to be acting on the preferences that were identified in the survey that the Barna Group and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network conducted.

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain 

Leaders from the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Church in North America Meet

Leaders from the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Church in North America, led by Bishop Mark Lawrence and Archbishop Foley Beach, came together at the St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center in South Carolina on April 28-29, 2015 for prayer, fellowship, and conversation. Keep reading

Also see
Breakaway South Carolina Episcopal Diocese Mulling Affiliation With Conservative Anglican Group

This press release says very little beyond that there was a meeting and what was the topic of discussion at that meeting. It says nothing about how the ACNA delegation represented the relationship between diocese and province to the South Carolina delegation. That relationship is one thing on paper and another thing in practice.

It must be added that while the ACNA constitution recognizes dioceses as retaining certain reserved and residual powers, its canons and model diocesan constitution and canons seek to take those powers away from dioceses.

The canons also seek to limit a diocese's right to select its own bishop.

ACNA Governance Task Force representatives have discouraged committees drafting the governing documents of groupings of congregations from imposing any kind of term limits on bishops, telling them that the grouping of congregation's application would be denied. Neither of the two ACNA governing documents restrict groupings of congregations from imposing such limits.

There is also a strong ideological component requiring groupings of congregations and their clergy wishing to join the ACNA network of churches to accept its definition of core Anglican identity, which does not agree with the GFCA definition of core Anglican identity.

I am reminded of the old adage, "when the fox preacheth, let the geese beware.

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

Dean of Westminster defends inclusion of Muslim prayer in Abbey service

The Dean of Westminster has defended the choice of a prayer in which the prophet Muhammad was described as 'The Chosen One' at the Abbey as "within orthodox Christian worship".

Dr John Hall told Christian Today it was appropriate to offer hospitality to other faith traditions but this did not in any sense "compromise the form and orthodox character of our belief and proclamation."

The Abbey, which is a Royal Peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the Queen and outside the Church of England's diocesan structures, was criticised by conservative Christians after a Turkish prayer was included in the annual Anzac Day service.

The service, held every year since 1954 and almost every year since 1916, is done with the Australian High Commission and New Zealand High Commission and this year marked the centenary of the ANZAC landings, part of the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey during the First World War. Most of the troops involved were from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Critics noted that God was thanked in the Abbey and referred to as Allah, and there was no problem with that because Allah is simply Arabic for The God. But the congregation also heard a prayer in Turkish which began "Bizleri yaratan" and included the phrase: "Muhamad Mustafa" which means "Muhammad The Chosen One". Keep reading

Also see
Westminster Abbey accused of 'denial of Christ's Lordship' in Muhammad prayer row
Westminster Abbey Acknowledges Mohammed in Succession of Prophets

Photo credit: Pixabay, public domain

10 questions about marriage from the Supreme Court arguments

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether the U.S. Constitution requires the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. It was an historic day. While no side can predict how the Court will rule, all evidence suggests the justices remain deeply divided on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Below are the top ten most important questions that Supreme Court justices asked lawyers from each side of the cae. We’ve provided brief answers to these questions in hopes of helping Christians think through marriage’s importance to the common good. [Note: These questions are summarized and not exact quotations from the justices.] Keep reading

Also see
Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling Could Create Religious Liberty Issues For Christian Schools, Charities, Obama's Lawyer Admits

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Report: Global religious liberty still languishes

Religious liberty conditions failed to improve on the world stage in a year marked by barbarous campaigns of extremist groups in some regions, a United States watchdog panel said Thursday (April 30) in its annual report.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the State Department to add eight more countries to its list of the world's worst violators of religious liberty. That list -- consisting of what is known as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) -- already has nine members.

In the 16th annual report since its establishment, the bipartisan commission did not have good news for religious liberty advocates. Keep reading

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13 Million Flee Religion-Linked Conflicts Worldwide
USCIRF Report Shows Islamic Countries Are Worst Violators of Religious Freedom; 12 Muslim-Majority Nations Top the List

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The Threat to Christianity and Religious Freedom from the Left: Four Articles

UK’s Labour Party Woos Muslims: Promises To Ban Islamophobia, Critics Flay Miliband

With Britain going to polls in a week’s time on May 7, parties are wooing influential social groups for support. Latest in that practice is Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, who has promised outlawing "Islamophobia" if he becomes the next prime minister.

The move has been dubbed by many critics as "utterly frightening" because it has implications on free speech in Britain. Political analysts see it as a renewed effort by Miliband to pander to Muslim voters in what is being described as "the tightest general election for a generation." British Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Labour in the 2010 general election and they have numbers that can tilt the outcome in many constituencies.

Miliband made this statement in an interview with The Muslim News, "We are going to make Islamophobia an aggravated crime. We are going to make sure it is marked on people's records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime. We are going to change the law on this so we make it absolutely clear of our abhorrence of hate crime and Islamophobia. It will be the first time that the police will record Islamophobic attacks right across the country,” Miliband said. Keep reading

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Labour would outlaw Islamophobia, says Miliband in an exclusive interview

Appalling Lack of Concern for Persecuted Christians

"Why Doesn't the left Advocate for Persecuted Christians?" That is the question recently raised by Lucia Annunziata in the Italian edition of the Huffington Post (click here for the piece by Andrea Gagliarducci on her article).

Annunziata is a courageous woman — it takes guts for an atheist journalist to call out her friends on the left. She hammered them for their deadly silence on Christian persecution: "I ask myself where is the left, with a capital L?" She notes that its reticence is occurring "in front of the most terrible of crimes against the weakest — the massacres of Christians whose blood is shed in many parts of the world."

The Italian leftist doesn't mince words. "Why have I not received any petition to sign, though I receive many of varied kinds? Why has no one promoted, if not a public protest, a sit-in, or a meeting? I hear no slogans for persecuted Christians, nor do I get documents or petitions on the issue." Keep reading

Also see
Huff Post editor: 'Why doesn't the Left advocate for persecuted Christians?'

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