Golden Opportunity for Federation Members
Feb 19th, 2009 by Kate
Hat tip to the Occasional Christian
I find this absolutely fascinating. Do you suppose they really want to know what we think? Federation members especially, I would encourage you to participate in this, en mass. Their email address is: vision 2019@national.anglican.ca Here is the link to the Vision 2019 main page.
Here is the “Tell Us Your Story” page, where people are encouraged to upload videos. I wonder if the good folk at St. Hilda’s uploaded a video, if it would be posted? After all, they want to hear from all Canadian Anglicans, don’t they?
Vision 2019: your turn to tell your story Ali Symons, General Synod Web Writer February 18, 2009
Now it’s your turn. It’s your turn to tell the leaders and the planners of the Anglican Church of Canada what you want your church to be. This is Vision 2019-a church-wide survey, a kind of virtual listening tour where every Canadian Anglican’s voice will be heard, and, we promise, listened to and appreciated. You-Canadian Anglicans-are invited to discern, dream, and decide where you think God calls your church to be in 2019. What road must we travel to get there?
From coast to coast to coast, you are all invited to chime in on a two-part question, “Where is your church now, and where do you think the Anglican Church of Canada should be in 2019?” Think big and be creative. Responses can be sent in as videos, letters, or even voicemail.
This second part of Vision 2019 is called “Tell us your story.” What does the church mean to you? What does it mean to be to be part of it? How does the Anglican Church meet your spiritual needs and where does it fall short? When things seem wrong, how can they be changed? Where they are good, and how can they be made even better, livelier, more responsive to living God’s will? From now until Oct. 1, Canadian Anglicans can submit their thoughts to the national office. The results will be analyzed and presented at General Synod 2010.
The project was launched Feb. 4 with the release of a downloadable mission study called “Engaging God’s Mission.” The six-session study is organized around the five Marks of Mission, mission priorities used widely throughout the Anglican Communion. Each session includes scripture, a theological reflection, discussion questions, and a story from an Anglican partner.
You are invited to use the Five Marks of Mission and the mission study as a launching pad. As well, you may be inspired by a collection of video stories that share how General Synod’s work lives out the Five Marks of Mission.
The possibilities for your participation in Vision 2019 are endless. We want to hear about your community, your local church, your theology, your worship, your passions, your dreams, your nightmares.
Think big about the Anglican Church of Canada: Where do you think God wants it to be?
You are invited to reflect, to work and to speak. This is our promise to you: You will be heard.Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the Primate, has said that “Vision 2019 is an opportunity to say, ‘here’s what I think our church needs to be about.” Let’s hear from you-in whatever way you wish to talk to us.
For more information, email the Vision 2019 team at vision2019@national.anglican.ca
Vision 2019 is a church-wide exercise to discern, dream, and decide where we think God wants the Anglican Church of Canada to be in 2019. Your voice is needed! The results will be shared at our next national meeting, General Synod 2010. There are two ways to get involved:
1. Learn about the Marks of Mission, mission priorities used widely around the Anglican Communion, and an inspiring model for our church’s own mission and future. You can either start or join a mission study on the five Marks of Mission, or you can discover what General Synod is doing in support of these goals.
2. Tell us your story! All Canadian Anglicans are invited to respond to the two-part question, “Where is your church now, and where do you think the Anglican Church of Canada should be in 2019?” Submissions are welcome in many media—video, text, even phone messages. Learn the logistics here.
It’s only with your eyes, your ideas, and your input that we can get Vision 2019 into focus. So join in!
“what you want your church to be”
This phrasing is where they’ve got it wrong. The church that Jesus Christ is building is not supposed to be what WE want it to be, but instead what HE wants it to be.
If folks would stop focusing on themselves, and instead on Christ’s instructions in his Word (The Holy Bible) we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now.
I agree with you. However, I think this is a golden opportunity for those of us who are committed to the Federation way of doing things. The ACoC wants to know what the church should look like? Federation members should tell them. Loudly, and repeatedly. I admit I am somewhat cynical that the “you will be heard” promise will be kept vis a vis those of us who want the church to come back to orthodoxy, but you never know.
Quite frankly I see this initiative as nothing more than a feel good exercise to give Canadian Anglicans the impression that what they think matters and that they really have some influence on the Canadian church. In fact the theological and doctrinal direction of the the ACoC is set and nothing individual Anglicans have to say will change it. Does anyone on this site really believe otherwise?
Not really. That is why I am a part of ANiC. However, this blog is the Essentials blog, and Federation members read it too. If one is determined to stay in the ACoC, this is an opportunity for action, to push for reformation. After all, that is what Federation is about.
I am one person who believes that the direction of any body can be changed - because I believe that God can change hearts and minds. He’s big enough for the task.
He is big enough for the task, but He hasn’t chosen to do it yet, and I am not hopeful that He will. I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
#5,
Something God does do if people persist in their rebellion is let them have what they want, eg: So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” Rom 1:24, Msg.
This is a form of judgment. As far as I can see, that is what is happening with the ACoC.
Exactly, David.
This entire age signals for us a turning from God to the worship of self. It is all about ME. God will be met in OUR terms.
This initiative smells of death. Nothing new from the human authors who peddle death, and in the listening to the Power of this world… “Did God really say?”
The godly need to be making their proclamations here, but we are presently just tolerated as visitors in a foreign land.
Wonder if Hiltz will take my posting seriously, or simply ignore it. Here is what I posted:
Where is my Church now?
It is lost in the wilderness of secular society, trying to fit in. It has forgotten that Jesus is not of this world, and neither is His Church. By trying to fit in to this world, the Anglican Church of Canada has moved away from Jesus. Like the tree that bears bad fruit, it is being cut down and cast into the fire. Like the worthless servant, what treasure it was trusted with is being taken away.
What would I like my Church to do?
1. Get rid of the Book of Alternate Services, and use exclusively the Book of Common Prayer.
2. Remove from the Priesthood all homosexuals and women. Put an end to woman ordination. Require all Clergy, Priests, Deacons, and Bishops to be “a man of but one wife”, along with all of the other requirements given in 1 Timothy 3.
3. Remove from the Priesthood any and all persons who do not publically acknowledge Jesus to be Devine, Resurrected (and that includes in body), and the one and only way to salvation.
4. No longer recognize any so called “marriages” or divorces performed by the courts of the secular government. Recognize only the marriages that were performed by a Priest in a Church, and only those divorces in which one of the spouses committed a sexually immoral act.
5. Define marriage as “an Act of God in which God Himself joins a man to his wife”.
6. Concentrate on following and obeying the Teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Word of God (that being the Holy Bible in its entirety). Spread His Holy Word to all who might hear it. Stop wasting time, effort, and resources on the Millennium Development Goals.