An Epiphany message from Bishop Don Harvey
Jan 16th, 2010 by David
My dear ANiC Family:
Greetings from Newfoundland where I am enjoying a pleasant respite from travel and like most of you, feeling invigorated by the joy of the Holy Season we have celebrated.
Looking back at last year, I recall that one of several events that made history in our Movement took place in June at Plano, Texas, when the Anglican Church in North America was formally launched in a moving and memorable ceremony. In his initial Charge to this new Province, our Primate, Archbishop Duncan, challenged us to establish 1000 new churches in the next five years.
ACNA exists not primarily as a lifeboat for disenfranchised Anglicans but as a fishing boat for those who need new life in Jesus Christ. Church plants – new congregations – have always been integral to the spread of the gospel.
Now, six months after this challenging call, we are ready to see how we can go about making it a reality. It was a topic of discussion at our own Synod and our national Church Planting Team is in place and ready to work with ACNA to channel our resources and enthusiasm to make this goal a reality.
You will find attached to this message a copy of a document entitled the 1000 Churches Proclamation which I hope will become a clarion call to every parish, large or small, in the Anglican Network in Canada.
To help make this vision fully operational, a two day ACNA church planting SUMMIT will be held on February 22 and 23 in Plano, Texas. This will be a key gathering place for potential and current church planters in the Anglican tradition from across North America. I would like to see many faces from ANiC at this conference. It promises to be a catalyst for people who may sense God moving them into church planting. There are three ways to respond:
• If you know someone who you think should attend, direct them to the Rev. Ray David Glenn.
• If you think you should attend, contact Ray David Glenn.
• Pray for God to birth new congregations and to equip them with qualified leaders.
You can contact Ray David at rdglenn@stgchurch.ca.
In Christmas, we rejoiced in the birth of our Saviour. Now in Epiphany, like the Magi, “with exceeding great joy” we must manifest that love to a world that aimlessly is searching for the truth that we can provide. The star that led the Wise Men is leading us to “fields that already are white unto harvest”. The challenge is ours and I commend this great project to your care – and to your action!
Faithfully,
+Donald
The Right Reverend Donald F Harvey
Bishop and Moderator
I very much would like to attend this conference. I would like to drive my Van, and I would like to share this experience with up to three others. My main interest is in a church plant, I invision as “Toronto North”, in keeping with the growing theme of ANiC’s growth in the greater GTA. I duplicate the term to emphasize initially a fairly large area. This trip would take a minimum of six days including non travel days at Plano. Any interest please obtain my E-mail from Blog Staff.
In Christ
The Proclamation link is broken
So it is - should be fixed now.
Blog Staff may I please have stuck in Toronto’s e-mail address?
Dear Stuck - perhaps if you contact Rev. Raydavid Glenn he could put you together with interested parties. His email address is in Bishop Don’s message.
I’m always interested in connecting with anyone looking to church plant in toronto…
I’m not trying to start an argument - but shouldn’t we be looking to grow the ANiC church that is already in Toronto before we start talking about more Toronto plants?
It’s a nice idea to talk about growing one church in Toronto before starting another, however the geographic area and the size of the population warrants multiple plants. I’ve been to St Chad’s a couple times, it takes us 2 hours to get there from where we live by public transit. At there very least you are probably going to be looking at least 4 plants in Toronto proper to have reasonable distribution and that’s not including any plans in Markham, Mississauge or any other cities in the GTA.
Kate I participate in the existing church plant operations I would point out that my initiating comments are about attending Plano for future planning purposes. As Cathy points out you Ottawatarions or should that be Ottawanians are spoiled when it comes to moving around. Here in the big smoke you can be stuck on any major artery at any given time. Could you send me Lon’s E-mail please and thank you.
I really think that anyone who is interested in church planting should contact Ray David Glenn, and not coordinate through the blog. Thanks.
Lon and any other interested parties.
You can meet with me and a great bunch of Christians at Toronto Center (ANiC church plant) next Wednesday.
http://anglicannetwork.ca/toronto_centre_anic_project_to.htm
Kate although I am mystified by your reasoning, or lack of it. That is precisely why I asked for his E-mail. which by the way I have yet to recieve.
In truth I probably would not have sent 11 if I had read your #10 but it was not available to me until after I had sent #11. In other words I did not send my 11 to spite your 10.