Amidst ‘Annus Horriblis’, ACNA Leaders Cite Growth, Resilience

The chief governance body of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) took steps to admit a new diocese, advanced a comprehensive re-write of its disciplinary canons, and posted attendance growth during its annual gathering June 17-19 at Cornerstone Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“We meet in a season that has tested our young province,” Bishop Julian Dobbs acknowledged in an opening address, citing litigation, departures, and “searching public scrutiny, some of it deserved, some of it not,” a reference to a Washington Post investigative series that cast a critical eye towards several of the denomination’s leaders, Dobbs among them.

Dobbs, who serves as Dean of the Province, functionally exercises the responsibilities of the denomination’s top official while Archbishop Steve Wood is inhibited from ministry awaiting a church trial scheduled for October 26.

New Growth

Provincial Council is ACNA’s main governing body and meets annually to adopt a provincial budget and to elect from its ranks members of the Executive Committee and provincial courts. Council consists of two elected laity, one elected clergy and a bishop from each of 27 dioceses, alongside a handful of delegates from recognized ministry partner organizations.

Dobbs cited several developments across the past year, among them the denomination’s continued growth and reach. North Dakota, the last U.S. state without an ACNA presence, has seen preliminary gatherings for an upcoming church plant in Fargo that have drawn up to 60 persons, part of ACNA’s continued emphasis upon the planting of new congregations. The ACNA leader noted that his own Diocese of the Living Word, “a modestly sized diocese,” has committed to plant three new churches each year and asked if other dioceses could commit to the same.

Continue reading at The Living Church here.

Jeff Walton is communications director and Anglican program director for the Institute on Religion & Democracy in Washington, D.C.

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