Canada's largest Chinese Congregation votes unanimously to leave
By Sue Careless
The largest Chinese Anglican congregation in Canada has voted unanimously to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and come under the spiritual care of a South American archbishop. It was not alone. This past February saw an unprecedented exdous of congregations and clergy from the national church as more dioceses voted to bless same- sex unions.
The Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, a 119 year-old Cantonese-speaking congregation, attracts 300 people each Sunday with another 100 attending midweek services and fellowship groups. Although many of its members are young, it is the oldest Chinese Anglican church in Canada. It has a remarkable outreach into Vancouver’s substantial Chinese community. And it helped plant a Chinese ministry at St. Luke’s in 1993. Most of the Chinese who take part in home fellowship groups are first-generation immigrants. Once they learn more about Christianity, many begin to attend church and are baptized as adults.
On Feb. 17 this vibrant, thriving church voted unanimously 203-0 with no abstentions to leave the national church and affiliate instead with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). “When you have to defend your faith, you grow stronger,” said the Rev’d Stephen Leung, the rector.
A total of ten congregations have voted to leave the ACC yet all hope to retain the church buildings in which they have long worshipped. However, legal battles have begun for some of the ten. Another five congregations, which had roots in the ACC but who now meet in non-ACC buildings, are not expected to be entangled in any court proceedings.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Fred Hiltz, warned in a letter dated Feb. 13: “In our Anglican tradition, individuals who choose to leave the Church over contentious issues cannot take property and other assets with them.”
All fifteen churches also voted to come under the “temporary emergency oversight” of the Most Reverend Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone. This move will ensure that the clergy and congregations, while under a new jurisdiction, are still part of the global Anglican Communion. Archbishop Venables has appointed Bishops Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding of the ANiC to offer episcopal oversight. Both former ACC bishops came out of retirement in November and have relinquished their ACC licences. All fifteen churches are now under their spiritual care.
In April 2007 the Primates of the global Anglican Communion had recommended a Pastoral Council to oversee Anglicans and Episcopalians in North America in “serious theological dispute” with their bishops, but the scheme was never implemented by the ACC or The Episcopal Church. Leslie Bentley, a spokeswoman for St. John’s Shaughnessy, one of the Anglican Network churches, said that the offer of “temporary emergency oversight” from the Southern Cone “is supported by Primates representing well over half the members of the Anglican Communion.”
The 15 churches that are now aligned with the Southern Cone were originally members of or rooted in six ACC dioceses: New Westminster, 7 churches; British Columbia, 1; Niagara, 3; Ottawa, 2; Brandon, 1; and Toronto, 1.
The first congregation to realign was also the largest in the Anglican Church of Canada: St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver. Each Sunday about 760 people worship at St. John’s; of those, about 150 are children. In a secret ballot, the vestry voted 475-11 (with 9 abstentions) to realign. No diocesan money was used to start St John’s. The church was independently incorporated in the Diocese in 1932 and this year the church exceeded its budget by $28,000. It offers pastoral care groups such as “Divorce Care, “Grief Care” and “Living Waters.” These support groups attract many non-churchgoers, some of whom start attending church. And many students attending Regent College, a graduate theological school at the University of British Columbia call St. John’s their home.
The rector, the Rev’d David Short, and the assistant priest, the Rev’d Dan Gifford, along with world-renowned theologian Dr. James I. Packer, who serves as honorary assistant, have been accused of “abandonment of ministry” by Michael Ingham, Bishop of New Westminster. In fact he has issued similar letters to all the former clergy of his diocese who have realigned with the Anglican Network and the Southern Cone.
Two other Vancouver-area Anglican churches voted in late February to also realign with the Southern Cone:
St Matthias' and St Luke's in Vancouver has about 190 people worshipping each Sunday and is in part an offshoot from the Church of the Good Shepherd. The multilingual Rev’d Simon Chin serves a mulitcultural congregation offering an English, a Cantonese/Mandarin, and a Japanese service each Sunday. The church voted 133-1 (with 7 abstentions) to realign. “God has been very good,” said Rev. Chin in 2003. “Through all this I’ve learned that God can be trusted. If we are faithful, he will come through.” The priest hasn’t changed his mind.
St Matthew’s in Abbotsford voted 186-4 (with 5 abstentions) to realign. About 290 people worship each Sunday at St. Matthew’s. The Rev’d Trevor Walters is the rector. The church has the largest Anglican prison ministry in the Fraser Valley. Over 30 inmates from Ferndale, a minimum security prison, have attended Alpha courses at the church while on day leave. The prisoners also volunteer at the church and attend services. One parishioner trained an inmate as a stonemason for six months and then hired him when he was released. He has made two pieces of stonework for St. Matthew's.
For the past six years there have been no confirmations performed nor new clergy licences issued in the Network parishes in New Westminster as they have waited for more orthodox episcopal oversight. It is expected that Archbishop Gregory Venables will ordain some clergy and confirm some laity during or after a Network conference Apr. 25-26 in Tsawwassen, B.C.
One church in the Diocese of British Columbia, which is based on Vancouver Island, voted to realign: St Mary of the Incarnation, in Metchosin. The Venerable Sharon Hayton and the Reverend Andrew Hewlett were both served with notices of inhibition immediately prior to their congregation’s scheduled vote on Feb. 17. Despite this intimidation, the vestry voted 105-14 (with 3 abstentions) to realign. The two priests eventually reached an amicable agreement with Bishop James Cowan and the Diocese of British Columbia to relinquish their exercise of ordained ministry within the ACC. They will meet with the Metropolitan, Archbishop Terry Buckle, to seek an alternative to litigation over the church property. In the meantime, the priests and the Network parishioners of St Mary’s have been allowed to worship in the church building. Those parishioners who want to remain with the ACC are worshipping in the smaller heritage church two minutes down the road.
“It is our desire to work with the bishops and dioceses to effect an amicable transition depending upon local circumstances,” said Cheryl Chang, executive director for the ANiC. She said of the Metchosin arrangement, “We think that is an excellent model of cooperation and amicability and would love to see that across the country.”
St Mary of the Incarnation has an average Sunday attendance of 140, with about 25 children and teens. Set in a rural area west of Victoria, it draws not only from the local community but also surrounding communities. It has run several Alpha courses including Alpha Marriage and Teen Alpha. Canon Hayton describes Alpha as a “good tool for both conversion and renewal.” During its Vacation Bible School, the church bridged with a neighbouring First Nations community. It also supports a chaplain at the local youth detention centre.
St. Mary’s sees itself as a “mission-focused sending church.” With a substantial mission budget, St. Mary’s supports the various missions many of its own parishioners are involved in. One church member runs Street Hope in Victoria, while some others are administrators of a Ugandan mission. Parishioners have helped build three homes for Ugandan orphans. Other church members have worked internationally with Youth with a Mission and Mercy Ship.
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