Media Hear About Ministry Initiatives

From ACNAassembly.org:

A media briefing Tuesday afternoon focused on several ministry initiatives within the Anglican Church in North America: the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF), Youth Ministries, Catechism and Anglican Global Missions Partners.

Canon Nancy Norton, ARDF executive director, told the gathered media that, since its inception, the ARDF had provided more than $3.7 million in funding to 96 relief and development projects, improving the lives of a half million people in 32 countries.

Obinna Jon-Ubabuko, a youth delegate from the Diocese of Fort Worth said formation of the Anglican Church in North America was a dream come true. He expressed appreciation and surprise at the degree of youth involvement in this Assembly – with youth comprising 20 per cent of delegates.

The Rev Dr Jack Gabig, co-chair of the Catechism and Curriculum Task Force, spoke of the centrality of catechism in creating disciples in our new Province. He said the task force was now developing a series of guiding principles and planned to have an initial series of white papers ready in September, with a second series due in January.

A survey of over 100 Anglican Church in North America leaders found that only 17 per cent were very satisfied with the overall effectiveness of current catechesis in the Church. The survey also provided a wealth of information on what is “right” with catechism in the Church. (The full results of the survey are on the Assembly website – www.acnaassembly.org.)

Canon John MacDonald of the Anglican Global Mission Partners said that the health of a parish is measured by how many missionaries, clergy and Christian leaders are being raised up out of your congregation. Unfortunately, missions has not been part of the culture of many churches in the past.