Seeing and Hearing what the Spirit is Doing

Source: AAC Weekly Email Update

(The folowing is from the January 28, 2011 edition of the AAC's Weekly Email Update.)

By The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey, J.D.
Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council

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Dear friends in Christ,

I have just returned from a week of mission in Tennessee, Georgia and Texas and would like to report some good news about growing Anglican churches and leaders in North America. It is important for us to see and hear what the Holy Spirit is doing so that we will neither grow weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9) nor become distracted by uncertain leadership within the Anglican Communion. Anglican Christians throughout the Global South and North America are continuing to bring people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, plant new churches and minister as Jesus did - with and through the power of the Holy Spirit - in growing and record numbers. I thank God for the privilege of participating in such mission and ministry on behalf of the AAC!

On Friday, January 21, the Rev. Alan Hansen (Acts 29 Ministries) and I drove up to Winchester, TN to present session 1 of the Sure Foundation Project to 26 clergy and lay leaders of Anglican churches in Tennessee. As you know, the goal of this joint venture between the AAC and Acts 29 is to bring the power of Pentecost back into our Anglican churches so that they can grow in evangelism, discipleship, local community outreach, church planting and missionary partnerships with Anglicans in the Global South. We now have 10 congregations and over 80 clergy and lay leaders in the Anglican Diocese of the South participating in this pilot project to build healthy and thriving congregations with "Sure Foundations." One participant summed it up well in his written evaluation: "Finally we get the 'how'! I have been getting the 'We must'. You've started closing the loop."

Sunday morning I preached and celebrated at my home church, Holy Cross, Loganville, where I serve as a pastoral assistant. We heard a powerful and moving testimony from one of our 40 youth who had been to Youth Quake the previous weekend. She testified how the Holy Spirit convicted her of the Father's love for her and pulled her out of a place of deep despair. After the sermon on "Ministering as Jesus did through the power of the Holy Spirit," the whole congregation at both services renewed their commitment to receive and minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday evening I flew to Texas to be with the Diocese of the Holy Spirit Synod and Anglican 1000, both at Christ Church Plano. I have to say that the Holy Spirit Diocesan Synod was one of the most joyful Anglican meetings I have ever attended! Marked by deep worship, prayer, testimonies, joy and laughter, these congregations are flourishing under the pastoral care and apostolic leadership of Bishop John Guernsey. At worship on the Feast of the Conversions of Saints Peter and Paul, +John reminded us from Galatians 1:1-17 that Paul's conversion is a paradigm for us in converting others to the lordship of Jesus Christ, and from Philippians 3:10 that conversion to Jesus Christ will always bring persecution and suffering - where, like Paul, we will always find Jesus with us!

The Diocese of the Holy Spirit (formerly Anglican churches under the jurisdiction of the Church of Uganda) has been fulfilling its role as a transitional diocese - that is, a non-geographical diocese of the ACNA for congregations that are on their way to forming geographical dioceses in North America. Holy Spirit congregations in Virginia, the Carolinas and the Southwest will soon be forming geographical dioceses or "dioceses-in-formation," while others with congregations in more dispersed areas may form missionary "deaneries" that join another existing ACNA diocese. I'm pleased to report that the American Anglican Council will provide resources and consultation to many of these congregations as they move towards the formation of new ACNA dioceses.

Hear are just some of the highlights I heard from the testimonies of each of the congregations:

The City Church, Charleston, SC

• Congregations that surrendered their buildings have found a renewed sense that the church is above all God's people on mission. Many such congregations have shifted resources from buildings to supporting missionaries, orphanages and mission teams to Uganda, Malawi, Russia, Thailand, Tanzania, Ghana, Peru and the Philippines.
• Others are focusing on mission to the local community - like the church that has adopted an elementary school across the street and provides one adult for every grade to help the students with reading, and another church which sponsors a school for disadvantaged children in its brand new facilities.
• Several congregations reported planting new churches - Christ Church, Midland TX in Lubbock and Odessa, and St. Andrews, Mt. Pleasant in downtown Charleston. St. Andrew's "City Church" has grown in just a few months to over 200 on a Sunday morning, with an average age of 25!
• All Saints Dale City reported over 500 people involved in ALPHA over 12 locations.
• One congregation reported growth in worship attendance by 20 percent; another reported that they are a different congregation now because the people joining are not former Episcopalians but rather spiritual seekers who are finding their home in an Anglican expression of the Christian faith.
• Some congregations reported building brand new facilities. Others have moved from temporary facilities (including a bowling alley!) into warehouses and other churches where they can maintain a 24/7 presence. But perhaps the most moving story was of the Anglican church in Ft. Collins, CO that surrendered their building, and then turned around and gave an unconditional gift to the church that is now purchasing that building from TEC.

"For you joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you know that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." Hebrews 10:34

The Synod adjourned on a joyful note and flowed immediately into Anglican1000.

As I looked around the room at over 300 clergy, church planters, planters-in-the-pipeline, and others exploring a call to church planting, I was struck by the number of people in their 20s and 30s - visionary, passionate, and willing to take whatever risks necessary to reach people in their communities with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. To date, 110 new Anglican churches have already been planted since Archbishop Duncan announced the challenge of Anglican1000 - to plant 1000 new churches by 2014. Field reports from many of these new plants and planting networks challenged us to think creatively about incarnational ministry - building a church around a mission or service to the local community (or beyond), and inviting people to belong even before they believe. One young man in his 20's testified how he turned from radical post-modern skepticism to becoming a fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ as a result of being invited to join "The Land of a Thousand Hills" coffee mission on behalf of Rwandan coffee growers! As Bishop Ron Ferris from Canada shared, Anglican 1000 is a movement that prioritizes "mission over maintenance, people over property, and discipleship over governance."

Our plenary speakers were the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller from Redeemer, Manhattan and Bishop Todd Hunter from the "Church for the Sake of Others" church planting network in AMiA. Bishop Hunter called us to celebrate our Anglican roots as we plant new churches that are "ancient-future." Dr. Keller shared about how to guard against "institutionalizing" the church planting movement, the character and marks of revival, and the contextualization of the Gospel in church planting. In regards to our church planting movement, he reminded us that we can guard against what some have called "the routinization of charisma" by revival ("a white hot spirituality"), a compelling vision that is simple and distinct, creating a culture of innovation, and creating "organic systems for producing leaders" - a pipeline that will identify, recruit, and develop church planters from the ground up. These safeguards work at both the individual church plant and movement level. Revival, said Dr. Keller, is the intensification of the ordinary operation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers - attracting skeptics, waking up sleepy Christians and turning nominal believers into fully devoted followers of Christ. All this depends on extraordinary prayer - and how much more so than in this time when church planters are tempted to short-change their prayer time!

Dr. Keller's plea for revival and prayer in the life of the planter was reinforced by the the Revs. John Yates II and III, father and son, who brought forth riches from Psalms 62 and 63 in our daily Bible studies. Together, from God's word and their own experiences, they called us to remember that in church planting - as in any ministry - we need presence more than provision. Like David in the desert, we thirst for and depend upon God's presence for everything we do. We need a daily discipline of personal worship and study of the scriptures that will lift us out of our own self absorption and into the presence of God and his leadings - "the eye of the hurricane" - where we will find life and vitality and strength to persevere even in the middle of the storm.

During the Thursday morning field reports, I spoke on behalf of the AAC about the two resources we are offering this Anglican1000 church planting movement - theClergy Leadership Training Institute and the Sure Foundation Project. Both address the needs for extraordinary prayer and revival in the life of leaders and the local congregation. Both will equip leaders and their churches to move from maintenance to mission, and from fatigue to Kingdom vision and growth.

After the final blessing, a church planter from Texas approached me in tears and thanked the American Anglican Council for the resources and information that had given him hope over the years - from counsel along the way, to information about GAFCON, and now the resources we are offering today. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to seek to build up and defend Great Commission Anglican churches!

Yours in Christ,

Phil+