A Message from Canon Ashey

Canon Ashey AAC to Host Ecumenical Leadership Summit Dear Friends in Christ, For several years, The American Anglican Council has been working with other mainline churches and Christians in North America who have also been under attack from leaders within their own denominations - leaders who have pressed and continue to press an agenda that is unbiblical.  Serious divisions over the authority of scripture, the uniqueness of Christ, the nature of revelation and human sexuality are just some of the issues plaguing our respective denominations - Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and Lutherans alike. In the course of these discussions, a longing has emerged to develop a more robust partnership around common convictions and common action. And so I am pleased to announce that the American Anglican Council will be hosting an Ecumenical Leadership Summit of 30 Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian leaders on October 22-25 in Dallas, Texas.  This October ecumenical summit will gather leaders from Lutheran Core, the Presbyterian Lay Committee, The Institute on Religion and Democracy, the Anglican Church in North America, the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, the Good News Methodists and the North American Lutheran Church. The group of 30 leaders, representing almost 600,000 evangelical and orthodox Christians in North America, is seeking convergence on common theological grounds for partnership and action together in areas of theology, engaging North American culture, mission, church planting and social witness. Over the last six months, I have been working with the leaders of these groups to come together for common action that will build up and defend Great Commission followers of Jesus Christ in each of our denominations.  Already we have discerned at least two areas of mutual action: (1) sharing of resources/seminaries to prepare candidates for ministry in locations where they are unavailable to some of us, and (2) sharing of worship space when one of our congregations is displaced due to litigation with revisionist mainline leaders. The Rev. Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, says the drift from orthodoxy in our denominations is a collective failure with severe impact. "We've lost a generation of Christians and we've all failed to faithfully help people connect the Word of God with everyday life....When people in the pulpit and people in the pew feel entitled to replace the Word of God with their own ideas and equate Jesus with other prophets, the Church has shifted off its foundation. Those challenges are not unique to Presbyterians." The Rev. Mark Chavez, General Secretary of the North American Lutheran Church, will also be present at the fall meeting. "My hopes for the gathering are that orthodox Christians from the four historic traditions will find ways to cooperate in clearly and boldly witnessing to the only Savior for all of humanity, Jesus Christ, in an increasingly secular culture, and support each other in the challenges from secularism. I also hope that we can mutually support the upbuilding of the body of Christ in our congregations so that they thrive and grow in making disciples of Christ." Though all of us have experienced a tumultuous decade within our denominations, we are all excited about the future and about what Jesus will do through us and through opportunities like this as we seek to remain faithful to Him.  Please pray for us as we come together to lay the foundations for Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians to come together around the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of all, engaging North American culture with a Christian worldview, planting churches and doing social witness and mission together - and all under the lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of his word! Yours in Christ, Phil+ The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council