From the American Anglican Council

Chaplain's Corner Canon Ashey Dear Friends in Christ, I have spent the last few days in Canada at the invitation of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) to address their lay leaders and whole Synod on how to grow missional Anglican congregations. Bishop Don Harvey, Moderator of ANiC and Dean of the ACNA, and his suffragan and assisting bishops, clergy and lay leaders are founding members of the Anglican Church in North America.  And they are growing in their mission to share the transforming love of Jesus Christ!  I was blessed to hear the stories of approximately 10 new church plants ranging from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Calgary to British Columbia.  These new churches have been planted and established in such a short time that not even Anglican1000 was aware of them.  Each gave a brief testimony of how they are reaching out into their community and drawing unchurched, once-churched and non-believers into loving, Christ-centered communities that teach how Jesus Christ truly is Lord and Savior of all, and how he can and will transform our lives from the inside out - in a culture that is even more hostile to Christianity than it is in the United States. We also heard from the rectors of two Anglican congregations, one REC and one ANiC, who are in the process of merging their leadership and their congregations to worship in one building in the heart of Victoria, BC.  Historic jurisdictional boundaries are disappearing as Canadian Anglicans discover common ground in fulfilling Christ's Great Commission.  Please pray for these faithful brothers and sisters in Christ as they seek to bring others into a saving faith in Jesus Christ, and build up fully Biblical and missional Anglican churches.

This trip is part of the American Anglican Council's mission to build up Great Commission Anglicans in North America.  While Anglican1000 serves as a resourcing agency and promoter of 1000 new churches in the next 5 years, we are focusing on the 700+ congregations in ACNA that are struggling to move beyond maintenance to mission - to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  Two weeks ago, I was in the Gulf-Atlantic Diocese at Bishop Neil Lebhar's invitation to introduce our Sure Foundation project for congregational growth to over 50 clergy and lay leaders from 14 different congregations.  Here in Canada, I was privileged to present much the same material - "Plateaued and Perplexed: getting our Churches Growing!" - to over 100 lay leaders from ANiC churches all over Canada, including some who were there on a day pass just for this workshop.  Drawing from Acts 2:42-47, and Nehemiah 1-9, we provide a biblical framework for leaders and congregations to develop vision, core values, and action steps for fulfilling Christ's Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). I want to assure you that there is extraordinary unity and passion for reaching lost people at the congregational level. I have never been more excited about the future of Anglicanism in North America, especially as I see face to face how the Lord is raising up Anglicans, young and old, with a passion to reach the least, the last and the lost with the love of Jesus Christ!  Many lay leaders in Florida and Canada came up to me after these presentations with thanksgiving for the encouragement, more specific questions about how to grow their churches locally in the five "benchmarks" of Great Commission ministry (evangelism, discipleship, local outreach to the community, missionary partnerships with Global South Anglican dioceses, and church planting) that we teach through Sure Foundation, and with requests for more teaching and sharing. I am confident from the feedback from these lay leaders, clergy and their bishops that there will be invitations to return for further teaching and on-site coaching towards those five benchmarks.  Please pray for us as we share these resources all across North America, and please pray especially that the Lord will assist me in identifying, recruiting and deploying younger clergy to help share in the teaching and coaching regionally. Yours in Christ, Phil+ The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council