from Stand Firm by Greg Griffith
Dear Clergy and friends of our Networks,
Advent greetings in the name of our coming Savior
In our recent phone call last Thursday I believe and hope we had a good discussion of some significant issues within our Anglican family, our relationship with Rwanda, and with each other. +Chuck is headed to London today to meet with ++Kolini, ++Tay and ++Young who are providing oversight.
In the meantime each of you are canonically resident as a voluntary submission to the Archbishop of Rwanda and your churches, according to Canon Donlan, are affiliated with the AMiA which, despite what some blogs etc may be saying, is a legally formed US corporation that is very much still in existence. Functionally, you are still under my authority, if you so choose, during this interim period. This is all a process and there really is no reason to change status or make any firm choices immediately. The AMiA will, by God's grace, find a provincial home while staying under the authority of the retired archbishops mentioned above. Ultimately, but not immediately, you as clergy will make a decision to either stay canonically in Rwanda, or join the AMiA with its voluntary submission in another jurisdiction while under the oversight of a college of consulters such as ++Kolini, ++Tay and ++Young, or join another provincial jurisdiction. All this will be a process over time and we value your input about this, and there will be mechanisms for that. There is no reason now to make any firm declarations. Some of you have and even those may change over time as further movement is made with the AMiA
The provincial home decision is a process that I hope and believe will include your input over including Winter Conference as a meeting time to discuss our options. This is all the more reason to plan on attending Winter Conference in a month in Houston. Each of you will decide how best to inform your churches about the present status. Please see the link to our Dec 9th communication for talking points. http://tinyurl.com/AMIACurrents1282011 Other than the canonical issue, the other main issue people bring up is the AMiA's status with the HOB of Rwanda. They are separate. AMiA is a completely separate US corporation with its own board, etc. It had a voluntary submission to the HOB of Rwanda and its canons and, unfortunately, felt it had to separate from the HOB. From its inception, the understanding is that the AMiA's association was temporary yet highly valued. We still value the HOB of Rwanda and its kingdom witness.
Finally, please pray for the process as we go forward. There is clarity coming. There is grief because of the separation and how it came about. But, above all there is the reign of God and salvation in Christ to be preached and lived out.
God bless you this Advent season.
+Philip
The Rt. Rev. Philip Jones
Senior Pastor, All Saints Dallas
http://www.allsaintschurchdallas.org
Missionary Bishop
Anglican Mission in the Americas
No comments:
Post a Comment