Conservative Anglicans Form North American Province

Leaders who defected from the Episcopal Church completed the formation of a conservative branch of Anglicanism in North America last Monday by ratifying the constitution of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

The document was signed during the ACNA Inaugural Provincial Assembly, which drew some 800 participants to Bedford, Texas. Pittsburg Bishop Robert Duncan was installed  Wednesday as the group's first archbishop. He said the formation of ACNA is part of a "reformation" marked by a return to orthodox Christianity within the 77 million-member Anglican Communion and beyond.

"Our God is up to something very big, both with us and with others," Duncan said last Monday. "The Father truly is drawing His children together again in a surprising and sovereign move of the Holy Spirit. He is again re-forming His church."

Saddleback pastor Rick Warren addressed the assembly last Tuesday, telling participants to love one another but not the world's values, the Associated Press reported. Other non-Anglican participants included Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church, the Rev. Samuel Nafzger of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, and Bishop Kevin Vann of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas. The assembly ended on Thursday.

The formation of ACNA, said to represent some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes, is the latest response to liberal moves within the Episcopal Church USA that culminated with the ordination of an openly gay bishop in 2003. Since then, roughly 200 congregations have left what had been the only U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, ACNA leaders said.

Most of the defectors, including several charismatic parishes, have aligned with conservative dioceses in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where Anglicanism is experiencing the most growth. Leaders said the formation of ACNA relieves North American congregations from having to seek oversight overseas.

The new Anglican province replaces the Anglican Communion Network, one of several groups that emerged in the last five years to unite breakaway Episcopal churches. ACNA will combine eight diverse networks, including groups that hold opposing views on women's ordination.

Duncan said the head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is sending someone from his staff to this week's meetings, which he said indicates that "we are part of the family," USA Today reported.
Although Williams does not formally recognize the new church, nine of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces sent delegates to the inaugural assembly, with several previously indicating that they would immediately recognize the group.
Observers say full recognition may take as long as a decade, after the ACNA has been acknowledged by two-thirds of provinces in the church.

The jurisdictions that have joined to form the 28 dioceses and dioceses-in-formation of the Anglican Church in North America are: the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin; the Anglican Mission in the Americas (including the Anglican Coalition in Canada); the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the missionary initiatives of Kenya, Uganda and South America's Southern Cone. The American Anglican Council and Forward in Faith North America also are founding organizations.