Dear sis­ters and brothers:

As many of you know, Bishop Charles Mur­phy, together with Bish­ops Alexan­der Greene, Thomas John­ston, Jr., Philip Jones, John Miller, Todd Hunter, David Loomis, John Rodgers, and Cana­dian Silas Tak Yin Ng sud­denly with­drew from Rwanda. The deci­sions of the for­mer Pri­ma­tial Vicar of Angli­can Mis­sion In The Amer­i­cas have cre­ated con­fu­sion and con­ster­na­tion across a wide spec­trum of Chris­tians: Angli­can and otherwise.

In the con­text of quickly chang­ing cir­cum­stances in AMiA, among the very best news in the last sev­eral weeks is that Rwanda has acted to give us epis­co­pal over­sight. The fol­low­ing is a for­mal announce­ment from the Apos­tles’ Mis­sion Net­work web site (http://www.apostlesmission.org/transition/item/21-communique-from-bishops– terrell-glenn-and-thad-barnum-regarding-amia-pear.html).

For those who don’t quite know how to process the sit­u­a­tion, Mark Galli (Sr. Edi­tor at Chris­tian­ity Today and a mem­ber of AMiA) helps us see the key ele­ment: http://markgalli.com/?p=244.

Pas­tor Mark

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Com­mu­nique from Bish­ops Ter­rell Glenn and Thad Bar­num regard­ing AMiA & PEAR

Dec. 10th, 2011

To whom it may concern:

We are deeply sad­dened and dis­mayed by the recent turn of events that have brought pain and sep­a­ra­tion between the Province of Rwanda and the Angli­can Mis­sion in the Amer­i­cas. We are also deeply grieved by the sub­se­quent “Inter­net” erup­tions and email trails that have con­tributed to fur­ther dam­age in our wit­ness before believ­ers and non-believers alike.

On Decem­ber 9th, 2011, the House of Bish­ops of the Angli­can Province of Rwanda (PEAR) appointed Bishop Ter­rell Glenn, Jr., of Char­lotte, NC and Bishop Thad Bar­num of Fair­field, CT to over­see the care and shep­herd­ing of all clergy who are canon­i­cally res­i­dent in PEAR and affil­i­ated with the Angli­can Mis­sion in the Amer­i­cas. Bish­ops Glenn and Bar­num hope to work on behalf of PEAR and with the lead­er­ship of The Angli­can Mis­sion in the Amer­i­cas in assist­ing clergy and con­gre­ga­tions with their present and future canon­i­cal residencies.

To that end, we are request­ing an ‘Advent Respite’ while lead­ers rep­re­sent­ing those clergy and con­gre­ga­tions con­cerned can hon­or­ably and hon­estly work through their respec­tive issues. We respect­fully ask mem­bers of the dif­fer­ent media sites and those who ‘blog’ to observe this respite as well. We rec­og­nize this sit­u­a­tion has raised numer­ous ques­tions, espe­cially those of canon­i­cal sta­tus and future affil­i­a­tions. We believe these sit­u­a­tions will be addressed and ques­tions will be answered “in a man­ner wor­thy of the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We also know that, in God’s time, there will be an oppor­tu­nity to bear wit­ness a pos­i­tive and a Christ-honoring res­o­lu­tion to this painful situation.

In addi­tion, we request of all clergy and con­gre­ga­tions in PEAR, that all recruit­ing, pos­tur­ing, and gath­er­ing for alle­giance to one side or another in these mat­ters cease imme­di­ately. In place of these, we com­mit to join every­one in fer­vent prayer to our Lord that His rec­on­cil­ing love would pre­vail in our hearts and that His grace would abound as we seek a way for­ward that blesses Him and brings glory to His Name.

Humbly sub­mit­ted,

The Rev. Alan Hawkins Net­work Leader,
Apos­tles Mis­sion Network