Rwanda & AMiA

& AMiA">

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​.apos​tlesmis​sion​.org/​t​r​a​n​s​i​t​i​o​n​/​i​t​e​m​/​2​1​-​c​o​m​m​u​n​i​q​u​e​-​f​r​o​m​-​b​i​shops– 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://​mark​galli​.com/​?​p=244.

Pastor Mark

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

Dec. 10^th, 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 9^th, 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