Who we are:

St John's Vancouver Anglican Church, Vancouver is a community of Christians dedicated to the exposition and teaching of the Word of God, to the spreading of the good news of the Gospel at home and abroad, and to the application of God's purpose in our own lives and families.

 

legal update > Nov 25, 2009 ANiC press release > ANiC press release backgrounder

About the four ANiC parishes

St Matthias and St Luke Anglican Church (Vancouver) – www.stmstl.org

  • Average Sunday attendance of 145; over 200 members
  • St Matthias and St Luke’s was formed a decade ago when two congregations were merged
  • It is a multicultural church with a 9:30am English service, followed by a 11:15am Cantonese/Mandarin service

St Matthew’s (Abbotsford) – www.stmatthewsanglicanchurch.com

  • Average Sunday attendance of 250
  • Ministries to children, youth, men, women and seniors
  • Holds two services Sunday mornings (8:30 and 10:15 am), a service Wednesday mornings
    and a healing service the first Sunday of the month

St John’s Shaughnessy (Vancouver) – www.stjohnsvancouver.org

  • Is the largest Anglican parish in Canada with average Sunday attendance of 800
  • Has ministries to children, youth, young adults, women, men and the community
  • Is renowned for its music ministry
  • Traces its roots to 1925, although the current structure was completed in1950

Church of the Good Shepherd (Vancouver)
– http://goodshepherdchurch.no-ip.org

  • Average Sunday attendance of 247
  • Holds English and Cantonese services: 9am English service; 11am Cantonese service
  • Is the largest Chinese Anglican congregation in Canada
  • Celebrated its 120th anniversary in October 2009

Why the four Vancouver-area ANiC parishes are involved in litigation

The four parishes – St. Matthew’s (Abbotsford), St Matthias and St Luke’s (Vancouver), St John’s Shaughnessy (Vancouver) and Church of the Good Shepherd (Vancouver) – had asked the courts in early September 2008 to clarify their trustees’ responsibilities in light of hostile action taken by the ACoC diocese.

In a move designed to take control of the parish properties, Bishop Michael Ingham, of the Diocese of New Westminster, had informed the elected wardens and trustees of two parishes in late August that they had been summarily dismissed and replaced by officials appointed by the bishop. Bank accounts for the churches were frozen causing administration difficulties for the congregations that had raised the funds in those accounts. The other two parishes expected similar actions to be taken against them as well.

All four parishes voted overwhelmingly in February 2008 to disaffiliate with the Anglican Church of Canada and realign with the Anglican Network in Canada as a result of a growing doctrinal disagreement.

The four congregations have been in “serious theological dispute” with the Diocese of New Westminster since June 2002, when the diocese unilaterally proceeded with same sex blessings in clear defiance of leaders of the global Anglican Communion and the beliefs of the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide that such action is contrary to Scripture.

Since 2003, the Primates of the Anglican Communion have repeatedly asked the Anglican Church of Canada and the Diocese of New Westminster to return to Biblically-faithful Anglican practice and teaching and to provide adequate episcopal oversight for dissenting parishes, but to no avail.

In fact, the communion-breaking actions of the Diocese of New Westminster sparked the current crisis and the global realignment which is now taking place in the Anglican Communion.

Backgrounder

About the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)
Since the Anglican Network in Canada launched its ecclesial (Church) structure in November 2007 under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and the ecclesial authority of Bishop Donald Harvey, it has received 17 church congregations which voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada, as well as other congregations. These parishes elected to seek episcopal oversight from Bishop Harvey and ANiC because they are determined to stay biblically faithful and true to historic Anglican doctrine and teaching and within mainstream Anglicanism.

In addition, three bishops who had previously retired from the Anglican Church of Canada – the Rt Rev Donald Harvey, the Rt Rev Malcolm Harding and the Rt Rev Ronald Ferris – joined ANiC together with numerous clergy members.

Today, ANiC is comprised of:
• 33 churches and eight forming congregations
• Over 3500 parishioners in church on an average Sunday
• 84 clergy members (deacons, priests and bishops) in ANiC today

While retaining affiliation with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, ANiC became one of 28 dioceses in the Anglican Church in North America in June 2009.

About the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate (or leader) of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, responded in late 2007 to the needs of biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans for spiritual protection and care on an emergency and interim basis – pending a resolution to the crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Venables is highly esteemed as an orthodox leader in the global Anglican Communion. He leads the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone which is one of 38 Provinces that make up the global Anglican Communion. It encompasses much of South America and includes Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina.

By accepting the Primatial oversight of Archbishop Venables, these Canadian Anglicans, who are in the mainstream of global Anglicanism, were able to re-establish full communion status with the global Church by being aligned with a Province which is in “full communion with the Church of England throughout the world” – unlike the Anglican Church of Canada, which is currently in a broken relationship with many of the largest Anglican Provinces.

Now, with ANiC joining the newly constituted Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) with the full blessing of Archbishop Venables, we temporarily hold “dual citizenship”. In addition to ANiC being a diocese in ACNA, our bishops have retained their full membership in the House of
Bishops of the Southern Cone to ensure there can be no question of our status as full members in the Anglican Communion.

About the Anglican Church in North America – a new orthodox Anglican Province
On 22-25 June 2009, bishops, clergy and lay delegates from across the United States and Canada met in Bedford, Texas to constitute the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and hold an inaugural provincial assembly. The Anglican Network in Canada is one of 28 dioceses in the ACNA.

ACNA unites approximately 700 orthodox Anglican congregations, representing roughly 100,000 people, in an organization that has already been recognized by the largest Anglican provinces in the Communion and, we believe, will be recognized eventually by most Provinces and their bishops as the 39th Province in the global Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) was one of the many North American Anglican groups which joined together to form ACNA in response to a request by a number of Primates (global Anglican leaders). ACNA is working to heal many years of division within Anglicanism by uniting Anglicans committed to Scripture and traditional Anglican beliefs.
ACNA will hold its first Church-wide assembly in June 2009 in Bedford, Texas, where the constitution and canons will be ratified by all those who choose to be part of the Anglican Church in North America.

About Anglicanism in Canada and around the world
While orthodox Anglicans are in a minority in Canada, they are in the majority worldwide. ANiC parishes stand firmly in the mainstream of global and historic Anglican teaching and orthodoxy. Our beliefs are shared by at least two-thirds of the 77 million Anglicans worldwide.

Since 2003, the Primates of the Anglican Communion repeatedly asked the Anglican Church of Canada to return to biblically faithful Anglican practice and teaching and to honour its own founding principles – summarized in the Solemn Declaration of 1893. They also called upon the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) to provide adequate episcopal oversight to dissenting parishes while the Communion addresses the resulting division, but to no avail. This forced distressed parishes in Canada to seek protection and Communion connection through ANiC.

Many international leaders have acknowledged their support and fellowship with ANiC. This was evidenced by the inclusion of ANiC representatives at the milestone Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in June 2008.

We stand for historic Christian and Anglican teaching and want to faithfully preserve what has been entrusted to us by our forebears so we can pass it on, intact and unaltered, to future generations. We are determined to stay true to the established and historic tenets of Anglican Christianity and stay in full communion with the global Anglican Church.

About the crisis in the Anglican Church of Canada
Because the Anglican Church of Canada has departed from the faith of, and is “walking apart”
from, the global Anglican Communion, parishes have felt compelled to align with ANiC and the Anglican Church in North America in order to uphold the trusts and founding principles upon which the churches were established and built.

By choosing to join ANiC, parishes, parishioners and clergy realign with orthodox Communioncommitted Anglicans worldwide and receive the care and protection of a biblically faithful Anglican bishop, Bishop Donald Harvey – who is a member of both the Anglican Church in North America College of Bishops and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone House of Bishops (under the highly regarded leadership of Archbishop Gregory Venables).

Why Canadian parishes, clergy and parishioners are leaving the Anglican Church of Canada
A number of Canadian Anglicans and parishes have chosen to realign with the ANiC and the Anglican Church in North America in order:

  1. To be faithful to historic Christian and global Anglican teaching.
  2. To have the freedom to “further the mission of Christ in the Anglican tradition”
  3. To be recognized as in “full communion with the Church of England throughout the world” per the Solemn Declaration 1893 - the founding statement of the ACoC.
  4. To keep the faith of our spiritual forebears who built the parishes on established Christian convictions and historic Anglican practices.
  5. Because they value their Anglican heritage and want to stay true to global and historic Anglican teaching and orthodoxy

This is fundamentally about staying true to historic Christian teaching that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that there is only one way to God through faith in Jesus Christ. The issue of the Bible’s teaching on sexual practice is merely the tip of the iceberg. The realignment of ANiC parishes with an orthodox Anglican Province was an act of conscience.

More information can be found at: www.anglicannetwork.ca

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