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Growing Numbers of Churches Affiliating with the Network
Pittsburgh, PA – Since the beginning of 2006, eleven parishes with their clergy and ten individual clergy have affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network (ACN). Another eleven affiliates are slated to be approved within the week. This steady stream of new affiliate churches and individuals comes from within the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and from those churches that are now under the authority of bishops from other parts of the Anglican Communion.
The ACN’s motto “Biblical, Missionary, United” points to some of the reasons that more and more orthodox Episcopal and Anglican churches and clergy are choosing to align themselves with the Network. Bill Stalcup, Senior Warden of Church of the Word in Gainesville, VA, which is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, reported that there was not one dissenting vote from the congregation of 150 when the parish decided to officially become a Network affiliate.
“The work of the Network is very encouraging for us,” said Stalcup. “It is reassuring that there is an organization uniting like-minded Anglican and Episcopal believers that we can be a part of. The Network really reached out to us, not just as an association, but personally, spiritually.”
While Church of the Word’s rector, the Rev. Robin Adams, was recently elected and has agreed to serve on the Executive Committee of the Diocese of Virginia, Stalcup was quick to clarify, “We’re trying not to be distracted with the political issues of the Church. Ministry suffers when you focus on the wrong thing – our focus is on the Gospel.”
Another new Network parish partner, Church of the Resurrection, located in Lutherville, Maryland, has very different circumstances. The rector, the Rev. Eliot Winks, describes the young church as a church transplant of 100 people presently worshipping in a home that used to belong to General Douglas MacArthur. The congregation is under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Hector Zavala of the Diocese of Chile.
“The Anglican Communion Network helps us to maintain our connection to orthodox Anglicanism here in the U.S. in light of the fact that our pastoral care is coming from so far away,” said Winks. “The ACN is the ekklesia that holds us all in common as part of a larger community here with those in ECUSA and those now out.”
“Our congregation is completely future-focused,” continued Winks. “We’re beyond the grief, the consternation of the ECUSA mess– we’re focused now on mission, evangelism, and discipling the congregation.”
Parishes and clergy can begin the Network affiliation process by downloading an application from the web site, www.acn-us.org, by contacting the Anglican Communion Network at 412–325–8900 or by emailing info@anglicancommunionnetwork.org.