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ACN Announces Annual Council Meeting
Over 80 representatives from the dioceses and convocations of the Anglican Communion Network will gather at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh from 1:00 p.m. July 31 through 1:00 p.m. on August 2 for the Network’s Annual Council Meeting. This will be the third meeting of its kind since the birth of the Network in January 2004. Delegations are composed of two clergy and two lay representatives as well as the diocesan bishop or convocational dean from each of the Network’s ten dioceses and six convocations. Other invited guests will include representatives from the Network’s missionary organizations, nine Common Cause Roundtable partners, the ACN Steering Committee and the Moderator’s Cabinet.
Plenary sessions and working groups will address the current state and future direction of the Anglican Communion Network as well as specific topics such as returning to the biblical view of marriage, divorce, and singleness, and renewing our emphasis on holiness in personal and congregational life. The council will also be considering the tenets of the Theological and Mission Statements under consideration by the members of the Common Cause Roundtable, who will meet together in Pittsburgh August 16–18.
“The focus of our time together will primarily be on our mission and ministry as a new day dawns for orthodox Anglicans in the United States,” said Bishop Robert Duncan, Moderator of the Network, “Our director for the Anglican Relief and Development Fund and those that lead our church planting, children and youth, and our global mission initiatives will be casting a vision for the future on the first evening. In addition, we will be reviewing where we’ve been and assessing where we are now, but our focus will be, once again, trying to keep the main thing the main thing – expanding the kingdom of God by spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ both here at home and abroad.”
The press is welcome to attend plenary sessions of the council meeting. Press credentials can be obtained by contacting Jenny Noyes, Communications Coordinator for the Network, at 412–325–8900 or jnoyes@www.acn-us.org. The meeting is otherwise closed to the public.
“This meeting will be more like a family gathering than a political convention,” said the Rev. Canon Daryl Fenton, ACN Chief Operating Officer. “We anticipate reverent worship, Bible teaching that challenges us, and meetings characterized by prayer and fellowship. We expect to leave the meeting with a fuller understanding of scripture, a deeper commitment to mission, and united in our desire to follow our Lord.”