(help)
ACN to Highlight Ministry and Mission Initiatives in the New Year
During 2007, the five ministry and mission initiatives of the Anglican Communion Network (ACN) will take the spotlight as the ACN endeavors to “keep the main thing, the main thing,” said Bishop Robert Duncan, moderator of the Network. The five initiatives are church planting, children and youth, missions, relief and development in the Global South, and evangelism.
The Network’s primary communications tool, the e-newsletter, will feature the ongoing work of a different initiative in each issue. The e-newsletter format will be shorter and will be published weekly, offering subscribers a quick and easy way to stay up-to-date on Anglican news and upcoming events. In addition, newsletter archives will be available on the Network’s website www.acn-us.org so that people can easily find all information related to a particular topic of interest.
Each ministry and mission initiative area has a national director on the ACN staff responsible for building national and international networks of people who have a passion for ministry in that particular area.
For example, the Rev. Tom Herrick, Director of Church Planting, has been working for over two years with the ACN Church Planting Task Force, a group made up of ordained and lay leaders from across the country. The task force members are working to encourage the founding of new biblically-grounded Anglican churches all over America by putting in place funding, structures and resources to support new church plants.
The Missions initiative, directed by the Rev. John Cruikshank, helps to coordinate the efforts of more than 30 mission organizations which make up Anglican Global Mission Partners (AGMP), and sets up mission partnerships between local parishes and overseas Anglican dioceses.
Another Network initiative, Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF), headed by Cn. Nancy Norton, has its own international board and works with individuals, parishes and dioceses to fund approved relief and development projects in the financially-poor, but spiritually-vibrant Anglican provinces of the Global South.
The Rev. Jack Gabig heads up the Children and Youth initiative. Regional children and youth workers have already gathered on several occasions to ask themselves what must be done to reach the next generations with the powerful saving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Conference events, online training, catechism rewriting and program design, and a children and youth ministry website are all in the works and will be announced through e-newsletter updates as the initiative develops.
The newest Network initiative, the Evangelism initiative, is just being launched. Plans are being made to host regional evangelism training events to train clergy and lay leaders in effective evangelism methods and to challenge all American Anglicans to fulfill the Great Commission Calling that is the responsibility of all Christians.
“If we are to be truly evangelical and catholic, we must re-focus on the true mission and ministry of the church which is to expand the kingdom of God,” said the Rev. Cn. Daryl Fenton, ACN Chief Operating Officer. “Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’ (John 14:6) To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ is why the Network exists.”
Posted 1/4/07