Posted by from the Christian Post
on 4/23/2009, 12:31 am
Rick Warren [and Metropolitan Jonah] to Address Breakaway Anglicans
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Apr. 22 2009 10:20 AM EDT
Pastor Rick Warren, among several other Christian leaders, has agreed to
address thousands of breakaway Anglicans in June when they meet for their
first official assembly as the Anglican Church in North America.
In an announcement Tuesday, the ACNA - seen as a rival body to The Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Church in Canada - revealed a list of speakers who
have so far confirmed their participation in the emerging province's
assembly in Bedford, Texas.
Warren is being joined by Metropolitan Jonah, an archbishop in the Orthodox
Church in America, and the Rev. Dr. Todd Hunter of Anglican Mission in the
Americas - a breakaway group.
Warren, who leads the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in southern
California, had offered support to conservative Anglicans earlier this year
when the California Supreme Court ruled that a Newport Beach parish may lose
their property after splitting from The Episcopal Church - the U.S. arm of
the global Anglican Communion.
The 500-member St. James Anglican Church had left the U.S. body in 2004
citing differences on scriptural interpretations and the controversial
consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003.
"(Our) brothers and sisters here at St. James in Newport Beach lost their
California State Supreme Court case to keep their property," Warren wrote in
a letter to Christianity Today in January. "We stand in solidarity with
them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of
Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or
if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County."
According to the ACNA, Warren is "a longtime friend of orthodox Anglicans"
and is scheduled to speak on June 23 at St. Vincent's Cathedral.
The ACNA is an emerging province uniting around breakaway 700 parishes -
representing 100,000 conservative Anglicans - in North America into a single
church. Anglican bishops disaffected by The Episcopal Church and the
Anglican Church of Canada began in 2007 to form the "separate ecclesiastical
structure" in an attempt to remain faithful to the global Anglican
Communion. They believe the two existing North American bodies have departed
from traditional Anglicanism and orthodox teaching.
The province was formally recognized by the GAFCON (Global Anglican Future
Conference) Primates' Council, which mainly consists of conservative bishops
from the Global South, last week. Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan
Williams, considered the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, has not
indicated whether he will recognize the ACNA as part of the wider Communion
but his office said it will take years for the new province to gain official
recognition from the rest of the communion.
The Anglican Church in North America's inaugural Provincial Assembly is
being held June 22-25.
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