The Archbishop of Canterbury was the celebrant at a closing Eucharist for the Anglican Consultative Meeting (ACC-14) in Kingston Jamaica. The Eucharist was held at The Cathedral of St. James in Spanish Town- the oldest Cathedral in the British Caribbean.
On this last day of the Anglican Consultative Meeting (ACC-14) the delegates focused on final resolutions and the messages they will take back to their provinces. After a discussion in their discernment groups a closing plenary session was held with the members presenting positive and challenging insights from the meetings.
During the meeting of ACC 14 in Kingston, Jamaica a new Vice Chair and four new members for the Joint Standing Committee were elected. They will join new Chair Bishop James Tengatenga (Central Africa), Mrs Philippa Amable (West Africa), Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe (Ceylon) and Ms Nomfundo Walaza (South Africa).
If you look on the Anglican Communion Office staff list you will see the name The Revd Terrie Robinson not once, not twice but three times. She is the women’s desk officer, the translation co-ordinator and the Anglican Communion Networks Co-ordinator.
Sometimes concerns arise in the life of the Church and we tend to think that it is a brand new issue for the Anglican Communion. Questions around the integrity of the environment may feel relatively new but in fact it was the sixth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council meeting twenty – five years ago in Badagry Nigeria (1984) Anglican concern led to the formation of The Anglican Communion Environmental Network.
On the eve of the closing of the Anglican Consultative Council 14 meeting in Kingston, Jamaica the Archbishop Of Canterbury delivered his presidential address. The Council has a chair and the Archbishop functions as the president. The address came after the evening worship and was followed by an opportunity to express thanks to Bishop John Paterson who retires as the chair at the end of this meeting,
The Anglican Consultative Council is moving into its last few days of meetings. On Sunday all of the delegates were sent in teams of three or four to every parish on the island of Jamaica- in some cases to celebrate and preach and in all cases to engage in conversations about mission and the opportunities to share the gospel.
The word family evokes a wide range of emotions. For some it is a very loving and supportive word that is the centre of their being. For others it is a place of distance anxiety and frustration with people who are closely related failing to talk or listen to one another. We use the term in many ways, thinking of the Church as a family and even the Anglican Communion as one family under our Lord and Saviour.
If you type the letters CUAC into a computer search engine you will discover that it can mean Credit Union Acceptance Corporation or the Cambridge Union Athletic Club. As important as those fine organizations might be for Anglican CUAC has a very special meaning- it is the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion.
An important part of the Anglican Consultative meetings being held in Kingston Jamaica is the opportunity for Ecumenical conversations. In times past our ecumenical partners came as guests and often kept silent during the meetings and offered a reflection at the end. At the Lambeth Conference 2008 Archbishop Williams invited our ecumenical partners not as guest but as members. That same invitation has been extended here
“We fear most what we do not know”. That statement appears on the website of NIFCON, The Network for Inter Faith Concerns of the Anglican Communion. Interfaith issues first appeared in a limited way at the 1988 Lambeth Conference. Five years later NIFCON was founded.
Resolutions were passed on ‘The Bible in the Life of the Church’, Network on Inter-Faith Concerns and from the APJN (Anglican Peace and Justice Network on the Middle East.
At the ACC-14 meeting in Kingston Jamaica the concept of An Anglican Covenant was a central theme on this, the 6th day of the meetings. Over the past few days the delegates had a number of sessions in Discernment Groups discussing the Covenant and the resolution that would be presented.
On Friday May 8, 2009 the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica moved into a decision-making plenary session on the Windsor Continuation Group Report. Earlier in the meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury had made a presentation on this final report ...
Resolutions were passed on the Windsor Continuation Group, The Anglican Communion Covenant and the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (from APJN).
On Friday May 8, 2009 the Anglican Consultative Council broke into enthusiastic applause with the announcement that the Rt Revd James Tengatenga was elected as the new chair of the Anglican Consultative Council. Four candidates had been nominated with Mrs Elizabeth Paver of the Church of England placing second.
The subject of gender equality is one that has always faced the church. The question is, “what do we do about it?” One group that answers that question is IAWN-The International Anglican Women's Network. This group, which is a resource to the Anglican Consultative Council links Anglican women worldwide through communication and prayer.
The Revd Canon Philip Groves talks about the challenges and opportunities of the listening process and the role the new project will play in assisting people to hear and listen to God and to one another on the subject of human sexuality.
At Church gatherings such as ACC-14 the delegates experience different styles of worship, theology and conversations that fosters growth and development in each person. There are also moments when decisions need to be made-the election of a new chairperson, resolutions on very important matters and constitutional questions to name a few.
Our Anglican Communion uses a variety of resources to enable us to fulfil the great commission of Christ, “to go and make disciples of all nations”. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Bible is our primary resource while our prayer and worship books assist us in this task.
During the past few years the Anglican Communion has been developing a ‘Listening Process’. The root of the process was in response to the request of the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference in 1998 in Resolution 1.10 to establish "a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion" and to honour the process of mutual listening...
There doesn’t seem to be a Church in Christendom that doesn’t utter the cry, “we need more youth” The International Anglican Youth Network (IYAN) is doing something about that. IAYN is a network of persons of the Anglican Communion that are involved in ministry among young people at the provincial level.
A press briefing was held on Wednesday May 6 where Bishop Gregory Cameron spoke of the background and importance of the Windsor Continuation Report and answered questions.
Resolutions were passed on the International Anglican Family Network, Francophone Network, Anglican Health Network, Anglican Indigenous Network, Anglican Communion Legal Advisers' Network, Anglican Refugee and Migrant Network, The International Anglican Women's Network, International Anglican Youth Network and from the Anglican Peace and Justice Network resolutions on Post-Conflict Resolution, Sudan and Peace-making Dialogues.
On Tuesday May 5 Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Gregory Cameron held a press briefing reviewing the Ridley Cambridge draft of the Anglican Covenant. Bishop Gregory explained the process that the ACC will follow in considering the text and discussed the kind of resolution that would be needed to forward the Covenant to the provinces for their consideration.
Few of us have not faced the difficulty of coping with health issues either for our loved ones or ourselves. Our gospels are filled with stories of Jesus praying touching and healing those who were in need, both physically and spiritual. The connections between faith and healing have created a widespread interest in holistic approaches in medicine and an increased interest in the contributions of faith based medical services.
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Canon Kenneth Kearon has issued the following statement on behalf of the Joint Standing Committee concerning the clergy representative to the Anglican Consultative Council from the Province of Uganda.
On Sunday May 3rd, the second day of the Anglican Consultative Council the laity clergy and Bishops had an opportunity to see the “big picture” of the work of the Anglican Communion. The representatives of the Anglican Communion Networks shared something of their goals, activities and plans for the future.
Few of the close to 8000 people who attended the opening Eucharist of the Anglican Consultative Council will soon forget the incredible mixture of colour flowers music and energy that was incorporated into the Communion service.
