A Jewish Student Receives Jesus!

Dear Gulf Atlantic Diocesan Partners in Ministry,

Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a while since I wrote you last and I want to catch up you with some brief headlines.

New Congregations

As many of you know, we have had two parishes join us this past year, St Michaels in Palm Harbor, FL and St. Andrew's in Douglas, Georgia. They will be applyingto become official member congregations at our Nov. 8-9 Diocesan Synod (mark your calendars).

We also welcome the ministry of St. Peter's Mission in Meridian, Mississippi under the leadership of the Rev. Vicki Gladding.

We rejoice in the formation of a new merged parish, Church of Our Savior, in Jacksonville Florida, incorporating faithful members of Calvary and Resurrection.

New Dean

Rev. Robert Seawell

Since 2010 when we formed the Western Deanery after welcoming five new congregations from the diocese of the Holy Spirit, the Rev. John-Michael van Dyke has served faithfully as its Dean. He has now stepped down from that responsibility and I have designated the Rev. Robert Seawell as the new Dean. We welcome Robert to this new leadership role and are genuinely thankful for John-Michael's contributions to the diocese for the past several years.

New Clarity

We are getting clearer about how differently sized congregations function best, and Canon Jim Hobby and others are working to develop criteria so that each of our churches and fellowships can self-identify both their operating model and missional opportunities. A fellowship of five faithful worshipers is just as much a body of Christ as a parish of over a thousand, but the two operate very differently.

New Resources

Many of us are now engaged in creating a new catechism as a base to disciple new Christians in the elements of the faith. This is still a way from being completed. Please keep us in your prayers.

In the meantime, let me highly recommend Bishop Todd Hunter's excellent book for new (and older) disciples, Christianity Beyond Belief; Following Jesus for the Sake of Others. Bishop Hunter has many helpful insights to share about how to make our walk with Jesus a faithful adventure instead of an exercise in frustration.

For those who have learned or want to learn of the value of using the Daily Offices, a new website makes it much easier. The readings of the day are included and there is an audio track for those who want to listen. The website address is: http://thetrinitymission.org/

For those trying to understand Anglicanism better, I continue to recommend Our Anglican Heritage (Second Edition), by Bishop John Howe and our own Rev. Sam Pascoe.

Finally, let me remind you of the Israel trip for leaders next January. If you are a leader, clergy or lay, who has the desire to see the land where Jesus walked and who has the potential to lead a future trip, please consider joining us. 

New Global Future

As many of you know, our province, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), was created in response to the call of the majority of Anglicans worldwide at the first Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) in 2008. The second GAFCON conference will take place this October in Nairobi, Kenya. The sad news is that Anglicanism in England and other parts of the West continues to splinter along the same lines that led to ACNA forming in the first place. The encouraging news is that the gospel is continuing to spread in the Global South at unprecedented rates through Anglicans and others, and the GAFCON movement is growing as well. GAFCON II will be an opportunity to strengthen each other and set course for our future ministry with Anglicans from around the world.

Continue to pray for each other and for me in the season ahead. May the Lord continue to bless you as you seek to love and serve him.

In the Messiah,

+Neil

The Rt. Rev. Neil G. Lebhar

NLebhar@GulfAtlanticDiocese.org

DOUGLAS, GA: St. Andrews parishioners leave Episcopal Church with dignity and grace

Church re-establishes as St. Andrews Anglican Church 

(Excerpt from VirtueOnline.org) 

By Mary Ann Mueller and David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
May 29, 2013

Trinity Sunday was a day of new beginnings for members of St. Andrew's Anglican Church. The day was a long time in coming. The slow but steady theological erosion of The Episcopal Church proved a bridge too far for this orthodox parish and its priest Fr. Curtis Mears.

On Pentecost Sunday, a super majority - well over 90 percent - of the membership of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church decided the time had come to leave the Episcopal Church fold for greener spiritual pastures. On that day, parishioners heard that their rector, the Rev. Curtis Mears had resigned as Episcopal rector of their church. All but two of the vestry members, as well as the junior and senior wardens, followed their priest's lead by relinquishing their Episcopal leadership positions. As one parishioner told VOL, "It was not so much as leaving something behind, but rather going forward towards a greater good."

One week later, on Trinity Sunday, the newly displaced former Episcopal parishioners re-established themselves as an Anglican congregation forming loose ties with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and taking the name St. Andrew's Anglican Church to honor their historic roots. The new Anglican members celebrated their first Service of Holy Communion at a small vacant Roman Catholic Church located within walking distance of their former church property, graciously provided by church authorities.

The issues behind the break at St. Andrew's had been quietly simmering since the turn of the Millennium. The election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop along with her heretical and skewered theology fueled the already smoldering fires of spiritual conflict with The Episcopal Church's stated theological positions bringing into sharp focus the differences between orthodox Anglican theology and newly stated modern liberal Episcopal positions on sexuality and theology.

St. Andrew's Church organist Gray McKinnon remembers that the discussion to leave The Episcopal Church first started decades before under the rectorship of Fr. William H. Littleton, who has since retired from the Episcopal priesthood following years of faithful ministry. The conversation continued under Fr. Joseph Daly who in 2010 handed the spiritual baton over to Fr. Mears. The "Son of Nashotah House" brought the deepening theological debate to fruition resulting in St. Andrew's parishioners leaving The Episcopal Church. 

St. Andrew's, a broad church with Anglo-Catholic leanings, grew substantially under Fr. Mears' spiritual leadership. In February, a Diocese of Georgia publication, "From the Field", focused on the Douglas congregation's growth revealing a 37% uptick far outstripping the 3.3% population increase resulting in ASA figures climbing from 59 to 81. The diocesan article, written by Canon to the Ordinary Frank Logue, acknowledged that the church's exceptional growth was Fr. Mears who brought back the 1928 Book of Common Prayer as its liturgical standard of worship. 

"It can be said that to succeed, one must compromise. But for the Church, this would mean that we also compromise our faithfulness. I believe a faithful priest cannot and must not compromise his duty to proclaim the Gospel and work for reconciliation," Fr. Mears wrote in his January parish website letter. "Likewise, for a faithful Christian, there is no room to compromise with regard to our duty which is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God."

More. . .  

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline