Conservative Anglican Network Applauds Latest Step toward Realigning U.S. Church
Monday, Jul. 9, 2007 Posted: 9:08:09PM EST
The American Anglican Council has applauded the “sound decision” of Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Province of Kenya to appoint a second suffragan bishop to oversee the province’s U.S.-based congregations.
Last month’s announcement of the Rev. William Leo (“Bill”) Murdoch’s upcoming consecration on Aug. 30 “serves as one more important step toward the long-anticipated realignment of North American Anglicanism,” the parachurch organization expressed in a statement released last week.
Murdoch will join the Rev. Canon Dr. Bill Atwood as a suffragan bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese in Nairobi and serve international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya including taking responsibility for care of the congregations and clergy in the United States under Kenyan jurisdiction.
When Nzimbi announced the consecration of Atwood as suffragan bishop early last month, he said it was “part of a broader and coordinated plan with other provinces … [to] support the international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya, including support of Kenyan clergy and congregations in North America.”
The new coalition will “provide a safe haven for those who maintain historic Anglican faith and practice, and offer a way to live and work together in the furtherance of the gospel,” Nzimbi added.
After it was announced on June 29 that Murdoch would be joining Atwood, the Rev. Canon David Anderson, AAC president and CEO, said the consecration is “another step toward biblical orthodoxy in the United States and a sign of hope for those who fear their church is falling away from the true gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The AAC has offered its support to Nzimbi, along with other orthodox leaders who provide pastoral care in the United States. Before Nzimbi’s announcement last month, there had already been a number of Anglican missions operating in the United States, including major ones like the Anglican Mission in America, whose bishop is Chuck Murphy, and CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), whose bishop is Martyn Minns.
“Our prayer is that the faith and zeal of Global South leaders like Archbishop Nzimbi will spread through the American churches and result in a renewed dedication to the proclamation of the gospel, both domestically and abroad,” AAC’s leader said.
Anderson added that the AAC looks forward to future cooperation with the Kenyan coalition as well as with the Anglican Communion Network, Rwandan-affiliated Anglican Mission in the Americas and the Nigerian Convocation of Anglicans in North America, and with all other Anglican Common Cause Partners.
The American Anglican Council, which was incorporated in 1996, is an organization which exists to allow theologically conservative members of the Episcopal Church in the United States to network with one another. Although it is not a separate U.S. Anglican body like other groups that have realigned with Anglican churches overseas, it is one of several key organizations in the movement for Anglican realignment.
Christian Post correspondent Daniel Blake in London contributed to this report.
