Powerful worship, record attendance, and a passion for mission and ministry marked the Anglican Mission in The Americas’ annual Winter Conference held January 17-20, 2007 in Jacksonville, Florida.   The conference drew over 1200 participants representing 36 states, the District of Columbia and 15 countries.  The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop of Rwanda, and the Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy,  III, Chairman of the Anglican Mission, welcomed archbishops from the Anglican provinces of Central Africa, Congo, Kenya, Indian Ocean and Tanzania, as well as the Most Rev. Yong Ping Chung and the Most Rev. Moses Tay, retired archbishops of the Province of Southeast Asia. In addition, eight key Anglican bodies, including Common Cause Partners, the Church of England in South Africa, the London Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship and Anglican Mainstream, were represented at the three day meeting.

This year’s theme, drawn from Isaiah 54, centered on expanding and strengthening mission, taking seriously God’s call to, “Enlarge the place of your tent…strengthen your stakes” (Isaiah 54:2-3). Dr. J. I. Packer, renowned author and theologian, taught daily Bible studies; Andy Piercy, most recently from Holy Trinity Brompton, London, home church of the Alpha Course, led worship; and internationally acclaimed speakers including the Rev. Canon Michael Green, Becky Pippert, the Rev. Jack Deere, Andy Piercy and Greg Bunch presented challenging messages in their keynote addresses.  Practical and interactive workshops addressed a wide variety of topics  designed to strengthen gifts, skills and ministries including leadership, prayer, personal evangelism, team building, spiritual formation, spiritual gifts, children’s and youth ministry, worship, marriage and family, healing, building dynamic churches, effective communications, discipleship and affiliating with the Anglican Mission.

In his address, Bishop Murphy highlighted the significant growth and exciting developments within the Anglican Mission during 2006, noting that the Mission has grown from 11 churches in 2000 to 108 congregations in 2007 with another 13 fellowships, 64 new works in progress and ten more underway in Canada.  Such growth has been accomplished through reception of existing congregations, response to groups who want to plant a church and be part of the Anglican Mission and by breaking into new territory through initiating church plants.  Anglican Mission congregations are located in 27 states in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.  These statistics demonstrate clearly that God is spreading out and enlarging the tent known as the Anglican Mission.  Bishop Murphy urged Anglican Mission clergy, laity and congregations to “Think Big” now and in the future.

In another example of expansion and missionary outreach, Bishop Murphy shared structural details of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, created in response to Archbishop Kolini’s oversight of not only the Anglican Mission in The Americas, but also the Anglican Coalition of Canada (ACiC) and the Anglican Coalition in America (ACiA). This structure embraces two countries (the US and Canada) as well as two positions on the ordination of women.  Both ACiC and ACiA ordain women to the priesthood, as does the Province of Rwanda, while AMiA maintains its policy of ordaining women only to the diaconate. The Anglican Mission in the Americas provides a way to maintain the integrity and honor the consciences of those with differing opinions and policies on women’s ordination.  Under Archbishop Kolini’s authority, Bishop Murphy serves as Chairman of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, as well as all of the bodies included within it.  The National Mission Resource Center will assist and facilitate ministry for the ACiC, AMiA and ACiA.

Bishop Murphy also announced recent staff appointments as well as new initiatives in the planning stages for ministry among Hispanics and Asians.  In addition, he described a new exemplar for the Anglican Mission as a Missionary Order, emphasizing that the Anglican Mission is not creating a new province or denomination, but is rather developing an “ancient-future” strategy that can be seen and found in many missionary orders exemplified by such groups as the Dominicans and Jesuits.

The Anglican Mission in the Americas is a missionary outreach of the Anglican Province of Rwanda charged with building an alliance of congregations committed to gathering, planting and serving dynamic Anglican churches in North America.  Rooted in the history and tradition of East Africa’s revival, the Anglican Mission understands its mission field to be the 130 million un-churched individuals in the US.  On average, the Anglican Mission has added a new church every three weeks since its beginning and such momentum continues to build, demonstrating a sovereign move of God’s Spirit.  Next year’s Winter Conference is scheduled for January 23-26, 2008 in Dallas, Texas.

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