The Beginning. For generations, the United States and other nations in the ‘west’ sent missionaries, armed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the far reaches of the globe. In the 20^th century, many churches in the west abandoned the truth of Scripture and essential beliefs of Christian teaching, resulting in a crisis of faith and leadership. The U.S. is now home to the largest population of un-churched and spiritually disconnected English-speaking people in the world who are searching for true meaning and significance.  

While churches in America are rapidly declining in membership, Christianity is experiencing a dynamic renewal and expansion in many other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and South America, known collectively as the Global South. Professor Philip Jenkins of Penn State ( The Next Christendom) and others have noted this phenomenal shift “southward.” As Newsweek magazine proclaimed in a major article in 2001, “Countries that were once considered Christian homelands have become the mission territories of the new millennium.” In a groundbreaking response to the western crisis, some leaders of the Anglican Church in Africa and Asia acted to provide seeds of hope for the dire situation in the U.S., by establishing the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) . 
 

In 2000, Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini ( Province of Rwanda) and Moses Tay ( Province of South East Asia) consecrated the Rev. Chuck Murphy and the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers as missionary bishops to the U.S. At a gathering in Amsterdam on July 28 of the same year, the Anglican Mission in America was formalized as a missionary outreach charged with fulfilling the Great Commission through church planting. Four additional bishops were consecrated in Denver in 2001 by Archbishop Kolini and Archbishop Yong Ping Chung (Archbishop Tay’s successor who served as archbishop until his retirement in February 2006).

The Anglican Mission is directly connected to its Province and operates under the authority of the Archbishop. Our bishops are full members of the Rwandan House of Bishops responsible for overseeing Rwanda’s missionary outreach to North America.

The Anglican Mission provides a way for congregations and clergy to remain connected to the one holy catholic and apostolic Church through the leadership in Rwanda while being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church.

  Enlarging the tent.  From its beginning, the Anglican Mission has grown steadily, breaking into new territories through initiating church plants as well as receiving existing congregations. The Anglican Mission has extended its focus to provide oversight not only for churches in the U.S., but also for congregations in Canada and Puerto Rico. Dozens of new works are in progress in the U.S. and Canada, demonstrating that God is “providing the increase.”

In 2007, the Anglican Mission expanded its structure at the request of Archbishop Kolini by creating the Anglican Mission in the Americas.   This umbrella organization includes the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), the Anglican Coalition of Canada (ACiC) and the Anglican Coalition in America (ACiA). This structure embraces two countries (the U.S. and Canada) as well as two positions on the ordination of women. Both the ACiC and the ACiA ordain women to the priesthood, as does the Province of Rwanda, while the 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 positions and policies on women’s ordination.

Now is the time. This new movement, like a wave of the Spirit, quickly gained momentum, encouraged by the connection to revivals in other parts of the globe. The Anglican Mission is charged with gathering, planting and strengthening dynamic congregations in the Anglican tradition that will have a powerful impact on our culture.  Since its formation, the Anglican Mission has added one church every three weeks, and we invite you to ‘catch the wave’ and join us in this transforming adventure of the Anglican Mission.

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