Anglican Mission Group Holds Winter '06 Conference in Alabama

Conservatives to Address Church Issues, Including ECUSA Controversy Over Homosexual Bishop
 

By Jim Brown 
 

(AgapePress) - While the Episcopal Church USA continues to lose members due to its support for homosexual bishops and same-sex unions, conservative Anglicans are meeting in Alabama this weekend to discuss evangelism goals.

The Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) was formed five years ago as a missionary outreach of the Anglican Province of Rwanda. The organization is holding a conference in Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend called "Pressing On Toward the Goal." Pastor John Richardson of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Mountain Brook, which is hosting the event, says members will be encouraged to plant mission-minded and Christ-centered churches.

Richardson says the group will also indirectly address the dispute in the Anglican Communion over the Episcopal Church's ordination of a homosexual bishop. He observes, "We were formed in response to a crisis of faith and leadership in the Episcopal Church and are very clear that we are the response of the southern hemisphere to that crisis of faith and leadership."

The pastor notes that many members of the Anglican Mission in America are former Episcopalians. "Basically, we do see a church that has abandoned biblical teachings and certainly no longer upholds the authority of scripture with regard to matters of faith and morals," he says.

The meeting in Birmingham is designed to encourage the faithful in church planting and missionary endeavors, Richardson explains. The AMiA spokesman contends that many Anglicans and other Christians in the United States are living in a mild form of self-delusion.

"I think so many of us in America, unchurched and churched, are so comfortable with church life and not so passionate about kingdom life and, you know, living apart from the establishment and the culture in which we live," Richardson says, "and so we have to even overcome that."

The Anglican minister continues, "Sometimes when we're explaining the gospel, people say, 'Well, why would I amend my life? I am a Christian -- I live in a Christian nation.' I think there's a subtle form of denial that's hard to overcome. We are not a Christian nation."

The AMiA Winter 2006 "Pressing On Toward the Goal" conference in Alabama features nine Anglican archbishops from various countries. The meeting, which is being held at the Sheraton Conference Center in downtown Birmingham, continues through Saturday.

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Anglican Mission in America ( http://www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org )