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VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - PLANO, TX: Apb Duncan Lauds Plan to Plant 1000 Anglican Churches in next 5 Years:
The leader of a reviving North American Anglicanism welcomed nearly 400 church planters, bishops, clergy, seminary leaders and lay leaders to the 3rd Annual Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit on March 6-8, 2012 at Christ Church in Plano. Fifty percent of those in attendance admitted they have not been to a Church Planting Summit before.
"We have changed the subject in the discussions about Anglicanism in North America. We are reaching North America with the Good News of Jesus Christ by planting 1000 new churches. This is an extraordinary gathering of extraordinary people. We learned in January 2012 that we had achieved the 200 mark of new churches. As of today, there are a record number with 35 more on the boards," said Anglican Church in North America Archbishop Robert Duncan.
During his 2009 investiture, Archbishop Duncan made the prophetic call for 1000 new congregations. A few months later, a team gathered in Plano to dream about a cooperative movement to plant churches and answer this call. Since then, Anglican 1000 has become a primary ministry of the Anglican Church in North America to raise up Anglican congregations and communities of faith to reach people with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. Canon David Roseberry immediately stepped forward to provide the catalytic leadership necessary to launching our movement.
Anglican 1000 is a movement of God to help all North American Anglicans become a church with a church-planting culture. While Anglican 1000 is a key ministry of the Anglican Church, it has been catalyzed and managed by the Rev. Canon David Roseberry, Rector, and the Rev. Daniel Adkinson both of Christ Church in Plano, Texas.
Most of the clergy are former Episcopal priests, deacons and laity who left that denomination over its distancing itself from Scriptural admonitions on faith and morals.
The Summit leadership announced a transition for Anglican 1000 from a start-up ministry to the central mission work of the Province. "Anglican 1000 has grown to the point where it needs the full support of the staff and leadership of the Anglican Church in North America," explained the Rev. David Roseberry, Chairman of the movement and an ACNA priest. "The impact of Anglican 1000 has been wide spread around the Anglican Church in North America and we look forward to its future and expansion."
"The passion and sacrificial commitment of those who are responding to the Lord's call to plant through our movement is both humbling and challenging. And once again, I was struck by how many young leaders were at Anglican1000," noted the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, the recently installed first bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic (ACNA) formerly known as the Anglican District of Virginia. Newly consecrated CANA bishop Julian Dobbs said the conference was excellent, "a wonderful combination of biblical teaching coupled with practical how-to sessions."
Be willing to step out and do God's work, said David Hyman of Holy Trinity, Chatham, PA.
Steve Wood and Todd Simonis from Charleston, SC said they didn't want buildings. Instead they secured access to a nightclub on Sunday morning. Their congregation grew from 65 to 210 in just one Sunday.
Conference organizer Rev. David Roseberry said Jesus used the image of a net to catch fish rather than throwing out a single hook or fly. "We can't afford to cast one hook at a time, we need to be casting out nets to catch the the lost. We need to be helping every church planter to concede that the task in church planting is not one hook or fly or lure but a net. Jesus said this is a transferable skill. Church planting is not single line fishing."
Leaders said church planters cannot be lone rangers. They need a bishop or rector who sends you.
They noted that the unchurched in North America has grown from 130 million to 150 million So far, only 211 new churches have been planted. "We must do it together. We need to be patient. We need to hold our opinions and judgments till things work out."
Mega churches came in for criticism. Speakers noted that they are cutting programs and focusing on worship, serving and growing. Mega churches are getting simpler, simpler and simpler, they said.
As this was the third Anglican 1000 conference, lessons learned in the last 2.5 years have pushed a vision that will transform Anglicanism in North America. It would be a net that works - a network into a broken world and take them in what it means to follow Christ. If you have a website you have a church, said leaders.
"With God's help, we did change the subject. We are not talking about the same subjects we talked about in 2003 (Gene Robinson's consecration). I thank God for that change. Many are being drawn to this invitation and this challenge and Christ is bringing many partners to us who want to be part of this."
Because of the growth, a new Vicar is needed for Anglican 1000. The Next Provincial Assembly is June 7-9 in Ridgecrest, NC. It will be the first gathering of the whole church since it was founded in Fort Worth nearly 3 years ago. Bishop Todd Hunter will be principle speaker.
Present at the Global 1000 conference were:
393 registrants - 400
35 US states. 4 Canadian provinces.
76 planters since January of 2009
65 planted before 09. Some started by lay people.
66 trained leaders 35 seminary leaders
18 seminaries 100 people who will plant before 2014.
25 spouses
The conference also featured plenary sessions, reports from the mission field, workshops, worship, and networking fellowship to uplift, challenge, inspire, and bless the church planters and the new church plants.
Church planting begins at the bottom. The single most common reason why churches stall is because they start at the top. Worship is the most important thing, they said.
"Everybody is talking about church planting. All three Summit's have been different in the extent that at this one, we are one. We have let the past go. There is a palpable unity here," stated Roseberry.
"We will remain a movement, not a denomination, not centralizing but centering and integrating into everything we do," Duncan commented.
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