Anglican Communion Network

ACN Joins in Call to Fasting and Prayer for February Primates’ Meeting

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ACN Joins in Call to Fasting and Prayer for February Primates’ Meeting

As the Archbishops of the Anglican Communion prepare to gather in Tanzania next month, the Anglican Communion Network (ACN) calls on all its member dioceses, parishes and individuals as well as its Common Cause partners to commit the next six weeks to a period of concentrated fasting and prayer.

From February 12–19, the Primates of the Anglican Communion will gather for their biennial meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. At this meeting, the leaders of the Anglican Communion will meet to consider a variety of important issues in the life of the Anglican Communion. In calling for this time of concentrated prayer, the Network joins with other Anglican leaders like Network Bishop Peter Beckwith of the Diocese of Springfield.

“These are times of challenge but also times of hope in the life of our beloved Church. The particular difficulties of the past three years have served to increase our awareness of our utter dependence upon God and our need to come to Him regularly in corporate and individual prayer. Among the issues that will be addressed at the upcoming meetings are the appropriateness and sufficiency of the response of The Episcopal Church to the Windsor Report and possible responses to the requests of several U.S. dioceses for Alternative Primatial Oversight. They will also be considering a report from the Anglican Covenant Design Group, which is meeting in the Bahamas the week of January 15. Prayer should be a paramount priority for all of us during this time,” said Bishop Beckwith.

“Lent & Beyond,” an Anglican website focused on providing resources and information for prayer, has made available a helpful tool that local parishes can use to mobilize their members to pray specifically for each individual leader attending the biennial Primates’ meeting in Tanzania. Churches can download a “Primates’ Prayer brochure” that can be inserted in Sunday morning service leaflets. Individuals can go to the web listing of all the Primates and sign up to pray for a specific archbishop. The Lent & Beyond website will be posting prayers, updated daily, for the Primates’ meeting as well as for the Covenant Design Group meeting.

“All of us at the Network share the conviction of Lent & Beyond that the spiritual health of the Anglican Communion depends upon prayer support for our global archbishops and presiding bishops,” said the Rev. Cn. Daryl Fenton, Chief Operating Officer for the ACN. “We are grateful to Lent & Beyond for taking the initiative to establish a means by which all of us can support these gatherings of our spiritual leaders by undergirding their efforts in prayer. Please join this effort by going to the website, signing up to pray for a specific archbishop, and challenging your local congregation to join in this important prayer endeavor.”

Posted 1/16/07


 
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