More than 1,000 Anglicans to meet in Ohio
Unity isn’t real unless it is embraced at the local level. That is something that somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 Anglicans of many different jurisdictions will be living out when they meet together in Ohio this October.
Approximately 2,500 Anglicans of many jurisdictions met in Chicago for the first Anglican Awakening event.
They will be participating in a national movement called Anglican Awakening, said the Rev. David “Doc” Loomis, rector emeritus of Hudson Anglican Church and Canon Missioner for the Anglican Mission in the Americas. The event, which will be held at St. Luke’s in Akron October 21–23 will bring together the leaders and congregations of the Great Lakes Anglican Network, a group of 50 congregations from eight different Anglican jurisdictions.
Bishop Bill Murdoch, dean of the Anglican Communion Network’s New England Convocation, and All Saints Anglican Church and Ministry Center Amesbury, Massachusetts, will host an Anglican Awakening event for the Northeast November 13–15.
Anglican Awakening events aim to prepare people to work together to share the gospel. They focus on helping local congregations understand how they can do mission together and celebrate their new relationships with one another.
“We’re going from Common Cause to common ground…It is [asking] how do we work together in mission. We will reach more lost people if we join hands,” said the Rev. William Beasley of the Anglican Mission in the Americas.
Anglican Awakening is also helping orthodox Anglicans accept responsibility for their own weakness and divisions and to ask forgiveness of God and of each other. “What some are seeing as a very depressing time in the church, with a lot of brokenness and division, we are seeing as a very encouraging time… We found ourselves in a wonderful place, which is broken and on our knees,” said Loomis.
The Anglican Awakening movement began in the Chicago area. Beasley and Chief Jimmy Gboyeja Delano, who serves as treasurer for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, were two early organizers.
According to both Beasley and Delano, the Awakening movement initially brings conservative Anglicans together, but it won’t stop there. These two, and other supporters of the movement, have a truly global and trans-denominational vision of helping Christians come together in one body to share the good news of Jesus Christ. “We see them all coming together under Christ, that is what I am spending the rest of my life for,” said Delano.
“We have incredible opportunities to partner in mission right now,” said Beasley.