The Important Thing is to Stay On the Path!

The first verse of a wonderful Lenten penitential hymn goes like this:
Creator of the earth and skies,
to whom the words of life belong,
grant us your truth to make us wise;
grant us your power to make us strong.

That’s been my prayer for this week!

It’s been a great week of conversations and contacts and questions and ideas and research. Clergy friends and laypeople from a variety of denominations have been very generous with their time, insights and advice, and have referred me to others who can help and/or who might be interested in being part of this adventure. Additional conversations have been scheduled for the next three weeks.

This Monday and Tuesday a church planting summit was held in Texas. You can read about it on the Anglican1000 website: Church Planting Summit  Over the next couple weeks I’ll be talking to at least three people who were at that summit to gain additional perspective, resources, ideas, etc.

I’ve been fully aware in my head that the whole path won’t be clear all at once – that we shouldn’t expect to see more than just a little bit ahead of where we are at the moment, but that we should move ahead with what we know and with where God seems to be leading, while staying attentive. The important thing is to stay on the path! But as I’ve been talking to old and new friends this week it’s been so cool to see one idea expand into another and to experience some little “course corrections” early in the journey. I wouldn’t have started this journey if I didn’t believe that it was the right thing to do, and my conviction about its “rightness” has grown throughout this week.

But, project manager that I am, I have still started a task list and a project plan and a Gantt chart even though I know that big and small things can and will change considerably. I just can’t help myself!

Two questions will need to be answered pretty soon. If you would like to offer your thoughts on either of these, please leave a comment on this blog entry or send an email to MplsAnglican@aol.com

1) What should the name of this church be? It would be nice to start referring to it as something other than “a new Anglican church for southwest Minneapolis,” and it will need a name to start the incorporation process.

2) When should it meet, especially in the initial months? On the one hand, a non-Sunday-morning timeslot would be great for people who want to be involved in the startup of this church but who also want to continue to worship and serve at their current church. On the other hand, a typical Sunday morning timeframe would be best for folks who want to involve their whole families right from the start since conflicts arise with kids’ and other activities almost any other time of the day. As some of my friends observed this week, it should be possible to rent lovely Sunday morning space from a Synagogue or a Seventh-Day Adventist church!

What is the Anglican Church in North America, and Where Does it Fit in the Anglican Communion?

A formal call for the establishment of another Anglican body in North America (as an alternative to The Episcopal Church) rose out of the “Global Anglican Future Conference” (GAFCon) in Jerusalem in June 2008. The representatives at this conference represented about 35 million Anglicans worldwide; it was assembled in response to years’ worth of mounting concerns about the “crisis gripping the Anglican Communion over scriptural authority.” And clearly a catalyst for this meeting was the 2003 consecration of a partnered homosexual bishop for New Hampshire and the ongoing perceived violations of the 2004 Windsor Report. GAFCon called for changes and commitments that would allow Anglicans to “give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.”  Jerusalem Declaration

In the succeeding 12 months existing U.S. and Canadian “missionary” dioceses (established by various African Provinces of the Anglican Church), the Reformed Episcopal Church (established in 1873) and other individuals and groups worked to develop an initial ecclesial structure and to draft a constitution and canons for The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). ACNA had its Inaugural Assembly in June 2009, at which time they established their constitution and canons and consecrated their Archbishop, Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh. At that time ACNA united about 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes and 28 dioceses into a single Church. It is a Province-in-Formation as it still needs to be formally recognized as a Province of the Anglican Communion, although a majority of the other Provinces have already individually formally recognized it.

On February 11, 2010 the Synod of the Church of England passed a resolution that recognizes and affirms the desire of those who have formed the ACNA to remain within the Anglican family. Press Release

Since last June, about 100 new parishes have been added to the ACNA roster (some are newly planted churches, some have moved from The Episcopal Church).  http://www.anglicanchurch.net/

This week ACNA held an “Anglican1000” church planting conference. The goal is to plant 1000 new churches in the next five years, something Archbishop Duncan called for at his consecration.  http://www.anglican1000.org/

This could be one of those new churches!

So, Who is this Mariellen, and Why is She Leading this Charge?

Hello! My name is Mariellen Jacobson. I’m a layperson who worshipped at a large Episcopal church for the last 10 years.

I was attracted to the Anglican tradition and the Episcopal church, having come from an Evangelical background, by its beautiful and profound liturgy and worship (including wonderful music in the classical Western European tradition), great adult education, opportunities for contemplative prayer/worship (primarily a Taizé service), the opportunity to plug in and serve in a huge variety of ways, terrific fellowship (including some great church dinners) with some lively and interesting parishioners, the opportunities for women to teach, preach and lead, and the knowledge that some of the Christian thinkers and writers I most highly respect were Anglicans (my first visit to what became my parish was to hear John Stott speak!).

So why leave all that great stuff? Over the past few years I have grown increasingly aware of an accelerating and, I think, fatal departure from core doctrine on the part of many Episcopal clergy, bishops and other leaders. Many of them deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ (to them he is only “a way”). The concept of the authority of scripture (which should inspire an effort to really know scripture) seems foreign. It seems that the desire to know God is being supplanted by a desire to “be relevant,” to adapt to the surrounding culture (rather than to transform it). Obviously, this is not true of every Episcopal church and every parishioner, but the decisions and communications of so many of its leaders make it a place that I cannot see myself staying and serving God for the rest of my life. Also, the financial priorities and management decisions of the national church make it increasingly difficult for me to contribute to my local parish. Rather than stay and try to help turn the tide (a strategy to which others might be called), I feel led to help establish an alternative – an orthodox, traditional, egalitarian Anglican church in my neighborhood.

Over the years I served my parish in various leadership roles - as its treasurer for four years, as a musician (choir member, music librarian, French horn player), as a member of the adult education planning team, as a leader of its “parish profile” team (when we were searching for a new rector), as the chef for dinners served at several big fundraising and other events, as a member of its strategic planning committee, etc. I also served the Diocese of Minnesota as a member of its “Bishop’s Commission on Mission Strategy,” as a leader on its “Mission Strategy Network” committee, and as one of the founders and the communications coordinator of its “Lay Leaders’ Network” (the Wardens and Treasurers of many of the diocese’ churches).

I have also served on the Boards and in other volunteer leadership roles of various not-for-profit arts organizations over the years. Professionally, I have held technical (computer and information services) and management roles in several industries; currently I work as a project management and business analysis consultant. I love to find and connect people for the purpose of bringing together the knowledge and skills needed to accomplish a worthy objective. And what more worthy objective is there than to equip the saints and bring others to Christ? This new church will need individuals with gifts in teaching, preaching, youth leadership, music, children’s education, pastoral care, evangelism, liturgy, infant care, eucharistic ministry, missions, art, administration, communications, properties, outreach, serving, … Where can you help?

My “life verse” is Philippians 3:12 “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (NIV) I see this mission as the next chapter in my “pressing on” story!

An Invitation

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of “planting” a new Anglican church in southwest Minneapolis, contact Mariellen Jacobson at
MplsAnglican@aol.com
or by posting a comment on this blog.

This new church would be affiliated with The Anglican Church in North America
http://anglicanchurch.net/
possibily initially through the Diocese of the Holy Spirit
http://diohs.org/

Some distinctives for this new church:
Orthodox
Scripture-Centered
Liturgical
Transformational
Evangelistic
Sacramental
Prayer-Filled
Creedal
Equipping
Spirit-Led
Egalitarian
Classical

Contact Mariellen if you would like to be involved in the prayer, brainstorming, discernment and planning stages for this potential new church, or if you would like to be kept informed of its progress.