I am told today that a group from St. Margaret’s has decided to form a new “Anglican” Congregation in Baton Rouge. They are self-styled as All Saint’s “Anglican” Church of Baton Rouge. Even before we learned of this development, Canon Stevenson had scheduled a congregational meeting with St. Margaret’s for this Sunday. I will be there soon for a visitation. Please keep this congregation in your prayers.
As you may know, this past Sunday was Victor Sheldon’s last at St. Margaret’s. Victor has returned to active duty in the Navy and will be stationed at a sub base in Georgia. I have the greatest respect for Victor and I am grateful for his years of service and fellowship in this Diocese. So far as I know, Victor will continue to be a priest canonically resident in Louisiana.
+Charles E. Jenkins
Bishop of Louisiana
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Diocese of Louisiana Congregation to Form New Anglican Church
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 • 10:03 pm
20 Comments •
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I am not surprised that Bishop Jenkins put quotation marks around Anglican everytime that he used the word. Let us not forget that Jenkins publically stated that former Presiding Bishop Griswold is as “orthodox” as he is. He was one of the presenters for the Episcopal Church at Nottingham when the Episcopal Church presented its case for the radical inclusion of gays and lesbians to the Anglican Consultative Council. Although he did not vote for the House of Bishop resolutions—he left the House of Bishops meeting before the vote—and made a public statement opposing the resolutions, his statement was not as straighforward or as strong as that of other bishops who opposed the resolutions. Orthodox Episcopalians in his diocese were disappointed by what they saw as his failure to take a strong position against the actions of 2003 General Convention despite his vote against the confirmation of Gene Robinson and the sanctioning of same sex blessings. Jenkins gave all indications of being a “corporatist” in his leanings. It must be said to his credit that he has not persecute orthodox Episcopalians in his diocese like some of the “liberal” bishops. In 2002 the Anglican Mission in America sought to plant a new Anglican church in western St. Tammany Parish, north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain. Until AMiA Bishop Thaddeus Barnum contacted Jenkins and informed him of the Anglican Mission’s plans for a new Anglican church on the North Shore, Jenkins had opposed the establishment of a new Episcopal church in the same area. One of the Episcopal churches in that area had experienced a serious church split and Jenkins feared that members of that church would migrate to the new church, further weakening the church which had lost about a third of its member households. However, when the Anglican Mission informed him of its intentions to establish a new Anglican church in the area, Jenkins changed his mind and permitted the establishment of a new Episcopal congregation in the area. It was very low-profile house church that meet in a private home. Jenkins apparantly permitted the new congregation to prevent disaffected orthodox Episcopalians migrating to the Anglican Mission. I was involved in both the Anglican Mission church start and the house church. The Anglican Mission church start did not succeed for a number of reasons. Among the reasons was that the Anglican Mission was an unknown factor to the orthodox Episcopalians in the area. The Anglican Mission church planter was from outside the area and had the disadvantage of starting cold. The house church, on the other hand, was a warm start. Many of the people who became involved in the house church already knew each other and the priests involved in the house church. Those who might have become involved in the Anglican Mission church start became involved in the house church. The new Episcopal house church, however, was something of a step-child. It did not receive the publicity in the diocesan newspaper that the other startup in the diocese received. The priests who served the congregation came from another deanery. The clergy in the deanery in which the house church was started refused to recognize the existence of a new congregation in their deanery. The diocese did not try to raise funds for the new congregation which has been the practice in the diocese. Some Episcopalians in the area derisively referred to the members of the new congregation as “holy rollers” because they were charismatic. For a number of years the new congregation’s status was that of a preaching station of a church outside the deanery, a church affilaited with the Anglican Communion Network. Only since Jenkins lost his bid to become Presiding Bishop has the new congregation begun to receive more attention. It now meets in a hotel conference room for worship, instead of a private home. |
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Dr. Tighe— The AMiA site lists nothing anywhere in Louisiana. So it looks as though All Saints’ may be breaking (sort of) new ground… |
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The Episcopal Churches in Baton Rouge, over the last three or four years, have lost a whole lot of committed Christians who have sought refuge elsewhere because they found it intolerable to remain yoked to heresy. And Bishop Jenkins has said just enough to keep far greater numbers in Baton Rouge (and elsewhere in the Diocese) from jumping ship as well. All that will come to swift end though this fall when ECUSA is formally declared beyond the Anglican Church and if the Bishop isn’t a whole lot more forceful in standing for orthodox Anglicanism despite what it may cost him with TEC. In short, the Diocese would collapse without the orthodox and I am almost certain he knows that only too well. |
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In Metaire, a suburb of New Orleans, is a Continuing congregation - Christ Anglican Catholic Cathedral. This congregation uses the 1928 American Prayer Book. In St. Tammany, in Covington, there was at one time another Continuing congregation - St. Aidan’s Traditional Episcopal Church. This congregation also used the 1928 American Prayer Book. When I relocated to western Kentucky about a year ago, the congregation was no longer meeting and the building in which it had met for a number of years was for sale. About 20 years ago a third Continuing congregation had tried to organize in Slidell, also on the North Shore. It met for a while in a local hospital chapel. However, like the congregation in Covington, it apparently was not able to keep going. Now the North Shore is one of the most fastest growing areas of Louisiana and a number of church plants have been successfully started in the area and have grown to become flourishing churches. I was involved in three of these churches. Two of these churches used contemporary music and were “non-liturgical,” that is, they did not have a formal liturgy. One of the churches used a blend of traditional and contemporary music and was “semi-liturgical,” used liturgical elements but not a service book. The traditional music, Tudor English, and formality of the two Continuing congregations on the North Shore were not a formula for success in the area. The congregations did not have much of a traditionalist constituency from which they could draw, which apparently has not been the case for the congregation in Metaire. They were also unwilling or unable to learn to “speak the language of people,” which missiologist Ed Stetzer has pointed out is critical for the success of a new church start. About the same time the Continuing congregation was started in Slidell, I was also involved in an Episcopal church start on the North Shore. We used modern English services and a blend of non-traditional and traditional music. At one point we used as much as 70% non-traditional music and were able to become a self-sustaining parish in a space of less than 10 years. In our choice of traditional music we stuck to the more popular traditional hymns and those that were used in other demonations as well as the Episcopal Church. We created an worship environment where the language of the service and the music would not be major obstacles for newcomers. We learned to “speak the language of the people” in the area. Another reason that some dissafected Episcoplians are not attracted to the Continuing congregations is that unlike an AMiA, CANA, or other African or South American-affiliated congregations, they have no connection to the Anglican Communion. The AMiA, CANA, or other African or South American-affiliated congregations are connected with the Communion through the province with which they are affiliated. Based upon my experiences of the past few years I do not see many dissaffected Episcopalians migrating to the Continuing congregations. They have become accustomed to worshiping in modern English. They have also become accustomed to a much more participative forms of worship than those found in Continuing congregations. Many have accustomed to a much broader range of music styles than those found in the same congregations. I personally have found it difficult to returning to worship the way the Episcopal Church worshiped in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In my estimation Louisiana is going to need new Anglican congregations if there is going to be a viable Anglican witness in the state should the Episcopal Church be asked to withdraw from the Anglican Communion. Lousisana has a large unchurched population and new congregations are still the best way to reach the unchurched, new congregations that “speak the language of the people,” and do not maintain cultural barriers between the unchurched population and themselves. I also believe that this is true outside of Louisiana. Planting new churches in the shadow of existing churches is not a bad thing. The new churches can reach segments of the unchurched population that the existing churches may not be reaching. For example, studies show that the Episcopal Church has done a very poor job reaching blue-collar workers who live in low-income or older housing. It has done a poor job of reaching people in the inner city, small towns and rural areas. Where it has been the most successful has been among college educated affluent white collar workers living in the more expensive new housing developments in the suburbs. The establishment of new churches may also prompt existing churches to become more mission-active. There is a danger of succumbing to a “safe haven” mindset, establishing new churches just to provide a haven for dissaffected Episcopalians. I think that to a large extent happened to the Anglo-Catholic traditionalists that left the Episcopal Church in reaction to women’s ordination and prayer book revision. The members of the Continuing congregations with which I have had contacted are more concerned about preserving a particular church culture than they are about reaching the unchurched. This is not to say that they do not aspire to reach the unchurched. However, their commitment to this particular church culture, from what I can see, keeps them from fulfilling this aspiration. I think that they have repeatedly been forced to defend this particular church culture, that any suggestion that it may be interfering with their ability to reach outsiders naturally raises their defensiveness. This is unfortunate. To reach the unchurched, I think that we need to be flexible about the language in which we worship, the music, and other aspects of worship. We also need to be flexible about how we engage in ministry, evangelism, and outreach. Where we need to be constant and firm is about the message of gospel. |
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Poor Charles, the ‘self-styled’ “Anglican’s” are up and running. We hope his mole enjoyed our first service and we invite him to return I think Charles will be surprised when he goes to St Mag’s at the small gathering and I hope he isn’t expecting to hear a resounding version of Marching to Zion (his favorite hymn that we always sang for him) as 6 of the 9 choir members are now “Anglican”... please visit us at http://www.allsaintsanglicanbr.org |
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Subversive! That’s what you are! Not only are you people quietly setting up shop everywhere, but I bet your teaching your people to take Christ with them the rest of the week. Taking Jesus into homes, schools, work places all over town, before you know it this Jesus will be in everything and everywhere. You’re subversive aren’t you?!?!
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ree-vo-LU-tion!!!!! I know it’s a terrible thing to want to share the Word - ALL of it - not just the warm and fuzzy parts… You will know us by our black clothing and furtive air…. Thank you for your kind words, we have been feeling the call for a while, and the HOB reponse in March was just the kick we needed, Lord love us all…. |
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I publish a weblog,AnglicansAblaze, on the Internet. If All Saints would provide me with a contact person and an email address, I would be happy to publish the All Saints story on my weblog to date and future developments in the new church’s life and ministry. Whenever I can like to publish articles about the new Anglican church starts around the United States. My weblog is http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/ |
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The acute shortage of affordable housing in southeastern Louisian after Hurricane Katrina forced me to relocate to western Kentucky. I have been residing in the Four Rivers Region for what will be a year in June. I have posted some of my history in a response to an entry on the Kew Continuum, titled “Go to the Back of the Bus”. Here is the link: http://richardkew.blogspot.com/2007/03/go-to-back-of-bus.html |
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Bp. Jenkins just had to put quotation marks around “Anglican” each time he used it, didn’t he?