by Robert Lundy, communications officer for the American Anglican Council
Anglican church leaders from around North and South America took part in the service at Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia. In front of an audience of nearly 800, including Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Beach took an oath to guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church and officially began his ministry as bishop. The audience greeted Bishop Beach and his family with a standing ovation.
“It’s a great day for this region and a great day for the Anglican Church in North America,” Archbishop Duncan said as he brought greetings from the Global Anglican Future Conference Archbishops, a group that represents over 40-million Anglicans.
Bishop Beach is rector of Holy Cross Anglican in Loganville, Georgia and will lead a diocese of 25 member and partner parishes from around the Southeast. ADOTS is one of the newest dioceses in the growing Anglican Church in North America, a church which itself began in 2009.
Background Information
The ADOTS was founded in June, 2010 as a diocese of the newly formed Anglican Church in North America. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) unites some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes in 28 dioceses, into a single Church. It is a province-in-formation in the global Anglican Communion, initiated by the request of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in June 2008 and formally recognized by the GAFCON primates – leaders of Anglican Churches representing 70 percent of the active Anglicans globally.
The ADOTS consists of more than 1,500 Anglicans from 25 parishes in five states (AL, GA, NC, SC, TN). 17 of the parishes are full members of the ADOTS while 8 of the parishes are “partners.” A partner parish is one that is subject to the constitution and canons of another Anglican jurisdiction other than the ADOTS but participates fully in the ministries of the diocese.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach is the rector and pastor of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia. He has served at Holy Cross since it was founded in February 2004. In his “A Word from the Lord” ministry, he shares with radio and internet listeners and newspaper readers what the Bible says about topics that are at the forefront of today’s society. In clear and concise ways he brings out the principles of the Word of God so that listeners and readers may apply them in their lives.
Dr. Beach is a native Atlantan, a graduate of North Fulton High School and Georgia State University. He is also a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the School of Theology at the University of the South. He has served in ministry more than 30 years, having ministered with Young Life, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church. His passion is to share the word of God in such a way as to help others discover the incredible, living Jesus. Married for over 27 years, he and his wife have two children who are in college.
Dr. Beach was nominated by the delegates of the Anglican Diocese of the South Inaugural Synod on April 30 to serve as the bishop of the new diocese. He was elected by the College of Bishops in the Anglican Church of North America at their Provincial Meeting in June of this year. Once ordained and consecrated an Anglican bishop on October 9, the new bishop will oversee the clergy and parishioners of the diocese’s member congregations.
