Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I write to you as I travel home from Abuja, Nigeria, where +Julian Dobbs and I participated in two days of learning and conversations with ++Henry Ndkuba, Archbishop of All Nigeria, and several of his senior leaders. Our time together included worship and sharing the Lord’s Supper at the Cathedral in Abuja. While there we were able to observe several initiatives of the Church of Nigeria that have proven themselves to be fruitful evangelistic and disciple-making undertakings. Remarkably, the Church of Nigeria now has 20,000,000+ Christians, making it the largest province in the Anglican Communion. We have much we can learn from her. Our conversations were warm and sincere. We share a commitment to prayer and to mission and are confident that this foundation will further and deepen the relationship between our provinces for greater gospel fruitfulness. All in all, I was heartened by our time together and I am confident that the Spirit will guide us as we continue to invest in relationships and collaborate with our partners throughout the global Anglican church.
This final quarter of 2024 has proven to be especially busy and I begin with a thank you. Thank you to the almost 2,000 participants who traveled to Mt. Pleasant, SC for the Investiture this past October. To see (and hear!) our church gathered in worship was a sight and sound I’ll not soon forget. I also wish to thank the 100+ volunteers who made this worship service possible. To God be the glory!
A principal initiative I undertook after my election was to personally engage each of our diocesan bishops in a 1:1 Zoom conversation around a series of discussion points that I sent them in advance. Of particular note was my question related to our divergent points of view regarding the ordination of women to the presbyterate. With the Provincial practice enshrined in our Constitution and Canons unlikely to be amended anytime soon the question emerges: what does a win/win look like for the Province in the immediate future? I appreciated both the candor and the firm conviction to continue to engage one another with fraternal love and respect where we hold differing theological convictions.
In other matters, we’ve begun a reorganization process in both the College of Bishops as well as the Provincial office.
Within the College, I have formed a team called “Our Common Life Commission” (CLC). The purpose of the CLC is to help me lead the College in a reorganization based on regionalization, in order to both build collegiality and inform and shape our mission. I am thrilled that the first regional Zoom gatherings of our bishops have taken place.
The CLC will also give leadership to:
- Guiding dioceses as they move through new episcopal elections.
- Leading new bishop orientation and the ongoing development of all bishops. I believe that our training and integration of new bishops needs to be developed in house. At the heart of this will be a series of training events to provide for the ongoing personal and leadership development of our bishops. This process will involve an initial onboarding retreat for newly elected bishops and their spouses. Thereafter will follow a series of annual retreats broken down in the following way:
”Starting Well – aimed at bishops under three years in the saddle.
”Growing Well” – aimed at bishops 3-10 years in the saddle.
”Finishing Well” – aimed at bishops 10+ years in the saddle or over 60 years old.
- Coordinating church planting efforts between dioceses, especially those whose boundaries overlap.
- Addressing matters of mediation.
Additionally, I have formed a cabinet of bishops with whom I will meet via Zoom on a monthly basis, and as needed (individually or collectively) between our monthly meetings. Already, I have found their prayerful insight exactly what I had hoped for when I formed this group. The bishops represent the geographical and liturgical spectrum of the Province. Serving are: +Alex Cameron (Pittsburgh), +Alex Farmer (GAD), +Dan Gifford (Anglican Diocese of Canada), +Willie Hill (REC), +Todd Hunter (C4SO), +Clark Lowenfield (DWGC), +Jacob Worley (Cascadia), +Steve Breedlove (retired, DCOH), and our Dean of the Province, +Ray Sutton (REC). I am immeasurably grateful to these men for their time, counsel, and prayers.
Within the Province as a whole, Deborah Tepley, my new Chief Operating Officer, and I undertook a “listening tour” these past few months. We together and separately engaged folks involved in leadership across our Province. Our conversations centered around the questions, “what is the Province doing well that we should continue, where do we need to improve, and, what are we not doing that we should do?” As with the bishops, these conversations were helpful and very encouraging. There are wonderful people engaged in faithful ministry across our province who are deeply invested in the future of the ACNA.
Deborah and I, working with the Executive Committee, have also engaged the firm Auxilio to perform an assessment of our internal provincial systems (IT, Finance, Communications, etc.) and staffing. We are working closely with Auxilio’s founders, Keith Moore and Kara Callaghan. Some of you may be familiar with Auxilio as they work extensively with faith based non-profit organizations and churches.
Their report will go to our Restructuring Committee. The Restructuring Committee, which reports to the Executive Committee, has been tasked with overseeing and guiding the organizational restructuring of the ACNA’s Provincial Office staff team and operational systems, ensuring that strategic changes in staffing and operations are implemented with wisdom, transparency, and pastoral sensitivity while maintaining the Church’s ability to fulfill its mission. The committee is comprised of:
- Deborah Tepley – COO (Diocese of Christ our Hope)
- Dr. Joan Deeks – current member of the Executive Committee, HR expert with over 25 years of corporate HR leadership and management experience (Anglican Diocese of Canada)
- Sheryl Vittitoe – currently CFO at Belhaven University, 30 years of executive leadership experience, has served in multiple C-suite roles such as CEO, CAO, and CFO, maintains a CPA (Gulf Atlantic Diocese)
- Bishop Ryan Reed (Diocese of Fort Worth)
We are also working with our Chancellor and other consultants on an as-needed basis. I expect our Provincial restructuring plan will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2025.
Looking ahead, this summer our College of Bishops meetings and Provincial Council will be held at the new Trophimus Center at Trinity Anglican Seminary in Ambridge, PA on June 16-20, 2025. We are working to schedule Provincial Council 2026. You can view upcoming provincial events on our website here: https://anglicanchurch.net/events/
Lastly, a word about the ongoing matters before the court concerning the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. As I reported to you in my previous letter, Mr. C. Alan Runyan, Esq. is serving as the Provincial Prosecutor and the Honorable Tad Brenner is the legal advisor to the court (Canon IV.5.2.3). Also, as noted in the Scheduling Order established by the court, discovery is underway and is to be completed by January 15, 2025. Ongoing updates of the proceeding may be found here on our provincial website. I commend to your prayers this process and all those affected.
Please know that this letter comes with gratitude for our shared ministry and my continued prayers.
Warmly in Christ,
++Steve
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