The Mission and Vision

Rooted in the history and tradition of East Africa's revival, the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) is a missionary movement of the Anglican Province of Rwanda charged with building an alliance of congregations committed to gathering, planting and serving dynamic Anglican churches in North America.

Christ's Mission - what author/researcher George Barna has described as the broad spectrum of what God is calling us to do for His Church - is expressed in the Great Commandments and Great Commission. Since AMiA's beginnings in 2000, we have been mission-driven, and we understand our mission field to be the 130 million un-churched individuals in the U.S. Our vision, then, is to break through the barriers of post-modernism, to proclaim the saving grace of Jesus Christ and to draw others into a relationship with Him. We have experienced a sovereign movement of God's Spirit during the last six years, and I believe our best days are before us. We feel a strong sense of urgency, passion and expectation as we look toward 2007.

On average, Anglican Mission has added a new church every three weeks since 2000, and we expect to see that momentum continue and build, with nearly 40 groups in the fellowship process and around 30 in early stages of conversation and formation.

More importantly, lives are being transformed as people enter a relationship with Christ and grow as faithful disciples.

While Christianity is the fastest-growing religion in the world, with 1,400 new churches per month established in Africa alone, churches in North America are experiencing decline. Anglican Mission was born in the midst of a severe crisis of faith and leadership within the western church, and we rejoice in the harvest God is bringing forth, giving us the opportunity to plant and strengthen churches that impact our culture. The Anglican Mission provides a way for our congregations and clergy to be connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion through Rwanda, while being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church (TEC).

A look at AMiA's roster of churches reveals that a full 60 percent of our congregations are new churches rather than emerging from TE C. We're grateful to God for this increase and understand this is our true calling. This doesn't mean we only receive and affiliate new church starts, but it does mean that every church coming into the Anglican Mission is expected.

On average, Anglican Mission has added a new church every three weeks since 2000, and we expect to see that momentum continue and build to have a "missional" orientation and passion. As we move forward, our eyes are on the call to evangelize those that God is calling, and to be about the business of building the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" in our time.

The Method

And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." - Mark 4:26-2, English Standard Version Mark's parable of the sower gives us a helpful illustration for planting churches, outlining a model Anglican Mission has incorporated. Jesus tells of a sower who scattered seeds on the ground and then describes the process that follows. The seeds take root and grow - first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain appears. That's the way our congregations develop - they form in small groups, move to fellowships and grow into churches as individual lives are transformed, faith deepens, gifts are displayed, mission is embraced and visions are cast.

Whether initiated by laity, by AMiA clergy or by an existing congregation, God grows congregations made up of faithful men and women who are stirred by God to do a new thing.

As in the Bible days, God's call is often unexpected. Ordinary men and women who had never considered the possibility of forming a church and had no idea they were capable of such an undertaking are compelled to step out in faith, moving beyond self-imposed limitations. We see people awaken to the reality that God might actually use David or Sue as the tip of the arrow. They follow the Lord step by step; leaders are identified and equipped; people are released for ministry, God adds to their numbers; and a church is born.

While we follow a model and plan for church planting, AMiA thrives on flexibility, and we aren't in the business of producing cookie-cutter congregations. We offer recommendations, guidelines and best practices utilizing a variety of tools such as demographic studies and professional coaching, but we leave plenty of room for the Holy Spirit to lead and create. Whether initiated by clergy or laity, the model is consistent - a small group gathers regularly (usually every other week) for a period of discernment - what we call an "Exploratory Stage."

They pray and study Scripture together, seeking God's wisdom and His will. Interim leaders emerge at the group's core and teams develop, offering their gifts and talents for prayer intercession, administration, communication, finance and so forth.

Once the group expa nds to about 30, members continue to meet bi-weekly and are ready to become an affiliated fellowship of Anglican Mission. We recommend the bi-weekly meetings for prayer, study and worship be held at a time other than Sunday mornings to insure ample time for the tasks at hand as well as to avoid getting bogged down early on in logistical details. In this "Gathering Stage" aimed at forming a fellowship, leaders focus on prayer, study, relationship building, expanding and organized planning. This period involves actively spreading the word about the potential new work - inviting others to "come and see." Classic tools such as personal invitations, letter writing, telephone calls, door-to-door visits and community outreach have proven extremely effective.

During this process, Anglican Mission leaders work with the groups to provide support and assistance with vision casting, planning and resources. We want our fellowships from the earliest stages to understand and embrace the mission and vision of AMiA, and we strongly encourage regular communication with our leadership as a critical component of successful church plants. Fifty percent of our national budget goes to resourcing church plants - roughly 43 percent is spent on regional mission centers with another 7 percent spent on leadership development.

Before officially launching, each fellowship works with a church planting coach who helps with developing a congregational mission statement, a mission strategy (including measurable plans and goals), leadership training, location logistics, incorporation and calling a priest if the congregation was initiated by laity. Our model has yielded proven results.

The average success rate of church plants is 30 percent, while AMiA church plants enjoy a 90 percent success rate. We attribute this to the Lord's grace and His guidance, along with a clear goal and message, a specific model centered on small groups, professional coaching, and a clear focus - we keep our eyes on the ball.

The Bedrock Values

Anglican Mission offers a unique blend of the ancient and future, and inherent in our church plants is our commitment to unity in the essentials of the Christian Faith as well as a willingness to allow diversity in our expression of that faith. We envision the evangelical, catholic and charismatic forms of worship as three streams flowing from one river - Jesus Christ and His Gospel imperatives. We are committed to the authority of Scripture, worship in Word and Sacrament along with Spirit-led evangelism, discipleship and service. Based on a careful study undertaken by the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, the Anglican Mission has determined that the most faithful response to the witness of Scripture and its teaching on headship would dictate that women be ordained only to the diaconate. While recognizing that the Church is presently seeking further clarity in this matter through a period of discernment and "reception," the important concept of "headship" proved to be the most critical issue for us as we developed our policy on the issue of women's ordination.

We up hold and live specific values that form our DNA. We are committed first to Jesus Christ as the one and only means of salvation, and to the authority of Scripture as the living Word of God which sets the standard by which we are to order our lives, express our faith and function as a community. We are committed to extending the kingdom of God through evangelism - through calling people into a saving relationship with Christ and making disciples who in turn make disciples. We build congregations through relational ministry that express the love, intimacy, and unity of God as revealed in the relationship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We desire to hold ourselves accountable before God and to one another within our Anglican polity.

We are also committed to living a servant ministry and to Biblical leadership; our ministry is supported through sacrificial giving and undergirded with expectant prayer. We believe that nothing of significance happens in God's Kingdom in the absence of prayer. Therefore, seeking God is a priority-inviting Him to lead, restore, heal and transform our lives, our churches, our communities and the world. If you talk to any of our clergy and lay leaders, you will discover they are people of prayer who believe and seek to faithfully proclaim, as well as live out, God's Word.

The Congregations

Scripture offers a proven model of operating churches, and Anglican Mission uses the second chapter of Acts as our standard. When I became rector of All Saints', Pawleys Island, South Carolina (where AMiA is headquartered), over 20 years ago, I incorporated these principles into the life of the congregation, and the results were actually rather remarkable.

Over the years, we shared this model and its practical applications, and quite simply, it works - it bears fruit. God adds daily to those who are being saved when churches follow the apostolic model.

The characteristics of early church life as described in Acts 2:14-47 begin as God's Word is proclaimed. We see this in Peter's sermon in which he outlines the Gospel message (Acts 2:14-36). Those hearing this proclamation were "cut to the heart" as they recognized their sinfulness - their need for a savior was acknowledged (Acts 2:37). As a response to this acknowledgement, the people asked Peter what they could do, and he instructed them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Some 3,000 individuals accepted Peter's message and were baptized (Acts 2:37-41). These new believers then embraced a life of discipleship in which they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship within the Body of believers, the sacrament of Eucharist and prayer. The early believers experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit whose power was demonstrated through signs and miracles which produced awe and wonder in the Body, and they were committed to a high level of stewardship so ministry could be facilitated. Worship was central to the life of the early church - both corporate worship and in small groups meeting in homes. This model produced growth as a byproduct of faithfulness, for "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Anglican Mission congregations seek to reflect this cycle of parish life, and particularly emphasize discipleship through small groups that are a hallmark of our congregations from the earliest stages of church planting. Our churches function within affinity-based Mission Networks designed to minimize control and maximize trust, creativity, and risk taking at the congregational level. Our priority is to develop churches that make disciples, start new churches, network with other churches and build a church-planting movement.

In order to fulfill this priority, we intentionally create a leadership culture that identifies, develops and empowers leaders for local churches and the mission of AMiA. Having said that, we're not afraid to establish expectations of our congregations along with accountability, and we make this clear from the beginning. For example, we expect our congregations to be faithful and fruitful - to become self-sustaining Great Commission churches, focusing on multiplying disciples and ministry and to participate in launching and encouraging new churches.

This all begins with personal spiritual growth and transformation with a goal of being agents of God's transforming power in the lives of others and in fact, your community.

Transformation and multiplication are our bywords, and we nurture these principles by actively linking churches together in a Mission Network.

The Mission Network System

Our congregations are the primary missionary unit that raise up, serve and multiply disciples who make disciples, but these churches function within a Mission Network. We have avoided centralized institutional structures such as dioceses, and instead, our Mission Networks provide communities in which leadership and congregational alliances take shape and flourish. Our Networks represent a "gateway" through which missionary congregations are resourced and released. Since our churches are scattered from coast to coast, Networks provide essential support, encouragement, fellowship, resources and accountability for Anglican Mission leaders and congregations.

Networks are sometimes organized around a particular geographic region, or they may be widespread, with churches joining together over long distances on the basis of affinity.

Whatever the model, churches in the Anglican Mission are encouraged to be actively involved in a Network in order to grow and plant other new churches. We are determined that our nascent congregations not be left to flounder, and we provide support to insure success.

Networks develop a gift-driven team of individuals, lay and ordained, from its member churches to facilitate strategy, communications, finances, pastoral care, prayer, and leadership development. All of these components are necessary for the health and growth of member churches and the planting of new congregations, tasks that are carried out under the direction of the Network Leader, working closely with the
overseeing bishop. Networks provide coaching for those on the front lines in equipping, supporting and uniting leaders - they are community- centered, focused on building relationships within a small group context.

Identifying and Developing Leaders

We believe that every Christian is created and gifted for ministry as described in Scripture (Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 -14), and we take seriously the call in Ephesians to "prepare God's people for works of service." In order to fulfill that mandate, Anglican Mission intentionally seeks to equip, empower and release the faithful to use their spiritual gifts to glorify God and build up the Body of Christ. John Maxwell says "everything rises and falls on leadership," and it is clear that the current situation in the Episcopal Church involves a crisis in leadership. In AMiA, our goal is identifying and developing leaders who are passionately committed to Christ and display an authentic faith, Godly character and a servant's heart.

Anglican Mission is open to multiple ways of training and equipping, and we tend to focus on matching gifts to needs.

We have avoided centralized institutional structures such as dioceses...Our congregations are the primary missionary unit [and] function within a Mission Network.

Finding the right leaders for the right setting is essential, and in selecting church planters, we intentionally focus on discernment and assessment - not everyone called to ministry is called to be a church planter. We want to help leaders discern their true call. Tools such as boot camps, apprenticeships, mentoring and coaching assist in training church planters, and these methods are enhanced through building a team representing a balance of gifts. Church planting is a group effort - lone rangers won't survive.

Identification of leaders is an unfolding process. Some individuals, ordained or lay, simply hear God's voice and His call to them and they respond, "Here I am...send me."

They come to us and seek to plant a church. In another wave, we are looking for talent through the Network system and elsewhere, and we think creatively about equipping - moving beyond classic seminary-based theological education. Finding talented leaders wired as church planters quickly enough is still a challenge, but one we are working pro-actively to meet. For example, we have developed the Fellows Program in which individuals are mentored by seasoned clergy in a church setting, beginning their training for ministry.

The Distinctives

Anglican Mission offers a real alternative to the western model of church planting and development. For example, we focus on missionary outreach rather than an institution, and this focus allows us to major in the majors of mission rather than maintenance. In addition, we are very deliberate in our intention to develop healthy, viable churches. George Barna has outlined what he calls visible marks of healthy congregations, and we seek to build the kind of church which experiences numerical growth as a byproduct of transformed lives and an unapologetic commitment to God's Word. Barna also asserts that in growing churches, prayer is a significant factor, a sense of mission and vision are both present, evangelism is undertaken by laity, and youth ministry is central.

We seek to immerse every step and stage of our congregations in prayer. It is only in seeking to see where God is moving that we can hope to be at the center of His will. These churches don't try to be all things to all people, but people experience God during authentic, Spirit-filled worship. Our churches seek to grow from strength to strength and glory to glory by keeping the first thing the first thing. I sense an exciting season before us as we move to the next level of leadership development, church planting and missionary expansion.

The Lord seems to have placed His hand on this gathering of Christians known as the Anglican Mission in America. The principles we are living out are Biblical and historic, but we believe God is allowing us to put these concepts together in a unique way for the season, setting and time in which we are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are happy to share our insights with any and all who desire to learn more, and of course, particularly with those who might feel called to be part of this adventure. The Lord is adding to our number daily those who are being saved, and for this we are thankful and encouraged.

For more information on the AMiA, visit its website at www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org

THE ANGLICAN MISSION IN AMERICA will hold its annual Winter Conference January 17-20 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida. This always-well-attended event helps participants "catch a vision for mission" in their own communities and experience "the wide global family of Anglican Christianity" through the presence of personages from Rwanda and other Anglican provinces. Among several speakers will be the Rev. Canon Dr. Michael Green, former rector of St. Aldate's in Oxford, England and Evangelism Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who currently pastors a U.S. congregation; and Dr. J.I. Packer, dean of Anglican theologians, author of the classic Knowing God, and professor of theology at Regent College, Vancouver. For further information: 843/237-0318, www.theamia.org/register.

We seek to immerse every step and stage of our congregations in prayer. It is only in seeking to see where God is moving that we can hope to be at the center of His will.

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