No associate members. We must expect every Christian believer to be an active church member. We cannot afford to have associate members who want privileges without responsibilities. --- From "Parochial Evangelism by the Laity" (London: Church Information Board)

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
3/12/2009

When it comes to religion, the USA is now a land of freelancers.

The percentage of people who call themselves some type of Christian has dropped more than eleven percent in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic.

And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers - or falling off the faith map completely. These dramatic shifts in only 18 years are detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS).

It finds that, despite growth and immigration that has added nearly 50 million adults to the U.S. population, almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990.

No denomination has been more affected by the winds of change than The Episcopal Church (TEC). Despite calls for greater inclusivity and diversity and the abandonment of traditional morality, TEC continues to hemorrhage and shrink. The numbers speak for themselves. A survey in mid 2008, before the economy tanked, revealed that the proportion of parishes in some or serious financial difficulty almost doubled from 2000 to 2005, increasing from 13% to 25% and then remained unchanged for 2008. 26.4% of congregations have average Sunday attendance of less than 35. A majority (62%) of Episcopal parishes and missions report that more than half of their members are age 50 and above. 90% of Episcopal congregations reported having conflicts or disagreements in the last five years.

Now here's the kicker. Nearly 50% (actual 47%) of all Episcopal congregations report serious conflict over the ordination of homosexual priests/bishops. If that is not a wake-up call to the state of the church, nothing is.

Where is the peace this issue was supposed to bring? Where is the church growth? Where are the young people this was supposed to draw in with all the gracious talk of inclusivity (read sexual compromise)? 11% of Episcopal congregations report that they have no youth in the church and 58% have 10 or fewer youth among their active members or regular participants. Only 20% of Episcopal congregations have 20 or more youth actively involved.

This is like a bank discovering its subprime loans have put it on the fast track to bankruptcy. It is the spiritual veneer of an ecclesiastical Lehman Brothers that no one is going to bail out. And all the time, TEC's deep thinkers are willing to shell out millions of dollars in legal fees fighting for properties that will close their doors forever.

It is the height of hubris, for example, that the Diocese of Pennsylvania, already deep in debt over a camp debacle that has cost it millions of dollars (it is now up for sale), turns its guns on a single Anglo-Catholic parish that it claims is theirs and will now spend millions of dollars from Trust Funds to try and get it back. For what? Even if they win after years of litigation, they will get an empty building with which they can do nothing for their troubles. This is a victory for the diocese and The Episcopal Church? What brain dead idiots believe that? It's like buying stock in a defunct company in the hope that it will one day rise from the dead.

It's like a war in which both sides shoot at each other for days. At the end of ten days, there is an awesome silence and one man emerges from a dugout and stands up with a flag to proclaim victory. He is the only one left standing.

While litigation costs rise, so do the absences in parish leadership. Less than two-thirds of all Episcopal parishes (63%) can afford one full-time paid clergy. What does that tell you? Another 25% are served by part-time clergy, priests, or by seminary students. The remainder report having no clergy at all or that they are served by supply or interim priests.

All the time this has been going on, the new North American Anglican Province, better known as the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) reports a meteoric rise in numbers because they have a very clear fix on what the gospel is, they are prepared to adapt to the situation they find themselves in, remain historical, and seem to have little or no financial problems.? Every parish has a priest or priest in training.

In the meantime, The Episcopal Church has stirred up a hornet's nest by proclaiming that the bishop-elect of NORTHERN MICHIGAN, one Kevin Thew Forrester is a practicing Buddhist, "ordained" as it were, into their "lay order." This has so riled up one rector that he has taken it upon himself to write a letter to every standing committee in The Episcopal Church calling on them to withhold consent for Forrester's consecration. The Rev. Walter Van Zandt Windsor of Pine Bluff's Episcopal Trinity Church in Arkansas wrote, "It is my request that you relay to the membership of that body that they consider, seriously, withholding consent to the consecration of the Rev. Thew Forrester as Bishop of Northern Michigan. While eccentricity of this sort is to be expected amongst some of our clergy, a bishop is the defender of the Faith, and in the line of the Apostles. I believe the Rev. Forrester to have abandoned the Communion of this Church, and therefore unfit to be considered for the office of bishop." You can read the full story in today's digest.

Even as the Episcopal Church continues on its lunatic path of self-destruction, quite another move of an entirely different order is taking place in Florida.

A new orthodox Anglican diocese has been birthed out of the ashes of the failed ecclesiology and theology of Bishop John Howard. It is led by the indefatigable Rev. Neil Lebhar who, with a group of 73 Anglican clergy and wardens in the Jacksonville area, formed a new Anglican diocese. This is not a breakaway from the 100 Episcopal dioceses that make up TEC, but an entirely new entity that will connect with ACNA, somewhere down the road. This Anglican Alliance has also drawn a number of representatives of non-Alliance congregations. With Vicar General Lebhar at the helm, they are ready to make waves. You can read the full story in today's digest.

A new day is dawning for Anglicanism in North America that will not be stopped regardless of whether that Archbishop of Canterbury recognizes this group or not. He is fast becoming irrelevant in the scheme of things. The truth is that ACNA and GAFCON are simply going around him and doing their own thing anyway, leaving the liberals to squawk away at cross border "violations" while they preach a gospel that saves no one and nothing.

*****

The DIOCESE OF NEWARK, the ecclesiastical home of homosexuals Louie Crew and (the Rev.) Elizabeth Kaeton passed a resolution at its recent convention asking the national church to amend Canon 18: Of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony at the next General Convention, substituting the words "two persons" where the words "a man and a woman" now appear, and to amend Canon 19: Of Regulations Respecting Holy Matrimony, to substitute the word "spouse" where the words "husband or wife" appear. The purpose is to make The Episcopal Church officially gender neutral. General Convention will also be asked to authorize rites for the blessing of same-sex unions in July. Now, what are the odds of all this passing? Sources tell VOL that rites will be a walk through for the pan-sexualists, but it will be touch and go for the "two persons" ruling. The Episcopal Church would like to hold back something for Rowan Williams so he can tell his people in London that all is well in TEC and that TEC has not gone entirely off the rails...yet. The pan-sexualists roll out the standard arguments that it is about "justice" and "pastoral care", completely ignoring what Scripture has to say, but then what else is new?

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In CANADA a huge property fight erupted in the staid garden atmosphere of Victoria, BC, where an evangelical parish, St. Matthias announced it was leaving the Anglican Church of Canada having voted overwhelmingly to join the Anglican Network in Canada. Of course, they got into a huge row with the local bishop, James Cowan who even issued a gag order on "schismatic" speech. Undaunted, the church of 375 voted overwhelmingly (94.4%) in favor of realignment. They left the property walking out the door never more to return. The Venerable Bruce Bryant-Scott, Cowan's hatchet man, tried to stifle dissent saying that any official discussion by a church congregation about leaving the Anglican Church of Canada will result in that church being shut down immediately. Anyone in a position of Anglican authority involved will find themselves out of a job. That's legendary Anglican dialogue for you, wrote one angry former Anglican.

The threats didn't work, the people left anyway. By Canadian standards, this parish is huge and one of the biggest and wealthiest in this diocese, so the loss is catastrophic, especially when you consider that the diocese has already lost several other parishes, with more closing down for lack of Sunday morning interest.

So what's the Anglican score in Canada? To date now, the new ANGLICAN NETWORK IN CANADA has 28 parishes, three bishops, 73 priests and deacons and 3500 parishioners. That's no small change. Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz has railed against the incursions of Southern Cone Evangelical Primate Gregory Venables into his ecclesiastical world, but he is blowing smoke. He cannot stop the winds of change because the gospel will not be stopped.

One by one his dioceses are voting for same sex blessings and though he and his fellow bishops are fudging the language and timing of things they are violating the Windsor Report and throwing cold water over any possible hope of a Covenant holding the Anglican Communion together. It is all smoke and mirrors and the orthodox are not being fooled for a moment.

Naturally, news of St. Matthias' desire to leave the ACoC was met with joyful acclaim by Bishop Donald Harvey. He wrote, "I am delighted to welcome this parish which is so well known for its solid Bible teaching and prayer ministries. By aligning with the Anglican Network in Canada, they join a growing movement of Anglicans throughout North America seeking to remain in the mainstream of global and historic Anglicanism." You can read the full story in today's digest.

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Is the Pastoral visitors plan "too little, too late"? "Yes." says the Rev Philip Ashey, Chief Operating Officer for the AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL. Speaking from Atlanta, Georgia, he said, "Every pastoral visitor program suggested so far has admitted the participation of the parties who have been aggrieved, those people who have left TEC. Still no contact has been made by any Pastoral Visitors so we have no reason to believe that a seminar they attended at Virginia Theological Seminary by the people who are, in part, the leadership of TEC, will make much difference. We have no confidence that the process is going anywhere." In addition, he said that the timing proved troublesome as both Archbishops Venables and Orombi had hoped that the visitor process would have been completed before the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meets in Jamaica this May; this now seems unlikely. Said Ashey, "We are deeply concerned that the Pastoral Visitor scheme is too little, too late."

His concerns were echoed by Canon Chris Sugden, the co-organizer of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem. He said,: "Until and unless they meet and talk with the people who actually have these grievances the whole process lacks integrity." The Windsor Continuation Group developed the idea for Pastoral Visitors. At the recent Primates' Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, the latest developments were announced. The Primates' communiqué said the Pastoral Visitors were to be commissioned by the Archbishop to "conduct personal and face to face conversations." Their purpose is to "assist in the clearest discernment of the ways forward in any given situation of tension."

Bishops appointed by Dr. Williams include: the Rt. Rev Santosh Marray, the Rt. Rev. Colin Bennetts, the Rt. Rev. Simon Chiwanga, Maj Gen (retired), Tim Cross, Canon Dr. Chad Gandiya and the Very Rev. Justin Welby.

*****

The book, "The God Box," explores "the subject of homosexuality within a "Christian, adolescent context". A play, "Be Still and Know", was written from it and won an award from the homosexual advocacy organization, the Lambda Literary Foundation. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori praised the book saying it opens up "long-abused biblical passages often used as proof texts to denigrate homosexuality."

This did not sit well with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, George Niederauer who ordered a Catholic preparatory school to cancel a performance of the "gay-friendly" play directed at teens.

*****

Chris Fouse of CHRISTIAN FORMATION MINISTRIES announced a new partnership with the Reformed Episcopal Church this past week. The Board of Foreign Missions now includes CFM as an official mission of the REC. The partnership was effective at the end of January, 2009, with the unanimous approval of both Boards of Directors. The REC is a leading member of Common Cause and of the newly emerging Anglican Province in North America. The REC broke free from The Episcopal Church in 1873. CFM and the REC are in complete unity in their commitment to the apostolic mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, and in devotion to the teaching and practice of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. The Board of Foreign Missions was established in 1922 and is very active around the globe. "We look forward to continuing the mission of CFM for generations to come," said a press release.

*****

A BARNA survey of Americans revealed a high degree of biblically illiteracy. Components of worldview thinking found that:

* One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.

* Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.

* Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.

* A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.

One Episcopal priest, on hearing the news, wrote that in the wake of mega churches that are attracting the lion's share of church going, young adults know very little of the Bible. "They treat church like Starbuck's: they go when they need a spiritual fix, but have no long term commitments to any sort of regular local fellowship and Bible study. That is true here at our young adult service. My chief task at that service is to build a Christian community that prays, serves AND learns together." You can read the full BARNA report in today's digest.

*****

An historic church in Cornish, N.H., will once again be owned by the town. The ex-wife of the man who called himself Clark Rockefeller has offered to give historic Trinity Church back to the town. The couple used to live in Cornish and bought the church when the town needed money for a new police station. At a recent annual town meeting, residents of Cornish voted to accept the gift and will rent the church out for community events. "In the past, it has been used for weddings, funerals and also church services by the Episcopal Church. And what we are hoping to do is take some of those monies that are raised through usage, and create a fund for maintenance, repair, and upkeep," Cornish Selectman John Hammond said. The Trinity Church is the oldest Episcopal Church in New Hampshire. Town officials say it is in excellent condition and will require little upkeep. Rockefeller turned out to be a fraud and is in custody facing charges for kidnapping his daughter during a custody dispute, said a newspaper report.

*****

CANADA will have a new woman bishop. The Anglican Churches of the Central Interior announced that, after two ballots, their delegates had elected The Rev. Barbara Andrews as the nominee for Bishop Suffragan to the Metropolitan with responsibilities for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior. The Rev. Andrews' name will be forwarded to the Provincial Electoral College on March 27, 2009, where they will elect the Suffragan for the Interior. The bishop- elect has been serving as the executive director of the Sorrento Centre in British Columbia, Canada. Andrews is the sixth woman to be elected bishop in Canada.

In the DIOCESE OF HURON, two Anglican women priests from Windsor are vying to become the first female bishop for that diocese. They are among ten candidates who are in the running. Four are women. The Rev. Kimberly Van Allen of All Saints' Anglican Church, downtown, and Rev. Jane Humphreys of St. Mary's in old Walkerville, were nominated, and have agreed to run. Both, however, maintain if they are unsuccessful, they are "quite content" to remain serving their own parishes. The reason is there's more than enough work for them in this city dealing with a population that has been hit hard by sudden plant closings and thousands of job losses.

*****

Will there be more Catholics in Anglican prayer? From Christchurch, NZ, comes word that Blessed Mary MacKillop and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta could soon feature in Anglican liturgies in New Zealand. In 2006, the Rev. Bosco Peters, Christ's College chaplain and webmaster of the ecumenical liturgy website www.liturgy.co.nz, proposed a motion to that end at the Christchurch diocesan synod. If the formal approval process is completed, these names would join other post-reformation Catholics on New Zealand's Anglican calendar. "There is no thought that holiness is limited to Anglicanism," Rev. Peters said. He proposed C.S. Lewis and Taizé's Br Roger also be added. New Zealand's Anglican Church produced its first revised calendar in 1972, including post-Reformation Catholics. Before then, it used material from older Church of England calendars, which included pre-Reformation saints, but not the later Catholic figures.

*****

The EU equality law that will let "upset" atheists sue companies that hang crucifixes in public places - including hospices - could provoke civil action. Any group offering a service to the public, including hospitals, charities, businesses and prisons, could be at risk. Legislation may also allow Christians to bring an action against a hotel if it displayed something they deemed offensive - such as a poster for the 1979 Monty Python film "The Life Of Brian". The Church of England says hospices or charities for the homeless could face legal action if people using their services felt degraded by their religious practices or symbols, such as the cross. The Archbishops' Council even fears that charities could be challenged by atheists if grace is said before meals. The Law Society says religious believers may also be able to launch a civil action for harassment.

*****

An evangelical collapse of major proportions is coming, says blogger Michael Spencer. He says that a new anti-Christian chapter in Western history is about to begin. Out of the ruins, a new vitality and integrity will rise, he says. The article is in today's digest. You should read this article with some skepticism. Remember that the U.S., unlike Europe, has not gone through the Enlightenment. "Remonking" the church will not work for millions of Americans. But he does make the following point that is worth noting: "A small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development. Nonetheless, I believe the coming evangelical collapse will not result in a second reformation, though it may result in benefits for many churches and the beginnings of new churches." Ring a bell?

*****

US clergy call for an end to abstinence-only sex education. The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing has called on the US administration to end federal funding for abstinence-only programs and commit to a comprehensive sexuality education in the nation's public schools. "We urge you to help bring an end to sex education programs that fail our young people, and to renew our national commitment to education that honors truth, respects diverse values, and prepares our young people to lead healthy and productive lives," the Rev Debra W. Haffner, director of the Religious Institute, said in a letter to President Obama. The Religious Institute also announced that more than 925 ordained clergy and national religious leaders have endorsed its Open Letter to Religious Leaders about Sex Education, urging policy makers, school officials and educators to provide comprehensive sexuality education that complements the guidance young people receive from their parents and faith communities.

RESULT: Out with Scripture, in with the culture. Out with abstinence, in with Playboy. God's law may be disobeyed and to hell with the consequences. And you wonder why our churches are emptying.

*****

From the DIOCESE OF EL CAMINO REAL comes word that one of two Anglican Communion Network (ACN) parishes in the diocese has left the diocese. The rector and majority of the vestry of St. Edward's held their last service at the San Jose parish last Sunday. The ACN parish has an evangelical orientation that has long been helped by Bishop Bob Duncan and his staff in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

McNeil, his music team, his senior warden and (AFAIK) a majority of the parish will form a new parish, St. James Anglican http://www.stjamesacna.org/ with their first services next Sunday. The bishop, Mary Gray-Reeve has not yet appointed an interim rector. St. Edwards plans to cut back (temporarily) from two services to one every Sunday.

The only other ACN parish in the diocese is St. John's Chapel, 65 miles south in Monterey. The Anglo-Catholic St. John's -- hurt by the 1994 closing of Ft. Ord -- is currently searching for a new rector. With the exodus of St. Edward's, there are no remaining ACN parishes in TEC in the Bay Area, and only a handful left in California.

*****

The ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AMERICA (ACA) has issued a statement on the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" now working its way through Congress which eliminates any choice at all, first for the thousands of unborn babies who will be slaughtered at taxpayer expense, and also for conscientious medical practitioners with moral and/or religious objections to performing abortions. The former will be dead, and the latter will be subject to legal penalties, including forfeiture of their licenses to practice medicine, if they refuse to provide fodder for the charnel houses.

This legislation constitutes the epitome of the death culture's grab for power in our country.

"As bishops in the Church of God, we the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America call on all such medical providers to practice the quiet, peaceable civil disobedience which once triumphed over "Jim Crow" laws, by continuing to provide principled medical care. And we call upon all faithful Christians to seek and obtain medical care from such practitioners. If this creates a "white market" in medical care, so be it. If it comes at a cost to some or many, it will be no more than the cost of obtaining civil rights for all some forty years ago." I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, (Deut. 30:19)

*****

Nearly 200 VERMONT clergy are speaking out in favor of legislation pending at the Statehouse that would grant equal access to civil marriage for same-sex couples. Hearings began recently on the proposal introduced by the state Senate leader, Peter Shumlin of Putney, that would make Vermont the nation's third state to allow homosexual couples of marry. Since 2000, Vermont has offered civil unions for homosexual couples, a system patterned after the state marriage statute. The Rev. Linda Maloney, an Episcopal minister from Enosburg Falls, said, "Civil unions are a good thing, but are still not equality."

*****

Heating up, cooling costs. Episcopalians save money and the environment with geothermal systems. St. John the Divine in Moorhead, Minnesota, has been unable to afford adequate heat for more than one day a week in recent winters. The cost of fueling the two natural-gas boilers has skyrocketed. Now, with drilling of geothermal wells to begin soon, the congregation looks forward to making use of the historic building seven days a week. St. John's, which used to be a small congregation of older Minnesotans, has grown with the presence of Sudanese refugees, to a worshiping community of more than 200, said the associate rector, the Rev. Michael Johnson. Rector Alex Kenyi, Johnson and three deacons lead three services every Sunday, one in English, one in the Sudanese Dinka language and one in colloquial Arabic. There is a need is for more weekday programs and events. "It's almost like the synagogue of old," said Johnson, "the activity center of the community, a place for family time, to gather the children, to have celebrations, including memorial services, when the whole Sudanese community in the Fargo-Moorhead area gathers here." With the new geothermal system in place, heating costs will be reduced by at least two-thirds, predicted Johnson. (ENS)

*****

A break-in was the final straw for leaders of St. Philip and St. Stephen's Church on Detroit's east-side this week. After thieves stole office equipment and cleaned out the church's supply of emergency food, diapers and infant formula, the struggling inner-city church is closing down. Finances for the dozen or so faithful members of the church have been precarious for a number of years, according to "The Record", the Diocese of Michigan's newspaper, but even a $3,000 heating and utility bill in January could not destroy the confidence of the congregation. All that changed in mid-February, when what remained of the congregation's hope and confidence was stolen along with virtually everything else not nailed down. The congregation voted soon after to close.

*****

One of the mantras of liberal Episcopal bishops is that African bishops are obsessed with homosexuality and have no interest in social justice. This is a huge lie, often repeated by bishops like John Chane of the Diocese of Washington. Here is proof otherwise.

The Anglican Bishop of Egbu in Nigeria, Professor Emmanuel Iheagwam, has expressed surprise that all the principal officers of the House of Representatives have not resigned in spite of their alleged complicity in the N2.3 billion car scam. Prof Iheagwam, who spoke at the inauguration of the Archdeaconry of Emmanuel Anglican Church, Umualum, Nekede, Owerri West local government area of Imo State, said "there is no justifiable reason why the principal officers of the House of Representatives should remain in office after being implicated in the car deal. It is only in Nigeria that people being investigated for corrupt practices sit-tight in office while being investigated". He recalled how a Russian judge had to resign because his son was involved in a bribery scandal and wondered if such would ever happen in Nigeria.

*****

If you are looking for excellent organ music while you work or play, I cannot recommend too highly the great hymns of the church recorded by the well-known British organist John Keys. The 6-disc "Popular traditional Hymns for all Seasons", and the 2-disc "More Popular Hymns" can be found at his website www.JohnKeys.co.uk Full details of all his hymn recordings are given on the website www.hymncds.com The discs are sold by Brian Clegg, the best selling popular science writer.

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David