A Layman’s Perspective on Provincial Assembly

By David R. Mica, Sr. (St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral)

Last fall at our Gulf Atlantic Diocese Annual Synod I had the honor of being elected as a lay delegate to the Anglican Church in North America’s Provincial Assembly. Assembly is held once every five years, with this being the fourth in our history. The first one was in 2009 when it took place at St. Vincent’s in Plano Texas. At that time, the Bishops elected His Grace, Bob Duncan as our first archbishop.

It has only been 15 years, but it seems like it was a long time ago as so much has happened since then.

This is no ordinary convention. It includes Primates from across the globe, Archbishops from many nations, more than 60 US Bishops, Deans, Canons, Rectors, Deacons, Curates, and Lay Delegates.

My first meeting was for the Provincial Council. The voting began with elections of members of the ACNA Executive Committee, The Court for the Trial of Bishops, and the Provincial Tribunal. We received reports from the various committees of the Executive Committee. Bishop Alan Hawkins gave several reports but I took special note of our ACNA financials. Giving is up 9% year over year for the Province. We have moved through the COVID years and our congregations have grown in number from 972 in 2019 to 1013 at the end of last year. Our average Sunday attendance has also recovered with more than 84,000 in the pews each week. It was great to learn that ACNA now has more than 265 military chaplains serving our US military.

We heard the report from the Committee on International Affairs including updates from GAFCON IV and from the Primates Council of the first Global South Fellowship of Anglicans Assembly [Editor’s note: you can read our coverage from GAFCON IV here and Bishop Alex’s perspective on the GSFA Assembly here]. The report on Provincial Affairs had information on Church plantings, next generation initiatives, global missions, the Evergreen Project, and Matthew 25 grants. The Ecumenical Affairs committee spoke of conversations with the Roman Catholic Church, the Free Church of England, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and the Russian Orthodox Church. The Dean of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Bishop Ray Sutton, noteworthily proclaimed that “God is drawing those orthodox from across the globe closer together.”

The Constitution and Canons Governance Committee brought more than 30 individually voted changes to our Canons and Constitution. It was so refreshing to see respectful discussion and questions and answers from so many. The clarity of the beliefs of the ACNA seemed to make things move at a reverent but efficient pace. One issue that took some technical deliberation was a much-needed Provincial requirements that Bishops and Dioceses have clear policies for the protection of children and adults. It was very special to me knowing that the experience and work of St. Peter’s and our diocese was the core model of much of this new provincial-wide policy. God knew exactly what he was doing in our darkest days and worked through our hardship for needed changes to come.

Archbishop Beach’s report included accomplishments the ACNA completed including the 2019 Prayer Book, and the new online release of our Catechism, To Be a Christian. Our Catechism is now being adopted in various provinces across the globe. Also recently released was the entirety of the new Prayer book translated into Spanish.

On Wednesday we had a beautiful Eucharistic service at the St. Vincent College Basilica. It was a blessing to see St. Peter’s members both past and present participate in the service. Our daily sessions were filled with worship, prayers, teachings, and fellowship. It seemed like every facet of our Anglican being was on display in the exhibition hall. Every sort of missional organization, educational material, seminaries, publishers, associations, accompanying materials, and new technologies filled three floors of displays.

Breakout sessions on Thursday included 45 sessions on a full range of important and interesting topics! One session I chose was led by the Cathedral’s new Canon for Missions and Evangelism, Herb Bailey. His task that day was to interview a panel of six Bishops on efforts serving the marginalized and the missional DNA of our Dioceses across the Province. Friday morning included an interview with our newly elected Archbishop Steve Wood and his wife Jacqueline:

Our third Archbishop officially took Authority at a magnificent Eucharist celebration shortly after that plenary. Archbishop Wood dynamically delivered a message of constantly going back to the fundamentals of our faith, the remarkable grace we have been given and the corresponding need for us to follow our Lords’ Great Commission.

For videos, photos, and more information about Assembly, visit the ACNA’s website.