Anglican Mission in The Americas
Anglican Mission in The Americas
Anglican Mission in The Americas
The Anglican Mission has been led since late 2013 by Bishop Founder Various clergy
Philip Jones, who succeeded Bishop Chuck Murphy after 14 from the above
years.[2][3] The Mission Center for the AM is in Dallas, TX. groups including
Chuck Murphy as
AMiA, or AM, was formed in response to increased theological first Bishop
liberalism in the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) and
Origin 2000
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), the North American
branches of the Anglican Communion. Separated from Episcopal Church
in the USA
History Congregations 15
Official website www.theamia.org
The origin of the Anglican Mission was the First Promise (http://www.thea
Movement.[4] In 1997, 30 priests, led by Chuck Murphy, released mia.org)
a document called The First Promise which "declared the authority
of the Episcopal Church to be 'fundamentally impaired' because they no longer upheld the 'truth of the
gospel'".[5] Concerned about the crisis in faith and leadership that fostered continued controversy in the
Anglican Communion, Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and Moses Tay of South East Asia
believed the time had come for Missionary Bishops to safeguard the faith in North America and
consecrated Chuck Murphy and John Rodgers as bishops at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, on January
29, 2000. The Anglican Mission was officially established later that year in July in Amsterdam, Netherlands
under the Primatial Oversight of the Primates of Rwanda and South East Asia. St. Andrews Church of
Little Rock, Arkansas, became the first in North America to come under the oversight of the Global South
provinces.[6]
In January 2005, the Anglican Coalition in Canada came under the AMiA's oversight. The following year
the Mission was restructured as the Anglican Mission in the Americas. This new structure included within it
the AMiA, ACiC, and the ACiA.
The Anglican Mission was a founding member of the Common Cause Partnership and of the Anglican
Church in North America (ACNA). The Anglican Mission's relationship with the Anglican Church in
North America was defined by protocol between the AM, the Province of Rwanda, and the ACNA.[7] On
May 18, 2010, however, it was announced that the AM would seek "ministry partner" status with the
ACNA and remain in full mission partner status with the Province of Rwanda.[8]
The Anglican Mission remained under the oversight of the Church of the Province of Rwanda, a member
church of the Anglican Communion, and as a ministry partner of the ACNA through 2011. On December
5, 2011, Bishop Murphy and most of the bishops of the AM announced to the Province of Rwanda that the
Anglican Mission would shortly be seeking ministry partnerships outside the Province of Rwanda, with
Bishop Murphy declaring that the Lord had told him personally that he was like Moses leading people out
of Egypt.
I must now say ... that I believe that the Lord's present word to me (and to us) now directs me
to look beyond Genesis chapters 39–45, and on into the Book of Exodus ... that Africa [Egypt]
could no longer be viewed as [AMIA's] lasting home .... Things have now been made very
clear to me
Following this announcement, the Rwandan church decided to form a separate group in the USA that
remained in affiliation with the Province of Rwanda through a new jurisdiction known as PEARUSA. For
a fuller picture of these events, see this VirtueOnline article (http://www.virtueonline.org/unholy-mess-clash
-wills-power-theological-direction-mark-amia-acna-battle).
Up to that point, all clergy from the AM had been ordained under the supervision of the Archbishop of
Rwanda, the Archbishop of South East Asia, and other participating Anglican Primates and Rwandan
bishops. Clergy in the AM were and are indigenous - they receive their ordination from primates and
bishops in full communion with the Anglican Church but are from the area in which mission work is to take
place and are under the authority of the Apostolic Vicar of the Anglican Mission. Many of the original
bishops and priests of the AM were drawn from North America and were often former TEC or ACC
priests.
The AMiA planted 268 churches during his first eleven years of existence, according to Bishop Chuck
Murphy's final address on 27 February 2013, but lost two thirds of them to other jurisdictions after severing
relations with the Anglican Church of Rwanda in December 2011. The number of remaining churches,
according to him, was around 69. He expressed his belief that the AMiA should continue his work as a
missionary society in North America.[9]
As of August 2019, the AM includes 17 churches in 11 states. In March 2021, the number is 15
churches.[10] The Anglican Mission in Canada has 9 churches in 4 Canadian provinces.[11]
References
1. "Anglican Mission in the Americas Leadership, AMiA website" (https://archive.today/201401
31180657/http://www.theamia.org/leadership.html). Archived from the original (http://www.the
amia.org/leadership.html) on 2014-01-31. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
2. The Anglican Mission: Current Leaders (http://www.theamia.org/leadership/our-structure/curr
ent-leaders/) Archived (https://archive.today/20130415234257/http://www.theamia.org/leader
ship/our-structure/current-leaders/) April 15, 2013, at archive.today. Accessed March 13,
2010.
3. Bishop Philip Jones to be Next Apostolic Vicar, March 2013 (http://www.theamia.org/new/ne
ws/anglican/bishop-philip-jones-to-be-next-apostolic-vicar/) Archived (https://archive.today/2
0130415233214/http://www.theamia.org/new/news/anglican/bishop-philip-jones-to-be-next-
apostolic-vicar/) April 15, 2013, at archive.today
4. The Anglican Mission: Highlights of the First 10 Years (http://www.theamia.org/identity/our-st
ory/highlights-of-the-first-10-years/) Archived (https://archive.today/20130416012140/http://w
ww.theamia.org/identity/our-story/highlights-of-the-first-10-years/) April 16, 2013, at
archive.today. Accessed 16 March 2010.
5. "The Anglican Mission: It Began with a Promise..." (http://www.theamia.org/identity/our-story/
more-anglican-mission-history/#It%20began%20with%20a%20promise) Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20100108035521/http://www.theamia.org/identity/our-story/more-anglican
-mission-history/#It%20began%20with%20a%20promise) January 8, 2010, at the Wayback
Machine Accessed March 16, 2010
6. "St. Andrew's - Our Story" (http://www.saintandrews-lr.org/OurStory.php) Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20100903191941/http://www.saintandrews-lr.org/OurStory.php)
September 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed March 16, 2010.
7. Protocol Governing the Relationship between The Anglican Mission in the Americas and the
Anglican Church in North America (http://www.theamia.org/am_cms_media/anglicanmission
protocolforacnar1.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110726051106/http://www.th
eamia.org/am_cms_media/anglicanmissionprotocolforacnar1.pdf) 2011-07-26 at the
Wayback Machine. Accessed March 13, 2010.
8. The Anglican Mission’s Relationship with the Anglican Church in North America (http://www.
theamia.org/new/news/) Archived (https://archive.today/20130415220710/http://www.theami
a.org/new/news/) 2013-04-15 at archive.today, May 18, 2010. Accessed May 21, 2010.
9. GREENSBORO, NC: AMIA Leader Notes Losses, Sees Hope in Formation of New Society,
VirtueOnline, 27 February 2013 (http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.ph
p?storyid=17261)
10. Anglican Mission in the Americas Churches in the United States (https://theamia.org/find-an-
amia-church/)
11. "Churches" (https://www.theamcanada.ca/find-a-church/). The Anglican Mission in Canada.
Retrieved 2018-06-22.
Bibliography
Never Silent by Thad Barnum - Publication details at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Nev
er-Silent-Thaddeus-Barnum/dp/0615206948/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=14261924
63&sr=1-1&keywords=never+silent)
External links
Official website (http://www.theamia.org)