Moving Forward in the Worship of God

In 2024, the process appears to have been relatively smooth, with Wood (whose name had not been publicly circulated) selected on the second day. In a final vote held after it was clear Wood had secured the necessary support to become Archbishop, Wood received unanimous support from all diocesan bishops. This cannot be waived off as a mere courtesy vote: it communicated that every diocesan found Wood to be acceptable to serve as the top bishop in the ACNA. That was a stark contrast with social media catastrophists who fretted that the 15-year-old denomination was about to fly apart amidst long-standing disagreement.

Wood’s Diocese of the Carolinas, formed in 2012, has not only grown to be among the largest in the ACNA (it reported a 20 percent attendance growth in 2023), it has also done so through church planting. In a Q&A session with Assembly delegates following his election by the bishops’ conclave, Wood noted that only four churches in his diocese had a prior identity within the Episcopal Church. The other 36 were launched as church plants, several of which are now large, established parishes that have birthed mission congregations of their own.

That emphasis on evangelism and church planting has been not only espoused by Wood, his diocese has created structures and systems that advanced and supported new church starts.

“Once he saves us, he sends us,” Wood and his wife Jacqui shared with Assembly delegates, with the new Archbishop identifying the reaching of more than 130 million people in North America who have never heard the Gospel as among those things that most animate him. “I really like and spend a lot of time with non-Christians.”

‘A Different Denomination’

The new Archbishop assumes office with more power than his predecessor, as Assembly delegates voted to ratify canonical changes substantially accelerating the process for inhibiting a bishop. During Beach’s time in office, two ACNA bishops were deposed from ministry, with their inhibition following a long process of presentment. An ACNA bishop can now be inhibited from ministry quickly by the Archbishop following review and consent of a seated panel of three diocesan bishops.

The changes are significant for a denomination that has been cautious about investing power in centralized authority and operated functionally as a loose confederation of jurisdictions for its early history.

“We are a different denomination today,” ACNA Governance Task Force Vice-Chair Fr. Andrew Rowell explained, noting now-ratified canons requiring diocesan bishops to develop processes and procedures to report misconduct by priests, deacons, and even laity.

Wood inherits leadership of a denomination still deeply divided over the ordination of women (most ACNA dioceses do not ordain women to the priesthood, but nearly all of the largest, including the Diocese of the Carolinas, do). The ACNA also has overlapping diocesan lines, with some regions, such as South Carolina, having churches from up to five different dioceses.

Achievements

In departing office, Beach, who will continue after sabbatical as a diocesan bishop, was overwhelmingly positive, noting that the denomination is seeing one church planted every two weeks. He pointed to publication of ACNA’s 2019 Prayer Book for worship, the Anglican Catechism for teaching “the first that we know of that is designed to meet people in a post-Christian or non-Christian culture,” and financial support for the denomination as key achievements for the church during his period of leadership.

“God has been blessing the work of our hands,” Beach told Assembly delegates. “The Lord has been with the ACNA despite challenges from the secular culture, the world, and even within the church.”

Beach stated that the denomination has tried to remain focused on issues “directly related to our life in the ACNA” and that “We are about leading people into this transforming relationship, let us not forget this.”

The outgoing Archbishop in his address before the Assembly identified numerous challenges, among them those “on jihad” seeking forcible conversion to Islam, as well as an alarming increase in hatred against Jews.

“Any way you look at it, our world is on fire with evil, and yet the Church is moving forward despite all of this,” Beach summarized.

Signs of that movement include Anglicans now among the larger chaplain corps in the U.S. military (the ACNA endorses nearly 300, far surpassing the Episcopal Church) as well as more ethnically diverse congregations.

“I do not find country club congregations or chaplaincies to the elite,” Beach reported, listing Chinese, Nigerian, Karen, Ugandan, Persian, Kenyan, Mexican and Indian congregations. “Our people are serious about their relationship with Jesus Christ and sharing the message with a hurting and suffering world in which we live.”

“We are not perfect by any means, but we are moving forward in the worship of God, evangelism, and discipleship.”

END

Moving Forward in the Worship of God

By Jeff Walton
MERE ORTHODOXY
July 15, 2024

This June my denomination, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), held its Provincial Assembly in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The week was a series of three major meetings: the ACNA College of Bishops elected new Archbishop Steve Wood to a five-year term, the annual Provincial Council adopted a budget and held elections, and the larger Assembly, which meets at least once every five years, ratified canonical changes.

Each of ACNA’s 29 dioceses sends a four-person delegation to Council, while Assembly delegations are proportionately based upon the attendance of the diocese.

New Archbishop

The June 22 election of Wood, a South Carolina senior pastor (known as a rector in Anglican parlance) and diocesan bishop, after a two day bishops’ conclave is significant. In 2014, bishops were deeply divided with none of the most-mentioned names either eligible to serve or capable of securing a two-thirds majority to become Archbishop. That year, Bishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Diocese of the South was selected as a compromise candidate.