The Anglican Alliance

A Brief History

The Anglican Alliance has its origin in the third diocesan chapter of the American Anglican Council (AAC) in November 2001 at the urging of then Bishop Steve Jecko. At that time, most of the clergy and laity in the Diocese of Florida were supportive of the traditional orthodox beliefs of the church while watching as the leadership of the Episcopal Church USA turned its back on many of the doctrines that are central to that belief. Our mission was to try to turn the tide of theological revisionism back to the solid foundation of the traditional faith once delivered to the saints.

 

By the end of 2003, it became evident that the Episcopal Church would not heed the cries of dissent from within the American church or from the world-wide leadership of the Anglican Communion to turn back from its trajectory toward theological innovation. When the House of Bishops, at General Convention, approved of the election of a divorced man openly engaged in homosexual behavior to the office of Bishop of New Hampshire and only narrowly missed passage of a resolution that would have allowed for the creation of liturgical expression for same sex unions within the church, it became tragically evident that biblical truth would no longer be the foundation of the Episcopal Church.

 

In that same year, our beloved leader, Bishop Steve Jecko, stepped down as diocesan soon after the consecration of Samuel Johnson Howard as Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Florida. One of the final acts of Bishop Jecko as diocesan was to join with Bishop Robert Duncan and ten other orthodox bishops to form the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes. Bishop Jecko honorably left it to his successor to formalize that relationship, an action which Bishop Howard ultimately rejected. While Bishop Howard professed traditional orthodox Anglican beliefs, his actions became increasingly at odds with the clergy and laity who championed those values and supported the Network. 

 

In the fall of 2005, after increasing pressure from Bishop Howard and other diocesan staff, The Reverend Eric Dudley quietly led his flock out of the Diocese of Florida and the Episcopal Church to form a new church, St. Peter’s Anglican Church, in the Diocese of South Rwenzori, Uganda. Ironically, it was the then retired Bishop Jecko that helped coordinate the new relationship with Uganda.

 

While preparing for that departure, Father Dudley brought together other key clergy leaders in the Diocese of Florida for retreat, prayer and planning. That retreat group formed a bond for mutual support and fellowship known as the Anglican Alliance of North Florida, which included both Episcopal and Anglican parishes.

 

Six of the clergy had already become known in the church media as the “Florida Six,” as they led parishes that refused to make diocesan pledges because of diocesan giving to the national Episcopal Church. The parishes however had still supported diocesan ministries directly.  Several of their congregations eventually left the diocese, some as early as December 2005.

 

While church buildings and property were not the primary concern of any of these leaders, several of them attempted to maintain their property rights as it was their parishioners through history that had (in most cases) bought, paid for and built those churches. In a test case, the diocese sued the Church of the Redeemer to regain possession of its property as legal title resides in the name of the diocese.

 

This and similar actions in other parts of the country were of sufficient concern to the Primates of the Anglican Communion, that the Archbishop of Canterbury formed a group known as the Panel of Reference to whom he could refer specific issues for deliberation and arbitration. One of the very few issues to actually be referred to the panel was the ownership of the Church of the Redeemer property in Jacksonville, FL. Following a very long and in depth study of all of the related issues, the Panel of Reference proposed a resolution that would have allowed the Redeemer congregation to remain in its facilities while the issues of the world wide communion status were resolved. The Redeemer leadership agreed to follow the recommendations of the Panel of Reference, but Bishop Howard would only agree to the plan if the Redeemer congregation would submit to remaining in communion with him, his diocese, and the Episcopal Church, a condition not proposed by the Panel. In the process, Bishop Howard ignored a personal letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury supporting the Panel’s proposal. Redeemer soon left the property after the secular court determined that Florida real estate law supported the claims of the diocese.

 

The Alliance has now grown to twenty one member congregations in North Florida and South Georgia ranging in size from over one thousand congregants to fewer than twenty five congregants. There are over fifty clergy members, both active and retired, and a combined average Sunday attendance of over five thousand. The twenty one churches have each submitted to the hierarchical structure of the world wide Anglican Communion through various ecclesial bodies such as the American Mission in America (AMiA) under the authority of the Archbishop of Rwanda; the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) under the Archbishop of Nigeria; and the Network under a variety of bishops and Archbishops in Kenya, Uganda, and the Southern Cone of South America. It is precisely this joint association of churches under authority from the key leaders of the communion that is now seen as a model of hope for the re-emergence of a biblically based and mission minded Anglican province in North America. That hope has now emerged as the Common Cause Partnership at the national level as the bishops of the Anglican Communion Network, AMiA, CANA, The American Anglican Council, The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) The Anglican Coalition in Canada, The Anglican Network in Canada, and Forward in Faith North America have all pledged support for common ministry and unity in the essentials in the Anglican faith.

 

The Alliance is governed by an elected Steering Committee of twelve clergy and lay members with staggered three year terms. Nominations come from the membership, but it is recognized that representation from each of the ecclesial bodies is important. The Steering Committee vets the nominees before following the biblical model of praying and choosing by lot.

 

All Alliance clergy meet together on a bi-monthly schedule, excluding the summer months, for prayer, fellowship, and continuing education. The primary mission focus for 2008 is on church growth and church planting. The 2008 calendar was built with that focus as our clear goal and emphasis. We are taking a three phased approach:

 

Phase I – Introductory teaching on Church Growth & Planting at the February Clergy Meeting to introduce the topic to the larger clergy group.

Phase II – Intensive Clergy Training at an overnight Clergy meeting in April, featuring Dr. Conrad Lowe, a renowned church planter and growth expert.

Phase III – Weekend Church Planting and Growth Training Conference for all clergy & lay leadership in September to build community and joint strategies to accomplish the Great Commission as instructed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Dr. Conrad Lowe will facilitate this meeting as well.

 

The Alliance has an established budget, supported by each of the member churches with an asking of 1% of each church’s actual income. Over 50% of the 2008 budget is directed to the Church Planting and Growth goal.

 

The Alliance has developed and sponsors three primary ministry initiatives each with lay leadership and clergy support.

  • Anglican 4th Day is an adult renewal weekend experience similar in scope and structure to Cursillo.
  • Dynamos is a renewal weekend experience geared to high school students and is similar in scope and structure to Happening.
  • Camp Araminta is a week long summer camp for rising 4th – 8th grade children with all of the typical camp activities and a Christian education component.

 

This year, the Alliance will host its third annual Pentecost Celebration in Tallahassee, FL at Holy Cross Anglican Church. This annual celebration draws clergy and laity from all of the member churches for fellowship and recognition of our interdependence on scripture and the traditions of the Anglican Communion as we pursue our faith in Christ.

 

The Steering Committee has decided to move away from the old Episcopal structural model that is typically focused on the episcopate and diocesan programs to a mission center model focused on ministry imperatives identified at a more local level. Currently we have identified four “Mission Centers” with clergy and lay oversight for each. Each center will represent a cluster of geographically contiguous churches.