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Before he was elected because the third archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Steve Wood was one of many earliest Covid-19 sufferers within the United States, positioned on a ventilator for 10 days in March 2020.
Two years earlier, as bishop of the Carolinas and rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Wood watched as his church constructing was engulfed in a fireplace.
“I would not commerce any of these experiences for the place I’m proper now, as a result of God has been so terribly gracious to me by each one in every of them,” mentioned Wood.
In adversity, he mentioned, he is realized to belief God’s faithfulness. And whereas he readily admits the denomination is not excellent, he sees the Anglican Church in North America, which fashioned in 2009 after splitting from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, as one other testomony to the graciousness of God. During his time period as archbishop, he hopes that message will probably be not solely bolstered within the pews, however shared extensively all through the continent.
On the heels of denominational dustups over girls’s ordination to the priesthood and accountability for the misconduct of clergy — particularly bishops — Wood is starting his five-year time period as archbishop specializing in transparency and compassion because the younger denomination continues to mature. Per week forward of his investiture, or formal set up, in South Carolina on October 30, Wood spoke to Religion News Service about the place the ACNA has been and the place it is heading. This interview has been edited for size and readability.
As you step into this function, is there a phrase or theme you hope will information your work as archbishop?
The ACNA decided some years in the past that its principal imaginative and prescient was to succeed in North America with the remodeling love of Jesus Christ — 130 million folks in North America do not know Jesus, and that’s the compelling motivation in ministry for me, to carry forth the excellent news of Christ to the continent. I additionally need to inform good tales. Our Matthew 25 Initiative is extraordinary; they’re ministering to folks on the margins of society. The work we’re doing with church planting is spectacular, but it surely’s not being talked about.
When you look again on the previous 15 years, what are a number of the stuff you assume ACNA has achieved effectively, as a denomination?
I discover huge satisfaction trying again over the past 20 years and saying the Lord established us, preserved us, and he is rising us. That’s extraordinary, popping out of a meltdown of the Anglican world in North America. We’re not excellent by an extended shot. But at one degree, 20 years into this course of, we have made it. The different factor the ACNA has actually achieved effectively is introduced folks collectively throughout the spectrum of Anglicanism. You’ll have low church Protestants, excessive church Anglo Catholics, folks within the center, and the ACNA has actually created a spot the place all of these people discover a residence. I believe the opposite factor is, numerous church crops that began, they went right into a group with a imaginative and prescient to make a long-term dedication to stay there and turn into incarnate in that. And for me, that is basic Anglicanism.
In the run-up to the June Assembly, almost 300 ACNA clergy and a diocese voiced opposition to girls’s ordination and mentioned disagreements on the topic imperil the denomination. Do you imagine ACNA’s method to girls’s ordination continues to be up for debate? During your time period as archbishop, do you foresee any adjustments to ACNA’s technique of permitting dioceses to individually determine how they method girls’s ordination?
Probably no, as to how we’re structured. In the structure and the canons that is our governance construction, and the dioceses have the authority to make these selections. And so, brief time period, it is not sensible to assume that the constitutions and canons are going to be modified anytime quickly. That being the case, the query for me then turns into, how can we stay collectively? And I want a extra irenic, compassionate voice. I’m huge on having conversations. I encourage others to hear, to not defend a place, however to listen to the place the opposite particular person’s coming from. Do I believe it is a risk to the ACNA? No, however I do assume it should be an ongoing dialog level, and I believe how we have now the dialog is crucial.
Last yr, my understanding is a Governance Task Force committee product of lay people and clergy advisable a whole revision of Title IV. Can you catch us up to the mark on what occurred to that advisable overhaul, and if and after we can count on it to be thought of for ratification?
I might say it by no means acquired to the purpose the place a advice was made. The final time I noticed it in January, the College of Bishops had a presentation on it. The presentation was not completed, and I believe Governance Task Force determined to not advance it as a result of it wasn’t prepared. So they put their vitality into finishing the Title I revision, one other a part of our canons that offers with disciplinary issues.
One of the teams that weren’t totally included in final yr’s dialogue have been the bishops and the chancellors, who’re those principally liable for implementing Title IV. I’ve requested all of the diocesan bishops and their chancellors for present evaluations of Title IV, and I count on that course of will probably be achieved within the subsequent few months. That report will go to the Governance Task Force, which is able to consider the present Title IV in mild of that enter. GTF will come again to the chief committee, and I’d like them to make a presentation to Provincial Council this summer time, get enter from these two our bodies, and provide you with extra of a proposal by the autumn. That means, after we come again into our College of Bishops assembly subsequent yr, they will put one thing earlier than us. Then we are able to begin the sign-off course of with all of the totally different our bodies. We’re rising up as a church, and the canons have to develop up with us.
I’ve heard some considerations that the overview of Title IV is beginning once more from scratch. But I’m listening to you body this as one other layer of enter?
We’re not throwing something out. This shouldn’t be a alternative, that is supplemental data. We have an excellent GTF, and I do know that they had an excellent course of. And the draft copy that I noticed final yr, I used to be happy with it. I’m very pleased we revised Title I, and I might be very pleased to have Title IV on the desk as effectively.
ACNA has the distinctive function of together with nongeographic dioceses united by affinity, moderately than area. Do you assume this method has been profitable?
Historically, Anglicanism has been geographically primarily based, not essentially affinity primarily based. But we’re in a missional period proper now, and my objective is to have as many individuals within the fields working for the harvest as attainable. We can kind out the geographical points downstream. I do not assume we should always create any extra nongeographical dioceses, and I do anticipate a day when this stuff get sorted, however right now we’re a brand new denomination, 15 years previous, nonetheless making an attempt to succeed in North America with the remodeling love of Jesus Christ. That takes precedent.
This yr we additionally noticed open letters asking for elevated transparency and expediency concerning trials for bishops. Can you discuss adjustments which have already been made, and any you’d prefer to see, concerning the tempo of and communication round bishop trials?
I’m a fan of transparency. I’ve begun implementing quarterly provincial letters bringing folks updated. Sometimes folks do not perceive the bounds of authority. For occasion, the archbishop can not demand that the courtroom do something, however the archbishop can request. The first request I product of the courtroom elected this June was that they might publish their rulings and schedule on the provincial web site, which they agreed to. I’m thrilled with that. Timeliness I’m definitely involved about, however I’m extra involved about justice. I’d moderately go slower and get it proper than rush to one thing and get it fallacious. Having mentioned that, issues must be well timed. We had two trials (involving bishops) up concurrently, however our system solely permits one by one to proceed. That was one other aspect I communicated this summer time in my provincial letter.
In current years, many Anglican church buildings within the Global South have voiced concern about perceived liberal drift within the Church of England. What’s your view on what some have referred to as a “disaster” within the Anglican Communion? What function, if any, would possibly the ACNA should play on this second?
The inside affairs of the Church of England are the inner affairs of the Church of England. Now, how that impacts the worldwide church I care about. I do assume ACNA will proceed to play a task in serving to to reshape international Anglicanism. Most of our church buildings misplaced every thing to return out of the Episcopal Church. They confirmed what’s attainable while you observe your understanding of the gospel. You have a look at the expansion of the ACNA, it has been nothing aside from extraordinary. And I believe that could be a excellent instance for the Global Communion, for different folks in different international locations which are nonetheless having to cope with, we’d lose every thing. Well, you additionally would possibly achieve every thing, proper? I believe the ACNA can talk to a bigger Anglican world that God is trustworthy.
© Religion News Service
