Welcome to San Francisco Anglicans! This website is a ministry of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). More specifically it is a ministry of St. James Anglican Church in San Jose. It has a very simple purpose: help people in San Francisco find us so we can help launch new Anglican Churches in San Francisco. We are hoping to start a mission in San Francisco in 2011. We hope this interests you. If you would like more information please email Fr. Ed McNeill or call him at 408-674-2770.
The Bible teacher for the Anglican Church in North America’s June Assembly meeting, The Rt. Rev. Rennis Ponniah, has been chosen to be the next bishop in the Diocese of Singapore and will succeed The. Most Rev. Dr. John Chew, who is retiring this year.
The announcement was made by Archbishop Bolly Lapok on May 12, during the Province of South East Asia’s synod meeting and the installation service for Bishop Ponniah will take place in October of this year.
“We pray God’s richest blessings on Bishop Ponniah as he prepares to lead the Diocese of Singapore and thank Archbishop John Chew for his faithful service. We are grateful for the bold stand the Diocese has taken to support not only the Anglican Church in North America, but to hold fast to the authority of Scripture. We are especially thankful to have Bishop Ponniah joining us as our Bible teacher for our June Assembly meeting,” said The Ven. Canon Dr. Jack Lumanog, Canon for Provincial and Global Mission, Anglican Church in North America.
According to the Diocese of Singapore, Bishop Rennis Ponniah, 56, has been Vicar of one of its largest Anglican parishes, St John’s-St Margaret’s Church, since July 1993 and was consecrated as Assistant Bishop in 2005. He is widely regarded as one of the leading Bible teachers in the worldwide Anglican family.
“With faith in God, I receive this immense responsibility. I am humbled by the trust invested in me by the clergy, the laity and the provincial bishops. I intend to build on the good work of Bishop John Chew and his predecessors, while seeking fresh ways to bring the love and hope of the ‘good news’ of our faith to a multi-religious and constantly-changing society in a responsible and winsome way,” said Bishop Ponniah.
To read the full announcement from the Diocese of Singapore, please click here.
Photo caption/credit: Bishop Rennis Ponniah, Diocese of Singapore
The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) held its first conference for Anglican leaders April 23-27 in London, the theme of which was “Jesus the Christ, Unique and Supreme.” The event included over 200 bishops, clergy and laity from 30 countries and 25 provinces.
“The diversity of the gathering was very telling of where the FCA movement and the Anglican Communion at large are headed,” said The Ven. Canon Dr. Jack Lumanog, Canon for Provincial and Global Mission within the Anglican Church in North America. Lumanog, one of 15 delegates from North America, noted that a key part of the meeting was to draw like-minded Anglicans together to encourage one another.
“While the Anglican Church in North America is not without trials, we feel immensely blessed that we are unifying people in a way that is visible and tangible on this continent. During the meeting, it became very clear that many of our Anglican brothers and sisters around the globe are risking everything to stand for the Gospel - sometimes all alone - in the face of incomprehensible persecution,” Lumanog stated.
The FCA is a society born out of the 2008 meeting of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem. GAFCON addressed the crisis in the Anglican Communion and affirmed the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness of Christ. The FCA continues that work and is led by a Council of Primates.
The stated goals of the FCA are “to proclaim and defend the Gospel throughout the world, and to strengthen the church worldwide by supporting and authenticating faithful Anglicans who have been disenfranchised from their spiritual homes.”
In reflecting on the meeting, Lumanog said, “It was encouraging to see the Anglican Church in North America treated as a Province among Provinces. We’re no longer a fledgling Province in the eyes of the other Primates. FCA is the future of what’s happening in the Anglican Communion – in Africa, Asia, North America and South America. We’re seeing a revival take place. We have to go where God is leading and this is the future.”
The chairman of the FCA, The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and participant in the upcoming Anglican Church in North America Assembly, opened the FCA conference with a keynote address on the identity of confessing Anglicans in the light of the current crisis within the Anglican Communion. “The heart of the crisis we face is not only institutional, but spiritual,” Wabukala stated.
Echoing Micah 6:8, Wabukala continued, “So what does the Lord require? He has called us to a great prophetic purpose at this critical point in the life of our Communion. After some 450 years, it is becoming clear that what some have called the ‘Anglican experiment’ is not ending in failure, but is on the verge of a new and truly global future in which the original vision of the Reformers can be realized as never before. We do not need to repudiate or belittle our history, but learn from it and set ourselves now to walk humbly with our God into the future and the hope that he has planned for us.” 
The Conference also made a bold statement for the Gospel, affirming it as “the life-transforming message of salvation from sin and all its consequences, through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is both a declaration and a summons: announcing what has been done for us in Christ and calling us to repentance, faith and submission to His lordship. Any compromise of the Gospel is a compromise of the authority of Christ as King.”
Comments at the meeting from Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali sum up an important part of the society’s mission: “The FCA is called to model a biblical way for the churches of the Anglican Communion to gather and relate to one another so as to carry out the Great Commission in the coming decades.” In light of that call, GAFCON 2 is being planned for May 2013.
To read the full statement and commitment from the London meeting, visit: http://gafcon.org/images/uploads/Statement_and_Comittment.pdf.
Photo captions and credits (top to bottom): FCA gathering, Credit: FCA; Rev. John Ganapathy (Malaysia), Canon Jack Lumanog (Anglican Church in North America) and Rev. Lin Yoke Min (Malaysia), Credit: Canon Lumanog; Canon Jack Lumanog and Bishop Nathan Gasatura of Rwanda, Credit: Canon Lumanog
Story by The Ven. Canon Dr. Jack Lumanog, Canon for Provincial and Global Mission, Anglican Church in North America
I hope you’re already planning to attend the Anglican Church in North America Assembly meeting in North Carolina. Here in the Provincial office, our staff is busy planning and preparing for the event, which will take place June 7-9. Whether you have made plans to attend in person, or will be tuning in from home for news from the event, we pray you’ll be blessed as we rally around the theme of “Captivating Disciples, Multiplying Congregations and Transforming Communities.”
I’m particularly excited about seeing the whole Church come together. This is the first time for me, personally, to be involved in something like this. I’ve seen videos and photos of the inaugural Assembly meeting in Texas, but I’m looking forward to meeting people from across North America and the world in person. It truly is a global event converging in North Carolina. The list of people we’re expecting is a testament to how God is bringing together His global church.
We’ll have youth, lay leaders, clergy and bishops representing our congregations across North America. We also have the privilege of hearing from worldwide leaders who are going to great lengths to be with us - to teach us and to encourage us.
Our daily Bible teacher comes from Singapore, Bishop Rennis Ponniah, and will share his unique perspective on what God is doing around the world. Bishop Todd Hunter will share his insight into church planting. Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the British House of Lords and honorary chair of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, will discuss serving the poor and forgotten around the world.
We’ll also be hearing about kingdom building from Dr. Ed Stetzer, a Southern Baptist leader who is one of our biggest cheerleaders as we forge ahead with planting new churches. According to Ed, we are breaking ground and innovating as we strive to reach those who are disconnected from Christ.
Another highlight will be our worship times together. We’ll hear Archbishop Duncan preach at the opening Eucharist and share an update on the state of the Anglican Church in North America. At our closing Eucharist, we’ll be blessed to have the Archbishop of Kenya, Eliud Wabukala, with us and hear from our own Bishop John Guernsey of the growing Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
This year, we are also pleased to offer interest groups and workshops for just about everyone, whether you’re interested faith in the workplace and discerning the call or bi-vocational ministry and church planting. In fact, you might even have a hard time choosing between them. We’ll be sure to report on highlights for those who are joining us in spirit from home!
My prayer for this event is that our leaders, clergy and lay, would leave thoroughly refreshed for the long haul. Whether you’re planting a church, starting from scratch, dealing with difficulty, or are in the midst of trying to be faithful in the course of your life and ministry, my hope is you’ll be encouraged by the voice of our Archbishop and the other speakers.
This event will give us all a new perspective on where we are in the global sense. Our special guests from around the world choose to live out their faith every day and risk their lives to do it. My prayer is that these bold leaders would give us a larger perspective on what God is doing in His church around the world, and that we’d be convicted to participate in world transformation knowing God will transform us in return.
Whether or not you’re able to attend in person, stay tuned to the Anglican Church website and newsletter for news from Assembly. We hope you’ll join us in prayer as we prepare for this important event in the life of our province.
For more information, visit: http://www.anglicanchurch.net/?/main/assembly2012.
Homepage photo caption: Assembly speakers left to right - Archbishop Duncan, Bishop Rennis Ponniah of Singapore, Dr. Ed Stetzer, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya, Bishop Todd Hunter, Bishop John Guernsey
Story photo caption: Canon Jack Lumanog