From 17th to 19th June 2019 Bishop Primus attended the Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in Plano, Texas, at the invitation of Archbishop Foley Beach.
The Assembly is a large body (about a thousand people) designed for encouragement, teaching and uplift. It meets every two to five years. Those who attended were clearly enthused by the experience. The whole event was very well organised with a large team of volunteers from the local ACNA parish.
Archbishop Foley preached at the opening Eucharist at which Bishop John was invited to robe and process. During the service the new ACNA Prayer Book was dedicated to God and all delegates received a hard cover complimentary copy.
Canon Phil Ashey (who has led Church Revitalisation sessions for the FCE) guided the Council through some modifications to the ACNA canons which the Council was required to ratify.
The Archbishop of the Province of Southeast Asia preached at the closing Eucharist. The Archbishops of Uganda, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Recife and other overseas bishops and ecumenical observers were also present.
A large range of organisations had stalls and Primus spent a lot of time talking to some of them, thus informing a widening circle of ACNA people that the Free Church of England exists and is open for business!
The Sunday before the Assembly Primus preached at the Chapel of the Cross, which is one of the REC churches in greater Dallas, and is setting up a twinning relationship with Holy Trinity, Oswaldtwistle.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the creation of the ACNA. A commemorative video charting the Church’s genesis and growth can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayo_HNYVfeU
Further photographs of the Assembly can be found at https://anglicanchurchinnorthamerica.pixieset.com/assembly2019/
