Posted on 01/17/2006 8:44:04 PM PST by Huber
AAC Adopts Episcopal Witness Program
The American Anglican Council (AAC) announced today adoption of the lay outreach program Episcopal Witness, developed last year by the AAC chapter in Washington, D.C., and currently used in various parts of the mid-Atlantic region. This program responds to the essential need for both greater lay involvement and more effective lay action in the struggle to restore and preserve a biblically faithful expression of Anglicanism in the United States. It is designed to address the gap in communication with congregations where relevant information and resources are being institutionally restricted or stifled. The primary goal of this action-oriented program is to arm congregations and vestries with balanced information and resources to inform their dialogue in order to make decisions regarding the serious and divisive issues facing the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion.
“As we approach General Convention 2006, we believe it is incumbent upon each man and woman, priest and bishop, congregation and diocese to choose this day whom they shall serve,” said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, AAC President and CEO. “We need to get the word out first-hand, lay person to lay person – where the message of biblical Anglicanism is being actively suppressed by revisionist ‘gatekeepers’ who rely on congregational and diocesan bully pulpits to keep parishes in the dark about the crisis.”
Episcopal Witness will be offered as a key outreach program of the AAC, complementing existing resources. The program offers unique components, including being exclusively lay-led and lay-implemented through AAC chapters and partners across the nation. It also involves a high level of active person-to-person contact between AAC lay members and their lay counterparts in undecided or unengaged congregations to ensure the availability of accurate information. Such information will assist parishes in confronting choices that have profound implications for their futures.
“In our work in the mid-Atlantic area, we have found that despite the wealth of information available through websites, media and other resources, individuals and entire congregations have been kept in the dark about the crisis facing ECUSA,” said Bill Boniface, who developed Episcopal Witness. “Episcopal Witness’ proactive personal contact model addresses the limitations of traditional and electronic mailings as well as phone campaigns in reaching a vast population of undecided laity where institutionally biased information or simple denial of the true nature of the controversy has been the norm in their parishes and dioceses.”
The AAC is hosting an information and training session for local and regional Episcopal Witness coordinators January 23, 2006 at its national headquarters in Atlanta. Implementation will follow at the earliest practical time. For more information, contact AAC Affiliates Administrator Linda Newton (770-414-1515 or lnewton@americananglican.org).
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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