Photo: Archbishops Yong and Kolini in London meetings with AMiA leadership following their time in Ireland
March 1, 2005
To the people of the Anglican Mission in America
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We send you warm greetings following a week of meetings with other Primates of the Anglican Communion and several fruitful days of consultation with leaders of the Anglican Mission in America. We have been very aware of your prayers during these days and are grateful for your continued dedication to prayer and mission and your devotion to Christ. Your prayers, along with those of many others, were honored and answered by God as reflected in the outcome of last week's meetings in Northern Ireland.
The final statement, or Communiqué, from the meeting expressed the collective work of all the Primates and the common desire of the Primates to preserve the Scriptural faithfulness of the Anglican Communion. This has happened, and without compromise or negotiation. The forces that sought to distract and mislead the Church have been put on notice to stop. The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada must re-think their doctrinal innovations and have effectively been suspended for the next three years in order to consider their place in the Communion. But the door for repentance and a return to the fold has not been shut. It now depends on their response.
The strong voice of the Primates underscores and validates what we have known for years to be true-that there is a crisis of faith and leadership in the North American church. The Primates have now responded to the same anguished cries that prompted us to form the Anglican Mission in America nearly five years ago.
During our days of discussion in Northern Ireland there was no negative reference to the Anglican Mission. The AMiA is a previously established intervention for the sake of the Gospel in response to the ongoing crisis within the American branch of Anglicanism and the country's tremendous need for evangelism and spiritual healing.
The AMiA remains a missionary outreach of the Province of Rwanda as a Great Commission work, and is not a new initiative. This was clearly acknowledged during the Primates' meetings and by the growing support of our fellow Primates.
So we give thanks to God for these deliberations and pray they will accomplish whatever the Lord intends. We also give thanks for each of you and want to urge you on to greater works in Him. Our mission and calling are clear. Let us commit ourselves anew to the work and opportunity to which we are so clearly called.
In Christ,
++Emmanuel Kolini
++Yong Ping Chung
