ACNA at the Crossroads: A Gentle Critique and a Hopeful Restart
Pressures and our Polity, Leaders, and What Could Come Next
Anglicans Love Metaphors:
Building Planes, The Titanic, Strange Bedfellows, Rivers and Streams
One of the most quoted metaphors in the early days of the ACNA was that we were “flying the plane while building it.” Apt—and dangerous. Circumstances in those first months demanded urgency. We “ready–fired–aimed” the Province into existence, united in our goal: the restoration and renewal of biblical Anglicanism in North America.
Another favorite image came from the maritime world. In those tense days, TEC was likened to the Titanic, already struck by the iceberg of modern secular liberalism. The ship of the church was taking on water and would soon sink. Those who could launch lifeboats or lashed together the flotsam and jetsam into makeshift rafts. Out in open water, people could jump from lifeboat to lifeboat while waiting for rescue from our Global South friends—our ecclesial Carpathian.
It was all very compelling.
And then there was Shakespeare’s line from The Tempest: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Anglo-Catholics, charismatics, and evangelicals agreed to be strange bedfellows—if only for the sake of getting off the runway—to mix our metaphors.
Since “bedfellows” isn’t the most appealing picture—who really wants to sleep together anyway?—we borrowed a gentler idea from Psalm 46:4: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. One river, three streams. Many clergy and bishops even claimed to be “all three.”
But the reality was more fragile than the slogans. Compromises were stamped with a large “TBD.” Let’s get along for now so we can get going.
The Problems We Now Face
Overlapping Jurisdictions
Returning to the lifeboats and bedfellows metaphors, we now have areas of the country where two or three—sometimes I’ve counted seven—jurisdictions have staked a flag in the same region. That is confusing, to say the least.
Take the Dallas–Fort Worth area. We have the Diocese of Fort Worth, C4SO, the Reformed Episcopal Church, CANA West, the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, and a newly forming Missionary District. Oy vey! For those keeping score at home, that’s six ACNA jurisdictions in the same metro area—not to mention the Anglican Mission in America, which has its cathedral here as well. (Oh, there is also the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas and the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.)
Bedfellows Drift Apart
Only fifteen years later, the bedfellows hardly recognize each other. The most glaring fault line—women’s ordination—was supposed to be handled with “dual integrity.” But dual integrity is an oxymoron. Can there be two opposing integrities on a matter so important, for such different reasons?
The result is a patchwork:
Some dioceses say a firm no.
Some bishops ordain women for other dioceses but don’t welcome them as priests inside their own.
Others welcome women priests but will not ordain them.
Others ordain women but restrict them from serving as rectors.
And a few promote women in every leadership role to the point of requiring clergy to affirm the position or remain silent.
Two Added Pressures on the Province
Add to this the persistent challenge of human sexuality in our Western culture. The ACNA has affirmed marriage as between a man and a woman. Period. But the surrounding culture has not stopped pressing—redefining marriage, gender, and identity in ways we could not have imagined in 2009.
Then there is the ongoing Bishop Ruch drama. It has dragged on far too long. I don’t believe incompetence is the reason. It can’t be. But I honestly can’t figure out what’s what. Legal complexities, confidentiality, and documentation have tangled even our most capable leaders in a sticky thornbush.
In Texas, we’d call it “snake-bit.” And tragically, the victims of abuse have had to wait, reliving their trauma, while the process plays out.
In my younger years, I would have thrown stones and felt outraged. I don’t feel less passionate about the challenges we face, but I know the leaders who are leading us. I have known them for years—Duncan, Beach and now Wood.
My take-away is that the assignment they have must be very difficult. They are the brightest and best leaders, but sometimes I feel it must be hard to find is bright and best about their role today. It is a hard, hard assignment.
That’s why they need our prayers and our patience.
Recurring Predictions of Doom
Against this backdrop, every few months, someone announces the ACNA is on the edge. Older Anglicans remember the battles that birthed the Province. Newer Anglicans from more conservative traditions revel in the wide open roominess they find here. And this makes some wonder why we left the Episcopal Church at all. Indeed, some currents in the ACNA seem to mirror what we left.
Burying the Good News
I grew up in the Episcopal Church and was often embarrassed by how we made news with our dirty laundry. Good news was often forgotten in favor of the lastest statement by a rebel bishop or errant priest.
The ACNA seems to have inherited that same habit of public quarrels. When the archbishop says in June that the ACNA is growing—that we grew by 10–15% overall—that is amazingly great news.
I can imagine that if that were to happen in another denomination, they’d call for a church-wide conference, highlight the churches that grew, write books, produce podcasts, and platform the leaders who were leading the growth. But as I see it, the great news about our growth was buried within days.
Factionalism on Full Display
A few weeks ago, I was reminded just how deep our rivalries run. I’m serving in an Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of Fort Worth and loving it. And readers of The Anglican know how much I’ve written on Thomas Cranmer—my series on his top ten prayers and collects was among our most popular. He has achieved hero status in my mind.
So imagine my surprise when I received an unsolicited text from a friend about the legacy of the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He believed Cranmer had done more harm than good, even hurting the church’s mission. Then he went on to acknowledge and bewail the manifold sins of Cranmerian Christians!
And I thought: our factions—evangelicals, charismatics, Anglo-Catholics, progressives—often behave less like theological movements and more like political parties. If we keep acting like rival parties, we’ll get what politics has given America: endless division, no forward motion.
Who Can Fix This?
The College of Bishops bears the responsibility to fix this situation. They have to. They are the only ones who can.
Usually, Anglican polity balances power and decision-making with voices and votes from clergy and laypeople. There is no such counter-balance in the ACNA. Yes, the Province meets in session with delegates, but that gathering is not a venue for robust debate or problem-solving. It seems to me that the Province has yet another item stamped “TBD”: how to share power and authority.
Because there is no College of Clergy or Laity, the ownership of fixing these broader important issues—all of them—rests squarely on the bishops. There is no other group with the authority to act.
And to all the congregations and clergy who believe their activism, petitions, and conventions can sway the direction of the Province, I offer my own version of memento mori: “As you were, I once was; as I am, you will be.” Back in the TEC days, I too organized conferences, gathered petition signatures, and led resistance movements. It was to no avail. These are not rector-level issues. The bishops own these problems, and they need our prayers, God’s timing, and our patience to address them.
I remember years ago a phone call with the late Peter Toon, who told me I was being foolish. As the Rector of one of the largest churches in TEC, I felt it a duty to host seminars, conferences, summits, and write articles about “the issues.” And I did.
But he thought I was being over-responsible and, as he said more than once, foolish. “Bishops,” he said, “are like generals—they love to send their lieutenants (Rectors) into battle to draw fire and test the sentiments of the church.” It’s their problem and only they can fix it. They need to own it.
He wasn’t wrong.
The bishops need to act, and in time they will. They know there is no other group that can address these matters.
In the meantime, the rest of us have work to do.
The mission of the ACNA—though oddly absent from our current website—has long been stated as to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. I’ll admit, I’ve never had a deep love for the wording. I wish it said more.
But the most important part of that sentence, the single greatest word in it, is the first: Reach. That is our calling. And the world is ripe for it right now.
We could quibble over the phrase “transforming love” or how best to describe “the love of Jesus,” but we can all agree that we are in a moment when we must reach people.
Whatever stream your parish swims in, whatever lifeboat you once climbed into, how is your congregation reaching North America?
That is our job—the job of every parish, priest, and layperson. The bishops must clean up the mess we're in. And they can. And I trust they will.
But our job is to reach.
The Gamaliel Approach
That’s why I keep coming back to Gamaliel’s counsel in Acts 5: If this plan or undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it. We don’t need to win every fight. We do need to look for God’s hand in our common life and trust Him with the outcome.
In the meantime, in my view, our best measure of faithfulness is fruitfulness. In this cultural moment, growth matters—not for bragging rights, but because it means people are hearing the gospel and finding life in Christ.
A congregation can be healthy, faithful, and still growing. And if it’s not growing, the question is worth asking: why not?
To whomever has ears to hear, I would encourage you to take the energy and time you have staking out and defending a position, whatever it may be, and put it into finding ways your church can grow, reaching new believers, and building a vibrant, healthy congregation, regardless of the diocese you are in.
Face into the wind—not the tensions in the church, but the turbulence in the culture and offer a better story—a story of redemption, hope, and new life in Christ.
Again, I appeal to patience and humility. Let our leaders lead. And let’s put our energy into the work that actually advances the kingdom: reaching those outside our doors, strengthening those inside, and trusting that God Himself will prove His work among us.
Still Building, Still Flying
The ACNA is still building and still flying. And, God willing, still headed somewhere worth going. We should have the courage to stop fighting and start growing.
Faithfully,
David Roseberry ☩
The Anglican
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If you’d like to watch the original advertisement of EDS promoting their brand while building the plane in the air, click below. And note how dangerous and disconcerting it feels. I heard later that EDS pulled the ad because it seemed out of touch and made customers nervous. Add to this fact that EDS, the once proud, Fortune 500 company, is now out of business, and their large, million-square-foot office behemoth is shuttered.
We are where we are, but building planes in the air is dangerous.
i do agree on one level, that my parish is where ministry happens, and the best thing i can do is grow the church (health > ASA), yet my confidence in "ACNA" catechesis is low, in favor of "the anglican tradition" (cf McDermott "Deep Anglicanism"). I get conversations and texts from laity, who wonder if it should be time to leave the Anglican tradition altogether based on how the bishops are acting, not acting, not resolving. That puts the lieutenants in a position to take bullets for generals who are proffering either ecclesiastical antebellum or perpetual battlegrounds.
however, i think the "let the leaders lead" and, it sounds, keep one's nose to the ground is not a good approach, and such an argument makes a departure from TEC less justified. was is just purple fever than elicited a departure? why not stay in TEC and grow the orthodox contingent?
on WO-- a portion of the province believe that another portion of the province are not receiving actual sacraments, so how can that not be a grave concern to the former?
additionally, when the direction of the college is not to resolve but celebrate difference as a charism, as new bishops purportedly must now, this lends little confidence in the process. it seems more HR-managerial than apostolic.
Thank you for your wise words, and the helpful re-focus on our core mission. I wonder too if we might call upon all members of the ACNA to bear the responsibility for the factionalism that you mentioned, and working to bring about a more gracious, albeit fragile, unity. Many of our dividing issues (e.g. WO, churchmanship) are important, but surely we can go about these conversations in a more Christ-like manner than what I tend to see on social media. Our bishops do need to work out the long-term resolution to these problems, but we all should bear the responsibility for our behavior toward one another in the midst of our disagreements.