Consider the following. Over the last two decades the following churches, missions and organizations have emerged as signs of God's love for his faithful Anglican fold. First came the AMiA, then ACNA was formed, CANA came into existence, New Wineskins for global missions, Anglican Frontier Missions, (reaching the unreached for Christ), Mere Anglican, Anglican Relief and Development (ARDF), Anglicans for Life, SAMS-USA, VOL (the leader in Global Anglican news), and most recently Anglican Leadership Initiative (ALI) a global Anglican effort to educate bishops from the Global South brought to the US for an intensive one month training in the best of Anglican thought and practice.

God is clearly at work, he has not left his Anglican fold without faithful witnesses. We also have some serious Anglican intellectuals like Os Guinness, Ashley Null, Justin Terry, John Yates Jr., Robert Munday, Phil Ashey, Sam Ferguson, the staff of Trinity School for Ministry and Nashotah House to name just a handful who know the faith, can articulate and defend the faith against its cultured despizers.

God is raising up a new generation of Anglicans out of the ashes and dung heap of Episcopal pansexuality and apostasy and He will not be thwarted or stopped. The seeds have been sown and they have fallen on fertile ground. They are already bearing fruit.

On the person of Dr. Guinness you may not have spotted it but he was mentioned in the recent Republican debate. Here is what Rand Paul said; "On the topic of abortion, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued that government doesn't work without a "virtuous people," quoting English theologian Os Guinness."

Well he is not exactly a theologian he is a biblically informed social critic, no matter that he got mentioned at all shows his stature in America.

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At Mere Anglican conference this past week in Charleston, SC where I was ensconced, we heard multiple speakers address the issue of Islam and Christianity, under the banner The Cross and the Crescent: The Gospel and the challenge of Islam.

Dr. William Lane Craig, research professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology author of 40 books and one of America's pre-eminent Christian apologists who defeated Antony flew, John Dominic Croissant, Marcus Borg and others in debate and who has been interacting with the religion of Islam for over 30 years, said the concept of God in in Islam and Christianity is not one of comparative religion.

"Religious relativism is not true, it is logically incoherent and cannot be true. They have different doctrines and teachings. We believe in a tri-personal God, they do not. Both cannot be right. The Christian concept of God is rationally objectionable to Muslims." Craig said the major objection Muslims have to becoming Christian is the doctrine of the Trinity. "The God of the Koran is not the living God revealed by Jesus. The Koran says God does not love, the Bible says God sent his Son to die. Muslims say God's love is only for those who earn it. The Koran assures Muslims of God's love for the god fearers but He has no love for sinners. The Islamic conception of God is not all loving it is partial and has to be earned."

Craig said one way not to convince Muslims of God's love is to talk to them with a lot of schmoozy, interfaithery dialogue.

"The word Islam does not mean peace as many people now say. Islam is a word for submission, surrender everything to God. The 9th chapter of the Koran is clear that Islamists must kill whoever does not submit to Allah. Islam is not a church that is crucial, Islam is a total way of life, and everything is to be submitted to God. Islam is all consuming. The Western idea of the separation of church and state is meaningless to Muslims." Craig said that Egypt and Turkey have adopted a separation of mosque and state.

"Asking what Muslims teach is like asking an Episcopalian what Christianity teaches." Craig said the God of Islam is a defamation of Jesus. "The Muslim concept of God is rationally objectionable. Thank God for God."

Rev. Dr. Ken Boa, based in Atlanta, asked is Islam militant and is it peaceful? "Islam means peace says Obama, it is a peaceful religion. He is lost in contradiction. Islam is not a monolithic religion. Sunni and Shia and Sufi all demonstrate that. The Quran is open to abrogation. Mohammed can abolish, repeal and annul as well as change his mind.

"Is Islam a religion of peace? Most Muslims are peaceful but the majority are not consistent with their holy books, prophets and it is spread between two houses. Islam equals peace but it does not mean peace but surrender or submission. To be a Muslim means to submit to the will of Allah.

"Islam is going to grow and build, it is a power and it is not going to go away. Allah and Yahweh is not the same. Allah does not equal God. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, Christianity is still the first. Sixty percent are not Arabs at all."

Cairo-based Anglican Archbishop Mouneer Anis is in the forefront of the battle with Islam and expressed a profound, but sensitive approach to the Islamic world in which he lives. He says that both Islam and Christianity are missionary religions but many have converted to Christ reading the Sermon on the Mount and then come to the cross of Christ. "Many are finding Jesus in dreams and they come to us to find out what the dreams mean. This gives me the opportunity of telling them about Jesus. He said what attracts Muslims is the lifestyle of Christians. We share with them the Biblical teaching of the unconditional love of God for all people. We see healings and answers to prayer. Muslims believe in the healing power of prayer. They visit our churches to receive prayer for healing."

The archbishop condemned what he called unwise strategies to transform lives and convert people to Christ. "The Holy Spirit alone transforms human life. God uses visions and dreams and uses tirelessly. It is wrong to think we can witness to Christ using deceitful ways."

Dr. Anis praised the local church which has a vision to reach Muslims. "We need the local church to help in the conversion of Muslims to Jesus Christ. We should not attack their faith and traditions. The Holy Spirit is the great transformer. An Imam once asked me would I still love him if I did not convert. Is it genuine or is it not genuine love? Jesus said love is the best witness to all." The archbishop condemned the social gospel as an inadequate response to Islam.

I will write more about this in due time.

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We still have not heard anything from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry about the status of the three suspended executives at Episcopal Church headquarters in New York. Many are asking. Is it about bugging and blacked out salaries, or what? Inquiring minds want to know. We wait with bated breath. The question is who is running the Episcopal show meantime?

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The Diocese of Pennsylvania has yielded a slate of five candidates to be the next bishop of this declining diocese that was torn apart by the former Bishop Charles E. Bennison.

Two candidates stand out. One (that VOL predicted) is the Rev. Frank Allen, priest of the prestigious mainline parish of St. David's, Radnor, where he has been rector since 1997, is up for the job. He is moderately orthodox but recently hired a gay associate priest The Rev. Matthew Welch as Associate Rector who most recently served at Christ Church in Short Hills, NJ. A blurb on the website says he and his fiance Paul enjoy walking the St. David's grounds with their dog, Barnabas. Allen did speak up and called on Bennison to resign during the worst of Bennison's reign. He is the home boy favorite. But a ringer has stepped in to spoil his shoe in. He is Bishop Dean Wolfe of Kansas who must clearly be sick of the Midwest and wants a change. The Diocese of Kansas is going nowhere and he had hoped to rope in Western Kansas another flailing diocese, but that was not to be. By throwing his hat in the ring he will give Allen a run for his money. The other candidates are irrelevant.

Whoever gets the job might want to consider this. The diocese is rapidly losing membership. From 2003 to 2013 there was a 20% drop in baptisms from 55,445 to 44,384. ASA has declined by 26%. In 2003 ASA was 18,609 by 2013 it had dropped to 13,726. In 2014 the latest figures reveal that the baptized had dropped to 43,451 and ASA was now 13,188. The diocese has 157 priests of which 104 are male and 53 are female. The diocese is closing parishes faster than tides on the Delaware River. Here is the most recent list.

Parishes closed after Twelves' History (1969)

All Saints, Crescentville 2007
Atonement, Morton 2007
Atonement, West Philadelphia 1974?
Calvary St. Paul's (in 1973 St. Paul's, 15th and Porter linked with Calvary Presbyterian Church) 2003
Church without Walls
Christ Church, Eddington 2011
Emmanuel and Good Shepherd (Emmanuel and Good Shepherd merged in 1994) 2006
Epiphany, Germantown (after a fire in 1975 merged with Grace, Mt. Airy)
Epiphany, Sherwood 1974
Messiah, Oxford Circle 1978
St. Aidan's, Cheltenham 2006
Resurrection, Mayfair (merged with Emmanuel, Holmesburg) 2009
St. Alban's, Olney 2005
St. Augustine of the Covenant (merged with Calvary Northern Liberties) 2009
St. Barnabas, Kensington 2990
St. Bartholomew, Wissomissing 1986?
St. Elisabeth's 1994
St. Giles, Upper Darby 1996
St, James the Less closed 2006 but not secularized
St. John the Evangelist, Lansdowne 2009
St. Luke, Eddystone 1997
St. Luke, Kensington 1987
St. Martin's, Boothwyn 2006
St. Martin's Korean Congregation 2007
St. Martin's, Oaklane 1981
St. Matthew, Francisville 1974
St. Matthias, 19th and Wallace 1992
St. Nathanael, Kensington
St. Paul's, 15th and Porter (linked with Calvary Presbyterian Church) 1976
St., Paul's, Aramingo (after a fire in 1990 merged in 1993 with Holy Innocents, Tacony)
St. Paul's, Overbrook 1991
St. Philip's Memorial 2009
St. Peter's, Broomall 2004
St. Peter's, Germantown 2005
St. Simeon 1976
Trinity, Collingdale closed 2009, moved to site of St. Martin's, Boothwyn as Trinity, Boothwyn
Transfiguration, Westtown
Zion Church, Broad and Wyoming Streets, Logan 1980
Church of the Saviour became the Cathedral in 1992
St. Barnabas, Haddington, and St. George's, West End merged in 1993 to become St. George/St. Barnabas
This list is not complete. We do not as yet have the latest closures from 2012-2016.

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Diocese of Los Angeles bishop Jon Bruno faces presentment charges over his handling of St. James the Great, Newport Beach as the saga of this parish drags on and on. The legal bill is well over $8 million, according to Canon lawyer Allen Haley. Bishop Catherine Waynick who sits on the Disciplinary Committee promises timely action.

The complaint alleges that Bruno, in his dealings with the St. James the Great property and congregation, has violated various canons of the Episcopal Church, including those that prohibit the sale of consecrated property without appropriate approval, those that prohibit "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and those that prohibit "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy."

The Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees who was assigned to the re-established mission church of St. James the Great after The Rev. Richard Crocker who left with most of the congregation, was charged with rebuilding the congregation. Now she charges that Bruno wants the church to sell and tear down by developers. Some local officials criticized Bishop Bruno as "despicable" and his actions as "deplorable."

You can read the full story in today's digest.

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Scandal continues to haunt the Episcopal Church. Nary a week goes by and some sex or other scandal doesn't erupt in one diocese or another. In the Diocese of San Diego members of St. Paul's Episcopal and Anglican Cathedral on Fifth Avenue learned this week that the congregation's former dean has been removed from the Episcopal Church's clergy as discipline for at least one undisclosed offense.

Parishioners received a letter from San Diego Bishop James R. Mathes informing them of the disciplinary actions against Scott Richardson, 60, who left the cathedral in 2012 to serve as rector at St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. He resigned from his position late last month.

Richardson's wife, Mary Moreno Richardson, who is also a member of the Episcopal Church's clergy, remains a priest in good standing, according to the church.

Mathes' letter invited parishioners to attend a "community conversation" this coming Tuesday at the cathedral, but no one is saying who, what and why. All a closely held secret apparently.

In the Diocese of Rhode Island allegations of sexual abuse have broken out at St. George's Prep School in Middletown R.I. with charges going back to 2004. The Boston Globe reports that three boys came to administrators with disturbing allegations: their dorm master had touched them inappropriately. Timothy Richards, then dean of students at the Episcopal school in Middletown, said he and the headmaster, Eric Peterson, interviewed the students.

The accused staffer left the school abruptly, and students were told he had taken a personal leave of absence. But a former school official says the school never reported the allegations to child welfare officials, as is required for credible accusations of abuse.

This week, with St. George's embroiled in a growing sexual abuse scandal, Richards said he would have reported the 2004 incident. "If the decision was up to him, he would have reported it to the appropriate agency in Rhode Island," said Richards's spokesperson, Karen Schwartzman. "In the situation at St. George's School, he's relying on the judgment of his boss, who is head of school and also an attorney."

You can read the full story in today's digest.

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The former Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazi Ali told a group of global Anglican leaders that he supported the call for a common date for Easter for the Eastern and Western churches, but said that it should not be a fixed date, but tied to the celebration of Passover.

"A fixed date "further distance the celebration from the Jewish Passover, with which of course it is intrinsically linked because Jesus suffered at the time of the Passover, [and] he's understood as the Passover lamb sacrificed for us."

"If governments and local authorities want to have school holidays for a fixed period then that's up to them, but I would not want Christians to be further distanced from their Jewish roots and Easter's connection with Passover."

"For the Christian Church, to retain the link with the Jewish Passover overrides these considerations," Bishop Nazir Ali said.

*****

A new poll show that more members of the Church of England are in favor of homosexual marriage than are against it. Among Anglicans overall, more women and adults under 55 years of age support same-sex marriage, while the demographic from which most of the church's leadership is drawn, males 55 years old or older, is most opposed.

A poll conducted in the aftermath of the Canterbury meeting found 45% of people who define themselves as Church of England approve of same-sex marriage, compared with 37% who believe it is wrong. A similar survey three years ago found almost the reverse: 38% of Anglicans in favor and 47% opposed.

The lowest levels of support for same-sex marriage -- 24% -- were found among Anglican men over the age of 55, a group that dominates the church leadership. The survey found a clear generational difference among Church of England members, with almost three-quarters (72%) of under-35s in favor. There was a majority supporting same-sex marriage in all age groups under 55, but the figure dropped to fewer than one in three older Anglicans. More women than men believe same-sex marriage is right.

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Church of England clergy may be allowed to wear casual clothes during services so long as they are "seemly", in a move which would sweep away centuries of tradition. Members of the church's synod, or ruling body, are being consulted by bishops on a change to church law which requires clergy to wear certain robes at specific services, including Holy Communion, weddings and funerals.

Among the proposals being considered is making traditional vestments optional, as long as such a move "would benefit the mission of the church". For weddings and funerals, the agreement of the bride and

A consultation paper being circulated to synod members said: "Where the minister departed from the normal requirements as to vesture, the dress adopted by the minister should be seemly."

*****

A landmark Report which proposes that the Church of Scotland and the Church of England enter into an historic ecumenical partnership agreement has been published. The Columba Declaration, which lays the groundwork for future relationships and was prepared by a Joint Study Group, is presented within the Report: "Growth in Communion, Partnership in Mission" and is scheduled for debate at the Church of England's General Synod next month.

The proposed partnership agreement has led to a rare invitation to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to address the General Synod in London on February 16 and speak to the Joint Report.

The 20-page document, which represents a "significant step" between the two denominations and will open up new future possibilities, will be debated at the Church of Scotland's General Assembly in May.

Under the terms of the proposed declaration, which is closely modelled on existing ecumenical agreements between other churches, both denominations would welcome one another's members into congregations and ordained ministers would be allowed to exercise ministry within the existing discipline of each church only within England and continental Europe.

Rev Alison McDonald, Convener of the Church of Scotland's Ecumenical Relations Committee, said: "The Joint Report sets out clearly the shared foundations of faith of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, which enable us to recognize one another formally for the first time. "This provides a sound basis for our ongoing cooperation and for exploring future partnership."

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Religion in America: An Interview with Greg Smith of the Pew Research Center by Ed Stetzer. Question: What's going on with Americans and their religious belief and practice?

Greg Smith: I think there's a lot of really interesting changes that are underway in the American religious landscape. I think the number one thing to point out is that the United States remains a highly religious country. Nine in ten Americans say they believe in God. Most Americans say religion is very important in their lives. Most say that they pray every day.

The United States is certainly much more religious than much of the rest of the industrialized world. So I think that's the number one thing to note.

In terms of trends, however, the data suggests that the United States may be becoming gradually a little bit less religious. We see that in a few ways.

When we ask people about their religious identity--what religion they consider themselves to be a part--we see a rapid increase in the number of people who say they have no religion: those who describe themselves as atheists or as agnostics, or as just having no religion in particular. That group is growing quite rapidly and now makes up almost a quarter of all U.S. adults.

At the same time we're also seeing modest declines, not as dramatic as the growth of the religiously unaffiliated. But modest declines in the share of Americans who say they believe in God, who say they pray every day, who say religion is very important in their lives, and who say they attend religious services regularly.

All of those numbers have ticked down at a rate of about three percentage points over the last seven years or so.

The number of highly observant American adults really has not changed very much in recent years.

At the same time, the data also show very clearly that even though the religiously unaffiliated are growing, the vast majority of American adults continue to identify with a religion, primarily Christianity.

What has changed is that there's been very rapid growth in the number of adults who are not particularly religious. And it's their growth that's helping to change the proportions when you look at the country as a whole.

*****

Gambia has a new bishop. He is the Rev. James Yaw Odico, dean of the St Mary's Cathedral. He was consecrated and enthroned, the Bishop of the Diocese of Gambia, formerly the Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas.

A solemn five-hour enthronement service was officiated by the Most Rev Dr. Daniel Yinka Sarfo, primate and metropolitan of the Church of the Province of West African (CPWA) on Sunday January 24, 2016, and witnessed by parishioners, family, friends and invited dignitaries from all walks of life, prominent among whom was His Lordship the Mayor of Banjul, Abdoulie Bah.

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The primates of the Orthodox Churches meeting in Chambesy, Switzerland have agreed to hold the church's first Orthodox Holy and Great Council in almost 1000 years this June in Crete.

According to a report printed by the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency the primates agreed to meet during Pentecost. The eleven primates present also agreed on a tentative agenda, setting down eight of ten topics for discussion that had been identified by preconcilar meetings.

Eight topics have been also been approved for discussion: The Orthodox Diaspora; The way in which autonomy is granted to semi-independent churches within autocephalous churches; The Church calendar; Canonical impediments to marriage; Fasting rules; Relationships with the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion; The ecumenical movement; and The contribution of Orthodoxy to affirming peace, fraternity, and freedom. The topics of the Diptychs -- the order of precedence of churches -- and autocephaly of churches in the Ukraine and Eastern Europe has yet to be approved for debate. In his opening address the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople told the primates "the great responsibility belongs to us now, without further delay, to convert this vision into a reality."

*****

Mindfulness is far from harmless. Despite claims that the practice of mindfulness, which involves being still and focusing on one's breathing and thoughts, can help to tackle stress and depression, critics have attested to its negative effects, suggesting that it is not a harmless way to unwind. Dr. Peter Jones of Truthxchange has spoken of the Buddhist roots of mindfulness, explaining that the process of meditation, which effectively silences the conscience, creates a mindset "very opposite to the Christian faith". You have been warned.

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Word has reached VOL that violence has broken out in Gambella, Ethiopia.Bishop Grant LeMarquand reports that several days ago a Nuer woman was beaten. "She has now died. This seems to have inflamed a tense situation. A bomb has gone off in a local college (not ours). We have heard gun shots. Everyone here on our compound is tense and near panic. Internet is intermittent. Please pray. Later the bishop wrote, “Things have become worse in the last few days. Troops are now restoring calm. Wendy and I will send a newsletter giving more details in a couple of days.More information will be sent when I can." LeMarquand is assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, serving as bishop in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, under Archbishop Mouneer Anis.

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I have posted some final stories on what took place in Canterbury, England with the Primates, including a response by Archbishop Mouneer Anis of the Middle East. You can find a full link of all the stories I and others wrote about this historic occasion here: http://www.virtueonline.org/content/2016-primates-meeting-canterbury-uk

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David