HERNDON, VA: CANA Celebrates Launch of New Anglican Province
Inaugural Assembly a Unifying, Gospel-Focused Event

June 26, 2009

The Convocation of Anglicans in North American (CANA) joined with orthodox Anglican groups representing 700 congregations to formally launch the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). During a meeting held in Bedford, Texas, from June 22-25, ACNA ratified its constitution and installed Robert Duncan as its first archbishop. CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns, a leader in founding the new province, attended the meeting along with a CANA delegation that included more than 20 lay and clergy members. He issued the following statement in response:

"The assembly meeting was a wonderful coming together of the various jurisdictions represented in the Anglican Church in North America. Everyone was determined to make it work and we kept our eyes on Jesus and the Gospel.

"Since day one, CANA has been and will continue to be a full participant in the life of the new province, and will continue to maintain our own identity. We will encourage groups of congregations, when they are ready, to establish themselves as free-standing dioceses. Our goal is to support the work, mission, and ministry of the Gospel on this continent and bring our own particular distinctive to that task.

"CANA congregations now have a 'dual citizenship.' They are members of the Church in Nigeria and as a result of that relationship, full members of the global Anglican Communion. CANA congregations are also members of the Anglican Church in North America and will participate fully in the life of the new province.

"CANA is unique in its connection to the largest province in the Anglican Communion, the Church of Nigeria, which represents about 25 percent of the entire population of the Communion. CANA also has a distinct connection with the GAFCON and Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans movement, and with the Global South. We have a radical commitment to ministry of the poor which crosses all ethnic lines, to planting new churches, equipping the next generation for leadership in the church, and educating the church about how to engage with a resurgent Islam in North America.

"The future involves radical inclusion, profound transformation, and inspired service. The vision has not changed. Jesus Christ is the same and the Gospel remains unchanged. The new province has given us a way to do this work more effectively and more collaboratively."

The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (http://www.canaconvocation.org/) currently consists of more than 75 congregations and 160 clergy in 21 states. CANA was established in 2005 to provide a means by which Anglicans living in the USA who were alienated by the actions and decisions of The Episcopal Church could continue to live out their faith without compromising their core convictions. Created as a missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria, about a dozen of the congregations are primarily expatriate Nigerians. CANA is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, an emerging Anglican province that includes about 700 congregations.

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