OKLAHOMA: Anglican archbishop Robert Duncan visits Oklahoma City

BY CARLA HINTON
http://newsok.com/anglican-archbishop-visits-city/article/3402102
September 19, 2009

The leader of a newly formed Anglican denomination said mainline Protestant churches are failing because they have gotten off track from the Gospel.

The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, said his new denomination won't join those who have faltered.

During a Sept. 13 visit to Oklahoma City, Duncan said he and other leaders are aiming to plant 1,000 churches in the U.S. and Canada.

Duncan, 61, presided over services at St. James Anglican Church, 204 SW 104. He was elected leader at the denomination's inaugural assembly in June at Bedford, Texas.

Now part of the new religious group, St. James Anglican leaders said they were pleased when Duncan decided to make a side trip to worship with their local congregation.

The Rev. Vern Caswell, 48, the church's senior pastor, said Duncan ordained him as an Anglican deacon in Pittsburg, Pa., specifically to lead the then-fledgling St. James church. The church split from the Episcopal Church USA in 2004 but wanted to retain membership in the global Anglican Communion.

"This congregation was sort of the guinea pig for all the things that would come up," Caswell said. "God has just moved with us, and He has blessed us every step of the way."

Duncan, who lives in Pittsburg, spoke to about 70 people attending a question-and-answer forum.

He told The Oklahoman that he would be meeting with other leaders of the new denomination at a summit in Plano, Texas. He said he and the leaders planned to develop church-planting strategies to ensure that the Anglican Church in North America successfully fulfills its challenge "to retake America for the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

He said about nine of 38 dioceses in the Anglican Communion have recognized the new denomination, particularly the communion's largest dioceses in Africa. He said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has "squandered the stewardship of what he's been given" as the communion's leader, referring to the global Anglican community, which is now splintered.

Longtime church member Joy Weber said she wept during the recent service because she felt the Anglican leader's visit brought the small church full circle.

"For me, it was a Kleenex service," she said.

Weber said Duncan's visit was important to the local church. "I thought back to the first time we met at the Baptist church (Southern Hills Baptist, in a small house at the time) - they were so loving and wonderful. I thought about how far we have come."

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