By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | June 8, 2026 Jerry and Stacy Kramer are two unlikely missionaries. Pass them on the street and you might wonder if they were looking for a hot meal and a place to lay their heads. Jerry is an ordained Anglican priest who doesn't wear a dog collar. He’ll snipe that he can’t remember where he put it. You would be hard pressed to know what he was about — until you see him and his wife in action. Together they bring nearly a qua

EDITORIAL By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | June 5, 2026 It is Pride Month, and the Episcopal Church—already at odds with most of the Anglican Communion’s Global South on sexuality issues—is boosting the issue in churches and cathedrals across the country, hoping perhaps to entice homosexuals who show no interest in passing through their red doors. In Washington, Bishop Mariann Budde presided over a "Pride Eucharist," draped in a rainbow stole that seemed

What Does Discipleship Look Like Today? By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | June 4, 2026 If you were raised in the post-World War II era, church was simply what families did. Soldiers came home, pews filled, and preachers didn't have to press the case. The mainline denominations were flush — with people, with money, with confidence. Missions committees were formed, checks were written to favorite ministries, and consciences were duly salved. The institution ran

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | June 3, 2026 Despite all the hoopla about an inclusive, diverse church open to absolutely everybody, dioceses led by gay and lesbian bishops have failed to grow. The numbers say so plainly. The latest available statistics are from 2023 — TEC has yet to release full 2024 figures — and they show continuing decline across nearly all dioceses, with losses running especially deep where gay and lesbian bishops hold the rein

Billy Graham vs. John Stott — A Historic Debate Framing Today's Culture Wars OPINION & ANALYSIS By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | June 1, 2026 The Lausanne Moment: 1974 In 1974 I attended the International Congress on World Evangelization convened in Lausanne, Switzerland—a gathering that would prove to be one of the most consequential moments in twentieth-century Protestant Christianity. Organized largely through the vision and energy of Billy Graham, Lausanne

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | May 29, 2026 Most pastors and priests are cowards. They will speak of sin in the abstract, in safe generalities, but never name it. When did you last hear a priest rail against materialism? You won't — because his biggest financial supporters are wealthy parishioners whose money keeps the lights on. Rail against pride? Never — not when personal success is the American sacrament. Mention homosexuality? Expect to be den

David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueOnline | May 23, 2026 Those of us who have watched the Episcopal Church’s long, self-inflicted decline have seen this film before. We know how it ends. And now, with Professor Helen King’s Private Members’ Motion heading to the Church of England’s General Synod in July, we are watching the Church of England queue up to buy a ticket to the same screening. The parallels are not incidental. They are structural. The Episcopal Church did n

By John G. Stackhouse Jr. | ThinkBetter Media | $9.99 | 191 pages Reviewed by David W. Virtue, DD | www.virtueonline.org | May 18, 2026 The core question evangelical scholar John Stackhouse addresses is whether love of country is a virtue or a danger. He offers a clear, balanced guide to what Christian nationalism is, what it isn't, and how Christians can faithfully love both God and nation without confusing the two. Stackhouse steers between two extremes: those who insis

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD I www.virtueonline.org I May 20, 2026 It is an old axiom. Pride goeth before a fall. The real sin of ACNA is pride, not just its collective sins. Proud that we are not like TEC. Proud that we have not embraced pansexuality. Proud that ACNA is growing and TEC is not. Proud that we are orthodox and TEC is heterodox. In a nutshell, proud that we are not like them. Of course, ACNA is trying desperately hard not to break up over women’s or

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD I www.virtueonline.org I May 18, 2026 A Wisconsin priest has surveyed thousands of Episcopal churches in an effort to pinpoint what fuels growth. The Episcopal News Service, the official publication of The Episcopal Church documents the launching of the Rev. Chris Corbin’s project with backing from Forward Movement called the Growing Episcopal Churches Study. In it, he already has obtained survey responses from hundreds of Episcopal churches,

ACNA has mule churches. We need rabbit churches COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD I www.virtueonline.org I May 13, 2026 The Anglican Church in North America entered history at a genuinely pregnant moment. The Episcopal Church had lost its way. After years of conflict, lost buildings, broken relationships, orthodox Episcopalians needed something safe. Stable. A place to land. It didn’t happen. We left the house on fire. And then we built the same thing next door. We replicated

Two voices, two visions vie for the Anglican Church in North America: Will it be Bishop Phil Ashey's Conciliarism or Canon Chuck Collins' Reformation Anglicanism? COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue I www.virtueonline.org I May 12, 2026 The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a province under deepening pressure. Archbishop Steve Wood, elected in June 2024, became the first archbishop in the denomination's history to face an ecclesiastical presentment, in October 2025,

Sam Allberry, a British born pastor, apologist and author who admitted to an inappropriate relationship with another man, is not the only narrative on same-sex attraction. Thousands of men and women have renounced the gay lifestyle, married, and now live with spouses and children. Here are some of their stories. COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 8, 2026 Elizabeth Woning "Today I am fulfilled, joyful, and feminine — all things I never was while living

By James Parker www.virtueonline.org May 8, 2026 NEWS: In light of recent revelations regarding Sam Allberry. British-born pastor, author and apologist, who was “disqualified from gospel ministry" following information about a past relationship with another man, VOL believes that stories of healed homosexuals need to be told. These are men and women who have renounced their past homosexual lives, and now believe that God has restored them to full heterosexuality. Their storie

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 5, 2026 Anglican bishops who should have known better must now face the uncomfortable fact that they allowed an allegedly non-celibate homosexual priest to officiate, speak, and pass himself off as a theologian and cultural spokesperson across some of conservative evangelicalism's most prominent platforms. The reckoning, long overdue, has finally arrived. Sam Allberry — British-born pastor, apologist, and author — used Anglican

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 6, 2026 To no one's surprise, the Church in Wales Governing Body has voted to make permanent provision for same-sex blessings for couples in same-sex civil marriages and civil partnerships. This follows the consecration of an avowed lesbian archbishop to lead the province — some would say, into the ground. Statistics bear this out. Between 1996 and 2016, the number of signed-up Church in Wales members dropped from 91,

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 4, 2026 Canon lawyer Bishop Phil Ashey believes that ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood will be exonerated, based on a video discussing the upcoming trial of the inhibited ACNA archbishop. Wood faces three formal ecclesiastical charges arising from a presentment filed in October 2025. All three charges were deemed by a Board of Inquiry to have sufficient grounds to proceed to a church trial. The charges include violation of his ordina

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 4, 2026 Background: A Communion at the Crossroads The Anglican Communion — some 85 million souls spread across 165 countries, holding together in uneasy fellowship since the first Lambeth Conference of 1867 — has always been more a family than an institution. Families, of course, can be torn apart. The fault line running through this one is not new: it was exposed most visibly in 2003 when The Episcopal Church (US

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org April 28, 2026 Six Anglican theologians convened at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Oreland, PA to assess a Communion in deep crisis. The appointment of a woman Archbishop of Canterbury, the blessing of same-sex couples by the Church of England, ongoing GAFCON and Global South realignments, and the fracturing of traditional structures have brought Anglicanism to the edge of permanent schism. The symposium's central question: Can

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org April 28, 2026 NEWS ITEM: The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has launched a company, JPW Mediation, to facilitate mediation and global reconciliation. On his Linked In page, he explains that the archbishop “plays a pivotal role in fostering unity and addressing key issues within the church and society.” Justin Welby's twelve years as Archbishop of Canterbury (2013–2024) were, by almost any measure, deeply