A Communion Convulsed//Welsh Elects Lesbian Archbishop// GAFCON and GSFA condemn Welsh election//ACNA Stumbles Towards Trial of Bishop//APA splits//CEEC gets new name

//Are we Seeing a New Spiritual Awakening?

Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and checkered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture --- John Stott

There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing. ― J.C. Ryle

The fate of the West is inextricably tied up with the fate of the Jewish people and with their values. Western civilization can only be saved by nurturing and defending Israel and the Jewish people and by reaffirming the moral codes of the Bible. – Melanie Phillips

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

www.virtueonline.org

August 8, 2025

If you think things are a little out of whack in the Anglican Communion, you would be right. Try this. The Anglican Church of Australia just elected an evangelical – Mark Short - to lead the church down under, the first evangelical since 1982.  Flip to Wales, where the Church in Wales just elected a lesbian archbishop -- Cherry Vann -- a first in the Anglican communion. Welsh bishops just kicked Lambeth Resolution 1:10 to the curb, incurring the wrath of Global South archbishops who unequivocally condemned the election. The good news is that the Anglican province will be out of business - dead - by 2038, according to a demographer who has been monitoring the situation for years.

Boomers are not coming back to church, and in the next five years The Episcopal Church will close over 1000 churches because 500 have less than ten members and 500 more have less than 20. Not all the endowments in the world can keep them open because Boomers, the main givers, are hitting columbaria at a rapid rate.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is going through nightmarish legal and ecclesiastical contortions over the trial of a bishop for failed safeguarding, with their archbishop – Steve Wood – jumping through hoops to explain why he can’t say anything until the trial starts next week.

Church of England bishops continue to bash Israel over the war in Gaza while dutifully ignoring the fact that the real enemy is Hamas with Hamas posting photos of starving Israelis while Israel is being accused of Genocide and the starvation of Palestinians! Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell is thought to be wiping mud off of his face because he is running through too many hand towels over false statements he and his bishops make about the Middle East and Israel.

If you think all this is just a little bit crazy then know that Gen Z is in revival and retreat at the same time. Someone just temporarily lifted the law of non-contradiction. Furthermore, only one per cent of churches in America are doing evangelism. And you wonder why churches are going out of business.

Some 50% of all churches in the U.S. have parttime pastors/priests and pastors are forced into ‘tent-making’ to make a living.

Here are the newest statistics for 2025:

It is estimated that 15,000 churches will close in 2025

Over 15,000 churches will no longer pay for a full-time pastor

Over half of churches in America cannot pay their pastor a full-time salary

Many of our part-time pastors have multiple jobs to survive

There is a growing number of churches without a pastor for longer than 2 years

Furthermore 38% of pastors are thinking of quitting the ministry, 51% from mainline denominations.  (November 29, 2021) Of the 38%, almost half (46%) are under age 45. 50% of pastors are age 56 and above.  2022 stats reveal a rise from 38% to 42%.

85% of pastors believe the mission of the church is to reach the lost, only 42% of practicing Christians do.

If you wonder why seminaries are failing, one of the reasons is that they are unaffordable; adding debt to future ordinands, many already in college debt. A church with limited resources must cover a salary, a roof over their head, pension and assessment to the diocese. Many future rectors will have to have working wives, not easy if there are children under five.

On the plus side, the number of Anglican Christians is growing by more than a million people every year, according to the respected scholar David Goodhew, visiting fellow of St John’s College, Durham University. Most of it is in Africa, SURPRISE! even as Anglicanism in the West is disintegrating. The Anglican Church of Canada is going out of business and probably won’t be around much beyond 2030, while the Diocese of the Arctic, an evangelical outpost, is growing. The frozen north is apparently not as frozen spiritually as one thought.

The Heinz 57 variety Continuers (looking for a more perfect way to worship God) had another split this week and the Church of England is still without an Archbishop of Canterbury with a white (straight) woman in the running to win the top slot. It took the RCC less than two weeks to elect a new pope; God only knows how long it will take for the Church of England to elect a new ABC, but whoever it is, he or she will not be orthodox enough on faith and morals to please the Global South. The Church of England will be deemed irrelevant with the statement, ‘no one needs to go through Canterbury to get to Jesus’ ringing eerily true. You can read my take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/next-abc-will-not-meet-global-south-orthodox

If you should see a large CofE coffin floating down the Thames River raise a glass. 98% of the British public view the CofE as irrelevant to their lives.

The Episcopal Church might make it to 2040, but then the curtain comes down. Just to add to the calumny, TEC has more bishops and clergy caught in sexual hijinks in modern memory; all of whom have been captured and exposed by Anglican Watch, the unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal Church. You can read a n umber of stories here:  https://www.anglicanwatch.com/

It’s not rocket science. Anglican priests and pastors who proclaim the gospel in all its fullness are growing, while churches that preach wokery are withering and dying. No Ph.D. dissertation necessary to figure it out.

Denominationalism itself is dying but small independent evangelical churches are growing by leaps and bounds across America. There are approximately 4,014 evangelical churches in the United States as of August 2025. This number reflects the ongoing growth and presence of evangelical communities across the country.

*****

The question is this; Is western Anglicanism (Global North) on suicide watch? The news that the Church in Wales elected a lesbian archbishop this week, the answer might be yes. Now you would have thought that with the election of Gene Robinson, an avowed homosexual to the TEC episcopacy and the mess it caused bringing about a split in The Episcopal Church with the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, that Wales, (and the Church of England), might learn a lesson from all this. Apparently not. The Church in Wales is a failing province and electing an avowed lesbian sends a message that it would be smarter to have sent the leadership an ecclesiastical cyanide pill.

One can imagine the guards at Belsen concentration camp looking over at the gas ovens as the Americans rolled in, with one guard saying to the other, “you don’t think we got it all wrong do you, Wolfgang?”

Never mind that this action defies Lambeth Resolution 1:10; the entire corpus of Scripture, 2,000 years of church history and tradition and will widen the fissure in the communion; the fools in Wales did the unthinkable and elected a woman (that in itself is communion breaking) but a lesbian to boot. Hell, they might just as well have gone the whole hog and elected a transexual with purple hair! Next time perhaps.

The impact was immediate. From across the globe archbishops and bishops weighed in condemning the action by the Welsh bishops. You can read a number of stories here:  https://www.virtueonline.org/post/global-anglican-leaders-blast-election-of-welsh-lesbian-archbishop and here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/wales-new-lesbian-archbishop-defies-lambeth-resolution-1-10

The Church of Nigeria through its primate Henry Ndukuba cut ties with the Church of Wales over the election of the lesbian Archbishop. You can read it here: https://acnntv.com/church-of-nigeria-have-cut-ties-with-the-church-of-wales-over-election-of-lesbian-archbishop-primate-ndukuba/

They were vigorous in their denunciation of this election calling it an abomination.  He compared it to the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson in the Episcopal Church (USA), which had also led to Nigeria severing ties with that province. “Just as the Church of Nigeria took steps after the election of Gene Robinson in the United States, we are severing every tie and relationship with the Church of Wales,” he said.

GAFCON Archbishop Laurent Mbanda said the action had shattered the Anglican Communion. You can read his statement here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/archbishop-of-wales-shatters-the-communion

*****

The ACNA is going through the tortures of the damned over the upcoming trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch who is accused of mishandling multiple abuse allegations in the diocese, failing to prioritize victims in the wake of abuse allegations and knowingly welcoming individuals with histories of predatory behavior without alerting church members. More than 10 clergy and other lay leaders in ACNA’s Upper Midwest Diocese, which Ruch leads, have been accused of misconduct.

Mary Ann Mueller believes the ACNA is fatally flawed because of the duality on women’s ordination. “The Anglican Church in North America has been fatally flawed from its inception. Incorporating women's ordination into the fold though the diaconate, much less the sacerdotal priesthood; this is ACNA’s Achilles heel. Never mind that women are barred from ACNA’s episcopate. You can read her take here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/acna-is-fatally-flawed

Things have gotten so out of hand with statements and resignations flying in all directions that the College of Bishops and the Executive Committee of the ACNA issued a joint statement about it all.

“Together, on behalf of the College of Bishops and the Executive Committee of the Anglican Church in North America, we want to express our deep regret for the confusion and hurt caused by recent attempts to air concerns of the Court in the public sphere. We are saddened that the parties expressing concern did not utilize any of the canonical provisions designed to address them. We remain confident in the Court’s ability to bring these matters to just resolution. Further, we find no evidence to suggest that the Archbishop or members of his staff acted in any way that violates or compromises the proceedings that are active before the court.

“We affirm the integrity of the Archbishop, his provincial staff, and the Chancellor. We are grateful for their ongoing commitment to appropriate levels of transparency, faithful service, and the well-being of the Province. We affirm the integrity of the elected members of the Court and have full confidence in the Court as an independent body that is committed to act fairly and in accordance with our canonical processes. The trial begins August 11.”

*****

The Anglican Province of America’s (APA) Presiding Bishop Chandler Holder Jones issued a letter announcing the deposition of Bishop Robert Todd Giffin of the Diocese of the Central and Western States this week accusing him of creating his own independent jurisdiction, “the so-called Anglican Missionary Church.”

Giffin retorted on Facebook, “Rest assured, I remain the Bishop of this Diocese and stand with its clergy and laity. The Diocese of the Central and Western States today has voted to disaffiliate from the APA. It separates itself from the “continuum” as a new movement without this label.

“It is now a non-geographic, traditional Anglican Diocese that allows for both modern and traditional BCP worship, as well as the American and Anglican Missals, with celebrations both ad orientem (East) and ad populum (West).”

“This Diocese will aggressively seek to plant new missions, and receive parishes and missions in the US, and abroad, who are not satisfied with the status quo. Regardless of geography.”

*****

The International College of Bishops has proclaimed a new name for the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion (CEEC). It  will become “The Confessing Anglican Church" on 18 August 2025, according to its bishop Primus, Abp Vijay Raju Gadepe (Bishop Primus) and General Secretary Abp Robert Gosselin (General Secretary).

“We chose the name Confessing Anglican Church to show the world we still believe the creeds matter. In an era of doctrinal drift and moral ambiguity within the broader Anglican landscape and many elements of the church at large, our International College of Bishops has discerned the need for renewed clarity, fidelity, and public witness and chosen to speak loudly and clearly. Accordingly, the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion (CEEC) will, effective 18 August 2025, assume its new identity as The Confessing Anglican Church.”

“This name change arises from a pastoral and ecclesial imperative: to distinguish our Communion clearly amidst the confusion caused by numerous ecclesial bodies bearing the same acronym. With over a dozen entities sharing the "CEEC" initials, unity of identity and clarity of mission demand an unmistakable name—one that bears theological weight, historical integrity, and prophetic clarity.”

*****

If you wonder how the pansexualists did it to the churches promoting sodomy and ultimately homosexual marriage…and in the process splitting the churches bringing about schism you can read my piece; Kirk and Madsen, after the Episcopal Ball here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/kirk-and-madsen-after-the-episcopal-ball

*****

Are we seeing another spiritual awakening? A few weeks ago, 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium for a Harvest Crusade. So many came that the fire marshal locked the doors. One guy climbed a fence to get in. Why? Not for a concert. Not for a celebrity. For the Gospel. By the end of the night, 5,500 people had made professions of faith in person — and another 1,000 online.

Gen Z is not supposed to be doing this. Gen Z isn’t quietly walking away from faith. They’re running toward Jesus — and they’re louder than ever. Across the country, young people are gathering in unexpected places, driven by a hunger for truth, purpose, and the power of Jesus to change everything.

Bible sales are up 22%. And it’s not grandma buying them — it’s Gen Z and young adults. Young men are converting to Christ at higher rates than young women — for the first time ever. “They don’t want fluff. They want the unfiltered Gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the resurrection.”

In Southern California, 30,000 people have been baptized in just two years with a direct connection to the Jesus Revolution film that inspired them to do this in the spot where the Jesus movement did it 50 years ago. If you think that’s a coincidence, you’re not paying attention. 

Now I leave it to readers as to what to make of this. Here is something to ponder. Why do these revivals always take place in southern California and not Boise, Idaho or downtown Philadelphia or even New York City! Secondly, are these converts filling up churches and doing good works in keeping with their new found faith?  Thirdly, are they building themselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit…. Jude 1:20 Just asking.

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My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of interest and attention from across the globe. You can access it here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/  I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel’s right to exist and prosper while confronting her enemies both foreign and domestic. My latest report can be seen here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/p/god-gaza-and-bibi-netanyahu