Anglican Church of Melanesia

Last updated

Anglican Church of Melanesia
Church of the Province of Melanesia logo.gif
Classification Protestant
Orientation Anglican
Scripture Holy Bible
Theology Anglican doctrine
Polity Episcopal
Primate Leonard Dawea
Polity Episcopal
Headquarters Honiara, Solomon Islands
Territory Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia
Members200,000
Official website www.acom.org.sb

The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The Archbishop of Melanesia is Leonard Dawea. He succeeds the retired archbishop George Takeli.

Contents

History

John Coleridge Patteson died a martyr's death in 1871 John Coleridge Patteson.jpg
John Coleridge Patteson died a martyr's death in 1871

The church was established by George Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand in 1849, [1] and was initially headed by a Bishop of Melanesia. One of the important features of the province's life over many years has been the work of a mission vessel in various incarnations known as the Southern Cross . First based in New Zealand, the missionaries, mainly from Oxbridge and the public schools, established their base on Norfolk Island, bringing Melanesian scholars there to learn Christianity until the school was closed in 1918.

The many languages in Melanesia made evangelisation a challenge. The Melanesian Mission adopted the language of the island of Mota in the Banks group of islands as the lingua franca. The Church of Melanesia is known for its pioneer martyrs, especially John Patteson, murdered in 1871, Charles Godden, killed in 1906, among several others.

Membership

Today, there are nearly 200,000 Anglicans out of an estimated population of over 800,000 in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as a newly[ clarification needed ] formed parish in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Structure

The polity of the Church of Melanesia is episcopal, which is the same as all other Anglican churches. Since being made a province in 1975 the church has maintained a system of geographical parishes organised into dioceses, of which there are now ten. The spiritual head of the province is the Archbishop of Melanesia, whose metropolitan see is the Diocese of Central Melanesia.

The dioceses are: Central Melanesia; Malaita, Vanuatu and New Caledonia (originally New Hebrides), and Ysabel (all 1975); Temotu (1981); Hanuato'o (1991); Banks and Torres (1996); Central Solomons (1997); Guadalcanal (2013); and Southern Malaita and Sikaiana (2024).

Parishes and priests

Each diocese except for Central Melanesia (the Honiara area) is divided into regions, each headed by a senior priest. The regions are further subdivided into parishes or districts (the two words being interchangeable), headed by a parish priest, usually called a rector. Parishes may be subdivided into subparishes, headed by assistant priests. Catechists are lay people appointed by a local community and authorised by the bishop to take services and look after the spiritual life of a village.

Worship and liturgy

St. Barnabas Anglican Cathedral, Honiara, Solomon Islands St. Barnabas Anglican Cathedral, Honiara.jpg
St. Barnabas Anglican Cathedral, Honiara, Solomon Islands

The Church of Melanesia embraces three orders of ordained ministry: deacon, priest and bishop. A local variant of the Book of Common Prayer is used, called A Melanesian English Prayer Book. [2] Its predecessor in local liturgical development was A Book of Common Prayer Authorised for Use in Churches and Chapels in the Diocese of Melanesia, first published in 1938. [3]

Doctrine and practice

See also: Anglicanism and Anglican doctrine

The centre of the Church of Melanesia's teaching is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church are summed up in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

The focus of the church's worship is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, sometimes called "Mass", but more often "Communion" or "Communion service". This is celebrated weekly wherever there is a priest and in some communities it is celebrated daily, except for Saturdays.

Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer are offered in most churches and congregations daily, and Evening Prayer, "Evensong", is often sung (except for the Psalms) on Sundays and feasts.

Feast days are celebrated by most communities on a Sunday near the feast day, or at least in the same month.

The church in its canons accepts and teaches the seven sacraments of the Church, Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick.

Ecumenical relations

Like other Anglican churches, the Church of Melanesia is a member of the ecumenical World Council of Churches, and is a member of the Pacific Conference of Churches, the Solomon Islands Christian Council, and the Vanuatu Council of Churches.

The Mothers' Union is quite active, as are the four religious communities active in the province, the Melanesian Brotherhood, the Society of Saint Francis, the Community of the Sisters of the Church and the Community of the Sisters of Melanesia. The province has its own liturgical customs and a calendar of saints.

Anglican realignment

The Church of Melanesia is a member of the Global South and has been involved in the Anglican realignment movement. David Vunagi attended the Global South Fourth Encounter at 19–23 April 2010, in Singapore. He also would be one of the signatories of the Global South Primates letter to the Crown Nominations Commission, at 20 July 2012. [4] Nevertheless, other clergy have sided with the more liberal Anglican provinces, including Terry Brown, former Bishop of Malaita, who has spoken "as an 'out' gay man serving as bishop". [5]

Related Research Articles

Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001.

The Church of the Province of West Africa is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 17 dioceses in eight countries of West Africa, specifically in Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ghana is the country with most dioceses, now numbering 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primate of New Zealand</span> Leader of the Anglican Church in New Zealand

Primate of New Zealand is a title held by a bishop who leads the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Since 2006, the Senior Bishop of each tikanga serves automatically as one of three co-equal Primates-and-Archbishops. Previously, one of these three would be Presiding Bishop and the other two Co-Presiding Bishops; and before that there was only one Primate.

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992 the church has consisted of three tikanga or cultural streams: Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith". As a result, the church's General Synod has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three tikanga system; it has three primates, each representing a tikanga, who share authority.

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are located in South Africa, and one each in Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Saint Helena.

The Melanesian Brotherhood is an Anglican religious community of men in simple vows based primarily in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Dunedin</span>

The Diocese of Dunedin is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican ministry</span> Leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion

The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. Ministry commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.

<i>Southern Cross</i> (Melanesian Mission ship series)

Southern Cross is the name given to each of a succession of ships serving the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church and the Church of the Province of Melanesia. The first ship having this name succeeded the Undine, a 21-ton schooner built at Auckland and in service from 1849 to 1857.

The Community of the Sisters of Melanesia, more usually called The Sisters of Melanesia, is the third order for women to be established in the Church of Melanesia, which is the Anglican Church of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

The Archbishop of Melanesia is the spiritual head of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, which is a province of the Anglican Communion in the South Pacific region, covering the nations of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. From 1861 until the inauguration of Church of the Province of Melanesia in 1975, the Bishop of Melanesia was the head of the Diocese of Melanesia.

The Melanesian Mission is an Anglican missionary agency supporting the work of local Anglican churches in Melanesia. It was founded in 1849 by George Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Vunagi</span> Anglican archbishop; Governor-General of Solomon Islands (2019–2024)

Sir David Okete Vuvuiri Vunagi,, is a retired Solomon Islands Anglican bishop who served as governor-general of Solomon Islands from 2019 to 2024. He was the archbishop of Melanesia and bishop of the Diocese of Central Melanesia from 2009 to 2015.

James Marvin Ligo was the Anglican Bishop of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, one of the eight dioceses that make up the Anglican Church of Melanesia. He was consecrated and installed as Bishop of Vanuatu on 15 October 2006; the name of his diocese was changed during his time, so he became Bishop of Vanuatu and New Caledonia; he was succeeded as bishop by James Tama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie Pwaisiho</span>

William Alaha Pwaisiho, is a retired Anglican bishop who served as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia and then a priest in the Church of England.

The Diocese of Banks and Torres is one of the ten current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia.

The Diocese of Hanuato'o is one of the ten current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia; it was erected in 1991 and inaugurated at St George's Church, Kirakira on St Peter's Day, 29 June 1991. That church is now her cathedral, rededicated as St Peter's Cathedral; the diocese is divided into fifteen parishes.

The Diocese of Malaita is one of the ten current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia. One of the four original ACOM dioceses, Malaita diocese was erected in January 1975; it is currently subdivided into six regions of 46 parishes.

The Diocese of Vanuatu and New Caledonia is one of the ten dioceses within the Anglican Church of Melanesia.

George Angus Takeli is a Solomon Islands Anglican bishop. He was Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Melanesia and Bishop of the Diocese of Central Melanesia from April 2016 to May 2019. He was first married to Lilian, who died in 2014. He got married a second time to June in December 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Limbrick, Warren E. (1990). "Selwyn, George Augustus". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  2. ↑ A Melanesian English Prayer Book
  3. ↑ http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Melanesia/1938/index.html Society of St Justus website.
  4. ↑ "Global South Letter to the Crown Nominations Commission (20 July 2012)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Another Gay bishop". Episcopal Cafe. 7 September 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

Further reading

Anglicanism, Neill, Stephen. Harmondsworth, 1965.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.