Church of Nigeria North American Mission

Last updated
Church of Nigeria North American Mission
Bishopric
Location
Episcopal conference Church of Nigeria
Ecclesiastical province Abuja
Information
Rite Anglican
Current leadership
Coordinating bishop Nathan Kanu (interim) [1]
Metropolitan Archbishop Henry Ndukuba

The Church of Nigeria North American Mission (CONNAM) is a missionary body of the Church of Nigeria (CON). It has been in a ministry partnership with the Anglican Church in North America but no longer affiliated with it beyond mutual membership in GAFCON. Founded in 2005 as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, [2] it was composed primarily of churches that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). CANA was initially a missionary initiative of the Anglican Church of Nigeria for Nigerians living in the United States. [3] It joined several other church bodies in the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. In 2019, the dual jurisdiction arrangement with the ACNA came to an end, and CANA was reformed as CONNAM, with a special focus on serving Nigerian-American Anglican churches in North America.

Contents

History

Formation and founding of ACNA

CANA was formed in reaction to the decisions of the Episcopal Church USA on several issues, particularly related to international Anglican Communion resolutions at the Lambeth Conference 1998, the Windsor Report, Dromantine (Ireland), and at Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) — including the ordination of non-celibate homosexual clergy, which it opposes as deviant and sinful. [4] Church of Nigeria Primate Peter Akinola desired "to provide a way for congregations that were alienated by the actions of the Episcopal Church to retain fellowship with the Anglican Communion." [5] Its first bishop was Martyn Minns, previously the rector of Truro Church. [5]

In 2009, CANA was one of the founding jurisdictions of the Anglican Church in North America. As geographic ACNA dioceses began to form, several CANA churches, including Truro and the Falls Church Anglican, formed the Anglican District of Virginia and later joined the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic under Bishop John Guernsey. [6] CANA—and thus the Church of Nigeria—was also the canonical residence for ACNA's chaplains, as CANA Bishop Derek Jones became the first ordinary of the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (JAFC).

The vision of CON leadership in the early 2010s was to transfer CANA parishes to ACNA jurisdiction. "We are not interested in territorial ambition; our main reason for going to America was to provide for those who were no longer finding it possible to worship in the Episcopal church," CON Primate Nicholas Okoh said in 2011. [7] During the 2010s, other GAFCON member provinces that had provided canonical residence for North American Anglicans—including the Southern Cone and Uganda—transferred parishes back to sole ACNA jurisdiction, as did the Anglican Church of Rwanda with PEARUSA in 2016.

In 2012, CANA launched its first offshoot diocese in the United States, the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, [8] plus two formal dioceses, CANA East and CANA West and the JAFC, all of which were dual jurisdictions of the Church of Nigeria and ACNA. Minns was succeeded in 2014 as CANA missionary bishop—overseeing all three CANA dioceses—by Julian Dobbs, a CANA suffragan bishop consecrated in 2011. [9] Dobbs also served as bishop of CANA East, while Felix Orji was named bishop of CANA West and Amos Fagbamiye became the first bishop of the Diocese of the Trinity.

Separation from and tension with ACNA

In 2019, conflict arose between the CON and ACNA leadership. In January, the CON bishops elected four suffragan bishops to serve in the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, but this election was not submitted to the ACNA college of bishops for consent according to ACNA's canons, with the result that the four bishops, upon consecration, would not be seated in the ACNA. [10] The election of the bishops was also not done in consultation with CANA's missionary bishop, Julian Dobbs, or the bishop of CANA West. Dobbs and Orji commented at the time: "This does not directly affect the mission and ministry of the other CANA dioceses. While we are disappointed by the way this election process has unfolded, this is not a situation that affects our local parishes and their commitment to making disciples and followers of Jesus." [10]

Amid the controversy, the dual jurisdiction came to an end. "This agreement helps us honor the desire of our Nigerian brothers and sisters in North America to remain connected with the Church of Nigeria, while providing for future ministry partnership,” ACNA Primate Foley Beach said. [11] CANA East departed CON and became solely the ACNA Diocese of the Living Word. [12] Unlike other GAFCON provinces, CON retained a diocesan presence in North America, with the stated purpose of serving Nigerian immigrants in North America. [13] CANA West, which was composed of a mixture of Nigerian and Anglo-American adherents, and the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, which was primarily Nigerian immigrants, remained in the Church of Nigeria. [14]

Additional controversy arose amid the ending of dual jurisdiction. Ahead of the new bishops' scheduled consecration on 3 July 2019 in Lagos, a priest in CANA East filed formal heresy charges against Bishop-Elect Augustine Unuigbe, charging that Unuigbe had advocated "Word of Faith" doctrines and the prosperity gospel, both of which has been rejected by Anglican leaders at the 2018 Global Anglican Future Conference. [15] [16] After an investigation called for by Okoh, Unuigbe apologized for "inadvertent error" and his consecration went ahead as scheduled. [17] Fagbamiye also apologized and said that Unuigbe had "assured the Primate of his continuous commitment to the teachings of the Word of God in its undiluted form and that he will continue to align with the vision of the Church of Nigeria, as a 'Bible-based' Church." [18]

Additional tension between CON and ACNA arose in the winter of 2021. The ACNA college of bishops released "Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement," in which they said "we do not believe it wise nor commendable to adopt categorically the language of 'gay Christian,' or 'same-sex attracted Christian' as the default description for those who experience same-sex attraction within the ACNA" and "commend[ed] the usage of 'Christians who experience same-sex attraction'" to focus on Christian identity. [19] After several ACNA clergy signed an open letter titled "Dear Gay Anglicans" that was seen to challenge the bishops' statement, Foley Beach commented that the reaction "has already had international ramifications," [20] including from Nigeria. Henry Ndukuba, who had succeeded Okoh as CON primate in 2020, said the ACNA bishops' statement was "tantamount to a subtle capitulation to recognize and promote same-sex relations among its members, exactly the same route of argument adopted by The Episcopal Church (TEC).... These actions which fueled the crisis that has broken the fabrics of the Anglican Communion should not be repeated by ACNA. Manipulating languages to cover up sin and sinners are incompatible with the example of Scripture which condemned sin." Ndukuba added that the "Dear Gay Anglicans" letter "was openly endorsed by some bishops, priests and laity in ACNA. It is a clarion call to recruit Gays into ACNA member parishes. The deadly ‘virus' of homosexuality has infiltrated ACNA." [21]

Transition to CONNAM

In October 2020, CANA was replaced as a corporate entity by CONNAM (with the two constituent dioceses of the West and the Trinity), and Orji was designated CONNAM's coordinating bishop. [22] In 2021, the JAFC completed the canonical process for removing its residence in the Church of Nigeria and becoming canonically resident in the ACNA. [23] Ndukuba dedicated a new cathedral for CONNAM in Houston in 2021. [24]

In October 2022, new CONNAM bylaws were released, signaling the permanent establishment of CONNAM as an alternative Anglican jurisdiction in the United States and Canada. [25] In response, Orji announced his departure from CONNAM. In leaving, he said "I'm no longer able to be part of a mission that violates my conscience and understanding of Godly Christian ministry and mission in North America" and added that "CoN made a promise to relinquish its mission to a new orthodox Anglican body when it emerges. ... We should not do things simply because we want to do so and because we don't want to be under 'white people' or the cheap blackmail that 'ACNA will/might bless same-sex unions in the future.' Nobody knows in the future or what we ourselves will do in the future. ... It is a horrible thing to imply of our GAFCON partner." [26] Ndukuba suspended Orji from ministry, stating that he "deeply regrets the recent public utterances and actions of Bishop Orji against the authority of the Church of Nigeria." [27]

ACNA received Orji and Diocese of the West Suffragan Bishop Scott Seely into the college of bishops, and the Diocese of the West voted to affiliate with ACNA, although some congregations elected to remain in CONNAM. [28] Ndukuba appointed the Diocese of the West's other suffragan, Celestine Ironna, to oversee congregations remaining with CONNAM on an interim basis. [27]

Ecumenical relations

In October 2009, CANA's leadership reacted to the Catholic Church's proposed creation of personal ordinariates for disaffected traditionalist Anglicans by saying that this provision would probably not have a great impact on the majority of its largely Low Church laity and clergy, who are satisfied with the Anglican realignment movement. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Nigeria</span> Nigerian Anglican church

The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptised membership, after the Church of England. As of 2016 it gives its membership as "over 18 million", out of a total Nigerian population of 190 million. It is "effectively the largest province in the Communion." As measured by active membership, the Church of Nigeria has nearly 2 million active baptised members. According to a study published by Cambridge University Press in the Journal of Anglican Studies, there are between 4.94 and 11.74 million Anglicans in Nigeria. The Church of Nigeria is the largest Anglican province on the continent of Africa, accounting for 41.7% of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is "probably the first [largest within the Anglican Communion] in terms of active members."

The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in North America</span> Anglican realignment province

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 974 congregations and 122,450 members in 2021. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.

The Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, since June 2010. It has 49 congregations, in the American states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It was previously the Anglican District of the Great Lakes of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, since August 2008, which was a founding diocese of the Anglican Church in North America in June 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Dobbs</span> Anglican bishop in N America

Julian M. Dobbs is a New Zealand-born American bishop. He serves as the Diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word (ADLW), a jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America. Dobbs' ministry as a bishop includes overseeing congregations and clergy of the diocese. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on February 7, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foley Beach</span> American Anglican bishop

Foley Thomas Beach is an American bishop. He is the second primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, a church associated with the Anglican realignment movement. Foley was elected as the church's primate on June 21, 2014. His enthronement took place on October 9, 2014. He is married to Alison and they have two adult children.

The Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, formerly the Missionary Diocese of CANA East, is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). It was one of the four missionary dioceses of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a dual church body of the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria. It is officially a full member diocese of ACNA since June 2013. It comprises 43 congregations in 19 American states, with congregations as far as California and Florida but with most concentrated in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions. The diocese is divided into nine archdeaconries: Central New York, the Chesapeake, Long Island, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, northeastern New York, the Ohio Valley, the South and the Midwest. The diocese also sponsors a mission in Haiti that includes nine additional congregations. The diocesan office is located at McLean, Virginia. The diocese also includes two affiliated religious communities: the Franciscan Brothers of Bucksport and the Community of St. Mary (East) in New York.

The Anglican Diocese of All Nations is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America and formerly of the Church of Nigeria North American Mission. It was one of the four missionary dioceses of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which was founded in 2005. As such, it had a dual church body of the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria in the United States, until May 2019. It comprises 35 parishes in 11 American states, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington and in 3 Canadian provinces, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The state with most parishes is Texas, with 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Lines</span> British Anglican bishop (born 1960)

Andrew John Lines is a British Anglican bishop. Since June 2017, he has been the Missionary Bishop to Europe of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a province outside the Anglican Communion. In 2020, he became the first presiding bishop of the Anglican Network in Europe, a "proto-province" recognized by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Since 2000, he has been Mission Director and CEO of Crosslinks. He is also the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), the missionary arm of GAFCON in England. In June 2017, it was announced that he would be made a bishop for ACNA and GAFCON; he was consecrated on 30 June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Ndukuba</span> Primate of all Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba is the current Primate of the Church of Nigeria. Prior to his appointment, he was Archbishop of Jos and Bishop of Gombe.

The Anglican Diocese of the Trinity (ADOTT) is a diocese of the Church of Nigeria and formerly of the Anglican Church in North America and a sub-jurisdiction of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). It is the first missionary diocese of CANA launched by the Church of Nigeria in the United States and Canada, working as an evangelical church planting movement.

The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is a small Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition with churches in Europe. Formed as part of the worldwide Anglican realignment, it is a member jurisdiction of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) and is under the primatial oversight of the chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council. GAFCON recognizes ANiE as a "proto-province" operating separately from the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and other Anglican Communion jurisdictions in Great Britain and the European continent. ANiE is the body hierarchically above the preexisting Anglican Mission in England; the former is the equivalent of a province whilst the latter is a convocation, the equivalent of a diocese.

John Mark Zimmerman is a retired American Anglican bishop. He was the first diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Southwest, which has jurisdiction in west Texas, New Mexico and Mexico in the Anglican Church in North America.

Ryan Spencer Reed is an American Anglican bishop. Since 2020, he has been the fourth diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in the Anglican Church in North America.

Clark Wallace Paul Lowenfield is an American Anglican bishop. Since 2013, he has been the first diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast, which has jurisdiction in southeast Texas and Louisiana, in the Anglican Church in North America.

John Engle Miller III is an American marine biologist and retired bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. He is a former Episcopal priest who played an active role in the Anglican realignment in the United States. Consecrated in 2008 to serve as a bishop in the Anglican Mission in the Americas, Miller later served as assisting bishop in the Gulf Atlantic Diocese and provided interim support during episcopal vacancies and leaves of absence in the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes and the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest.

Felix Clarence Orji is a Nigerian-born American Anglican bishop. A former Episcopal priest who left the Episcopal Church as part of the Anglican realignment, Orji was consecrated a bishop in Nigeria in 2011 to serve the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Since 2013, he has been the diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of All Nations, which was a dual member of both the Church of Nigeria and the Anglican Church in North America from 2013 to 2019, a member of the Church of Nigeria North American Mission from 2019 to 2022, and a sole member of the ACNA since 2022.

Scott Andrew Seely is an American Anglican bishop. Consecrated in 2020 in the Church of Nigeria North American Mission (CONNAM), he currently serves as bishop suffragan of the Anglican Diocese of All Nations in the Anglican Church in North America.

References

  1. ↑ "Turf battle erupts at New Jersey ACNA parish". Anglican Ink. December 13, 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Miller, Duane Alexander (March 2014). "The Bricolage of Global Anglicanism: Holy Trinity Anglican Church, San Antonio". Anglican and Episcopal History. 83 (1): 69. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "CANA / About Us / History Of Cana & Acna". www.canaconvocation.org. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  4. ↑ Dobbs, Julian. "Statement on marriage from Bishop Dobbs in response to the decision of the Supreme Court" (PDF). The Missionary Diocese of CANA East. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 Turner, Darrell J. "Peter Akinola". Britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  6. ↑ "MID-ATLANTIC ANGLICANS VOTE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH BECOMING A NEW ANGLICAN CHURCH DIOCESE". Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  7. ↑ "CANA no longer a Nigeria mission, says Archbishop Okoh". Vanguard News. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  8. ↑ "THE INAUGURATION OF THE MISSIONARY DIOCESE OF THE TRINITY". Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  9. ↑ "Julian Dobbs appointed Missionary Bishop of CANA". Anglican Ink. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  10. 1 2 Virtue, David (18 January 2019). "Church of Nigeria Appoints Four Bishops to Minister in the US, Bypassing ACNA". Virtue Online. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  11. ↑ "ACNA – Church of Nigeria sign agreement on future of CANA". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  12. ↑ Dobbs, Julian (21 May 2019). "CANA East Diocese Withdraws From the Church of Nigeria To Fully Join ACNA". Virtue Online. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  13. ↑ Warrington, Don. "ACNA and CANA: The Baling Wire Unravels, and Some Thoughts About Ethnicity and Churches". Vulcan's Hammer. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  14. ↑ Orji, Felix (23 May 2019). "CANA West leaves ACNA". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  15. ↑ Conger, George (13 June 2019). "Heresy accusations laid against Nigerian bishop-elect by senior ACNA priest". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  16. ↑ "Anglican Church probes Rev. Unuigbe over heresy charge". PM News. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  17. ↑ Conger, George (27 June 2019). "Past false teachings will not block bishop's consecration, after he promises to be faithful from now on". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  18. ↑ Virtue, David. "ADOTT Bishop Apologizes over Allegations of False Teaching against Bishop-elect Augustine Unuigbe". Virtue Online. No. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  19. ↑ "SEXUALITY AND IDENTITY: A PASTORAL STATEMENT FROM THE COLLEGE OF BISHOPS". Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  20. ↑ Beach, Foley. "Archbishop Beach writes to the Diocese of the South about the "Dear Gay Anglicans" open letter". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  21. ↑ Ndukuba, Henry. "Church of Nigeria criticizes ACNA over "Dear Gay Anglicans" letter". Anglican Ink.
  22. ↑ "CofN Appoints Bishop Felix Orji As The Coordinating Bishop Of The CONNAM, Terminates CANA As An Incorporated Entity". ACNN News. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  23. ↑ Atwood, Bill. "AN UPDATE ON THE JURISDICTION FOR THE ARMED FORCES AND CHAPLAINCY". Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  24. ↑ Virtue, David (28 June 2021). "Nigerian Anglicans Dedicate New Cathedral in Houston". Virtue Online. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  25. ↑ Virtue, David (18 October 2022). "IS THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA TRYING TO BECOME THEIR OWN INTERNATIONAL CHURCH MOVEMENT?". Virtue Online. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  26. ↑ "Why I Left the Church of Nigeria for ACNA – Bishop Orji". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  27. 1 2 "Church of Nigeria Suspends Bishop Felix Orji as He Abandons CONNAM For ACNA". Anglican Ink. 28 October 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  28. ↑ "ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF THE WEST RETURNING" . Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  29. ↑ Vatican move recognizes reality of Anglican divide
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.