I am happy to announce that the parish vote has reached a quorum with more than an 80% majority in favor of disaffiliation with the Anglican Church in North America and pursuing affiliation with the Episcopal Church with the Diocese of Texas.
The last month has been intense for all of us, and it was certainly not the summer we expected. Thank you for leaning in on such a vital discernment process, opening yourselves up for dialog, and being diligent in prayer. I am so proud to belong to a parish that has never been afraid to face complex topics while demonstrating hope and faith in our Good Shepherd to see us through.
My take: although I’m sure there are more of these coming, for better or worse I doubt that it will be a stampede, the inclusion of a church in the home of the Longhorns notwithstanding.
The basic thing that most people overlook is the highly heterogeneous nature of the ACNA itself, which fits Sun Yat-Sen’s description of a “heap of loose sand.” Both–yes, we’re up to two now–of the high profile disaffiliations have been out of Todd Hunter’s Church for the Sake of Others, which is a largely exvangelical enterprise. It’s not surprising that the exvangelicals, fleeing the mindless dogmatism of their past, don’t like to discover that the ACNA was started because TEC had overrun the boundaries of the Gospel and had torn down the barbed wire fence, thus the need for some hard boundaries. It’s also the case that exvangelicals, desirous of moving up from their populist origins, would find that the favoured secular values of the day–especially in the upper reaches of society–are at odds with the proclamation of ACNA and its GAFCON partners. This last point is an endless problem in the Anglican/Episcopal world, as I discussed in my post Squaring the Circle of Anglican/Episcopal Ministry.
My initial enthusiasm with the influx of people coming out of the evangelical world into the ACNA was misplaced. (My mother’s experience should have been instructive, but sadly it wasn’t.) At this point I’m not worried about the people in C4SO who leave the ACNA, I’m more worried about the ones who stay. Don’t put that cattle guard in just yet.
Positive Infinity 
Anyone who tries to social climb by joining a church is a tool, good neither at church nor social climbing in 2023.
LikeLike
Don’t underestimate the exvangelicals’ fixation on this, they have been taught from birth that theirs is the “way up.” They’re still looking for it, when they figure out it isn’t, most will abandon Christianity altogether.
LikeLike
I agree.
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”” Mark 4
LikeLike
That’s why Pentecostal churches do well–they reach the poor and/or non-white. They have a better harvest field. The Anglicans are trapped in a demographic rut and can’t figure a way out of it.
LikeLike