ANiC shelves plans for multiple dioceses

By Sue Careless

THE ANGLICAN Network in Canada, a decade-old denomination, has decided to put on hold for another year any plans to restructure from one diocesan body into three.

The decision was made in October at ANiC’s annual synod held this year in Abbotsford, B.C.

The proposal had argued “With an ASA [average Sunday attendance] of about 5,000, our numbers now warrant moving beyond emergency structures and toward multiple dioceses.”

The plan was for two dioceses based on geography: Canada East (ASA 2,040 with a budget of $510,199) and Canada West (ASA 2,254 with a budget of $645,918). The third proposed diocese was one of affinity known as Asian and Multicultural Ministries in Canada (ASA 554; Budget $250,532).

Each diocese would have had its own Executive Committee and Synod but the three dioceses would have shared administrative services.

ANiC held its inaugural national synod in Burlington ten years ago in 2008 and has grown steadily to over 70 parishes and church plants across the country. (ANiC also has five U.S. congregations in New England.)

But the recent synod felt the plan for multiple dioceses should be put on hold for another year. A task force was established to discuss the proposal in more detail with every congregation before the 2019 synod.

The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) is a diocese in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and part of the global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans which affirms the Jerusalem Declaration. ANiC also remains affiliated with the Anglican Church of South America, one of 38 jurisdictions in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

ANiC aims to focus on church planting. Its current goal is to concentrate much of its energies and resources on the 37 remaining communities in Canada with populations over 50,000 that still don’t have an ACNA presence.

According to its website, ANiC is “committed to remaining faithful to Holy Scripture and established Anglican doctrine and practices.” ANiC was one of two groups to emerge out of the Essentials movement in the Anglican Church of Canada.

British Bishop Andrew Lines, ACNA’s Missionary Bishop to Europe, preached at the synod’s closing eucharist.   TAP