New Bishop-elect for Territory of the People
(Staff) ON JAN. 25th the Ven. Lincoln McKoen, archdeacon of Nimpkish in the Diocese of British Columbia, was elected as the Bishop for the Territory of the People during an electoral synod held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops. One of six candidates, McKoen was elected on the fourth ballot. There were 17 clergy in attendance voting and 47 lay people. Fifty percent of each order was needed to acclaim the Bishop-elect.
McKoen is expected to be consecrated in the late spring and will succeed Bishop Barbara Andrews who retires May 1st.
McKoen came to faith as an adult convert and was baptized when he was 22. He told electoral delegates, “My spiritual growth has come to a place where all I desire is to know Christ and see him in others.”
Born and raised in Ontario, McKoen studied political science at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia and then earned his Masters of Divinity at Trinity College, University of Toronto. He was a catechist in the Parish of Battle Harbour, Newfoundland in 2002 to 2003, and ordained to the diaconate there for the Diocese of Niagara. Priested in 2003, McKoen served in the Diocese of Toronto, first in Elora and later in Oshawa.
In 2010 McKoen moved to the Diocese of British Columbia with his family to work in Christ Church, Alert Bay, Fort Rupert and Kingcome Inlet. He was appointed incumbent of St Peter, Campbell River in the early spring of 2018.
Through his ministry experience in Alert Bay, living amongst the Kwakwaka’wakw people for almost a decade, McKoen says he has been learning how necessary reconciliation work is for the Church.
He is a member of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, a society founded in 1928 to foster contact between Christians, especially those of the Anglican and Orthodox traditions. McKoen is married to Tanya, an ordained Anglican priest, and has a step-son at university.
The Territory
The Territory of the People is comprised of 34 congregations and is located in the southeast corner of British Columbia. It spans some 166,500 square km that stretch from Prince George in the north to beyond Merritt and Boothroyd in the south.
The Territory was formerly known as the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior. APCI was formed in 2002 after the Diocese of Cariboo, which had been founded in 1914, ceased operations. Litigation costs and financial settlements to survivors of abuse at St. George’s Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C. had exhausted all the resources of the Diocese.
While the Territory has a small administrative budget with minimal administrative support, it has the status of a diocese and the ability to elect a bishop and send delegates to General Synod. TAP
