My dear brothers and sisters,

I thank my God for you every time I think of you; and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now. And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you.”

These words from the opening letter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians sum up my feelings for each of you and the joy I have in my heart as I consider the journey we are on together. Much has been accomplished during the past four months since our separation from the Episcopal Church. However, there are still many issues for us to prayerfully consider. Therefore, with the Board’s support, I am calling the people of Holy Trinity Anglican Church to a day of corporate prayer this coming Saturday, July 28. The Board and I will be on retreat from 8am-5pm to consider God’s will for the future of our church and to hear from Him about the timing of the steps that lie on the path to building a new church. The decision to call the congregation to this day of prayer came out of the Board meeting this past Monday evening. Many issues are before us as a congregation, including a possible name change, paying off the land on Miller Road, strategies for reaching out to the neighborhood around us, incorporating newcomers into the parish, insuring adequate ministry space at our current location, and building a new campus in accordance with God’s timing. These are only a few of the many issues that are before us as a congregation. As you have heard me say before, we must spend more time receiving input from the Lord than input from the world on important matters such as this. I believe that God has the answer to each of the issues that lie before us but we must spend an appropriate amount of time in prayer. Therefore, I ask each of you to commit to spend at least one hour in prayer on Saturday. That may mean five minutes each hour throughout then day, 20 minutes at three different times during the day (before each meal), or one solid hour. Below is a list of requests to guide you during this time of prayer:

• Possible name change for our congregation
• Building Campaign & Master Plan
• How to reach out to and incorporate newcomers to the parish
• Possible ministry space expansion at current location
• Ministry Programs and Outreach for the coming year

Remember the words of James: “If any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.” (James 1:5)

Thank you in advance for your prayers as we all seek the Lord’s will. May God bless each of you.

Faithfully in Jesus,

Father Lawrence Harrison

I want to keep the parish family updated on the continuing developments in the process toward building a new church. In the past week, the Building Committee has met with both the architect and the Capital Campaign Consultant and has made progress toward the development of a Master Plan. During the summer months the Master Plan will be finalized and the Capital Campaign will be developed, so that in September, we can present a possible Master Plan to the congregation and begin to pray about the stewardship of our resources to be used in the first phase of our building program.

The architect is currently in the process of interviewing key ministry leaders and assessing the possible mission and ministry needs of our congregation in the years ahead. The Building Committee is visiting other churches and has scheduled times of fasting and prayer to consider God’s plan for the future of our campus. The Board is working in cooperation with both the architect and the Building Committee in this endeavor. As specific decisions are made or milestones reached, I will update you, primarily through my reflections page here, which will be updated frequently. Please keep all of these things in your prayers throughout the summer months.

Faithfully and gratefully in Jesus,

Fr Lawrence

This is a letter from Archbishop Akinola to the Archbishop of Canterbury regarding the recent installation of Martyn Minns as Bishop of CANA. This is something you should read. It originally appeared online here.

My dear Rowan,

Grace and Peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus the Christ.

I have received your note expressing your reservations regarding my plans to install Bishop Martyn Minns as the first Missionary Bishop of CANA. Even though your spokesmen have publicized the letter and its general content I did not actually receive it until after the ceremony. I do, however, want to respond to your concerns and clarify the situation with regard to CANA. I am also enclosing a copy of my most recent letter to Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

We are a deeply divided Communion. As leaders of the Communion we have all spent enormous amounts of time, travelled huge distances Рsometimes at great risk, and expended much needed financial resources in endless meetings, communiqu̩s and reports РLambeth Palace 2003, Dromantine 2005, Nottingham 2006 and Dar es Salaam 2007. We have developed numerous proposals, established various task forces and yet the division has only deepened. The decisions, actions, defiance and continuing intransigence of The Episcopal Church are at the heart of our crisis.

We have all sought ways to respond to the situation. As you well know the Church of Nigeria established CANA as a way for Nigerian congregations and other alienated Anglicans in North America to stay in the Communion. This is not something that brings any advantage to us – neither financial nor political. We have actually found it to be a very costly initiative and yet we believe that we have no other choice if we are to remain faithful to the gospel mandate. As I stated to you, and all of the primates in Dar es Salaam, although CANA is an initiative of the Church of Nigeria – and therefore a bonafide branch of the Communion – we have no desire to cling to it. CANA is for the Communion and we are more than happy to surrender it to the Communion once the conditions that prompted our division have been overturned.

We have sought to respond in a measured way. We delayed the election of our first CANA bishop until after General Convention 2006 to give The Episcopal Church every opportunity to embrace the recommendations of the Windsor report – to no avail. At the last meeting of the Church of Nigeria House of Bishops we deferred a decision regarding the election of additional suffragans for CANA out of respect for the Dar es Salaam process.

Sadly we have seen no such respect from the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church. Their most recent statement was both insulting and condescending and makes very clear that they have no intention of listening to the voice of the rest of the Communion. They are determined to pursue their own unbiblical agenda and exacerbate our current divisions.

In the middle of all of this the Lord’s name has been dishonoured. If we fail to act many will be lost to the church and thousands of souls will be imperiled. This we cannot and will not allow to happen. It is imperative that we continue to protect those at most risk while we seek a way forward that will offer hope for the future of our beleaguered Communion. It is to this vision that we in the Church of Nigeria and CANA remain committed.

Be assured of my prayers.

Sincerely,
+Peter Abuja

The Miller Road Property is now in our possession. The former owner surrendered his keys on Monday and the utilities are being restored this week. There will be a parish wide workday on Saturday, April 29 to clean, repair, do yard work and prepare the Rowlett Canterbury House (the new name of the Miller Ministry House) for regular midweek ministry activities. Volunteers are needed in numerous areas, including yard maintenance, pool maintenance, construction, cleaning, decorating, painting, hospitality (that means the workers need food) and many other areas. We will need you to bring with you painting materials, yard tools, lawnmowers, construction materials, and anything else that might be helpful. It also would be nice to have several flatbed trailers present to haul away the accumulated junk that must be removed from the 6-acre property. If you have any new or gently used furniture that you would like to donate, a list of needed items will be forthcoming soon. Also, we will have a registry of housewarming items on file at Target after April 23. We will list all of the items needed to furnish the home from $5 items to $500 items. You can simply stop by any Target and look up Holy Trinity Rowlett and purchase an item that is needed.

As many of you may know, we purchased the six acres on Miller Road on faith with no capital down payment. The bank has agreed to give us 60 days from the time of closing to come up with a 20% down payment ($100,000). To date, we have received about $15,000 in designated gifts for this purpose. But we are a long way off with only three weeks left to raise the additional $85,000. If you feel called to help us in making this down payment, please make checks payable to Holy Trinity Anglican Church with a note “Land” and either place it in the offering plate or bring it by the church office.

The Board is also in the process of reviewing bids for a Master Plan proposal for the new church facility. We should have an architectural firm chosen by May 1st and then the architect will begin to draw up plans for the congregation to review. We have also engaged the services of a capital fund raising consultant who will be assisting us in preparing the congregation for the stewardship of this upcoming project. The new church facility could cost us between $1.5 and $2 million dollars (on top of the land), so as you can see, there will be a need for each of us to give sacrificially, unless we want to keep our present space on Broadway as our permanent Sunday worship space. You will hear more about our capital campaign in the coming weeks.

On a personal note, I want to say thank you to the retiring board members (Don McConnell, Bill Richards & Tom Young) for their untiring service over the past three years. I also wish to ask your prayers for our new Board President and Chairman, Joe Beggs as he comes into this position at a time when there will be much work to be done and your prayers for him are extremely important.