May 2007 Archives

As most of you know, we purchased the property on Miller Road with the provision from the bank that we make a 20% down payment of $100,000 in 60 days which was this past Tuesday. Making this payment on time would an important sign to us of God's blessing and provisions as well as an indicator the willingness of the congregation to be a part of the building of Holy Trinity Anglican Church from the very beginning. I am pleased to report that the final check needed to make the payment was received on Sunday morning, taking us over the top and allowing us to make the payment on schedule. Thanks be to God for His provision and for all of you who gave towards this need. We will continue to make monthly payments for the land for the next two years, or until sufficient gifts are received to allow us to pay off the remaining amount of about $475,000.

In regard to the building of the church, we have hired the firm of Brown & Brown Architects (view their website) to complete the Master Plan which should be completed around September 1st. As soon as the Master Plan is completed, we will unveil the plan to the congregation and kickoff our stewardship campaign to raise funds for the church building. However, we will not begin this process until we have paid off the loan in full for the purchase of the land. David Blom has been appointed as Chairman of the Building Committee. Other members of that Committee have been selected by the Board and will be announced to the congregation when we hear whether or not they accept the appointment.

Please continue to keep this process in your prayers and prayerfully consider a regular gift toward the Building Fund for the payoff of the property on Miller Road so that we may begin building our new church home as soon as possible. Checks may be made payable to Holy Trinity Anglican Church with a memo for "Land." Future reflections will offer some creative suggestions for giving that do not need to significantly affect your lifestyle or your regular tithe to the work of ministry at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

May God's continued blessings be upon you.

Father Lawrence Harrison

You can view the 45 minute service where Martin Minns was installed with the video here.

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.

Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace, London
Sunday, May 6th, 2007

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 - sometimes at great risk, and expended much needed financial resources in endless meetings, communiqués and reports - Lambeth 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