bishopsletter

This Union agreement began with an overture from the Primate of All Nigeria, the Most Rev'd Peter J. Akinola, in October, 2004 to the Most Rev'd Leonard W. Riches of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). Bishop Riches demonstrated his commitment to us in the Anglican Province of America (APA) by communicating to the Primate that the REC is officially linked to us by a Unity Agreement and requested that we be a part of the talks. The Primate agreed to this and the first meeting between the REC/APA and the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) was held in Houston, Texas a day or so later. Because of previous commitments, I was unable to attend this meeting on short notice, but the Rt. Rev'd Richard J. Boyce (Diocese of the West) attended the meeting along with Bps. Riches, Roy Grote, and Ray Sutton of the REC. The Primate outlined a plan whereby his Provincial Committee would come to the United States and meet with a two person committee from the REC/APA. The meeting was held during the week of December 5, 2005 in Summerville, South Carolina. Bishops Matthew Obadayo and Ikeche Nwosou from Nigeria represented the Primate and Bishops Sutton and James West represented the REC/APA. Both Bishop Riches and I thought it would be a good idea that we attend the meeting to meet these two men and be available as resource persons for our representative bodies.

As the meeting progressed, it became more and more apparent that the visiting bishops had no idea what a separated Anglican Church was. They had no idea how we could have Episcopal Orders and yet be outside the Anglican Communion. Each of us presented books and papers that told about our individual churches and their differing origins from different periods of history. Thanks to Fr. Mark Clavier for his work on the history of the APA and to Fr. Chad Jones for his compilation of a dossier on our Episcopal Orders. It took almost a complete day for the visting bishops to begin to understand who we are, but finally the "light came on for them. Bishop Obadayo received a call from Archbishop Akinola about 5:00 P.M. that first day and we can only gather from one side of the conversation that the Primate wanted more progress made. The next day we began working on an actual document of intercommunion based upon the document that exists between REC and APA. That work took the remainder of the second day.

Archbishop Akinola indicated that he wanted a second meeting with us as soon as possible in Nigeria. We thought perhaps he meant March or April 2005. What he wanted was a meeting immediately after the New Year. Neither the REC Bishops nor I had any idea how we could possibly arrange this trip on such short notice. We had to raise money for the trip and of course we had to get the required immunizations for African travel, not to mention updating passports and getting visas approved by the Nigerian Consulate. I want to mention here how much we in the REC/APA appreciate Anglicans United and Fr. Todd and Cherie Wetzel. Between Cherie and Lisa Ulrich in our office, the tickets were coordinated and purchased by Anglicans United and all the necessary papers were filed so we could make the trip in early January, 2005. Again, great thanks to Anglicans United.

Bishop Sutton and I traveled via Northwest Airlines and KLM through Amsterdam and met Bishop West in Lagos, Nigeria. We traveled together by car to Abeokuta, where the next series of meetings took place. We worked out another document with stronger language than intercommunion, a document indicating that we were working toward one unified body. (I think that the Archbishop believes in the back of his mind that the orthodox of the Anglican Communion will ultimately need to unite with or without the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC)). We completed our work after a couple of days and spent time traveling the area and visiting churches (Click here for some pictures of our time in Nigeria). We had regular worship services together. We visited Archbishop Akinola in his hillside home in Abeokuta where he plans to live when he retires. Very nice!

Upon returning home, despite the urgency that the Primate seemed to have placed of this, we heard little or nothing for months. A short time ago Church of Nigeria issued a revised Constitution and Canons removing reference to the Anglican Communion and the ABC. They make it very clear that the Church of Nigeria is in communion with all faithful Anglicans and shares no communion with revisionists. This Constitution, it seems, was what he was waiting for in order to move forward with the Covenant Union with us.

During the Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the final draft of our joint Concordat was given to us for approval on November 12, 2005. Bishop Riches and I met with the Archbishop Akinola, along with Canon Martyn Minns, his close confidant, and received and signed the Document. We then proceeded to formulate a press release. Once all sides agreed on the press release, it and the Covenant Union document were released for as wide a distribution as possible.

This emerging relationship with the 18,000,000 member Nigerian Province of the Anglican Communion is without a doubt the most significant event in the life of the separated Anglican Church movement. It is a glorious occasion and one we should be rightfully pleased about. It is a mission minded document, which you will realize as you read it. I believe we must be active partners in this relationship if it is to grow. A number of our parishes have Nigerian families as members. This Concordat should serve as a tangible indicator of our commitment to them and to the historic Faith we all share. The Archbishop wants us to reach out to Nigerian Anglicans in our areas who have founded new churches under the Primate's Convocation of Anglican Nigerians in America initiative.

All parish leaders should share this information with their congregations by letter or announcement. This should serve as encouragement to all who have labored so long in the vineyards of our part of the Church through times of seeming discouragement. God bless and keep you all.