Montana Anglican

This site is dedicated to the new Anglicans of Montana a place to gather, find brothers and sisters in Christ, and exchange encouraging news:

Currently, Montana has two Anglican Churches which are affiliated with the Diocese of Uganda:

Christ Church Anglican - Butte, Fr. Brian Miller: link

Christ Church Anglican - Billings: link

We also have Anglican friends in our vicinity:

Christ the King - Spokane, Fr. Jerry Cimioti: link

Northern Plains Anglicans:link

Christ the Good Shepherd, Fr. Chip Johnson - South Dakota:link

Hattip - Anglican TV

An excellent interview with Archbishop Orombi about the GAFCON conference and the current status of the Anglican Communion:

Click here!

Several great videos of the conference are located here!  click!

Hattip - those savvy folk at Standfirm -

As many of you are already aware, our Primate, Archbishop Orombi, just finished a conference in Jerusalem that will radically change the Anglican Communion as we know it. Here is a round up of the principle points from +Peter Jenson from Sydney:

Read the entire article here!

As Peter Jensen put it in opening the session “The chaos of the Anglican Communion is about to receive some order”

What stands out in the statement? Five initial impressions of what will be important.

1. A strong commitment to stay in and affirm the Anglican Communion, despite all.

2. The creation of a fellowship of Confessing Anglicans within the Communion.

3. The issuing of the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis for such a fellowship.

4. A Council of Primates to oversee the movement.

5. A new Province in the USA recognised by the Council of Primates, which means that the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury alone to say who is in and who is out is to be shared. (This new Province will consist of those American Anglicans who have not been able to stay in the existing churches in the US and Canada).

The original statement is located here!

Montana Anglicans should rejoice as this means that not only has our Anglican identity been confirmed by the majority of the Anglican Communion, but that soon we shall be united with our other brothers and sisters across the nation as the Anglican presence in North America.

In addition, we have the encouragement we need not to just continue to be Anglican - but also share that Faith with everyone around us. Anglicanism is not a denomination as much as it is an opportunity to move together to allow others to bring us to the Person of Christ.

Thanks be to God!

Hattip: ACN Link

By TOM HEINEN

Posted: May 23, 2008

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, a man at the epicenter of forces shaking the world Anglican Communion and its affiliated U.S. Episcopal Church, got a standing ovation from about 75 people in Waukesha County this week as he said that a new North American church was arising for traditionalists opposed to same-sex blessings and gay, partnered bishops.

As chairman of the Common Cause Partnership, a federation of Anglican jurisdictions and partnerships in the United States and Canada, he hosted a meeting of like-minded bishops in May in Pittsburgh. A reference to that in his talk evoked the applause.”What I can tell you about a meeting of the lead bishops was that there was unanimity among us, that all of the efforts that are swelling up from the ground around the country are to be encouraged, and that we actually anticipate that we will be in a situation within 24 to 36 months in which . . . a separate ecclesiastical structure in North America within the Anglican Communion will exist as a united reality. And that I think is very good news.” Read the rest of this entry »

by Kathrine Cook
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away a Pennsylvania pastor recommended to my husband and I - new parents then -a book by Sheldon Vanauken called A Severe Mercy. For anyone who loves C.S. Lewis and is a Christian it is a great read and very moving. If you have not had the opportunity to read it I will not spoil the plot beyond telling you the meaning of the title - which, more than anything else, has stuck with me through the years. Vanauken talks to us about things that happen in our lives which seem, at the time, to be tragic and devastating - yet, in the long run - if we allow God to work his Grace, Forgiveness (at times), and Goodness - we realize down the road that what was meant for evil, God has used for good.

I think upon these last few years and I realize how much of it has been a ’severe mercy’. So many of the events of my life as an Anglican (and in the great scheme of things it has not been long) have been hard - the loss of friends, the fracturing of a community, the strain of not knowing what will or could be. It has been a difficult path for so many of us thrust out into a wilderness of uncertainty and searching. It has been a quest in a place of conflicting accounts to try to find what God wants. Stumbling along the road with thousands of fellow Anglican Christians it has been hard, but I finding myself realizing 5 years down the road that it is a ’severe mercy’… a hard path but littered along the way with many small graces that have made it bearable. Read the rest of this entry »

Hattip: Titus 1:9

This is an excellent review of the retreat and the Archbishop’s current views: click here

Hattip - NorthernPlains

Starting this Wednesday, May 21st, a 40 day prayer campaign will precede and support this historic event.

1,000 leaders from faithful Anglican Provinces and ministries from around the world, including 280 Bishops, will be present to:

1. Provide an opportunity for fellowship as well as to continue to experience and proclaim the transforming love of Christ.
2. Develop a renewed understanding of our identity as Anglican Christians.
3. Prepare for an Anglican future in which the Gospel is uncompromised and Christ-centered mission a top priority.

Click here for more information!

Several men from Anglican parishes are gone to the Anglican Men’s Retreat.  Please keep them in prayer.

Information for the retreat is found here:click!

IMPORTANT: Archbishop Orombi’s talk at the Conference! SEE NOW!

Paul Ssembiro’s Talk: Click here !

Archbishop’s Second talk:click here!

Archbishop’s Third Talk:Click Here!

hattip: StandFirm

1. I am not visiting a church in the Diocese of Georgia. I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda. Were I to visit a congregation within TEC, I would certainly observe the courtesy of contacting the local bishop. Since, however, I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda, I feel very free to visit them and encourage them through the Word of God.

How thankful we can be we are under such Godly men!

Read entire article here:click!

One of the things we try to do on this site is to bring information we thing would be applicable to Montana’s Anglicans and the struggles we face here. Fr. Matt Kennedy has been posting a series of sermons he has given these past few weeks reiterating why his Anglican church is currently under siege from the Episcopal Church. This most recent sermon, states so well what our objectives should be as we are costing the cost of standing for Christ:

When we speak of the cross, we think “religious symbol” Our crosses are gold plaited and adorned with decoration. The cross the disciples knew was gruesome; a device of torture and death and political oppression. We’ve spiritualized the call “to take up the cross”. Taking up the cross for us means dying to self, dying to sin, or dying to bad habits and all of that is good and necessary and included in the call to take up your cross, but we must not leave out the plain meaning. If you want to be my disciple, Jesus says, you must be willing to die, not just to self, not just to sin, not just to bad habits, but to die in a real and literal way because in the course of your Christian life you might be called to do so.

To follow Christ in the world that despised him means being despised. And if your devotion to and love for Jesus Christ is superseded by or eclipsed by your love for your family or your love for your own life, then you will shrink back. If you choose to follow Jesus you must be prepared to face the consequences of that decision. And so before you do, Jesus calls you to think through and be prepared for the worst.

Read the entire sermon here!

Let us remember as we walk our new paths that it is not for ourselves or our mission or even for our safety, but it is solely to proclaim the Gospel of Christ as it has been delivered to us