Invitation to Second Unity Event: Wisconsin

Posted on May 1, 2012

Dear Friends in Christ,

St. Michael’s Anglican Church, in Nashotah, Wisconsin and the members of the Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter of the American Anglican Council (SEWAAC) are looking forward with great anticipation to hosting our second Midwest Anglican unity event on May 11. The event will be held in Adams Hall, 2777 Mission Road in Nashotah. The Holy Eucharist at 6:00 p.m. will be a rich time of worship and prayer together (Click here to download a flyer).

SCHEDULE
6:00 Holy Eucharist
7:20 Reception and Dinner

All those who can stay overnight are encouraged to join us on Saturday morning:
9:00 – 11:00 ! The Rev. Daniel Adkinson will speak on “The Ministry of Anglican 1000 and the Impact of Regional Anglican 1000 Conferences.”

If you plan on attending the Reception and Dinner on Friday evening, please call Bill Chapin (414) 352-4586 or e-mail him at bchapinsewaac@gmail.com to reserve a place.

The Very Rev’d Canon Robert S. Munday, Ph.D

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity!”  Psalm 133:1

Church of the Cross was honored to host the first Midwest Anglican unity event.  It was a time full of blessings as we met together for discussion, worship, and prayer.  The day began with an afternoon meeting attended by 23 leaders representing the various regions.  After initial introductions we broke into smaller groups and discussed three questions:  What are our hopes as we come together in this call to unity?  What are the challenges we face?  What are the strengths each of our respective churches and regions bring?  When the small groups came back together to share the answers given by their groups, we found a number of similar themes.  Among the key thoughts shared were:

• We hope for genuine integration and partnership among our different churches and regions and look forward to sharing resources and best practices.
• We face the challenge of an reaching an outside culture that is often opposed to the things of God, with the challenge of bringing together our different church cultures and learning from each other.
• We desire to leverage our different strengths and unique characteristics and experiences to reach people of all ages and backgrounds—with a special awareness of the need to raise up young leaders and new generations of followers of Christ.
• We are excited to grow in friendship with one another, and commit to honest and transparent dialog and sharing.
• We all share a strong commitment to reaching lost people through church planting and discipling believers to grow in maturity in Christ.

After this time of sharing we spent an extended time in prayer bringing our thanksgivings and requests before God. This was followed by what we refer to in Minnesota as “a little dinner” (which basically means enough food to feed a small army—we still have leftovers, by the way, if anyone’s hungry).

We were joined by a number of others for an evening worship service in the sanctuary of Church of the Cross.  Dean Munday taught from God’s word on the mission of the church—giving the memorial charge that we would be “perpetually pregnant” as we follow the call to birth new works for the Kingdom.  In response to his message came a powerful time of prayer as the members of the different regions took turns laying hands on one another and praying for God’s protection and anointing on the representative churches and leaders.  We ended by celebrating the Eucharist together.

I can honestly say that I am already looking forward to our next unity gathering on May 11.  I often find that with the pressing needs of the local church, any other meetings that take me away from those needs seem like inconveniences.  Yet this gathering reminded me of our Lord’s deep desire for unity among his people and of the fact that there are things which we can do in partnership that we can’t accomplish alone.  This first meeting established what a strong foundation we have as we come together for the sake of mission—I look forward to building on that foundation in the months to come.

Reflection by Fr. Christian Ruch
Rector, Church of the Cross

Listen to Dean Munday’s Homily

Click here to download.

See Photos from the Minnesota Unity Event

Small group photo by Paul Calvin
Worship service photos by Dan Fine

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”  John 17:20-26

Jesus prays that the unity he enjoys with the Father will be revealed to his followers.  In the church we do not create unity—unity is revealed to us as a gift—a prayer—to be received.  We are invited to enter into the unity that Jesus is already sharing with the heavenly Father.  As we, together with him, receive that unity, we can, also, be one with one another.

When it comes to revealing the good news of the gospel to our cities and towns, our impact is exponentially greater when we are together in unity.  Like the coals of a fire when gathered close together, flames explode to bring light and create warmth.  But separate those same coals—isolate them from each other—and they can begin to smolder.

Jesus prayed for his followers throughout time to receive his unity so that the world would know that the Father had sent him.  There is a fierce battle over the unity of the church because it is in that unity that the Son is revealed with the good news of the gospel.   Christian unity is not based on our lowest common denominator. There is no unity if truth is absent, but our unity comes from the highest common denominator—the victorious Christ over sin and death.

When we all look up to the risen Christ with outstretched arms, we can receive His unity.  His unity multiplies the church just like flames multiply fire over a parched prairie.  Pray for revival fires of faith and open your arms to receive the revealed unity that Jesus brings you from the Father through the Holy Spirit—that God’s love in you may spread to the world.

Holy Father, unite our hearts—and love the world through us to you—in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

-William Beasley

Please join us for worship Monday night as Anglicans from different regions of the upper midwest come together to celebrate the unity we have in Christ.  This will be a time to give thanks to God for his faithfulness and to seek Him for how we may partner together to greater bless our communities.

Fr. Christian Ruch

We just added to the Documents page a Lenten Prayer Card with prayers we can pray for on another and a Lenten Journal. The Journal includes daily prayers and collects, thoughts from Church Fathers, and Scriptures readings on the theme of Unity. Download them today to help you intercede for the Unity of the Anglican Church in the Upper Midwest.

Click here to go to the Documents page.

Welcome to Midwest.anglican.org. This purpose of this website is to help us journey together through this Call to Unity for the Sake of Mission process that we are beginning together. Please read the “Call to Unity” invitation for more details.

In Christ,

Dean Robert Munday, Fr. Stewart Ruch III, Canon William Beasley, Fr. Christian Ruch

Join in the process. Email discernment@midwestanglican.org.