Anglican Church in North America

Not to be confused with the Anglican Church in America or the American Anglican Church.

Anglican Church in North America
AbbreviationACNA
ClassificationProtestant (with Anglo-Catholic, charismatic and evangelical orientations)
OrientationAnglican
ScriptureHoly Bible
TheologyAnglican doctrine
PolityEpiscopal
ArchbishopSteve Wood
COODeborah Tepley
AssociationsGAFCON, Global South
RegionCanada, United States, Mexico, Cuba
OriginJune 22, 2009
St. Vincent's Cathedral, Bedford, Texas, United States
Separated fromAnglican Church of Canada and Episcopal Church in the United States
Merger ofCommon Cause Partnership
Congregations1,013 (2023)[1]
Members128,114 (2023)[1]
Official websiteanglicanchurch.net Edit this at Wikidata

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico,[2] two mission churches in Guatemala,[3] and a missionary diocese in Cuba.[4] Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA.[5] Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.[6]

The ACNA was founded in 2009 by former members of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada who were dissatisfied with liberal doctrinal and social teachings in their former churches, which they considered contradictory to traditional Anglican belief.[7] Prior to 2009, these conservative Anglicans had begun to receive support from a number of Anglican churches (or provinces) outside of North America, especially in the Global South. Several Episcopal dioceses and many individual parishes in both Canada and the United States voted to transfer their allegiance to Anglican provinces in South America and Africa. In 2009, many Anglican groups which had withdrawn from the two North American provinces united to form the Anglican Church in North America.

Unlike the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, the ACNA is not a member province of the Anglican Communion.[8][9][10][11][12] From its inception, the Anglican Church in North America has sought full communion with those provinces of the Anglican Communion "that hold and maintain the Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacraments and Discipline of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church"; [13] and maintains full communion with some of the Anglican Global South primates.[14][15][16]

The ACNA has attempted to incorporate the full spectrum of conservative Anglicanism within Canada and the United States. As a result, it accommodates Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, and evangelical theological orientations. It also includes those who oppose and those who support the ordination of women. Women can serve as clergy members in some dioceses, while other dioceses maintain an exclusively male clergy. Women are ineligible to serve as bishops. This disagreement over the ordination of women has led to "impaired communion" among some dioceses.[17] The ACNA defines Christian marriage exclusively as a lifelong union between a man and a woman and holds that there are only two expressions of faithful sexuality: lifelong marriage between a man and a woman or abstinence. The church opposes abortion and euthanasia.

  1. ^ a b "Congregational Reporting: 2023 in Review" (PDF). Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Anglican Church in North America". The Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  3. ^ "Cristo Mi Redentor". Anglican Chaplains. Retrieved August 17, 2022.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Cuba Mission". Reformed Episcopal Church - Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018.
  5. ^ Thebeau, Rachel (June 22, 2024). "Steve Wood Elected the Third Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America". The Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. ^ AnglicanChurchNA (June 28, 2024). AnglicanChurchNA is live!. Retrieved June 29, 2024 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ "Conservative bishops refuse to take Communion with LGBTQ+ bishops, demand 'sanctions' for churches that allow for same-sex marriage". Episcopal News Service. July 29, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  8. ^ "Member Churches". Anglican Communion Office. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  9. ^ Brittain 2015, pp. 185–186: "On 3 October 2014, Archbishop [Justin] Welby was asked during an interview with the Irish Times Gazette to comment on the present relationship between the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the Anglican Communion. He replied, 'Well, the ACNA is a separate church; it is not part of the Anglican Communion'. The interviewer, Canon Ian Ellis, then followed up by asking, 'Can it be in the Anglican Communion, or is that something for the future?' The Archbishop answered, 'Well, it's clearly for the future, because it's not part of the Communion.'"
  10. ^ Bernardelli, Giorgio (January 10, 2016). "Anglican primates hold meeting to avert schism". Vatican Insider. La Stampa. Turin. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  11. ^ Forget, André (January 20, 2016). "Hiltz: Despite controversy, Primates' Meeting a 'success'". Anglican Journal. Toronto. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  12. ^ "Secretary General clarifies ACNA position with Communion as he reports to Standing Committee". Anglican Communion News Service. September 5, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  13. ^ Anglican Church in North America 2014, p. 3.
  14. ^ "Global South Anglican - A Statement from the Global South Primates Regarding the Anglican Church in North America". Global South Anglican. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  15. ^ Percy 2017, p. 57.
  16. ^ "About the Anglican Church in North America" (PDF). Anglican Church in North America. 2017. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  17. ^ "Fort Worth in impaired communion with some ACNA dioceses". Anglican Ink. November 16, 2017. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.