Anglican congregations moving forward after losing church buildings

By Colette M. Jenkins 
Beacon Journal religion writer

Published: January 28, 2012 - 12:29 AM | Updated: January 28, 2012 - 09:24 AM

Rev. Scott Souders of Holy Spirit Anglican Church, (left to right) local Bishop Roger Ames and Rev. Michael Kravnik of St. Luke's Anglican Church talk about what has been happening at the local Anglican churches since losing their building to the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)

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Carla Long is overcome with sadness every time she sees the unoccupied church building in her East Buchtel Avenue neighborhood.

“It’s heartbreaking. That church has been a beacon of light in this neighborhood,” said Long, 46. “We always called it a hospital because it was a place where you could go for comfort and healing.”

Long is a recovering addict who found support at Holy Spirit Church when it was located at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. The congregation moved out of the building in July, after losing it in a court battle.

The Holy Spirit congregation is among five Northeast Ohio parishes that were displaced after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge ruled that the church properties they occupied belonged to the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio.

The five congregations — Holy Spirit; St. Luke’s, Fairlawn; St. Barnabas, Bay Village; St. Anne in the Fields, Madison; and Church of the Transfiguration, Cleveland — left the Episcopal Church in 2003 and realigned with the Anglican Communion.

The split grew from disagreements over biblical teaching on salvation and other issues, including homosexuality. After the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003, some of the more theologically conservative parishes, including the five in Northeast Ohio, disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and realigned themselves with Anglican organizations that share their views on issues like homosexuality.

In March 2008, the diocese sued, asking the county court to declare that the property associated with the five parishes belongs to the diocese and the Episcopal Church. Last April, the court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church and the diocese. Several months later, the Anglican congregations began vacating the buildings.

All five congregations have been taken in by other churches — Church of the Transfiguration worships at a former Methodist building on Martin Luther King Drive in Cleveland; St. Anne’s worships in the youth center at Cornerstone Friends Church in Madison and St. Barnabas, now Christ Church Westshore, has weekday services at Bay Presbyterian Church Westshore and a 10 a.m. Sunday service at Bay High School in Bay Village.

Locally, Holy Spirit’s congregation worships at 10 a.m. Sundays in the fellowship hall at Bethel Church, 734 Grant St. in Akron. There also is a lunchtime ministry that begins at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. The ministry is supported by several other congregations, including those at Bethel and St. Luke’s.

St. Luke’s, whose corporate name is now St. Luke’s Ministries, worships at 10 a.m. Sunday in the fellowship hall at St. Thomas Eastern Orthodox Church, 555 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Fairlawn, and has a 4:30 p.m. Saturday service at its ministry center, 3810 Ridgewood Road in Copley Township.

“One of the great things that has come from this is that we don’t just have a renter’s relationship with St. Thomas. It’s a genuine friendship,” said the Rev. Michael Kraynak, pastor at St. Luke’s. “All of the five churches have been instrumental in unifying the Christian community because each is involved in a relationship where one Christian community is helping another.”

St. Luke’s moved its services to St. Thomas in late November. In the last two months, the two congregations have grown closer. Although they each have their own services, the congregations have come together on several occasions.

“Even though we were at a place where we didn’t know where we were going to go, after the court ruling, God was doing much more in the midst,” Kraynak said. “The Lord has done something in our vision and our heart to help us see that we can do much more to serve others when we are in relationship with others. Mission, for us, is more important than a building.”

The properties that were once home to St. Luke’s at 565 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Fairlawn and Holy Spirit at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. are for sale with Grubb & Ellis Co. The Cleveland real-estate company also is selling the properties in Madison and Cleveland. The Bay Village property has been restarted as an Episcopal Church by the diocese.

“The Bay Village location was one that we really wanted to keep. Most of the others have Episcopal churches nearby,” said Martha Wright, spokeswoman for the diocese. “Until the other buildings are sold, the diocese is still responsible for them.”

The former St. Luke’s property is listed as a 26,186-square-foot single-story structure, with 425 parking spaces, located on 20.27 acres that can be adapted for office or medical use. The listing suggests that the property is “ideal for congregate care, continued religious use, public/private schooling, hospitals and cultural institutions.” It is priced at $1.9 million.

The former Holy Spirit property consists of a 1,880-square-foot house and a 5,682-square-foot church, with 45 parking spaces on .65 acre. It is listed for $159,000.

David Hollister, of Grubb & Ellis, said that in the two months that he has had the listings, both properties have had two showings and one offer. He said that while the Fairlawn property could serve a different use, the Buchtel property is likely to be sold to another religious community.

The Rev. Scott Souders, pastor of Holy Spirit, said he hopes that the Buchtel property will go to a ministry dedicated to outreach in the neighborhood.

“We were doing some really effective ministry there and it would be nice to have the presence of another ministry there to continue meeting the needs of the people,” Souders said. “We still go back to the neighborhood and do ministry but our presence is missing. Still, we are committed to touching lives and bringing other ministries together to help us minister to people where they are.”

Long, who still considers Holy Spirit her church home, said she is not always able to travel to the new location. So, she regularly attends a church that is closer to her home.

“It’s just a shame that a church that has done so much to lift up the people in this neighborhood is no longer here,” Long said. “It was a place that everyone knew they could go to and find comfort without judgment. People had respect for the building because of what the people inside were doing.

“Since it closed, my husband and I have chased people who were drinking from the front porch. We’ve found drug paraphernalia near the church house and mattresses behind the church. Lord only knows what they were being used for. This neighborhood needs a safe place for people to go, not a closed church building.”

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.

A Note from Father Scott in Nairobi

The Kajire Mission team is safe and in Nairobi preparing for our return trip to the US.  We thank you for your continuous prayer.  We have felt God's presence going before us, behind us and all around us.  We have been blessed throughout the trip.

We will have much to report upon our return.  All of Kenya is in need but Kajire in particular.

We hope to be back in Beaver by Friday evening.  Hope to see you then.

Blessings, Scott
(my email account is not sending for some reason BUT I just discovered that I can still post to my blog!

OUT OF OFFICE

In just a few hours a team of us from Trinity Anglican Church will leave for the Kajire village in Kenya. We are going to inspect the water well we are digging there, to meet the local leadership, to survey ministry opportunities and most of all, to preach and teach the gospel.

I hope you will forgive no new posts for the next couple weeks and I pray that you will come and visit us again upon our return.

Blessings, Scott+

Justices Grant Exemption to Churches in Job Bias Laws

By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: January 11, 2012

WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.

Here is a link to the rest of the article at the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/us/supreme-court-recognizes-religious-exception-to-job-discrimination-laws.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

State of Virginia Supreme Court Rules Against CANA Parishes

Seven Anglican congregations in Virginia that are parties to the church property case brought by The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia are reviewing today's ruling by the Fairfax County Circuit Court that the property should be turned over to the Episcopal Diocese.

The Circuit Court heard the case last spring after the Virginia Supreme Court remanded it in June 2010. The congregations previously had succeeded in their efforts on the Circuit Court level to defend the property that they bought and paid for.

"Although we are profoundly disappointed by today's decision, we offer our gratitude to Judge Bellows for his review of this case. As we prayerfully consider our legal options, we above all remain steadfast in our effort to defend the historic Christian faith. Regardless of today's ruling, we are confident that God is in control, and that He will continue to guide our path," said Jim Oakes, spokesperson for the seven Anglican congregations.

The Rev. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, a historic property involved in the case, stated, "The core issue for us is not physical property, but theological and moral truth and the intellectual integrity of faith in the modern world. Wherever we worship, we remain Anglicans because we cannot compromise our historic faith. Like our spiritual forebears in the Reformation, 'Here we stand. So help us God. We can do no other.'"

The seven Anglican congregations are members of the newly established Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, a member diocese within the Anglican Church in North America. Bishop John Guernsey of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic has expressed to leaders of the seven congregations, "Our trust is in the Lord who is ever faithful. He is in control and He will enable you to carry forward your mission for the glory of Jesus Christ and the extension of His Kingdom. Know that your brothers and sisters in Christ continue to stand with you and pray for you."

reprinted from TitusOneNine

Radical Bible Study, Tonight at 7:30pm

The modern day gospel says, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.”  Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, “You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less cause yourself to come to life.  Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.”

The former sells books and draws crowds.  The later saves souls.  Which is more important?

  

(excerpt from “Radical” by David Platt) 

Teddy Roosevelt the Prophet

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

Faith Does Not Equal Helplessness

“All I could do was pray.”  It is an axiomatic expression of helplessness and despair.  We use it to describe the most desperate circumstances, when all viable options have failed and there is virtually nothing else left to do.  Apparently, we believe that faith equals helplessness.  Apparently we think that prayer is of no avail.

Faith does not equal helplessness.  Our God is not powerless and he is not distant.  In fact, faith empowers us to do things we could not otherwise do.  It gives us the strength to act in surprising ways.  Grace empowers us with divine power to sustain us and enable us even in difficult circumstances.  Our God hears prayer and although he may not give us what we envision he gives us what is best. 

The first thing to do is pray.  The best thing to do is pray.  Then move into the uncertainty with confidence because the Lord our God will move into it with you.

Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

Why the Articles on African Violence?

by Fr. Scott

Recently, I have posted a number of articles about violence in Africa.  I think it is important for Americans, and especially Christians, to pay attention to what is going on.  It is an emerging problem that may very well affect American Christians directly in years to come.  Here is what I believe is happening and why we need to pay attention:

 

1.       Islam is becoming increasingly militant (not all Islam but radical, violent splinter groups are on the increase)

2.       Militant Islam is increasingly targeting Christians (we are now regularly seeing attacks, not against secular societies but upon churches and Christians)

3.       We have friends and colleagues who are being deeply affected by these attacks, like Archbishop Ben Kwashi, a graduate of Trinity School for Ministry and a friend of the Anglican diocese. 

Terrorist Threats in Kenya due to war against al-Shabbab

Please pray for our mission to Kenya.  Things seem to be heating up there just as we prepare to go.  -Fr.  Scott

Kenyan Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Militants in Somalia

Posted by Voice of America, Saturday, January 7th, 2012 at 7:45 am

A Kenyan spokesman says jet fighters have killed dozens of al-Qaida-linked militants gathered in southern Somalia, as part of an ongoing effort to force them out of the country.

The spokesman told reporters Saturday that at least 60 al-Shabab militants were killed in Friday's airstrikes in the town of Garbaharey in Somalia's Gedo area. He said the military was tipped off about the militants' whereabouts, and that he expects the death toll from the attack will rise.

Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October to push back al-Shabab, which controls large sections of southern and central Somalia, and is blamed by Kenya for a series of cross-border kidnappings.

In a related development, Britain said Saturday that London believes there is a heightened terrorist threat in Kenya. A Foreign Office statement says Britain believes terrorists may be “in the final stages of planning attacks.”

On Wednesday, the Kenyan army said the southern Somalia town of Fafadun was seized in an operation that killed three al-Shabab members.

A Kenyan spokesman said the dead include a key al-Shabab leader in the Gedo region, Sheikh Hassan Hussein.

Al-Shabab is known for enforcing a strict brand of Islam in the areas under its rule. The group has also blocked most international aid workers from accessing parts of Somalia suffering from drought and famine.

Nigerian Gunmen attack, kill Christian Mourners

from The Tribune

20 killed as Nigerian gunmen attack Christian mourners

Gunmen in Nigeria on Friday opened fire on friends and relatives gathered to mourn the deaths of three Christians killed on Thursday, leaving up to 20 more people dead.

Nigeria has recently experienced a surge in ethnic and sectarian violence Photo: AFP

FROM THE

By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi

5:44PM GMT 06 Jan 2012

15 Comments

It was the latest in a series of attacks blamed on radical Islamists who have vowed to wage a religious war on Nigeria's Christians and drive them from the country's majority-Muslim north.

Several dozen Christians had come together for a meeting in a town hall in Mubi, in Adamawa state, to mark the deaths the day before of several people killed in the town.

Up to four gunmen surrounded the building and opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles, killing up to 20 people and leaving another 15 badly injured.

"We started hearing many gunshots through the windows," said Okey Raymond, 48, who was at the meeting.

"Everyone scampered for safety, but the gunmen chanted: 'God is great God is great' while shooting at us."

Mr Raymond said he hid under a table and escaped through a rear door. The gunmen also carried knives and machetes, the local police commissioner said.

No arrests have been made in the attack, and no one has claimed responsibility.

A purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mubi is close to the Cameroon border and is not in an area covered by a state of emergency declared by Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's president, following two weeks of sectarian violence.

The country's population of 160 million people is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

While Boko Haram has been blamed for increasingly deadly attacks for months, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed 25, the violence has taken on a different dimension with recent church attacks.

A wave of Christmas bombings that killed 49 people, most of them outside a Catholic church as services were ending, has provoked outrage in Nigeria and intensified fears of more sectarian clashes.

There have been fears of reprisals from Christians, and Christian leaders have warned they will defend themselves if attacks against them continue.

Boko Haram is a shadowy group believed to have a number of factions with differing aims, including those with political links and a hard-core Islamist faction.

: Up to 3,000 people have died in a week of clashes in Southern Sudan between different cattle-herding tribes accusing each other of stealing herds, local officials said yesterday.

Feast of the Epiphany

[The LORD] says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49.6)

Today much of the Latin world will celebrate Three Kings Day.  Families will exchange gifts and celebrate the day that Jesus Christ was made manifest to the whole gentile world, as witnessed by a star leading the Wise Men to the Christ child's manger.  This child is the Salvation foretold by Isaiah the prophet.

Roman Catholic Ordinariate to Receive Anglicans

Some Episcopalians have decided to convert to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope has provided a means by which whole congregations and their clergy, including married clergy, can be received into the roman Catholic faith.  Here is a link to an article about it in the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Catholic-leader-sees-possiblity-of-healing-an-2437489.php

AMIA Rwanda Reconciliation: Maybe Not "Make or Break" but Important

Make or break meeting in Nairobi for the AMiA

Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje and Bishop Chuck Murphy set to neet Jan 4

ARTICLE | JANUARY 4, 2012 - 12:58AM | BY GEORGE CONGER

The leader of the Anglican Mission in America, Bishop Chuck Murphy, will meet with the Primate of Rwanda today to seek a resolution to the split that has seen nine AMiA bishops quit the province and the Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop of Kenya, Dr. Eliud Wabukhala will host the 4 Jan 2012 meeting between Bishop Murphy and Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje in Nairobi.  Other African and North American church leaders are expected to attend the meeting as well.

Last month Bishop Murphy stated he would travel to London to meet with retired Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini, Moses Tay and Yong Ping Chung to begin the work of finding a new provincial sponsor for the AMiA.

A statement released after the 12-14 December meeting omitted mention of a new home.  It did affirm, however, the retired archbishops’ continued support for the missionary society concept advocated by Bishop Murphy.

While attempts to find overseas backing were explored, the AMiA leadership also sent out feelers toward the ACNA, to see how the North American Anglican province-in-formation might view the split.  At the close of a 20 December meeting in Pittsburgh between ACNA leader Archbishop Robert Duncan and two of the nine resigned bishops, Archbishop Duncan issued a pastoral letter stating that reconciliation between the breakaway bishops and Rwanda was a condition for further talks that would allow the breakaway bishops to find a new provincial home.

The “starting point” for the ACNA in the AMiA split was the “importance of our Provincial relationship” with Rwanda, its archbishop, the two AMiA bishops who had not quit the province – Terrell Glenn and Thad Barnum – and their clergy, as well as with those who had left Rwanda, the archbishop wrote.

The ACNA was “deeply connected to all three, and we can only move forward when issues and relationships have been adequately addressed and necessary transitions are in progress,” he said.

The following day the AMiA bishops released a letter, which was not signed by Bishop Murphy however, that affirmed the importance of reconciliation with the Rwanda.

The AMiA bishops explained that in time “things will all be made clearer as the dust settles, as relationships are restored and truth comes to light,” and added that they would not discuss the reasons for the collapse of their relationship with the Rwandan bishops other than in “the pursuit of reconciliation among our Houses. You may be assured that reconciliation remains important to us.”

The AMiA did not respond to our request for comments as of our going to press, but Bishop Murphy is expected to speak of his work in finding a new provincial home for those who have quit Rwanda at the 11-14 January AMiA Winter Conference in Houston

Militant Islamists Give Christians Three Days to Leave Northern Nigeria after Deadly Christmas Violence

Christians in Nigeria have once again come under attack

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has given Christians three days to leave Northern Nigeria following attacks on churches and other targets over Christmas that left more than 40 people dead.
The ultimatum, issued late on Sunday, intensifies the threat to Christians in the Muslim-majority North, parts of which are under a state of emergency after the Christmas violence.
Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law across the country, claimed responsibility for a coordinated series of bomb and gun attacks on churches and the security services in five states on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011.
The majority of the fatalities occurred at a church in Madalla, near the capital, Abuja; around 35 worshippers were killed as explosives were hurled at the congregation as they left the service.
It is the second consecutive year that Boko Haram has staged Christmas attacks; last year, 32 people were killed in a series of bombings in Jos on Christmas Eve.     
Barnabas Aid warned just before Christmas that the festive season might see anti-Christian attacks in various parts of the world. Nigeria is just one of several countries where such violence broke out.

(reprinted from the Barnabas Aid Newsletter)

Trinity Cathedral Withdraws from Anglican Diocese

Governing body reverses position by nullifying special resolution

On December 15, 2011, the governing body of Trinity Cathedral voted (11-7) to withdraw from the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and affiliate exclusively with the Episcopal Church (TEC).

The motion, introduced by Mr. Andrew Thiros, was intended to nullify a special resolution passed overwhelmingly by members of Trinity Cathedral in 2008 to serve both the Episcopal Church diocese and the Anglican diocese. The vote was conducted when three members of the Anglican diocese were absent and without prior notification to members of the governing body. The special resolution under which Trinity Cathedral had been operating required a two-thirds majority of both the Cathedral governing body and a two-thirds majority of all members of the Cathedral to be altered or overturned, neither of which was satisfied by the December 15 motion. Nonetheless, the governing body, under the leadership Bishop Ken Price (TEC), contends that the motion to affirm the charter of Trinity Cathedral effectively invalidates the special resolution.

The December 15 motion was an about-face for the governing body of Trinity Cathedral, which had previously affirmed “their intention neither to withdraw from The Episcopal Church nor to withdraw from a realigned Diocese of Pittsburgh, and affirm[ed] that they do not wish to be associated with one exclusive of the other.” It is also a reversal of the position of the Episcopal diocese which had previously been supportive of sharing the space at Trinity Cathedral. 

Trinity Cathedral had served as a point of unity for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. It was used for Anglican ordinations and services for high holy days, such as Easter and Christmas.

“We are saddened to learn that Trinity Cathedral has decided to end their relationship with us. We have invested in their best interests over many years. They have chosen to embrace exclusivity, rather than inclusivity,” said Archbishop Robert Duncan.

(reprinted from diocesan website)