ACNA Grows: CANA Congregations now at 90

The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, an emerging Anglican province that includes about 700 congregations and is growing. Restoration Church is one of the newest congregations to join CANA. It is a church plant from The Falls Church. Check it out here.

HERNDON, Va. (October 16, 2009) – The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) announced that 13 congregations from six different states plus one in Canada have joined the orthodox Anglican organization.

The new congregations include CANA’s first church in Canada, Redeemer Anglican Church in Regina, SK. New CANA congregations in the US include as follows: Christ Anglican Church; Marietta, Ga.; Anglican Mission of Southern Maryland, California, Md.; Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Bowie, Md.; Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Hobbs, NM; St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Roswell, NM; Anglican Community Church, Batavia, NY; Restoration Anglican Church, Arlington, Va.; Holy Cross Anglican Church, Richmond, Va.; Anglican Church of the Valley, Staunton, Va.; Winchester Anglican Church, Winchester, Va.; and New Hope Anglican Church, Lacey, WA. Also added is a satellite congregation in Manassas, Va., being fostered by Church of the Word (Gainesville, Va.).

“We are excited to welcome these new congregations from across North America into the CANA fellowship, a body of orthodox Anglican Christians committed to upholding the Word of God. We as an Anglican body are seeing orthodox Christianity thrive in the U.S. and around the world and are pleased to play a pivotal role in bringing orthodox congregations together. CANA provides an authentic connection to the worldwide Anglican Communion, and our churches offer vintage liturgical worship which is what many Christians are seeking. Each of these new congregations will grow as they prayerfully exercise the ministry of Jesus Christ which is all about radical inclusion, profound transformation, and inspired service,” said CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns.

The Rev. John Pietschman, rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Richmond, Va. states that “the birth of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) was a God-send to Anglicans who have been confronted with the abandonment of the Christian faith once handed down to the saints. Contending for the Christian faith is embedded in upholding the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, and not in following revisionist church leaders who conject that biblical Christianity is archaic and mean-spirited.

“CANA is ‘Christ-centered, mission driven, outwardly focused, and committed to evangelism, discipleship and church planting.’ We at Holy Cross Anglican Church, Richmond, Virginia are proud to be Anglicans within CANA and our passion is to reach and serve the least, the last, and the lost,” continued the Rev. John Pietschman.

With the addition of these congregations, CANA now includes 90 congregations across the U.S.

The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (http://www.canaconvocation.org) currently consists of 90 congregations and more than 190 clergy in 25 states. CANA was established in 2005 to provide a means by which Anglicans who were alienated by the actions and decisions of The Episcopal Church could continue to live out their faith without compromising their core convictions. Created as a missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria, about a dozen of the congregations are primarily expatriate Nigerians. CANA is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, an emerging Anglican province that includes about 700 congregations.