Multiplying, Building & Proclaiming

Help us grow

A letter from Bishop Charlie

Dear friends of ANiC,

The good news of Jesus is the greatest news the world has ever known. It means life and peace and joy unending for all who receive it. So, as a diocese we want to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and his Great Commission to go and proclaim his gospel and make disciples. This is why our mission statement is set on building and sharing: to build Biblically faithful, Gospel sharing, Anglican churches.

I am so grateful to God for our people and how he has cared for us as a diocese during these strange and challenging times of COVID. I’m so thankful for how members of our ANiC family have faithfully given and cared for our congregations, enduring through trials and troubles. Please, please, please continue to always care for and give generously to your local parish. One of our core values as a diocese is Parish-centred Ministry: that our ministry happens in and through our parishes. It is in our congregations where the gospel is proclaimed and shared, disciples formed and communities loved. It is wonderful work we are in together as Christ’s Church. And so it is that we yearn to multiply this work, to not only maintain what we have been given but, by God’s grace, to grow and build and proclaim the gospel to more places and people.

But we need your help. Growth and new initiatives take extra resources. Friends, I confess, I find fundraising an awkward process. But, in this case, the initiatives we are seeking to raise for make it so much easier for me. So, here are some of the things we are seeking to pursue and enable as a diocese in which we need your help.

Church Planting

The planting and growing of new churches is one of the five things I’ve challenged us as a diocese and as individual parishes to especially prioritize for several years now. I continue to be absolutely convinced that multiplying our number of congregations is the most effective means of reaching people with the good news of Jesus and making disciples.

About multiplying congregations Tim Keller says: “The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for (1) the numerical growth of the body of Christ in a city and (2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing megachurches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.”

But, church planting isn’t easy. Even the most experienced and prepared church planter faces a whole host of obstacles when planting a brand new Biblically faithful, Gospel sharing, Anglican congregation in a new neighbourhood. To be successful these church planters need support, encouragement and resources to get these fledgling churches off the ground. We have many such leaders planting ANiC churches across the country as we speak, from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and more planned for the coming year.

Some are strategic church plants with trained planters, and some are organic projects springing up in homes. As a diocese we fervently want to enable and empower more and more leaders and teams across our continent in this work, but we need the funds to help them.

So, I’m asking you to consider becoming a church planting supporter. This might come as personal gift or monthly support, or it might come through your whole congregation supporting church planting in the diocese. I know that for many of our churches launching their own church plant may seem like a very distant dream, and so making church planting a priority can seem difficult. But what if your congregation were to raise funds specifically to support other church plants across the diocese? You may not yet have all the resources to form and send church planters yourself, but you can still help church planters all across the continent build Biblically faithful, Gospel sharing, Anglican churches today.

Would you seek the Lord on how he’d have you support our church planting? You can read more about our church planting vision, current plants, and how to give on our Planting & Growing Churches page:

Multicultural Ministries

One of our newest church plants, planning to begin services this summer in Burnaby, BC, is being formed and planted through our wonderful Asian and Multicultural Ministries in Canada (AMMiC) team, led by Bishop Stephen Leung. The lead church planter, Rev. Angel Tong, speaks three languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, and English) and in particular is looking to reach the large immigrant population in Burnaby with the gospel. This is just one of the faithful and creative initiatives AMMiC is working on to care for and reach new immigrants and minorities across our diocese.

Last year they hired a new staff member, Dr. Valerie Yiu, as Mission Director, enabling even more mentoring and developing of clergy, evangelists and other church workers to serve diverse congregations all over the country and New England. But, of course, this too all takes funding. Would you consider, either through your congregation or personal gift, helping us as a diocese support and further fund this wonderful and growing work!

You can learn more about AMMiC at ammic.ca and help us continue to support them by giving to our General Fund:

Curacy Program

In many ways we are working to develop young leaders across our diocese. We know that many of our clergy have faithfully served for many years now and we are in great need of the next generations of leaders. One of the exciting programs we are seeking to support and develop is the Curacy Program. A curate is a new clergy person who serves as assistant to the rector or vicar or other clergy leader in a parish.

The hope and plan of this Curacy Program is to give opportunity for young leaders to gain hands-on experience and mentorship while serving churches which otherwise might not be able to hire another staff member. We think it has the potential to not only provide wonderful training and guidance for new, young leaders but also to spur on new life and growth in many churches. One third of each curate’s support is provided by the parish, one third is raised themselves, and one third is provided by us as a diocese.

Would you consider giving towards this wonderful program and enabling more and more young leaders and churches to have this opportunity? Again you can help us support growth initiatives like this by giving to our General Fund:

My friends, I know this has been a lengthier letter, but I do not grow weary of promoting the wonderful work happening by God’s grace in our churches all across the diocese. If you have questions about any of these wonderful initiatives or how to give support please don’t hesitate to contact our diocesan office.

Thank you so much for your time and your generous hearts. My hope and prayer is that we as a network of wonderful parishes may develop and multiply and flourish together on mission in the days ahead, all for the sake of the gospel of our Lord Jesus. To him be all glory and honour forever.

Yours in Christ,

+Charlie

The Right Reverend Charlie Masters
Bishop of Evangelism
and former Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Network in Canada