History of AID: Origins and Doctrinal Position of AID

AID was formed in October 2008 following a meeting of Primates of the Global Anglican
Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem (June 2008), a year which also saw a meeting of
the Primates of the Council of Anglican Churches in Africa, and the Lambeth Conference of
Bishops.

At the Jerusalem Conference the Archbishop of South Sudan, Daniel Deng, held a press
conference where he announced that due to the position of TEC on homosexual practice,
his province would no longer take any financial support from TEC.

Canon Vinay Samuel, a founder of GAFCON therefore suggested to the conference
chairman, Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola that GAFCON should do something for Sudan
Archbishop Akinola, on behalf of fellow African Primates, put it like this:
"We are distressed by the unilateral actions of those provinces that are clearly determined
to redefine what our common faith was once.

We will not, on the altar of money, mortgage our conscience, mortgage our faith, mortgage
our salvation.

We are insisting and we will continue to insist that this faith of the church must continue to
be upheld come rain, come fire. That is our position."

He particularly asked for support to be provided to the ECS (Episcopal Church of the Sudan)
and the dioceses in South Sudan that were desperately in need after the divisive civil war
that ended in 2005.

Meanwhile independently, after the GAFCON Jerusalem Conference in June 2008, the
National Reform Conference was held on the 14-15 October 2008. At that, the Rev David
Holloway (a Trustee of Reform) suggested to Canon Chris Sugden they together host an
informal lunch for church leaders of larger Evangelical Churches. This was to suggest that
these wealthier churches should organize for the financial support of those poorer
Provinces and Dioceses in the Anglican Communion who were losing out to TEC money
because of their faithfulness to Scripture.

Ten days later, on the morning of 24 October 2008, Chris Sugden phoned David Holloway to
inform him of Archbishop Akinola's request that something should be done for Sudan. Chris
remembered that David had spent time in Sudan earlier in life as a teacher with CMS.
Providentially, David was in conversation at Jesmond Parish Church with two senior
colleagues, the Rt Rev Jonathan Pryke and Mrs Joan Parker (chair of the JPC World Mission
Committee). On learning of the request, they decided time should not be wasted. So there
and then the name "AID" (Anglican International Development) was decided upon;
Jonathan Pryke designed the "logo" by lunch time; and after David reported all this to Chris
Sugden, by tea-time on 24 October Chris had ensured that a new company was
incorporated and registered at Company's House as "Anglican International Development
Ltd" (its Memorandum and Articles as a Charity, of course, were subsequently registered
with the Charity Commission).

God was also moving in other people. Moses Deng was head of the Church Relations
Department of World Vision in South Sudan. Moses was very keen to do a strategy session
as part of a joint effort and wrote to Vinay Samuel about this. Moses arranged for the first
meeting in Juba South Sudan described below.

With AID now in existence, the Archbishops of Nigeria and Uganda commissioned a team to
visit the Province of the Sudan in 24-26 November 2008 on behalf of the GAFCON Primates'
Council. This comprised Canon Vinay Samuel and Canon Chris Sugden of the International
Fellowship of Evangelical Mission Theologians (INFEMIT) who asked David Holloway, having
spent time with CMS in Sudan, to join them. They were to visit Archbishop Deng to help him
with a Church Leaders Forum regarding the Gospel and community needs.

AID's first practical project was for Christmas 2008 to support the Decade of Evangelism in
the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) through the provision of bicycles for pastors in the
Diocese of Rumbek; and a number of English Anglican churches were asked to help.
Another plan emerging from the November conference in Juba was to arrange for the Five
Talents Fund, which had been started following the 1998 Lambeth Conference, sponsored
by Archbishop George Carey and headquartered in Oxford where Vinay and Chris worked, to
support a Micro-Finance Project in Juba. This would be run by The Bridge Foundation based
in Bangalore India and led by Collin Timms.

AID was set up in March 2009 when Vinay Samuel, Colin Timms (The Bridge Foundation), David Holloway
and Chris Sugden went for a Sudan Bishops Senior Leaders Workshop on development and business.
This resulted in our first programme of microfinance, namely Manna Microfinance (MMF), for the capital diocese of
Juba. Significant funds for developing MMF were provided by Uttam Sucrotech, an Indian
sugar company with whom Vinay Samuel had a consultancy.

Thereafter, Lord Curry became involved bringing his agricultural experience to AID
and Dr Vinod Shah of the Indian International Christian Medical and Dental Association,
together with Vinay Samuel, began AID's healthcare training for clinical officers, midwives and nurses

David Holloway then drew in Lord Curry with his experience of Agricultural Development,
and the Reform network in the UK as a support base.

Dr Vinod Shah was the recently appointed Director of the Indian International Christian
Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA) and keen to assist. Vinay invited him to join the
team in Juba. He began the AID project to train Clinical Assistants, midwives and registered
nurses.

From inception AID was, and still is today, unashamedly evangelical and promotes and
supports faithful teaching of the Bible.

AID's vision is of holistic development, addressing spiritual and material needs. So it places a
high priority on strengthening churches through theological training as well as through
practical help. So AID is a development agency that works in and through local churches in
the Anglican Communion to reach those most in need.

END