It was a defining moment for TEC. The Episcopal Church has never fully recovered from this exodus and never will. Year after year, the figures show a church in decline, as dioceses juncture, parishes close, parishioners vanished and more and more parishes are held together with non-stipendiary priests. Elevating women to the priesthood and episcopacy has not slowed down the process; it may even have accelerated it.
Read moreThen COVID-19 hit and became a game changer for the Church's very survival.
Congress designated $349 billion for the PPP in a $2 trillion relief package approved in late March in response to the economic fallout from the pandemic and followed with another $310 billion in late April when the earlier funds were depleted.
Read more"Michael was really on to a good thing when he discovered love for the first time under a cathedral cemetery stone; no other Episcopal presiding bishop in living memory had discovered and talked up love, like he had done. His less than memorable Royal sermon will go down in history as instantly forgettable, but his theatrics will make a Broadway show in time right up there with Hamilton."
Read moreGermany became a one-party state, blessed by one single and subservient church. The German Church had been co-opted by those outside the Church who lured it away from the Word of God. And the Church blessed the very evil it was supposed to condemn.
Read moreThere is no stopping either. Both are on unstoppable trajectories.
One is faithful to Holy Scripture, aligning itself with the historic creeds, the 39 Articles of Religion; the other is aligning itself to the prevailing culture, moral relativism, all the while despising Biblical absolutes.
Read moreAt some point, a friend of Alan's from work invited Alan to join him at a prayer meeting that he had attended. (This was during the Charismatic Catholic Renewal that was taking place in the Baltimore area in the 1970's.) Reluctant at first, eventually, Alan agreed to go with his friend, and that night changed everything.
Read more"We have cried and prayed with brothers and sisters in Nigeria, in Congo, in South Sudan, in Sudan, in Syria, in China for the continued violence and death due to the persecution of Christians."
Read moreThey believe that COVID-19 is a fresh start and clean slate which could apply to the Anglican Communion as a whole?
But how realistic is this?
VOL believes that this is a flawed proposal for the following reasons.
Read moreIn the Episcopal world of inclusion and diversity, talk of conversion is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and unacceptable to myself and the House of Bishops, he said.
"After all, we have approved of sodomy, homosexual marriage, a panoply of LGBTQ sexualities, abortion and about the only social construct we haven't approved of is euthanasia. Conversion will be the last barrier."
Read more"It may not be easy. It means sacrifice and may mean suffering. As far as we are concerned, unless the Lord calls us home, our desire is to stand by the Word of God and maintain the heritage we have as Anglicans and to teach and live by the principles of God's Word. To do that, our main problem is not revisionists, but the sincerity of our own heart and our commitment to the Lord. The issue has to do with whom we are serving and committed to.
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