PEARSON ANNOUNCES NEW CHURCH

The Rev. Andrew Pearson, formerly the dean of the Episcopal Church Cathedral Church of the Advent, in Birmingham AL, has announced on social media his new church. He is calling it "Grace Church Birmingham." 

Find info about it here .

One may also find info about it on the Facebook pages of Lauren Saddler Pearson and the Reverend Andrew Pearson.

Since Pearson has become a part of the Anglican Church in North America, this would be an ACNA church. There are already several ACNA churches in the Birmingham area, most notably St. Peter's, of Mountain Brook. Apparently, Pearson expects his "Friends" from the Advent to bolt the Advent and join him.

I could not find a physical address for the new church. Apparently, it does not have one.

So, what kind of church will this be? It does not take much imagination to know. It is clear on the website:  strict adherence to the 39 Articles (Calvinist); 1662 prayer book ("Our Liturgy" at the Advent), and the Jerusalem Declaration. The JD was an agreement in 2008 of anti-Episcopal Church forces (GAFCON and its allies in the Americas) to form a sexist and homophobic alliance to oppose the Episcopal Church. This led to the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. The ACNA was set up by this socially reactionary alliance with the purpose of replacing the Episcopal Church as the legitimate branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States. ACNA was created to prevent active homosexuals and women from having equality and inclusion in the church. This remains its goal. Pearson's new church will be an ACNA church.

The ACNA is not in fact an Anglican church although the word is in its title. The dictionary defines "Anglican" as one in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Episcopal Church is is communion with the ABC. The ACNA is not in communion with the ABC. The Archbishop has said repeatedly he is not in communion with the ACNA. So, Pearson has on his website a statement that is a factual error:  The relationship to the Archbishop of Canterbury, although historically important, does not define Anglicanism in our day and age. Au contraire, Rev. Pearson. It definitely does define Anglicanism. Your new crowd is not in the Anglican Communion; and people who follow you along should recognize that fact. Honesty is the best policy. 

So, now we know that Pearson left the Advent to start his own church. We know too that he sent a letter, on the day after he left, encouraging his "Friends" at the Advent to follow him. Only time will tell how many of them will follow the lead and where he will take them.

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NOTE. I am working on a commentary on the new Covenant between the Advent vestry and the bishop having returned home from a ten day break. I will post soon my thoughts on the new agreement. Not today, it is my birthday (78).