Mission in the Anglican Communion

Group C Presentation

Internet Mission and the Anglican Communion

The Internet has done some really remarkable things to communication and knowledge dissemination. It is for this reason our group decided to take an in-depth look at the witness of the Anglican Communion on the World Wide Web.
David Weinberger, of National Public Radio fame, has done a great deal of research and thought processing on this very issue in his book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined {a unified theory of the Web}. He raises some wonderful points of contemplation to help set our stage. Weinberger says this of the idea of space, “But on the Web we experience something we can never experience in the real world: places without space. It is a public place we can enter, wander, and get lost in, but cannot own…(the web) is the world’s collective passion.”
Weinberger forwards the idea that time is also transformed on the web. He says, “Time (on the web) is more like a hand writing than like a necklace being pulled across a blade. Every message posted today will not only be there tomorrow but becomes a part of the Web’s going forward…it accretes value…it is the persistent sum of the of the stories we are telling one another.”
Weinberger revisions knowledge as pertaining to the web; he says no longer do we look to degrees or credentials, but rather to “…what appears in our writing: our authenticity. The knowledge on the web worth listening to comes not from computer programs but from our bodies, for only our bodies are capable of transmitting passionate attention.”
With Weinberger’s ideas fronted, lets turn to the Anglican Communion’s presence in this virtual world and its mission to the world within this new set of community rules about space, time and knowledge.
Our group chose four different and unique aspects of the virtual witness to explore. These themes were decided upon according to our interest: but they share the common thread of missional presence on the World Wide Web.

1. The mission to the un-churched/seeker.
The Episcopal Church/Anglican communion has recognized the necessity of using the web to front basic Christian beliefs and those specific to the Anglican Church. We’ll take a quick look at just exactly what information they make public to the seeker and how that works to introduce them to the Anglican Church at a level of comfort that is inviting and non-confrontational.
o Google search:“What is an Episcopalian/Anglican?” 419 responses
§ The Episcopal Church’s Welcome Center http://www.episcopalchurch.org/welcome/
§ The Unofficial Homepage of the Episcopal Church http://www.mit.edu/~tb/anglican/anglican.html
§ Several Parish Websites:
· St. Paul’s Fayetteville AK. http://www.stpaulsfay.org/ethos.htm
· All Saint’s, New Albany OH http://web1.spiker.net/allsaints/what_episcopal.html
· St. Mary’s Highpoint, N.C. http://www.stmarysepisc.org/FAQ.html
§ The Anglican Communion
· Anglican’s Online
http://anglicansonline.org/
§ A fun Website
· Ship of Fools
http://ship-of-fools.com/

2. A look at the Internet as a tool of mission and social
justice.
In a letter written to President Bush by Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, a request for support in the global fight against HIV/AIDS in the poorest countries was made. Presently, there are 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS and over 70% of them live in Africa. 22 million in Africa have already died and it's projected that within this decade, one quarter of the African population will succumb to HIV/AIDS.
Conversely, the fastest growing population of Anglicans in the world is also occurring in Africa where many educators, teachers, scientists, doctors, priests, parents and children are dying at alarming rates. In 2001, Frank Griswold met with 35 Heads of Anglican Churches from around the world to engage the Anglican Communion in a process of strategic planning to guide its response to HIV/AIDS in Africa. At this meeting, Archbishops from Africa shared openly the devastation caused by the disease, and asked for American help in efforts to fight the pandemic. This was the first time, in the 22-year history of HIV/AIDS, which this had occurred.
Anglicans span some 164 countries across the globe and today, even Episcopalians can access the internet to find out not only how closely we are linked with the worldwide Anglican Communion, but we can also find specific responses to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and how we too can share in such work.
Let's begin at:
o http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ and the city of Boksburg, South Africa."

3. Focus on Missionary Leaders
The use of the internet as a medium for missionary outreach specifically to promote the visions of specific missionary leadership
o This effort investigated the following two key questions:
§ What significant contemporary Anglican Leaders use the internet as a missionary tool?
§ What's the message(s) are they espousing?
· Results were interesting; in a nut shell the only individual names that repeatedly were available were those folks associated with schismatic “traditional” groups like AMiA, as an example The Rev. Charles H. Murphy III, The Most Rev. Walter Grundorf of the Anglican Province of America. The right Rev. James Stanton of Dallas and the President of the American Anglican Council an Orthodox Group of Anglicans.

o Comparison of the ECUSA site (the 2020 section) www.episcopalchurch.org

o The ECUSA site had two areas of Mission specifically identified the 2020 effort and the opportunity for mission work abroad but neither highlighted any specific leader.
§ www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org
§ www.americananglican.org
§ www.anglicanonline.org
§ www.anglicanprovince.org
§ www.episcopalian.org/nams (North American Missionary Society)

4. The Internet is a perfect tool for mission in the 21st century.
It provides opportunity for collaboration and cooperation with both diverse Christian communities and those of other faiths. It serves as a portal through which individuals and organizations may enter different cultural contexts to express the meaning of the gospel. The Internet offers a clarity for communication wherein numerous groups may examine one another's efforts in mission. Presently, several sites exist whose sole purpose is engaging others in faith partnership. We intend to present four representative sites. Each site will be visited to examine the nature of its missional activity. Discussion will center on the collaborative nature, which is essential for mission outreach.
o The Global Episcopal Mission Network
www.gemn.org
o The Church Mission Society
www.cms.uk.org
o The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/epgm
o The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG).
http://www.uspg.org.uk/ Webliography

· Weinberger, David. Small Pieces Loosely Joined {a unified theory of the Web} Perseus Publishing 2002.
· The Episcopal Church’s Welcome Center http://www.episcopalchurch.org/welcome/ visited 4.26.03
· The Unofficial Homepage of the Episcopal Church http://www.mit.edu/~tb/anglican/anglican.html visited 4.26.03
· St. Paul’s Fayetteville AK.: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/ethos.htm visited 4.26.03
· All Saint’s, New Albany OH http://web1.spiker.net/allsaints/what_episcopal.html visited 4.26.03
· St. Mary’s Highpoint, N.C. http://www.stmarysepisc.org/FAQ.html visited 4.26.03
· Anglican’s Online http://anglicansonline.org/ visited 4.26.03
· Ship of Fools http://ship-of-fools.com/ visited 4.26.03
· The Global Episcopal Mission Network www.gemn.org visited 4.26.03
· The Church Mission Society www.cms.uk.org visited 4.26.03
· The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission http://www.episcopalchurch.org/epgm visited 4.26.03
· The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG). http://www.uspg.org.uk/ visited 4.26.03
· The Anglican Communion http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
· Anglican Mission in America www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org visited 4.29.2003
· The American Anglican Council www.americananglican.org visited 4.29.2003
· the Anglican Province of America http://www.anglicanprovince.org/ visited 4.29.2003
· North American Missionary Society www.episcopalian.org/nams visited 4.29.03

Posted by at May 1, 2003 07:46 AM