Charismatic Episcopal Church – CEC

After the morning Eucharist, the agenda of the council today began a briefing from the Patriarch’s Office reporting on the work of the strategic planning working group. At last year’s meeting of the council, the following statement was adopted as a sign of our international unity:

Each church will tithe, support with contributions CEC for life, Missions (IDA Christmas Offering), and Foundation Day (Building fund)

The Patriarch’s Council was asked to consider the following:
• What are those most non-negotiable elements of Unity?
• What are those most non-negotiable elements of Worship?
• By this the Patriarch’s Council determines what authority it will not /cannot delegate.
• This means that all authority not held by the International church belongs to the National Churches and Primates
• How we define Unity, relates to our structure.

The Patriarch presented two documents on Convergence Worship to guild a discussion about unity in worship as a visible sign of the unity of our Communion.

Fr. Terry Gensemer reported on the work of CEC for Life, summarizing the activities of the last year. Especially significant is the large number of young people from the CEC involved in the prolife movement. The young people present at the March for Life this last January showed how powerful their witness is, and how much God is using them in the fight to defend the unborn and the Sacredness of all life. The Patriarch suggested that each parish would keep a candle on the Altar as a prayer and memorial for the Unborn.

Bishop Michael Davidson reported on the International Catechism working group, that they are still active, and seeking the participation of each territory within the ICCEC. The working document is still very much a work in progress. Several theological readers are looking at the documents, which are expected to be ready as a draft for presentation at the next council meeting.

The next meeting will be Feb 1-3 2011 in Recife, Brazil.

Bishop Michael Davidson

The Patriarch’s Council began this morning with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Bishop Michael Davidson delivered the homily, which is posted below.

God Acts on Behalf of Those Who Wait on Him

© copyright 2010 – ICCEC. This file may not be reposted

On February 2, 2010, Archbishop Craig Bates made this statement to the Patriarch’s Council during the opening Eucharist.

God deals with men in decades, with nation in centuries, and with families in generations. This past December, on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, I celebrated my sixtieth birthday. This year in December, on the Solemnity of St. Lucy, I will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination as a priest in the Catholic Church. I have spent some time over the past few weeks reflecting on God’s working in my own life. The decade of 2000, which I began in bed with the flu, was a significant time for me. I have nothing but gratitude to our God for his provision and prosperity.

The last decade has also been a significant time for our communion. Of the forty-two active Bishops in the ICCEC, twenty-seven were consecrated in the last decade. And, as we will hear this week, there will be perhaps six new Bishops in East Africa. We welcome our newest Bishop from Brazil to our meeting this week. Also, with us is Bishop Gregory Ortiz, who is the newest Bishop in the U.S. Church.

Though we faced a crisis in the North American Church that impacted the communion at its very core, we continue to see growth around the world, particularly in East Africa and Brazil. We continue to have Bishops, clergy, seminarians, churches, and whole communions interested in joining our communion. We continue to see churches grow in the United States. Some show significant and rapid growth numerically, financially and, most importantly, spiritually. Others struggle, yet we see the clergy and laity of these churches are hopeful and optimistic.

I believe a word of the Lord for the next year is “expect the impossible.” In times of reflection on my own life and on the life of the ICCEC throughout the last decade, over and over again the words “expect the impossible” have come to my heart and my mind. It is expectancy of the impossible, or put another way, our waiting upon the Lord, knowing He is a God who hears our prayers, who stirs our hearts and leads us into actions of love, mercy, and reconciliation.
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Orlando, FL

The Canons Commission met from 28 Jan to 1 Feb. Patriarch Craig Bates, Bishop Njoroge (the General Secretary of East Africa), Archbishop Hines (the Primate of Southeast Asia), and Father Chris Keough (the Canon to the Ordinary of the Central Province and leader of the Church Planting Commission) were in attendance.

The focus of the meeting was to review our canons and ensure that they adequately reflect who we are and what we are called to do. The touchstone for the meeting was a simple question: “If someone who never knew us picked up our canons, would they understand convergence worship and our process of consensus?”

The meeting adjourned with the development of a presentation for the Patriarch’s Council, to be delivered by Bishop Craig Bates, which explains the philosophy behind the canons and those areas of the canons in need of revision to more adequately reflect who we are.

The Canons Commission concluded the meeting with a determination to work on the revision of the draft canons until the next Patriarch’s Council. The current canons remain valid and the new canons are not expected to be ready for adoption for a few years.