Amid Controversy and Schism in the Old Episcopal Church, the New Anglican Church in North America Launches Next Week

WASHINGTON, June 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Institute on Religion and Democracy's Anglican Action program will be sending a team to the founding Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

After years of preparation, evangelical, orthodox and traditionalist Anglicans from across North America, many of them recently departed from the Episcopal Church, will meet in Texas this week to formally launch the new denomination. ACNA unites eight Anglican groups under a single Archbishop and positions itself as an alternative to the U.S. Episcopal Church within the global Anglican Communion.

With an estimated average Sunday attendance of 100,000 congregants, the launch of ACNA will be the largest denominational enterprise of its kind since the founding of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in the 1970s. Ecumenical speakers including Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America will offer keynote addresses. the rest