The five marks of Anglican Mission:

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

To teach, baptize and nurture new believers

To respond to human need by loving service

To seek to transform unjust structures of society

To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and

sustain and renew the life of the earth

We are part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is one of the world’s largest Christian communities. It has tens of millions of members in more than 165 countries around the globe. Anglicanism is one of the traditions or expressions of Christian faith. Others include Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and Baptist. The Communion is organized into a series of provinces and extra-provincial areas.  The provinces are subdivided into dioceses, and the dioceses into parishes. There are 40 provinces and, from March 2019, five extra-provincial areas. Some provinces are national, others are regional. All are in communion – or a reciprocal relationship – with the See of Canterbury and recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Communion’s spiritual head.  But there is no central authority in the Anglican Communion. All of the provinces are autonomous and free to make their own decisions in their own ways – guided by recommendations from the four Instruments: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.   

This week we continue to look at the five marks of Anglican Mission. We are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do that by sharing our faith and giving of ourselves to others in a way that the light of Christ is shown. We are called to nurture new believers. Last weekend we confirmed six of our youth and three of our members were received. Today they will receive their certificates and a bible. Last weekend St. John’s held, “A Taste of the Caribbean,” to respond to the need of the children that are still recovering from hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The event was a huge success because so many of our members worked together to provide great food, music, and fellowship. The St. Augustine’s Steel Drum Band came all the way from Brooklyn with Deacon Anthony to support our mission trip. Thank you to everyone who participated in this wonderful event.                                                                                     

Our Racial Reconciliation and Social Justice Ministry is working to transform unjust structures of society. I urge you to read the book “White Fragility” and participate in the workshop on accompaniment training on May 29th from 2-4pm.                                                                                                                              

The last mark of Anglican Mission is safeguarding our earth. Several years ago we installed solar panels for clean energy. That project has been a success financially and shows good environmental stewardship. We need to do a better job at recycling at St. John’s. In a recent trip to the west coast, I realized that Long Island is way behind in our environmental stewardship. I encourage every committee to consider ways to protect or natural environment.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan