As I prepare to travel to Newfoundland this week, I’ve been reflecting on the opportunities and challenges facing our churches across the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). In recent weeks, I’ve traveled from Orange County, California, to Montgomery, Alabama, meeting with Anglican leaders, encouraging congregations, and sharing resources to help churches become healthier and more effective in their mission. These travels reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time: the need to support and strengthen our local Anglican churches is as important today as it’s ever been!

This past summer, the ACNA released data through its Mission Index initiative as part of a broader effort to develop a more data-driven strategy for fulfilling our provincial mission: to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. I’m grateful for this renewed focus, and the American Anglican Council (AAC) fully supports it. The findings confirmed what many of us have known for years. Of the province’s 1,005 congregations, approximately 75% have an average Sunday attendance of fewer than 100 people, while just over half average fewer than 50. Certainly, some of these smaller congregations are healthy and growing, but many others are struggling to grow, reach their communities, or simply sustain their ministries.

These numbers should concern us, but they shouldn’t discourage us. 

Behind every statistic is a local congregation with people who love Jesus Christ, desire to serve Him faithfully, and want to see their church make a difference in their community. They often just need some guidance, encouragement, and practical tools to help them move forward. This is precisely why the AAC began investing in church revitalization many years ago. We recognized that establishing faithful Anglican congregations was only part of the task. We also needed to help those churches become healthy, vibrant communities capable of fulfilling the Great Commission.

Through our Anglican Revitalization Ministries (ARM), we’ve developed resources to help churches do just that. Our Revive program, for example, walks alongside congregations through assessment, training, and ongoing coaching, helping them develop a renewed vision for local mission and evangelism while strengthening the five VITAL areas of church health: Vision for Evangelism, Intentional Worship, Transformation to Christlikeness, Authentic Community, and Lay Mobilization. Our goal isn’t simply to help churches get bigger; it’s to help them become healthier, more faithful, and more effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ. We believe that healthy churches, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are better equipped to grow and reach the world around them. 

This week, I have the privilege of joining Bishop Dan Gifford and the Anglican Diocese of Canada for their annual Synod in Newfoundland, where the focus will be on church planting and revitalization. I’m grateful for this opportunity to partner with our Canadian brothers and sisters, to share some of the principles we’ve learned through Revive, and to encourage congregations as they seek God’s direction for their ministries. I’m also especially looking forward to visiting Gander, Newfoundland, a town that became known around the world for its extraordinary hospitality following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When thousands of airline passengers were unexpectedly stranded there, the people of Gander opened their homes and hearts to complete strangers, demonstrating remarkable generosity and compassion in a time of great uncertainty.

Twenty-five years later, I’m honored to have the opportunity to preach there on the Great Commandment: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In many ways, that commandment is at the heart of everything we’re trying to accomplish through church revitalization. Healthy churches aren’t ends in themselves. They exist to worship God, make disciples, and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to the communities around them. Just imagine what could happen across North America if every Anglican congregation became a vibrant center of Gospel witness and Christlike love in its community!

That’s the vision that continues to motivate me, and it’s why I remain so hopeful about the future of our province.

There’s certainly much work to be done. The challenges are real, and there are no quick fixes, but I believe God has given us tremendous opportunities to strengthen His Church for the mission ahead. At the American Anglican Council, we remain committed to doing everything we can to build up and defend Great Commission Anglicanism, equipping healthy leaders, healthy churches, and healthy structures for the work God’s called us to do. So please pray for our brothers and sisters in Canada, for the many churches throughout the ACNA seeking renewal, and for the AAC as we continue this important ministry.