Anglican Studies Newsletter
In the current issue...
An Acorn
Donald M. Lewis
When
I think of the Anglican Studies Program at Regent College, the
humble acorn comes to mind. The acorn's small size, its lack of
splendour, and its apparent insignificance are what strike me.
And yet, it is the knowledge that small acorns can turn into towering
oak trees, and the long perspective that a church historian such
as myself can take on things, that gives me hope for this acorn
in particular.
As I look back on my list of Regent alumni who have been ordained
in the Anglican communion, I find I can come up with about 80
names. And I reckon that over 40 of these alumni have been ordained
in the last five years. An average of 8 ordinations a year is
not bad when one considers that a few years ago I was tol that
there are only about 70 people being ordained annually in the
Anglican Church of Canada. (About half of our alumni have been
ordained in Canada, most of the rest in the UK or in the USA.)
The acorn has already begun to put down roots and the trunk of
the tree is beginning to become evident. New life is being created
and new acorns are starting to grow.
This is happening in spite of the fact that when students come
to my office to talk with me about entering ordained Anglican
ministry, I usually try to talk them out of it! Christian ministry
is not for the faint of heart and if my pleadings have any effect,
then they will not survive in a deeply fragmented church. Only
those who have a deep call on their lives need consider it.
From
the inception of this program we have described it as a program
in "World Anglicanism" because from the start we recognized
the global dimensions of the Anglican communion and our deep appreciation
of the extensive spread of the gospel through its expression in
Anglicanism has been foundational to our vision. We have recently
begun a "Bishop-in-Residence" program whereby we are
inviting bishops from far-flung parts of the communion to spend
some time with the students here at Regent. Our first visitor
was Terry Buckle of the diocese of the Yukon who was with us in
early November. (He set our bishop-in-residence program off to
an unusual start by being elected Archbishop of British Columbia
a few days before arriving.) A leading British bishop has indicated
his willingness to spend time with us in 2007. And a retired primate
from the "Global South" has been approached to join
us as well. We have, of course, benefited greatly from the on-going
involvement of Bishop Paul Barnett, the retired bishop of North
Sydney in Australia who is a teaching fellow at Regent College
and will be teaching with us in the summer of 2006.
Another major source of encouragement has come from our close
cooperation with the Artizo program that St. John's Shaughnessy
(Vancouver) has begun. A number of our students have been greatly
assisted by the practical ministry opportunities that Artizo has
provided us with and we are delighted that Sean Love, one of our
alumni, has been the acting director of this program.
With these encouragements we will continue to look for evidence
of the growth of the oak tree and trust that it will be an "oak
of righteousness, a planting of the Lord."
Also in this issue:
- A WORD FROM J.I. PACKER:
Director of the Regent College Anglican Studies Program
- PROFILES OF SOME RECENTLY ORDAINED ALUMNI:
Including Paul Donison, Sean Love and Terry Reisner
- REGENT STUDENTS CONSIDERING ORDINATION
...and more. Download
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