2000—2003

29 January 2000

Murphy and Rodgers consecrated bishops of AMiA by Kolini and Tay at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore  (Rwanda and Southeast Asia). Rucyahana is also there.

“The Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison, retired Bishop of South Carolina, and the Rt. Rev. Alex D. Dickson, retired Bishop of West Tennessee, were among the co-consecrating bishops. The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Moses Tay, Archbishop of the Province of South East Asia, and the Rt. Rev. John Rucyahana, Bishop of Shyira, Rwanda, were the consecrators. The Rt. Rev. David Pytches, former Bishop of Chile, Bolivia and Peru, now a rector in London, also was a co-consecrator.” (The Living Church, 20 Feb 2000)

The consecrations immediately produced enmity within the ranks of the orthodox. (Shuler Stand Firm podcast)

Hansen 136-37 AMiA acted hastily, in secret, and against the will of the Kampala meeting.

Shuler did not attend the consecration of the AMiA bishops because his name had been bandied about so much. He says his name slips out of the record at that point, and I agree that in many ways it did. I certainly heard nothing about him for my first six years in AMiA. 

Once the bishops were ordained, all the presbyters such as Shuler who had been part of leading First Promise were sidelined. Everything became about the bishops.

Enormous amounts of money were raised from Pawley’s Island to fund travel and keep the First Promise groups together. (Shuler)

July 2000

At a meeting in Amsterdam during an international evangelism conference (Amsterdam 2000), there was an agreement that Chuck Murphy and AMiA would lead those who were leaving ECUSA, while Bob Duncan would continue with the “inside strategy.” (Shuler)

AMiA “…bishops were given permission to proceed, “full speed ahead,” with recruiting and planting parishes and developing an alternative Anglican province in the United States.” (Hansen 133)

On 28 July, the movement is named Anglican Mission in America. (Barnum 222)

To begin with, Chuck and I worked closely with Bishop Duncan in the events leading up to and after our consecration in Singapore. I recall a subsequent meeting with our archbishops in Amsterdam during the Billy Graham Conference in 2000. Bob Duncan was there, and he said, “Your ministry needs to be more than a pastoral stopgap. There are hundreds of thousands of unchurched people in the United States and Canada, and the Episcopal Church is not really reaching out. They passed a resolution at the General Convention in 1991 for a Decade of Evangelism, but nobody did evangelism.” Bishop Duncan said, “You need to do it. And you need a name that’s appropriate.” Then he said, “We are going to call you ‘The Anglican Mission in America,’ and you have the authority to plant churches anywhere you wish.” (Rodgers 198)

July 2000 

73^rd General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Denver, CO. Resolution D039 accepts sexual intimacy outside the covenant of marriage.

24 June 2001

Denver, CO

Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and Datuk Yong Ping Chung of South East Asia, joined by retired American bishops Alex Dickson of Tennessee and Fitzsimmons Allison of South Carolina and John Rucyahana and Venuste Mutiganda of Rwanda, laid hands on:

1. Thaddeus Barnum
2. Alexander “Sandy” Greene 
3. T.J. Johnston
4. Douglas Weiss

Bringing the number of AMiA bishops to six for the 5,000-member group. (https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2001/06/amia-consecrates-four-new-bishops.aspx)

Three of the four men to be consecrated as new missionary  bishops in the AMiA have long been highly visible conservative activists in the Episcopal Church. They are: 

• Thaddeus Rockwell Barnum, 43, of Pawleys Island, South Carolina.  Canonically resident in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Ordained deacon, June 1987,  by Bishop Arthur Walmsley; ordained priest in December 1987 by Bishop Alden Hathaway. Priest at All Saints, Pawleys Island–home parish of the  AMiA–since 1998; interim rector since Charles Murphy’s consecration as  AMiA bishop in 2000. Chair of the Mustard Seed Project, an African relief  organization initially funded by the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief  (now ERD) and closely associated with Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda.  Founding member of the  First Promise Round Table. Wife Erilynne is a  deacon at All Saints.
• Alexander “Sandy” Maury Greene, 54 , of Denver, Colorado. Canonically  resident in the Diocese of Colorado. Ordained deacon June 1971 and priest  December 1971, both by Bishop William Hargrave. Greene has served several congregations in Florida, including  St. Andrew’s by-the-Sea in Destin, which  opted to join the AMiA last fall. He has been rector of Christ Church, Denver  since 1995, but announced his retirement two weeks ago. Greene is chairman  of the board of Episcopalians United and is also a member of First Promise ound Table.
• Thomas William “TJ” Johnston, 44, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Ordained deacon  in June 1994 and priest in January 1995 by Bishop Ed Salmon of South Carolina,  Johnston had himself transferred to the Diocese of Shyira in Rwanda in 1998, shortly after moving to Arkansas. He incorporated St. Andrew’s Church in Little Rock, without the permission of the bishop of Arkansas, as a parish of the Diocese of Shyira,  whose bishop, John Rucyahana, has been closely associated with the AMiA. He is a  member of the First Promise Round Table. 
• Douglas Brooks Weiss is rector of Christ the King Church in Campbell, California.  A  web site  lists him as “Father Doug Weiss, President, Pray South Bay,” a “prayer  walking” group. He is referred to as an “Anglican priest.” The parish is listed in the  latest edition of the Directory of Traditional Anglican and Episcopal Parishes as  associated with the Association of Anglican Congregations on Mission (AACOM),  a predecessor organization to the AMiA. There is no listing for his name in the current  Episcopal Clergy Directory.

(https://archive.wfn.org/2001/07/msg00066.html)

February 2002

Bishop John B. Lipscomb suspends Kevin Donlon for 90 days due to eight church members accusing Donlon of “conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy.”

September 2002

Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting in Hong Kong approved a motion urging dioceses and bishops to refrain from unilateral actions/policies that would strain communion.

31 July 2003

AMiA Women’s Ordination Study Team issues a report with the conclusion, “The Anglican Mission in America should maintain its present moratorium on the ordination of women, at least to the priesthood and episcopate, until a consensus emerges within the Anglican Communion that can be declared to be such by a Lambeth Conference.”

August 2003

The TEC House of Bishops and House of Deputies approve the election of a non-celibate homosexual (Gene Robinson) as bishop of New Hampshire.
Both houses approve a resolution (C051) recognizing the blessing of same-sex unions as “within the bounds of our common life.”

October 2003

The Plano Conference drew 2,800 orthodox clergy and lay people to Dallas, TX. It ended up being held in Dallas because of the overwhelming response. It was attended by conservative Episcopalians, with some representation by other conservative Anglican groups in North America, including conservatives from the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s letter of fraternal prayers and assurance of papal support was read.

November 2003

Gene Robinson consecrated as bishop.