We give thanks to the Governance Working Group for their work and support in successfully bringing to the June 2010 General Synod held in Halifax the resolution providing canonical recognition for the roles of the National Indigenous Anglican Bishop, the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, and the Anglican Indigenous Sacred Circle. General Synod received and supported this resolution and enacted Canon XXII into the Constitutional structure of General Synod.
The origin of this canon came out of ‘Our Journey of Spiritual Renewal’ and ‘The Covenant’ of 1994 that was accepted by the 1995 General Synod. In this, “we call our people into unity in a new, self-determining community within the Anglican Church of Canada….we extend the hand of partnership to all those who will help us build a truly Anglican Indigenous Church in Canada.”
The next steps in our spiritual journey brought us to A New Agape accepted by the 2001 General Synod and the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples’ focused on Goal One: Self-Determination achieved by Strategy One: a self-determining Indigenous Anglican Community.
The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples’ Governance Working Group has begun its discussions and drafting how these new structures created in the National Indigenous Ministry may be a self-determining community within the Anglican Church of Canada. Out task is to determine how the memberships of ACIP and the Sacred Circle will be selected in the future. Also, how future National Indigenous Anglican Bishops will be selected. We will keep to Indigenous peoples’ values and language that may be easily translated.
We continue to develop many ideas and concepts to test what the National Indigenous Ministry might look like to recommend to the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples who will give recommendations to the next Sacred Circle in 2013.
May God bless this new vision and give us grace to accomplish it. Amen.
