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Appendix B
Memorandum Re Network of Anglicans in Mission & Evangelism
DATE: April 22, 1999
TO: The Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council
FROM: MISSIO
RE: PROPOSAL FOR A NETWORK FOR ANGLICANS IN MISSION
Dear Bishop Chiwanga,
At the conclusion of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Archbishop David Gitari, on behalf of a group of bishops, presented to the Primates a proposal for an Anglican Mission and Evangelism Network (the AMEN Initiative, as it was then known), the focus of which would be to build capacity for mission action within the Anglican Communion. The proposal found its origins in the remarkable enthusiasm and vision emerging from Section II of the Lambeth Conference, which met under the theme “Called to Live and Proclaim the Good News.” The Primates, meeting the day after the Lambeth Conference concluded, briefly discussed the proposal and referred the matter to MISSIO for consideration and reporting to ACC-11. The Primates also emphasised the importance of the Provinces’ having an opportunity to discuss the AMEN proposal.
After the Primates Meeting, and before meeting with MISSIO, the organisers of the Initiative accepted a further recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury to broaden the leadership team to reflect the spectrum of theological thinking in the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop also enjoined the Initiative to keep its focus on mission and evangelism, avoiding as much as possible divisive issues such as human sexuality.
The organisers of the AMEN initiative then joined MISSIO in Harare for a joint session on the morning of April 15, 1999. Following the session together, the organisers produced a revised proposal, attached, now to be known as the Network for Anglicans in Mission and Evangelism, or NAME. After extended discussion among MISSIO members, believing that a commitment to the mission of God should be recognised as an expression of our unity, and wanting to encourage new expressions of mission, MISSIO
RECOMMENDS that the Anglican Consultative Council, on completion of the following steps, recognise NAME as a network of the Anglican Communion:
- A positive review of the proposal by the Provinces and major mission agencies, to be facilitated by the Anglican Communion Office (ACO).
- Formation of a secretariat, or staff, and program committee by NAME that inspires confidence in the network’s intentions.
- Clarification of the membership of NAME, particularly the question of whether the network is open to people or organisations other than individual bishops and institutions/agencies.
- The working out of a mutually acceptable reporting accountability to the Anglican Consultative Council. (MISSIO recommends that NAME liaise with the ACO staff officer for mission and evangelism.)
- The establishment of a mutually acceptable working relationship with MISSIO, which takes account of MISSIO’s mandate while enabling NAME to operate effectively and efficiently.
MISSIO notes NAME’s agreement to follow the network guidelines of the Anglican Consultative Council and further urges a commitment to the “Ten Principles of Partnership” enunciated by the Mission Issues and Strategy Advisory Group (MISAG II), especially those having to do with mutuality in mission and transparency in all matters financial. MISSIO believes that financial transparency means, among other things, that the diocesan bishop will have concurred in fund-raising approaches to local congregations, as well as decisions about projects in his or her diocese.
Attachments: (1) Proposal for NAME received on April 16, 1999.
(2) List of participants from the Anglican Mission and Evangelism Initiative
who met with MISSIO on April 15, 1999.
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