The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others is a diocese of the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba ...

. The diocese comprises 53 congregations and church plants in 15 American states. The diocesan headquarters are located in Franklin, Tennessee. The first bishop is

Todd Hunter Todd Stuart Hunter NOTE: Requires user to input song title, e.g. POLITICS (born 22 June 1951) is a New Zealand musician and composer known for his involvement in the band Dragon. Their best known songs are "April Sun in Cuba", "Are You Old Enou ...

History

The Churches for the Sake of Others became a church planting initiative of the Anglican Mission in the Americas in the West coast, in 2008, led by Bishop Todd Hunter, when AMiA was the missionary body of the

Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda The Anglican Church of Rwanda (French: ''Église anglicane du Rwanda'') is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 11 dioceses in Rwanda. The primate of the province is Laurent Mbanda, consecrated on 10 June 2018. Official names The Provinc ...

in the United States, which it was until December 2011. After AMIA's withdrawal from the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Todd Hunter sought affiliation with ACNA. The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others was approved as a diocese-in-formation of ACNA in June 2012 and as a full member diocese at the Provincial Council held in June 2013. The investiture of Todd Hunter took place at the opening worship of ACNA's College of Bishops, at 6 January 2014.Bishop Hunter Invested as Bishop of the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, Religion News Service, 7 January 2014
/ref> The main purpose of the diocese is church planting. Its five key values are Kingdom, Spirit, Formation, Mission and Sacrament. C4SO is organized into five deaneries, Northern California/Northwest, Southern California, Southeast, Midwest and Texas. The diocese actively collaborates on church plants with other diocesan bishops.

Congregational departures from the ACNA

In 2021-2022, C4SO experienced the departure of multiple church plants for denominations more theologically liberal than the ACNA. In September 2021, St. Mary of Bethany Parish in Nashville departed C4SO out of disagreement over "the ACNA’s emphasis that the world is in need of a church that is 'always moving forward' to 'extend' and 'advance' God’s rule with 'boot camp' training and preparation." St. Mary's rector joined the

Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC) is a Christian convergence communion established in 1995 within the United States of America. With a large international presence in six autocephalous provinces, and six dioceses within the U ...

and said the congregation would discern a call to join this denomination. St. Mary of Bethany leaders also voted to make gay, non-celibate members eligible for church office and later adopted a statement of "full participation" in church sacraments, offices, and activities. The presiding bishop of the CEEC responded that its canons do not permit

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. In September 2022, St. Mary's elected a woman in a same-sex marriage to its

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. In October 2022, Bishop

Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows Jennifer Lynn Baskerville-Burrows is an American Anglican bishop in the Episcopal Church. In October 2016, she was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and she was consecrated on April 29, 2017. She is the first African-America ...

announced that the Table, a C4SO church plant in Indianapolis, had been accepted into the

Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis The Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, formerly known as the Episcopal Diocese of Indiana, is a diocese in Province V (for the Midwest region) of the Episcopal Church. It encompasses the southern two-thirds of the state of Indiana. Its see is i ...

as a mission church. The congregation's members voted 44 to 4 to join the Episcopal Church. Except for congregations that had been part of TEC dioceses, followed a newly formed ACNA diocese, and then returned during the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

, the Table was the first congregation to join TEC from ACNA. "They are committed to being a safe place for LGBTQ people and to joining with us in our work to dismantle

systemic racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healt ...

and discrimination," Baskerville-Burrows wrote. The Table also said it disagreed with the ACNA's stance on women serving as bishops. In both cases, Bishop Todd Hunter gave his blessing to the departing congregations and clergy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Churches for the Sake of Others, Diocese of Anglican dioceses established in the 21st century Anglican realignment dioceses Dioceses of the Anglican Church in North America