Jeff Walton looks at the distribution of church plants across the US and Canada by the ACNA
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been on a church planting mission since its founding in 2009. While Anglican church planting doesn’t compare with larger, more resourced groups like the Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptist Convention, for a relatively small denomination it has done undeniably well.
As of June 2017, the denomination listed 1,004 churches across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. ACNA now has at least some presence in every U.S. state except for North Dakota and every Canadian province except for Prince Edward Island. Always Forward, the church planting initiative of ACNA, has provided a central resource, and Canon Dan Alger has an interview about this work.
The purpose of this blog entry is to create a list of areas where ACNA does not currently have a ministry presence and to connect interested parties. I understand that church planters are mostly (though thankfully not exclusively) drawn to major metropolitan areas and college towns. It is also the case that church planters usually chase population: new churches are much more likely to be planted in a place of population influx than population exodus.
Some of these communities do have vibrant orthodox Episcopal parishes, and that has partly negated the immediate need for an ACNA plant. But many of these places have no such vibrant orthodox presence.
Do you know of a sizeable community without an Anglican parish? Do you see a town on the list below and know of a church planting project that is forming? Please make a note in the comment section below. The ACNA church map can be viewed here: http://www.acna.org/map/
Cities:
Flagstaff, AZ
Redding, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Oxnard, CA
Tampa, FL (there is an ACNA congregation in Largo across the bay)
Fort Meyers, FL
Palm Beach County, FL
Fort Lauderdale/Broward County, FL
Macon, GA
Sioux City, IA
Wichita, KS
Topeka, KS
Lafayette, LA – [Update: Trinity Lafayette has begun worshiping together]
Lake Charles, LA
Alexandria, LA
Springfield, MA
Duluth, MN
Rochester, MN
Great Falls, MT
Fargo, ND
Omaha, NE
Wilmington, NC – [Update: Christ Our Hope Anglican Churchhas begun worshiping together]
Santa Fe, NM
Bend, OR
Medford, OR
Erie, PA
Charleston, WV – [Update: Hope Church has begun weekly worship]
Spartanburg, SC
Beaumont, TX
Laredo, TX
Amarillo, TX
Tacoma, WA
College Towns:
Morgantown, WV (WVU)
Charlottesville, VA (UVA)
Lawrence, KS (KU)
Pullman, WA-Moscow, ID (WSU, UI) – [Update: Christ the King,Moscow will begin weekly worship in September]
Bozeman, MT (MSU) [Update: a church plant is in the works here]
Champaign, IL (UI)
Huntsville, TX (SHSU)
Canon Dan Alger sat down for an interview with Winfield Bevins from Asbury Seminary to discuss some of the distinctives of Anglican church planting:
Reprinted with the author’s permission from Juicy Ecumenism