Church Official: ECUSA's Future Depends on Leaders' Return to God's Word
By Allie Martin
December 29, 2006

AgapePress) - An official with the Institute on Religion and Democracy expects to see the current conflicts within the Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) continue throughout the coming year, including schism over the current liberal leadership and direction of the denomination.

This past year, the ECUSA's new presiding bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, said Christ was not the only way to get to Heaven. She also remarked that homosexuals do not choose their behavior. (See earlier story) These and other indications of Bishop Schori's biblically unorthodox beliefs have sparked criticism and unease among conservative members of the denomination and within the broader Anglican community.

Recently, a group of conservative Episcopal churches in Virginia broke away from the ECUSA. Most of the congregations that left the denomination will now join with the newly established Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an affiliate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Faith McDonnell, director of the Religious Liberty Program with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the Episcopal Church in the United States is in serious trouble. "It's very painful to have this separation," she admits, "but we do believe that God will work everything out for good. We don't know what that will be, but we still do hope and pray that there would be revival in the Episcopal Church." the rest