Rick Warren backs breakaway Anglicans
SAM HODGES for the Dallas Morning News
| 25 Jun 2009
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Rick Warren: pledging support for North America's new Anglican grouping.
The Rev Rick Warren used his Southern Baptist preaching skills to fire up a gathering of conservative Anglicans in Bedford, Texas on Tuesday.
"The church has never been a building," the Mr Warren told the Anglican Church of North America.
"We stand with you in solidarity as God does something new in your midst," said the author of the mega-bestseller The Purpose Driven Life , pastor of massive Saddleback Church in California, and invocation-giver at the Obama inaugural.
The Anglican Church in North America invited him to be one of the headline speakers for its first provincial assembly at St Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford.
The group, which claims 100,000 members in 700 parishes, formed last year as a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
Rick Warren has offered support to clergy and congregations leaving the Episcopal Church. On Tuesday, he gave a Bible-based message that focused on the need to spread the Gospel and help Christians mature spiritually.
"If we want God's blessing on ACNA, then we must make our agenda God's agenda," he said to a crowd of about 800 in an air-conditioned tent on the Bedford church's grounds.
He didn't avoid ecclesiastical politics altogether.
He briefly referred to lawsuits filed by the Episcopal Church against departing congregations and dioceses, over church buildings and other assets.
"You may lose the steeple but you won't lose the people," Mr Warren said, echoing a line he's used before.
"The church has never been a building. Christ didn't die for property."
The Episcopal Church has since 2003 had an openly gay bishop, and that has been one reason for the departure of many conservative churches and four dioceses.
Mr Warren did not mention homosexuality, but in a question-and-answer period stressed the difference between acceptance and approval.
"God accepts you in Christ. He does not approve of everything you do," Mr Warren said.
On finishing his remarks, he received a standing ovation.
"His message was right on; just what we needed to hear," said the Rev David Baker, pastor of Grace Anglican Church in Boise, Idaho.
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