A Question Posed to An Anglican Priest I Know

I've just Facebooked an Anglican Priest friend of mine I know with the following question:

Can 20 new churches happen if you and your people only stay "within the brand name?"

Of course, what I meant by my question is "Can the goal of 20 new churches happen if those churches HAVE to be AMIA?"

I would like to recruit some Anglican friends to take a dare.

I dare those AMIA and CANA Anglicans in the greater Denver area who have strong Anglo-Catholic leanings to consider the following ideas:

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox Parish in Parker Colorado with the following Attributes:

Instead of using the Popular ALPHA course, we use THE WAY.

We take a page out of the Wellspring Anglican Church playbook and seek to meet the needs of the people of the surrounding area of Parker, most notably in the following manner:

There are many apartment dwellers in Parker and other people who have had to move out of homes due to foreclosures. Parker isn't solely composed of the super rich, although there are some neighborhoods in Parker with GIANT houses in them.

We have some older neighborhoods in Parker. One of these is the Cottonwood neighborhood.

We also have many townhomes, condos, and apartment dwellers around here.

Some if not all of the things Wellspring has done in the community that surrounds them could also be very effective here in Parker.

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox and Western Rite parish in Parker that runs a Christian Coffee Shop where ministry can take place and Contemporary Christian Music can be performed and used as a ministry tool to the areas youth while at the same time not compromising the worship standards of the Holy Eucharist / Divine Liturgy that Eastern Orthodoxy is famous for.

Help me plant an EO parish with a strong Sunday School program steeped in the study of Holy Scripture as understood by the EO Church.

Help me plant an EO parish with a vibrant and effective Healing Ministry as practiced in a regular "Service of Holy Unction" at the parish that takes place during the Sunday School Hour when it is held.

By regular, I mean every other month, or even every month.

Again, at such a service, reverent praise and worship music that is compatible with the doctrines of Holy Orthodoxy can be used.

We've seen this very thing done at our own parish in Denver.

And the healing ministry can be expanded to include the types of healing that Wellspring has offered through their church.

Such an expansion would occur in addition to the Service of Holy Unction, and not in place of it. Such an add on would happen at another time during the week besides Sunday and some of this could take place at the Coffee House.

Help me plant a church with the best aspects of an AMIA parish while holding firmly to the beliefs found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Help me plant a church with a vibrant small groups ministry that meets during the week like the "Life Groups" concept practiced at Wellspring.

I'm now 45 years old and I can't see all of these things happen by myself.

This is my dream, and has been for more than two years now.

I challenge AMIA folks to consider helping with this project and I challenge them to consider becoming Orthodox while doing the same good things they've been doing all along.

Such a joining of efforts would be VERY powerful in my opinion.

My answer to my own question above is that 20 churches by 2020 can much better be accomplished by thinking outside of the boxes we are accustomed to.

The goal of 20 Churches by 2020 should transcend the AMIA brand name. Let the 20 new churches share some of the DNA of being Liturgical, Sacramental and Charismatic (in the best sense of that word) but let them also be placed in multiple Christian jurisdictions and Communions.

Help me plant a church that can be one of the 20. This is my plea as an Orthodox Christian to my Anglican brothers and sisters.

Thanks be to God.

Columba Silouan