Pastoral letter from Bishop Chris Warner to the clergy and people of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

Jesus teaches us that prayer, along with a life shaped by the Scriptures and worship, is at the heart of our walk with God.

When we see Him face to face, there will be no more fasting, or suffering, or hunger, or sorrow, or sin, or death - And that joy-filled life will go on throughout eternity. Hallelujah!

I give thanks to God for the many ways in which women have faithfully witnessed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Easter is coming!

Yes I know, we’ve just begun the Season of Lent. But Easter is only a month away. Easter is the most important event of our church year. It’s the day we celebrate the best news in the world — that forgiveness is real, death is defeated, the restoration of all things has begun, and eternal life is available through faith in Jesus Christ!

Will you make space for eternity during this Lenten season?

That’s really the point of Lent; to make space for eternity so that you grow in relationship with Jesus and so that you’re deeply prepared to celebrate the wonder of Easter.

The book of Revelation shows the incredible diversity and unity of God’s people worshiping him together. This end-time picture stirs my heart to know my brothers and sisters in Christ who are from other cultures and races and with whom I will one day share in the eternal bliss of the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Let’s respond with courage and willingness to our Lord’s call to make disciples of all nations. As the great missionary spokesman William Carey wrote, it is always worthwhile, “to lay ourselves out with all our might in promoting the cause and kingdom of Christ.”

As Sprit-filled and biblically-informed Anglican Christians, we believe God is the author and preserver of life. Because of this, we know that all human life is a sacred gift from God and that it must be protected from the moment of conception to natural death.

Our recent annual Diocesan Synod was such an encouraging experience. The theme for our Synod was “Called to Go” and focused on the outward movement of the church into the world. As the missiologist Rolland Allen wrote, “The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit relentlessly driving the church outward to witness.”

In Acts 1: 8-9, Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus calls us to be his witnesses wherever he puts us and to whomever he sends us.  One such witness, and a personal hero in the faith to me, was Charles Simeon. Simeon was a British Anglican evangelical pastor who lived in Cambridge England in the early 19th century.

'The New Testament assumes that people outside of Christ and apart from God are lost and need a Savior. Jesus told vivid stories in Luke 15 about a coin, a sheep, and two sons. All were lost and all were sought. In those stories, to be lost is more about “awayness” than “badness.” The coin was away from the purse, the sheep from the sheepfold, and the sons from the father’s house.

You are likely familiar with Archbishop William Temple’s famous words, “The Church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.” We plastered that quote on our church website in Philadelphia. It inspires, it calls, and it convicts us to chew on what it means – practically. Honestly, 17 years later I wonder if we ever really plumbed the depths of that powerful assertion. It still feels far more aspirational than anything we ever realized.

I have two things that are uppermost in my mind as I write to you today. The first has to do with an emerging sense of vision that I’m seeing for our diocese and our churches. The second is related to the book of Revelation and Hispanic Heritage month.

Is evangelism a thing of the past?

That was the title of an article I read some time ago in Relevant Magazine. The article stated that according to a Barna study, 83 percent of American churchgoers aren’t clear about the Great Commission. Of those, roughly half indicated they had no idea what it is, while the others said they’d heard of the Great Commission but weren't sure of its exact meaning. The article also said that this lack of knowledge about the Great Commission increases among younger generations.

Will you join me in seeking God’s purpose for your life? Will you look for ways to serve Him in the lives of others? And will you learn to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those around you? Start by praying. Ask God to give you his conviction. Seek what the Scripture says. And then pay attention to the opportunities before you and join God as His hands and feet and mouth in this world.

Jesus (and later Paul) exploded all the stereotypes we tend to have about God. God is not an angry tyrant. God is not a cosmic cop. God is not a merciless accountant. He is not a universal killjoy. He is not an impersonal force. God is a personal God. He wants to have a relationship with us, and he created you with the ability to have a relationship with him.

It’s clear to me that the COB is not a perfect institution. How could it be? It’s populated by people including me. But in my observation, it is a prayerful, godly, wise, biblically-committed, and canonically-oriented group. It is both apostolic and catholic in its orientation and I look forward to working within the College in the years to come.

We recently celebrated the Feast of Pentecost and we’re now in the long liturgical season of Ordinary Time which will last until Advent. Though the season is called ordinary, it’s anything but that because it is the time of the Holy Spirit.