Before he was elected because the third archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Steve Wood was considered one of the earliest Covid-19 patients within the United States, placed on a ventilator for 10 days in March 2020.
Two years earlier, as bishop of the Carolinas and rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Wood watched as his church constructing was engulfed in a fireplace.
“I would not trade any of those experiences for where I’m at once, because God has been so extraordinarily gracious to me through every considered one of them,” said Wood.
In adversity, he said, he’s learned to trust God’s faithfulness. And while he readily admits the denomination is not perfect, he sees the Anglican Church in North America, which formed in 2009 after splitting from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, as one other testament to the graciousness of God. During his term as archbishop, he hopes that message will likely be not only reinforced within the pews, but shared widely throughout the continent.
On the heels of denominational dustups over women’s ordination to the priesthood and accountability for the misconduct of clergy — specifically bishops — Wood is starting his five-year term as archbishop specializing in transparency and compassion because the young denomination continues to mature. Every week ahead of his investiture, or formal installation, in South Carolina on October 30, Wood spoke to Religion News Service about where the ACNA has been and where it’s heading. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
As you step into this role, is there a word or theme you hope will guide your work as archbishop?
The ACNA determined some years ago that its principal vision was to succeed in North America with the remodeling love of Jesus Christ — 130 million people in North America do not know Jesus, and that’s the compelling motivation in ministry for me, to pontificate the excellent news of Christ to the continent. I also need to tell good stories. Our Matthew 25 Initiative is extraordinary; they’re ministering to people on the margins of society. The work we’re doing with church planting is spectacular, but it surely’s not being talked about.
When you look back on the past 15 years, what are a few of the things you think that ACNA has done well, as a denomination?
I find enormous satisfaction looking back during the last 20 years and saying the Lord established us, preserved us, and he’s growing us. That’s extraordinary, coming out of a meltdown of the Anglican world in North America. We’re not perfect by an extended shot. But at one level, 20 years into this process, we have made it. The other thing the ACNA has really done well is brought people together across the spectrum of Anglicanism. You’ll have low church Protestants, high church Anglo Catholics, people in the center, and the ACNA has really created a spot where all of those folks discover a home. I feel the opposite thing is, numerous church plants that began, they went right into a community with a vision to make a long-term commitment to live there and change into incarnate in that. And for me, that is classic Anglicanism.
In the run-up to the June Assembly, nearly 300 ACNA clergy and a diocese voiced opposition to women’s ordination and said disagreements on the topic imperil the denomination. Do you suspect ACNA’s approach to women’s ordination continues to be up for debate? During your term as archbishop, do you foresee any changes to ACNA’s strategy of allowing dioceses to individually determine how they approach women’s ordination?
Probably no, as to how we’re structured. In the structure and the canons that is our governance structure, and the dioceses have the authority to make those decisions. And so, short term, it isn’t practical to think that the constitutions and canons are going to be modified anytime soon. That being the case, the query for me then becomes, how will we live together? And I prefer a more irenic, compassionate voice. I’m big on having conversations. I encourage others to listen, to not defend a position, but to listen to where the opposite person’s coming from. Do I feel it is a threat to the ACNA? No, but I do think it will be an ongoing conversation point, and I feel how we’ve the conversation is critical.
Last yr, my understanding is a Governance Task Force committee product of lay folks and clergy advisable a whole revision of Title IV. Can you catch us on top of things on what happened to that advisable overhaul, and if and when we are able to expect it to be considered for ratification?
I might say it never got to the purpose where a advice was made. The last time I saw it in January, the College of Bishops had a presentation on it. The presentation was not finished, and I feel Governance Task Force decided to not advance it since it wasn’t ready. So they put their energy into completing the Title I revision, one other a part of our canons that deals with disciplinary matters.
One of the groups that weren’t fully included in last yr’s discussion were the bishops and the chancellors, who’re those principally answerable for enforcing Title IV. I’ve asked all of the diocesan bishops and their chancellors for current evaluations of Title IV, and I expect that process will likely be done in the following few months. That report will go to the Governance Task Force, which can evaluate the present Title IV in light of that input. GTF will come back to the manager committee, and I’d like them to make a presentation to Provincial Council this summer, get input from those two bodies, and give you more of a proposal by the autumn. That way, once we come back into our College of Bishops meeting next yr, they will put something before us. Then we are able to start the sign-off process with all different bodies. We’re growing up as a church, and the canons have to grow up with us.
I’ve heard some concerns that the review of Title IV is starting again from scratch. But I’m hearing you frame this as one other layer of input?
We’re not throwing anything out. This just isn’t a alternative, that is supplemental information. We have a superb GTF, and I do know they’d a superb process. And the draft copy that I saw last yr, I used to be pleased with it. I’m very comfortable we revised Title I, and I can be very comfortable to have Title IV on the table as well.
ACNA has the unique feature of including nongeographic dioceses united by affinity, relatively than region. Do you think that this approach has been successful?
Historically, Anglicanism has been geographically based, not necessarily affinity based. But we’re in a missional era at once, and my goal is to have as many individuals within the fields working for the harvest as possible. We can sort out the geographical issues downstream. I do not think we must always create any more nongeographical dioceses, and I do anticipate a day when this stuff get sorted, but today we’re a recent denomination, 15 years old, still trying to succeed in North America with the remodeling love of Jesus Christ. That takes precedent.
This yr we also saw open letters asking for increased transparency and expediency regarding trials for bishops. Can you speak about changes which have already been made, and any you would like to see, regarding the pace of and communication around bishop trials?
I’m a fan of transparency. I’ve begun implementing quarterly provincial letters bringing people up thus far. Sometimes people don’t understand the bounds of authority. For instance, the archbishop cannot demand that the court do anything, however the archbishop can request. The first request I product of the court elected this June was that they might publish their rulings and schedule on the provincial website, which they agreed to. I’m thrilled with that. Timeliness I’m definitely concerned about, but I’m more concerned about justice. I’d relatively go slower and get it right than rush to something and get it flawed. Having said that, things must be timely. We had two trials (involving bishops) up concurrently, but our system only allows separately to proceed. That was one other element I communicated this summer in my provincial letter.
In recent years, many Anglican churches within the Global South have voiced concern about perceived liberal drift within the Church of England. What’s your view on what some have called a “crisis” within the Anglican Communion? What role, if any, might the ACNA need to play on this moment?
The internal affairs of the Church of England are the inner affairs of the Church of England. Now, how that affects the worldwide church I care about. I do think ACNA will proceed to play a task in helping to reshape global Anglicanism. Most of our churches lost every thing to come back out of the Episcopal Church. They showed what’s possible while you follow your understanding of the gospel. You take a look at the expansion of the ACNA, it has been nothing apart from extraordinary. And I feel that could be a superb example for the Global Communion, for other people in other countries which are still having to take care of, we’d lose every thing. Well, you furthermore mght might gain every thing, right? I feel the ACNA can communicate to a bigger Anglican world that God is faithful.
