WASHINGTON, June 18 /
Christian Newswire/ -- The Institute on Religion and Democracy's Anglican Action program will be sending a team to the founding Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
After years of preparation, evangelical, orthodox and traditionalist Anglicans from across North America, many of them recently departed from the Episcopal Church, will meet in Texas this week to formally launch the new denomination. ACNA unites eight Anglican groups under a single Archbishop and positions itself as an alternative to the U.S. Episcopal Church within the global Anglican Communion.
With an estimated average Sunday attendance of 100,000 congregants, the launch of ACNA will be the largest denominational enterprise of its kind since the founding of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in the 1970s. Ecumenical speakers including Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America will offer keynote addresses.
The Anglican Communion is divided over hot button issues like homosexuality and scriptural authority, with U.S. Episcopal church leaders being more theologically and politically liberal than their overseas counterparts. IRD supports a conservative perspective that affirms traditional church teachings.
What: Anglican Church in North America Provincial Assembly
Who: Delegates from eight Anglican groups uniting as a single denomination
Where: St. Vincent's Cathedral, Bedford, Texas
When: Monday, June 22 through Thursday, June 25
Available for Interviews:
Jeff Walton--Director of the Anglican Action Program and communications manager for the Institute on Religion & Democracy. Jeff writes on the subject of how the Anglican Church interacts with public life.
Faith J.H. McDonnell--Director of Religious Liberty Programs at the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Faith writes and speaks on the subject of the persecuted church. She has drafted legislation on religious persecution for the Episcopal Church and for the United States Congress. In June 2007, her book, Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children, was published by Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
The Institute on Religion and Democracy, founded in 1981, is an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians working to reform their churches' social witness, in accord with biblical and historic Christian teachings, thereby contributing to the renewal of democratic society at home and abroad.
www.TheIRD.org 
