The Church must be a lifesaving station, says Archbishop Wood

Steve Wood, the newly installed Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has reiterated the call that the Church is “meant to be a lifesaving station” in spreading the mission message to benefit all mankind.

Wood stated that the friendships and partnerships that have grown between the ACNA and the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) dioceses have been, “life giving and generative, and have produced life all across the community.”

According to him, every GAFCON province has been blessed by their participation in the union of faith to deepen the Anglican Communion. He further shared his thankfulness for the, “sense of confidence that GAFCON leadership brought to the North American church,” especially at a time when orthodox Anglicans were, “struggling with a church that seemed to be embarrassed about Jesus.”

Wood preached in the service’s sermon, calling upon church members to hold fast to sound doctrine, commit themselves to prayer, and to pursue a holy life. “A ‘believe-anything-you-want’ faith is being rejected by many as trivial.”

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Laurent Mbanda, chairman, GAFCON Primates’ Council, noted the great visionaries of the movement in proclaiming the true gospel of Christ. “This is a global GAFCON family standing with you today.”

He observed that ACNA is one of the major results of the great movement and urged all members of ACNA to support the new Archbishop to make more impact in the global GAFCON mission movement.

Mbanda, also the Rwandan Primate, pointed to ACNA, whose formation was authorized by GAFCON in 2008, as “continuing the alignment of the movement to stand for the gospel and to stand firm.”

This historic service, similar to a commissioning or presentation, earlier held in October, 2024 at Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (just outside of Charleston) was graced by Anglicans faithful across the globe which included the delegation of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion and its mission in North America led by Blessing Enyindah, the dean of the Church of Nigeria.

The ACNA was established by GAFCON as a province in 2009, and has enjoyed the leadership of Archbishops Bob Duncan, Archbishop Foley Beach, and now Archbishop Steve Wood.