The Anglican Church has received numerous requests to enhance their ministry in Labrador, and in particular northern Labrador. They want to know if there is any way to work alongside the Moravian Church and provide an ordained person to live on a permanent and full-time basis in one of the communities and work with both Moravians and Anglicans to build up the Christian Church in those communities.
As Chair, I find this a very exciting offer. Since I took on this role in January of 2007, my goal, and that of the MCNL Board, is to staff each of our four churches with an ordained minister. We have put the call out to the Moravian Unity worldwide. We have also written to the Arctic Diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada, as well as to the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission. What prospects do we have? One person in training in the United States has expressed an interest in coming to Labrador in 2009. We have one Labradorian who will begin study at Queen’s College in September towards a Bachelor of Theology. This offer from the Anglican Church to staff one of our churches by this fall is very encouraging.
The Provincial Board of MCNL, in the preliminary stages, is open to the idea, for these reasons:
- We are both CHRISTIAN churches. The label you put on a church is not as important as its ability to communicate the Christian message.
- Our service formats differ, but not all that much.
- A person from our own province or country would perhaps adapt more easily to our lifestyle and culture because he/she already shares so much in common.
These questions were put forward to Archdeacon Peddle:
Question: Will our church still be called a Moravian Church if there is an Anglican minister?
Answer: Yes, it will be a Moravian Church. It will simply have a minister who has been trained in Anglican theology. The Anglican Church does not plan to convert members of a congregation, but to minister to them.
It is important to note that Rev. Dr. Brigitte Schloss received her theological training at Queen’s College which is an Anglican School of Theology. Rev. Ray Hunter (deceased) was trained at an Anglican Seminary. His daughter, Sabina Hunter, received her Associate in Theology diploma from Queen’s College. Other Moravian lay persons have taken courses from Queen’s College. Beatrice Hope, our candidate for ministry, plans to study at Queen’s College.
Question: If a person seeks confirmation, will he/she be confirmed as a Moravian or an Anglican?
Answer: If he/she chooses to be confirmed as a Moravian, that is what he/she will be. However, if an Anglican asks to be confirmed as an Anglican, that is possible also.
Question: Would we still use our Moravian hymnals and liturgies?
Answer: Yes. We would not seek to change the way anything is done.
Question: What about our traditions…our festival days, such as Children’s Day, Young People’s Day, Married People’s Day, our lovefeasts, Advent and Christmas traditions? Would we still keep them?
Answer: Yes. The Anglican Church will work alongside the Chapel Servants.
Moravian traditions will continue.
That is not to say that the Moravian Church is a stagnant church and does not want to change. We do like to learn new hymns, for example. As one Board member put it, “It is always very enriching to be exposed to and to share in the differing traditions of our brothers and sisters in Christ.” However, many staunch churchgoers would feel threatened if their institution no longer did the things that they hold dear. The Archdeacon assured us that the Anglican Church wants to work with us.
The MCNL Board will discuss how such a partnership would work. What responsibilities would we have, and what would we expect of the other church. A Memorandum of Agreement would need to be drawn up.
In the meantime, consultation will have to take place at the community level to see if a congregation is open to the idea of a shared ministry. The MCNL Board will decide how to go about this.
The Anglican Church has made it clear that they will only come if they are invited by MCNL. They would only come if there was a chance for the ministry to be a success.
Sr Joan Andersen
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