The People of CCA

I am guilty of saying more than a hundred times, “Let’s wait until the new rector comes.” Discretion in some matters, of course, is called for. It would be a mistake, for example, for Christ Church to plant a new congregation in N. Scottsdale apart from the leading of our new rector, and neither should we launch major new ministry initiatives or capital projects. But we are emphatically not a church that is in any way paralyzed without a rector! Chris was fantastic and our new rector will be equally fantastic, but the blessing of Christ Church Anglican will continue to be Christ Church’s people. I have seen a high level of energy over the past year because we are a congregation of strong lay leaders who take seriously our calling to live for Christ in our families, neighborhoods and workplaces.

A unique feature of this congregation is just this: we started because very strong and principled lay leaders felt it was a moral imperative and God’s leading. The rector we thought would lead us was not there like we hoped, but that didn’t stop the movement of God in his people. With God’s help and power this church was established and settled by its people for the blessing of Phoenix.

When the final candidates come to Phoenix in the next month or two to look in on our life together, I promise that they will be thrilled and energized to find a church that is thriving and alive in the Holy Spirit – a church that has continued to maintain its direction and excitement even in this interim period. I am as excited as anyone to meet the rector that God has raised up for us. But as great as he is, a church that is driven by or dependent on a personality will fail every time. But the converse is also true, a church whose members are committed to Christ, eager to meet Him in word and sacrament, and who are living for Christ in the real world will partner nicely with a new rector to be a powerful force for Christ here and around the world.

As we near the end of the search process, I am very grateful for the people of Christ Church who have continued to fan into flame the gift of God. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6,7).

Gratefully yours,

Chuck Collins
Interim Rector

 

Art above: “The Harvesters” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1565, The Metropolitan Museum of Art