Stresses Education, Prayer Book Worship, and Congregational Development
By Joy Hunter, Communications Director, The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina
Bishop Chip Edgar highlighted three great passions in his address to the 2025 convention of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, held March 14-15 at St. Philip’s Church in Charleston. The passions—teaching the faith, Prayer Book-centered worship, and congregational development—led to the creation of our new diocesan vision:
“Rooted in Scripture and formed by the Anglican tradition, we are seeking to build a vital community of faith through planting, revitalizing, and developing local churches.”
Teaching the Faith
In stressing the importance of teaching the faith, Bishop Edgar repeated the question our Prayer Book instructs him to ask rectors at the beginning of each confirmation service, “Have they been adequately prepared?”
“Now, I’ve been a parish priest,” he said. “I’ve worked with people. I know just how fraught with opportunities to fall short of the goal things like confirmation classes can be. ‘Adequately prepared’ is something of a moving target…”
“But my deep concern is that we live in an increasingly complicated world where living out the Christian faith has become a challenge and is often also challenged by those around us. My question is, are we preparing people to bear witness to the faith when it, and its moral vision are constantly challenged? Can we say that the people in our churches are being given the tools necessary to give an answer for the hope that they have?
“From the youngest age to our oldest members, we must be in the business of teaching the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Holy Scriptures, and the Catechism of the Church. That we might be prepared to resist our great adversary who is always on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour. I’ll add briefly here that our ACNA catechism, To be a Christian, is an excellent resource. If you haven’t already, I urge you to look into it, and especially into the cottage industry that’s grown up around it, about how to use it for instruction for all ages.”
Prayer Book Worship
In speaking about Prayer Book worship, he commended the Diocese for its strong tradition of Prayer Book worship.
“Traveling around the Diocese, I’m deeply impacted by the faithful use of two classic Anglican texts. The Comfortable Words, all four verses in the logical, strongly pedantic order that Cranmer intended…“That and the Prayer of Humble Access with its powerful reminder that God’s mercies are always greater than our unworthiness.
“As a church planter, concerned with being relevant to non-Anglicans, I was willing to omit both of those texts. I’d love a do-over to correct what I now see was a great misstep. Those texts, repeated Sunday after Sunday, imprint essential pastoral Christian truth into the hearts of worshippers.”
Congregational Development
In expressing his third passion, the Bishop reminded the Diocese that, “we all share a commitment to the health and well-being of all of our parishes.”
“As our Canon for Church Planting, Todd Simonis, routinely reminds me: every parish, no matter how large or small, is always developing,” said Bishop Edgar. “New plants; small struggling congregations; large, well-resourced congregations—all ought always to be seeking to develop their ministries to reach more and more people.”
While he considers diocesan giving to be strong, he invited the Diocese to imagine, with him, what could be accomplished if we fully embraced the 10/10/10 standard.
“We all together have agreed to the 10/10/10 giving plan: we ask our people to give 10% to our churches, our parishes to give 10% to our Diocese, and our Diocese to give 10% to the province.”
He noted that at the end of 2024 giving to the Diocese reached approximately 9.2%.
“That’s deeply encouraging,” he said. “…This year, if all of our parishes had pledged 10%, we would have an additional $450,000. We could use those funds to bear each other’s burdens as churches, to plant more congregations where no faithful proclamation of God’s Word and administration of the sacraments are, and we would see the seeds of the Gospel sown and the fruits of God’s kingdom in lives and communities spread…”
“The harvest is plentiful, brothers and sisters. Together, we need to work with our existing congregations and plant new ones to reach lost people with the power of the gospel.”
Vision Statement
In closing the Bishop presented the Diocese with his new vision statement, encapsulating the three priorities: “Rooted in Scripture and formed by the Anglican tradition, we are seeking to build a vital community of faith through planting, revitalizing, and developing local churches.”
Read the Bishop’s address.
Watch the Bishop’s address.
Listen to the Bishop’s address.
Learn more about the convention.
