Anglican Diocese of the Living Word


The Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, formerly the Missionary Diocese of CANA East, is a missionary diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. It was one of the four missionary dioceses of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a dual church body of the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria. It is officially a full member diocese of ACNA since June 2013. It comprises 39 congregations and 3 church plants in 15 American states, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and it is divided into 6 archdeaconries, Newark Region, Central New York, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West, South and North-East. The diocesan headquarters are located at McLean, Virginia. The first diocesan bishop is Julian Dobbs.

History

The Convocation of Anglicans in North America was launched by the Church of Nigeria as a missionary church body in the United States, with Martyn Minns as the first missionary bishop, elected in June 2006 and consecrated in Abuja, Nigeria, by Archbishop Peter Akinola in August 2006. He was installed as Missionary Bishop of CANA in May 2007. The work of CANA led to the decision of the Church of Nigeria, in November 2011, to create three new missionary dioceses, the first of which was the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, launched in 2012.
CANA East was started as a diocese-in-formation in 2012 and held its first Synod at one of its church plants, Christ Church Anglican on the Main Line in Wayne, Pennsylvania, on May 2–4, 2013 with Julian Dobbs as the first bishop. CANA East was unanimously accepted as a new ACNA diocese at the 5th Provincial Council, on 18 June 2013.
The ACNA and the Church of Nigeria signed an agreement that stated that the three dioceses that have resulted from the Convocation of Anglicans in North America activity in the United States, the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, the Missionary Diocese of CANA East and the Missionary Diocese of CANA West, could decide their own filiation in any of both churches, on 12 March 2019. This agreement was the result of the election of four suffragan bishops for the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity, composed mostly of Nigerian expatriates in the United States, by the Church of Nigeria, without the consultation of the ACNA College of Bishops. Until then all the three dioceses were members of both churches.
The Missionary Diocese of CANA East announced on 21 May 2019 their decision to withdrew membership in the Church of Nigeria to become solely a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, with the name of Anglican Diocese of the Living Word.