The Anglican Church of Uganda has announced it will consecrate a former Episcopal priest to serve as suffragan bishop to its congregations in the United States.

The Rev. John Guernsey, rector of All Saints Anglican Church in Woodbridge, Va., was selected by the Ugandan House of Bishops to oversee its 26 congregations in 12 states. He will be consecrated Sept. 2 in Mbarara, Uganda.

“The Rev. Guernsey has a long history with the Church of Uganda, including many short visits for teaching and preaching missions,” stated the Most Rev. Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda, in a press release. “He is highly respected by clergy and bishops in the Church of Uganda, and has also been a pastoral and strategic leader in the Anglican Communion Network as dean of the Mid-Atlantic Convocation.”

Bishop-elect Guernsey said the decision to consecrate an American bishop had been made at the December Ugandan House of Bishops meeting and had been taken in consultation with other Global South provinces.

Uganda is not creating a separate ecclesiastical structure in the United States, he said, and would work closely with other Anglicans to provide a haven for traditionalist groups.

“Uganda is not building anything on its own, but we are working closely with Bishop Duncan and all our Common Cause partners toward a united and faithful Anglicanism in North America,” he told The Living Church. Bishop Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, is moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.

The 26 congregations, spread from Newport Beach, Calif., to Irondequoit, N.Y., are members of 10 different Ugandan dioceses. Under the plan set forth by the Ugandan House of Bishops, the 26 congregations will remain under the jurisdiction of their current bishops. Fr. Guernsey will be consecrated by the Ugandan House of Bishops as a suffragan to offer pastoral and episcopal support. He will remain rector of All Saints.

“My calling is to care for these churches and do the work of the kingdom of God in the power of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Educated at Yale and the Episcopal Divinity School, Bishop-elect Guernsey has served his entire ministry in the Diocese of Virginia, first as assistant rector at Christ Church, Alexandria, from 1978 to 1981, and then as rector of All Saints. He served as a deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Virginia in 1994, 1997 and 2000.

He will be the Ugandan church’s second “Bishop in Mission” outside the geographic boundaries of the province. On Nov. 27, 2005, Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi consecrated the Rev. Prebendary Sandy Millar as an Assistant Bishop of the Church of Uganda to serve in London. Bishop Millar, who was vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, London, from 1985 to 2005, was one of the founders of The Alpha Course, a Christian formation program currently used by more than 35,000 churches in 153 countries.

The Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, with the encouragement of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, licensed Bishop Millar to serve as an honorary assistant Bishop in London under the Church of England’s Mission-Shaped Church report. That report recommended bishops be “sufficiently free from administrative overload to be able to invest time in a more apostolic role, developing mission strategy and taking the lead in the discernment of priority mission initiatives.”

Last week, the Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi, Primate of Kenya, announced he will consecrate the Rev. Canon Bill Atwood on Aug. 30 as a suffragan bishop to oversee the U.S.-based congregations of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

(The Rev.) George Conger

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