The Anglican Indigenous Network (AIN) is one of the Networks of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It traces its historic beginnings to the 1991 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Phoenix, Arizona where the first step was taken toward forming a network of indigenous Anglicans.
Anglican Indigenous Network – Mission Statement
Our Aims:
1. We are indigenous minority peoples living in our own lands.
2. We are committed to the Anglican tradition while affirming our traditional spirituality.
3. We have discovered that we have many things in common: a common spirituality, common concerns, common gifts, common hopes.
4. We believe that God is leading the Church to a turning point in its history and that the full partnership of indigenous peoples is essential. Therefore we pledge to work together to exercise our leadership in contributing our vision and gifts to transform the life of the Christian community.
The creation of a secretariat has been established to organize and administer AIN and its gatherings that are held once every two years. Although the present membership is made the indigenous and national ecclesiastical authority consist of indigenous Anglicans from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders), Canada, Hawai’i (Native Hawaiian), and the United States of American, since 1994 AIN has sought to invite and expand its membership to include other indigenous Anglican minorities in the Communion.
Delegates to the AIN gatherings represent the five programme areas of AIN: elders, youth, women, clergy and indigenous theological educators. Delegations are responsible for their airfares to all gatherings and the host member is responsible for ground transportation, accommodations and meals. The AIN gatherings occur every two years and hosting is done by rotation and also financial requirements.
AIN is the most recent officially recognized network of the Anglican Indigenous Network. Its present Secretary-General is Mr. Malcolm Naea Chun of Honolulu, Hawai’i. AIN has a modest operating budget due to the recent generosity of members and has held during the off years programme meetings. An executive committee has been established to assist the secretariat and consists of The Rt. Rev. John Gray of Aotearoa, The Rev. Richard Mendez of the USA, the Rev. Di Langham of Australia, Mrs. Louise Aloy of Hawaii, and Ms. Donna Bomberry of Canada. Mr. Charles Hemana of Aotearoa serves as their recording secretary.
For more information visit http://ain.anglicancommunion.org/index.cfm