Anglicanwitness.org is described as "a one stop shop resource hub for church growth, discipleship, youth and children ministry, and other forms of evangelism."
It was built by the core group of the Anglican Witness: Evangelism and Church Growth Initiative, who says the site "brings together Anglicans from across the world committed to strengthening evangelism within communities, seeing churches grow spiritually and numerically in capacity to engage the whole of God's creation with Christ's love, and seeing God's name glorified in every day life experience."
Core group convener Patrick Yu, Area Bishop of York Scarborough and Bishop Suffragan of Toronto, said today, "From [the initiative's] inception, members of the core group, appointed from every region of the Communion, have wrestled with how to animate and resource evangelism, which is the first mark and cutting edge of mission.
"On the one hand, we struggle to define the scope of our mandate. With the help of the Anglican Consultative Council and its standing committee, we identified some priorities: discipleship, reaching youth and children, sharing news that encourages and concerns that invite prayer, highlighting those not yet reached, and building a sound basis of resources on Evangelism and Church Growth from an Anglican perspective.
"On the other hand, we strive to find the most effective means to fulfill this mandate. To this end we began Witness 6.7, a newsletter which can be accessed mainly on line, we began a Facebook community, Anglican Witness, and we have a link in the Anglican Communion Office website."
The website is the latest in the Core Group's resources to assist people around the Anglican world. Bishop Yu stressed that having a separate website did not disconnect evangelism and church growth from the other Marks of Mission. Rather it reflected the "Potentially vast amount of information and links that this mark alone will involve."
Director for Mission of the Anglican Communion Office said, "This is an exciting development and I would like to invite Anglicans and Episcopalians everywhere to recommend resources that exist out there for addition to this website, thereby keeping this tool up to date and relevant to all.
"No doubt there are many Anglicans/Episcopalians who have no access to internet but we also know that accessibility to internet and social media is growing even in remotest parts of the world."
Visit the new website at www.anglicanwitness.org