Behind the Name
Every month, StOM prints the Anglican Calendar of Prayer, but have you
ever thought about what or who lies behind the name and place specified
every Sunday?
In each issue, we will feature some information about some of the
people/places for whom your prayers are being asked.
The Most Revd Gregory James
Venables is the Presiding Bishop of the
Anglican Church of South America &
Bishop of Argentina.
Venables is much in demand as a Bible
teacher and is a leading theological
conservative in global Anglicanism. He
and his wife Sylvia have been
missionaries in South America for almost
40 years, with one son, two daughters and
seven grandchildren.
Born and raised in England, Venables
was a computer systems officer and a school teacher before beginning his
ordained ministry in 1984 and serving with the Anglican Church in Paraguay,
Bolivia and Argentina. He was headmaster of St Andrew’s College,
Asuncion, from 1978 until 1989 and was ordained to the episcopate in 1993
when he became the Auxiliary Bishop of Peru and Bolivia.
Venables served as the Primate of the Southern Cone in South America
from 2001 until 2010 and the diocesan bishop of Southern Argentina since
2002. He was installed as primate and obispo presidente of the Anglican
Church of South America on after his re-election at the provincial synod on 8
Nov 2016 in Santiago, Chile.
The Anglican Church of South America stretches from northern Peru to the
southern tip of Chile. It includes the jungle area of Paraguay and the Pampa
area of Argentina and high mountainous areas – including what is thought to
be the highest Anglican church in the world - Cristo el Redentor (Christ the
Redeemer), which stands at an elevation around 13,500 ft at Nuestra
Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace), known as La Paz, in Bolivia.
Bishop Greg described South America as an “incredibly diverse” province
that “loves to be Anglican.”
He said: “It isn’t imposed from the outside. It is an Anglicanism that came
and has developed within the local cultures. Today, most of the Anglicans in
the province are indigenous Christians. And the Church celebrates its unity
amongst the diversity”.
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