Diocese of the Great Lakes
The Diocese of the Great Lakes (DGL) is a Continuing Anglican Church body in the USA and Canada. Although all of its worship centers and clergy are currently located in the American Great Lakes states and the Canadian Province of Ontario, the diocese is non-geographical in structure and open to Continuing Anglicans from outside the Great Lakes region.
The DGL uses the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer or the 1962 Canadian book, accepts the Holy Scriptures as the inerrant Word of God, adheres to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, and ordains only males to the orders of Deacon, Priest, and Bishop. An active work is conducted in nursing homes by DGL clergy and lay readers.
History
The Diocese of the Great Lakes was formed in 1998 by the bishops of the Independent Anglican Diocese of Ontario and the Missionary District of the USA, along with priests and deacons formerly belonging to the Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod). Parishes and missions of the Diocese of the Great Lakes were located in Etobicoke, Niagara Falls, Windsor, Guelph, and Kitchener, Ontario, and in Battle Creek, Michigan. More recently, the Diocese has added parishes in Hastings, Middleville, and Stanton, Michigan and clergy in Ontario and Pennsylvania.
In 1998, the DGL was admitted to membership in the Anglican Church, Inc, a Continuing Anglican federation of churches, but withdrew in 2001. Most of the ACI's constitutent dioceses reorganized thereafter as the Anglican Church International Communion. The Diocese of the Great Lakes maintains friendly relations with other Continuing Anglican churches, having an intercommunion agreement since 2002 with the United Episcopal Church of North America and an agreement of amity and cooperation with the Anglican Episcopal Church that was approved in 2008.
Leadership
The Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Great Lakes is the Right Reverend David Thomas Hustwick, Rector of Saints Andrew and Matthias Independent Anglican Church in Hastings, Michigan. The Bishop Suffragan and Interchurch Relations officer is the Right Reverend John M. Pafford of Midland, Michigan.