The Most Reverend Christopher Harper

Name: Christopher Harper
Current Office and Location: National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop, Edmonton, AB

List of ecclesiastical offices held including dates (most recent to least recent):

Episcopal ministry:

• National Indigenous Archbishop, May 2023–present
• Bishop of Saskatoon, 2018–2023

Parish ministry:

• Lay Minister, Sir Geoffrey Paul Memorial Anglican, Onion Lake, Saskatchewan, 1998–2003

Ordination information:

• Diaconate: March 2003, Saskatchewan, The Right Rev. Anthony Burton
• Priesthood: June 2005, Saskatchewan, The Right Rev. Charles Arthurson
• Episcopate: November 2018, Saskatoon, The Most Rev. Greg Kerr-Wilson

A statement by the nominee of his vision of the role of the Primate:

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada should be a unifying presence and voice of the church. Especially so in this season and time where there is such perceived and realized division and financial uncertainty, as well as, I observe, a desire to distance from leadership and pull toward a congregational model. But this is not what our Anglican church is. We are a body of believers in Jesus Christ, upholding a historic episcopate form of leadership wherein the Primate is to be a Bishop to the Bishops, a Priest to the clergy, a Deacon to the church and body of Christ. Our Primate is also called to be a voice and a presence nationally and internationally among the Anglican Communion, witnessing to the ministry of the Canadian Church in our context.

It is this ‘our context’ which differs from other provinces of the Anglican Communion. The Primate represents as our head Bishop or Archbishop, and thus is the face for General Synod, the Bishops and ministry of the church in our Province within the Anglican Communion. We, the Anglican Church of Canada, stand apart in the context of our missional history, and structural diversity and polity. Our Primate is asked to navigate the church through these significant and important points of division and diversity, and yet seek to keep us unified, safeguarding the ministry, and witnessing the peace, promise and call, to be one in the body of Christ. As each parish differs within the Diocese, as each Diocese differs and Bishops differ, it is this diversity of church which can be uplifted to the glory of God as we support and walk with each other in unity, supporting the Primate to lead and guide as one in the body of faith.

Our Primate needs to be prayerful, supportive, enabling, and approachable, with an open heart, listening ear, willing to take counsel from all experts within their field. The Primate should also be fully human, acknowledging in humility that they will never be perfect, thus leaning on the cross, prayerfully guided by the Holy Spirit and going boldly knowing that the prayers of the church and body of faith are with and upon our Primate.

What is the most important challenge, and the most important opportunity, facing the Anglican Church of Canada today, and how would you address them as Primate?

Today the Anglican Church of Canada stands at the crossroads of change and renewal. Change just naturally opens the doors of uncertainty and apprehension because of the inherent pull to do something new. But change is not a negative, it is our opening to plan and seek out answers to what is crucial in the steps going forward. Like the gardener in the spring who plots out the garden, prepares the land and seeds, what seeds of faith will we offer up in this, the spring of the church?

It needs to be acknowledged that we as Christians have failed to live into the Gospel truth, we have been distracted by the rush and roar of the world around us, we have focused on our own specific scenes without lifting our eyes to the greater whole around us, like those lost in their cell phones. The Gospel speaks of our reality that we are sojourners in this world, seeking the face of God before us, but if we do not lift our eyes, we continue lost and alone. We are called, anointed and set aside to be better, to pray and serve, to bless and forgive, to listen, learn and change.

The opportunity before us is that in renewal and acknowledgement of change, we can open ourselves to come before the healing and grace of God. We the church have this moment to lift up the Gospel truth and to walk in the peace of Christ, reaching out the hand of inclusion and hope, wherein there is room for all at the table of our Lord. Healing happens when we acknowledge that we are hurting and that needful change has to happen so that we might go forward together in peace, faith and hope. Renewal and growth of the church comes from faithful and bold proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. We the church are called to be the church in uncertain and troubled times. We the church are called to go forward to be the hands of Christ in a broken world, to be the voice of the voiceless, and to speak and live truth in all that we say and do.

I believe that we alone can do nothing, but with Christ and all in the family of God, we the children of God’s creation can do so much more than we could ever ask or imagine. We in the Anglican Church of Canada walk with our relatives in the Anglican Communion, a body of believers, needful followers of Christ, servants of peace and God’s love. I believe that the Primate needs to see the world of faith with an open prayerful heart, one who can listen and serve with all in the faith family, enabling all from our bishops to the parishes, going forward with a long vision of the hope and the cross, and confident in God’s promise to say “Here am I, Lord, humble and heal me to be your servant, accept my offering and guide me in your will. Amen.”