View source for Alan J. Hawkins (bishop)

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{short description|American Anglican bishop (born 1970)}}
{{About|the Anglican bishop|the professor at Brigham Young University|Alan J. Hawkins (academic)}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type        = Bishop
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Reverend]]
| name        = Alan J. Hawkins
| title       = Bishop Ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope
| image       = Alan-hawkins-crop.jpg
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| church      = [[Anglican Church in North America]]
| archdiocese = 
| diocese     = [[Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope|Christ Our Hope]]
| see         = 
| term        = 2024–present
| predecessor = [[Steve Breedlove]]
| successor   = 
|<!--   Orders   -->
| ordination     = 
| ordained_by   = 
| consecration  = November 5, 2021
| consecrated_by = [[Foley Beach]]
| rank           = 
<!--   Personal details   -->
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth year and age|1970}}
| birth_place   = Wichita, Kansas
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| previous_post = Chief operating officer, Anglican Church in North America (2018–2024)<br/>Canon for development, ACNA (2014–2018)<br/>Vicar, Anglican 1000, ACNA (2012–2014)<br/>Rector, Church of the Redeemer (2008–2021)
}}
'''Alan J. Hawkins''' (born 1970) is an American bishop of the [[Anglican Church in North America]]. Since 2024, he has been the second [[Ordinary (church officer)|bishop ordinary]] of the [[Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope]]. Prior to this, he was the founding rector of Church of the Redeemer in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], and he has served in several roles at the provincial level for the ACNA, including chief operating officer of the [[ecclesiastical province|province]], canon for provincial development, and vicar of the ACNA-wide Anglican 1000 [[church planting]] initiative.

==Early life, education, and early ministry==

Hawkins was born in 1970 in [[Wichita, Kansas]], the youngest of three children. He was principally raised in [[Perry, Oklahoma]]. His parents became regular church attenders and Hawkins was baptized at age five in the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]]. He had a [[Conversion to Christianity|conversion experience]] in 1989 while studying at [[Oklahoma State University]] (OSU) and became involved with [[Cru (Christian organization)|Cru]] at OSU.<ref name="hawkins-dch-profile">{{cite web |title=Rev. Canon Alan Hawkins |url=https://adhope.org/article/rev-canon-alan-hawkins/ |website=Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> 

Hawkins married his wife, Angela Kaye, in 1993 after he graduated from OSU and she graduated from Texas A&M. They have five children.<ref name="hawkins-dch-profile" />

Hawkins began serving in ministry as a staff member with Cru. He received an M.A. in theological studies from the [[Reformed Theological Seminary]] in 2002.<ref name="hawkins-resume">{{cite web |title=The Rev. Canon Alan J. Hawkins Resume |url=https://caef817244d5f21ecddb-92c76cb1053f4e9ea0aba27a90d8d1b2.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/a/0e11716998_1615822506_ajhresume.pdf |website=Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref>

==Pastoral career==

In 2008, Hawkins and his wife planted the Church of the Redeemer in Greensboro as part of the [[Anglican Mission in the Americas|Anglican Mission in America]]. The church began as a small group in the Hawkins' living room and as of 2021 had attendance of nearly 500.<ref name="hawkins-resume" /> 

Hawkins envisioned the church as a "parish, park, farm, and [[abbey]]."<ref name="cotr-story">{{cite web |title=Our Story |url=https://www.redeemergso.org/our-story-parish-park-farm-abbey |website=Church of the Redeemer at New Garden Park |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> In 2017, Redeemer moved to a new eight-acre campus in north Greensboro on the site of a former [[plant nursery]].<ref name="cotr-story" /> The site, called New Garden Park, has a 6,000-square-foot [[greenhouse]] and five agricultural high tunnels to enable year-round growing. The farm operation generated enough vegetables to feed 30 families on average each week in 2019.<ref name="ngp-2019">{{cite web |last1=Van Wyk |first1=Lena |title=Farm Annual Report- 2019 |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5da47af0c2586a0ace2a6c29/t/5e605c1b6a3011641bf9d6e0/1583373400895/2019+-+NGP+Farm+Annual+Report.pdf |publisher=New Garden Park |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> In addition to two English-language services, Redeemer holds an [[Arabic]] service and an East African service in [[Kinyarwanda]] and [[Swahili language|Swahili]]. The church also hosts daily [[Daily Office (Anglican)|Morning Prayer]] services as part of the abbey vision.<ref name="redeemer-services">{{cite web |title=Church of the Redeemer |url=https://www.redeemergso.org/ |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref>

At Redeemer, Hawkins emphasized the [[Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion|roles of women in leadership]], including preaching, teaching, and leading, even though the Diocese of Christ Our Hope holds to a [[Complementarianism|complementarian]] position that permits women to be ordained to the [[Deacon|diaconate]] only.<ref name="hawkins-statement">{{cite web |last1=Hawkins |first1=Alan |title=Statement from The Rev. Canon Alan Hawkins |url=https://caef817244d5f21ecddb-92c76cb1053f4e9ea0aba27a90d8d1b2.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/h/0e11717693_1615819588_hawkins-coadjutor-statement.pdf |website=Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref>

==Diocesan and provincial roles==

In addition to serving as rector of Redeemer from 2008 to 2021, Hawkins held numerous roles at the diocesan and provincial levels. He served as an AMIA network leader for churches in North Carolina, east Tennessee and southern Virginia. He later served as a founding leader in [[PEARUSA]] and as canon missioner in the Diocese of Christ Our Hope from 2015 to 2021. He led the diocese's church planting strategy, built a system for missional partnership proposals that he said has funded several million dollars' worth of mission activities, and designed the diocese's regional deanery operational plan.<ref name="hawkins-resume" />

In 2012, Hawkins was appointed vicar, or provincial director, of Anglican 1000, the ACNA's province-wide church planting initiative with a goal of making church planting the "norm" for ACNA dioceses and churches. The initiative responded to a call by Archbishop [[Robert Duncan (bishop)|Robert Duncan]] to plant 1,000 new churches in five years.<ref name="a1k">{{cite web |title=Q & A: ALAN HAWKINS+, NEW VICAR FOR ANGLICAN 1000 |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/q-a-alan-hawkins-new-vicar-for-anglican-1000/ |website=Anglican Church in North America |date=July 13, 2012 |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> Through Anglican 1,000, Hawkins championed a "1-2-3" model, challenging each of the ACNA's 950 congregations to commit to planting one church within the next two years using one of three church planting methods.<ref name="a1k-gauthier">{{cite news |last1=Gauthier |first1=Barbara |title=Anglican 1000: 770 to Go |url=https://livingchurch.org/2013/03/12/anglican-1000-770-to-go/ |access-date=November 2, 2022 |work=The Living Church |date=March 12, 2013}}</ref>

In 2014, the newly elected archbishop, [[Foley Beach]], named Hawkins as canon for provincial development, where he helped raise $1&nbsp;million annually to support provincial initiatives. In 2018, Hawkins was named chief operating officer for the ACNA, overseeing the church's financial and communications offices in [[Ambridge, Pennsylvania]], and the ACNA's initiatives on leadership development, diversity, youth leadership, global partnerships, justice and mercy ministries, church planting, and generosity.<ref name="hawkins-coo">{{cite web |title=TRANSITIONS IN THE PROVINCIAL OFFICE |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/transitions-in-the-provincial-office/ |website=Anglican Church in North America |date=October 16, 2018 |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> At the communion level, Hawkins also led [[Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans|GAFCON]]'s church planting network.<ref name="hawkins-resume" /> In 2021 and 2022, Hawkins served on the Provincial Response Team dealing with investigations into the handling of sexual abuse reports in the [[Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest|Diocese of the Upper Midwest]].<ref name="acna-prt">{{cite web |title=Provincial Response Team |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/provincial-response-team/ |access-date=February 21, 2023 |website=Anglican Church in North America}}</ref> Hawkins' leadership of the Provincial Response Team came under question by survivors and ACNA petitioners<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Petition to the Province |url=https://www.acnatoo.org/acnatoo-blog/a-petition-to-the-province |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=ACNAtoo |language=en-US}}</ref>{{By whom|section=Who questioned Hawkins' leadership??|date=February 2023}} after three prominent members of the team resigned in protest, but the investigations continued despite protests and petitions from survivors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Kathryn |date=2022-01-11 |title=Hundreds sign petition asking ACNA for 'survivor-centric' abuse investigation |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/01/11/hundreds-sign-petition-asking-acna-for-survivor-centric-abuse-investigation/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=Religion News Service |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Kathryn |date=2022-01-19 |title=Three members of ACNA response team resign from overseeing abuse investigation |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/01/19/three-members-of-acna-response-team-resign-from-overseeing-abuse-investigation/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=Religion News Service |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Kathryn |date=2022-02-17 |title=ACNA moves forward with investigation amid concerns from survivors and advocates |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/02/17/acna-moves-forward-with-investigation-amid-concerns-from-survivors-and-advocates/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=Religion News Service |language=en-US}}</ref> 

On April 29, 2021, Hawkins was elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Christ Our Hope. He was consecrated by Foley Beach at Redeemer in Greensboro on November 5, 2021. Redeemer was in January 2022 named a [[pro-cathedral]] of the diocese and Hawkins stepped down as rector.<ref name="cotr-story" /> The episcopal transition from Christ Our Hope's diocesan bishop, [[Steve Breedlove]], is expected to be lengthy,<ref name="hawkins-election-announcement">{{cite web |title=DIOCESE OF CHRIST OUR HOPE ELECTS BISHOP COADJUTOR |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/diocese-of-christ-our-hope-elects-bishop-coadjutor/ |website=Anglican Church in North America |date=April 30, 2021 |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> with Hawkins committing to serve as ACNA COO until the end of Beach's primacy in 2024.<ref name="hawkins-consent">{{cite web |title=COLLEGE OF BISHOPS APPROVES TWO NEW MEMBERS |url=https://anglicanchurch.net/college-of-bishops-approves-two-new-members/ |website=Anglican Church in North America |date=June 17, 2021 |access-date=November 2, 2022}}</ref> He succeeded Breedlove as bishop ordinary at the diocesan synod in November 2024. 

==References==
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{{S-bef|before=[[Steve Breedlove]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope|Bishop of the Diocese of Christ Our Hope]]|years=Since 2024}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America]]
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Oklahoma State University alumni]]