International Diocese

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Bill Atwood served in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot before entering the ministry. During his military career, he traveled to many nations, where he has continued to develop relationships and commitments in his ministry.


After serving in parish ministry for many years as a priest and in administrative positions as a canon, in 2000 a group of Anglican Archbishops invited him to leave parish ministry to serve them full-time as General Secretary of the Ekklesia Society. The Ekklesia Society (www.ekk.org) is an international society established in 1996. It is composed of leading Anglican Bishops and Archbishops from around the world who are committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ by affirming the authority of the Scriptures, the faith of the historic creeds, the sacraments as instituted by Jesus Christ, and the historic apostolic ministry.


In 2006, then Canon Atwood formally left the Episcopal Church in his stand for traditional Anglicanism in America. He was elected Bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) in 2007 by unanimous vote of the Provincial Synod to serve the Archbishop and the province’s international interests, which included providing care for the congregations and clergy in the USA under Kenyan jurisdiction. More Archbishops participated in his consecration (installation of a Bishop) than in any other in Anglican history. He has played key roles in many of the numerous efforts, including the formation of the Anglican Church in North American (ACNA), to stand for orthodox Anglicanism in the USA.


In 2009, he was made Diocesan Bishop of the newly formed International Diocese in ACNA, which is deeply committed to maintaining the African and South American relationships that have been vital for the Gospel and in launching ACNA. He continues to serve as Suffragan Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese in ACK. He serves as the ambassador for the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (the ongoing Global Anglican Future movement) and is often asked to provide counsel and speak at conferences in many nations in the Anglican Church around the world.


About the Bishop

The Crest

About the ACNA

The Crest of the International Diocese is a rich representation of our life together and of our heritage of Apostolic faith to which we are committed.


At the top of the crest is a Bishop’s Miter. It is a hat that bishops wear that has two points, symbolizing the cloven tongues of flame that appeared on the Apostles heads on the Day of Pentecost. It is a reminder that present day bishops who are the successors to the Apostles should also be filled with the Holy Spirit. The miter at the top of the crest shows that the Diocese is under Apostolic authority led by the Bishop. The ribbon-like tabs that are attached to the back of bishops’ miters date back to Bible book markers to remind that everyone, including the Bishop, is under the authority of the Bible.


The red cross in the middle is the Jerusalem Cross. The largest of the five crosses in red stands for the Gospel, the four smaller crosses stand for the gospel going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth which is symbolized by the white circle.


At the center of the Jerusalem Cross is a white figure which is made of one line that describes three parts. It is an ancient symbol of the Trinity–God who is Three-in-One. At the heart of who we are is Trinitarian faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.


The Processional Cross and the Bishop’s Staff (called a Crozier) that are crossed in the background, are both budding, symbolizing new life.


At the bottom of the crest is a dove, representing the Holy Spirit Who undergirds all that we are called to do and empowers us to extend the Kingdom of God.


Diocesan Staff

Jeff Garrety: Chancellor 


The Rev. Canon Bates Richmond: Canon to the Ordinary


The Ven. Phil Eberhart: Archdeacon


The Rev. Brandon Grimm: Chaplain


At it's inception, the Anglican Church in North America has 720 congregations and 293 Ministry Partner congregations in 58 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.


The Anglican Church in North America was initiated on April 16, 2009 and is a Province-in-formation in the global Anglican Communion. It is composed of more than 100,000 Anglicans in nearly 1,000 congregations in the United States and Canada. The Archbishop is The Most Rev. Foley Beach. As part of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” ACNA joins other Anglicans in upholding the orthodox faith as defined by and articulated in the church’s classic formularies, the Book of Common Prayer, including the Ordinaries and the Thirty-nine Articles, which have their basis in the Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments).

Theological Statement*


We believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one comes to the Father but by Him. Therefore, the Anglican Church in North America identifies the following seven elements as characteristic of the Anglican Way, and essential for membership:

  1. We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.
  2. We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
  3. We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness and unity of the Body of Christ.
  4. We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic Creeds: the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian.
  5. Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils, in so far as they are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.
  6. We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.
  7. We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
    * https://anglicanchurch.net/about/


Suzie Johnson: Bishop's Assistant


The Rev. Canon Dr. Lee Ligon-Borden: Canon for Communications