Confessional fellowship will ‘reassert Bible’s authority’
Three archbishops who participated in the recent Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem addressed hundreds of Church of England clergy July 1 about a newly formed network they assert will bring needed authority to the Anglican Communion.
“There are moments in the church where authority has to be taken, and this is one of those moments where the most senior people available have decided to come together to take their authority to do certain things which they have the capacity to do,” said Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney in remarks reported by the London Telegraph. …
Archbishop Jensen dismissed as mythological the idea that the Archbishop of Canterbury exercised legal or juridical power over the Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s power is largely moral, he said, adding “that the last five years have seen a diminution of the moral authority that he is able to bring to this role.” The loss of moral authority was not Archbishop Williams’ fault, Archbishop Jensen said, and probably would have happened to “whoever had been the archbishop.”
– Report from The Living Church. (Photo: GAFCON media team.)
New President for NSW Council of Churches
The first woman President of the NSW Council of Churches has been elected. Deaconess Margaret Rodgers was unanimously elected President of the Council at the Annual General Meeting last month.
Well-known to Sydney Anglicans, Margaret was the Media Officer for Archbishop Peter Jensen until her retirement at the end of 2007. She served as Principal of Deaconess House, 1976–85, and was CEO of Sydney’s Anglican Media Council 1994–2003.
The NSW Council of Churches represents seven Christian denominations – The Anglican Church (Diocese of Sydney), The Baptist Union of NSW, The Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (NSW), The Churches of Christ in NSW, The Fellowship of Congregational Churches (NSW), The Presbyterian Church of Australia (NSW) and The Salvation Army (Eastern Territory).
For more about the NSW Council of Churches, see their website.
Canadian Primate claims all is well
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has challenged the statement issued by a global group of conservative Anglicans accusing the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church in the United States of proclaiming a “false gospel that has paralyzed” the Anglican Communion. …
– Story from the Anglican Journal (of the Anglican Church of Canada).
See, however, Archbishop Hitlz’s full statement, with interspersed commentary from Anglican Essentials Canada.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…