To Mend the Net?
“The Archbishop of Canterbury has taken a major risk in calling together the Anglican Primates in January next year and he has already achieved what his predecessor was unable to do with the announcement that the Anglican Global South and GAFCON Primates will attend.
For these Primates, the decision of the Dar es Salaam Primates Meeting of February 2007 must be one of the great ‘What if’ moments of recent Anglican history and they might well want to revisit it. What if Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, had stood by the Primates’ collegial mind to subject TEC to discipline if it failed to give assurances by 30th September 2007 not to authorise Rites of Blessing for same sex unions nor to consecrate persons in such relationships as bishops?
As it happened, Rowan Williams set aside the Primates’ decision by inviting the TEC bishops to the 2008 Lambeth Conference before the deadline. This led directly to the utterly unprecedented withdrawal of over two hundred bishops from the conference and to the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, out of which the Anglican Church in North America was birthed.
But there is another and now largely forgotten ‘What if’ which is just as relevant…”
– Charles Raven reminds us of some not-that-distant history, at Anglican Ink. (h/t Anglican Mainstream)
Review of the Report from the Marriage Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada
The Church of England Evangelical Council has commissioned a Review of the Report (“This Holy Estate”) of The Commission on the Marriage Canon of the Anglican Church of Canada.
The Commission was established in 2013 by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, with consideration of the report (including a motion ‘to allow the marriage of same-sex couples’) to come at their 2016 General Synod.
The Review of the Canadian report, made for the CEEC by Dr Martin Davie, complements earlier reviews of similar reports by The Episcopal Church of the USA and The Scottish Episcopal Church.
– Read his full review here. (PDF file)
Related: The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey writes:
“[The Canadian report] follows exactly the pattern we saw in the United States in TEC: create facts on the ground in violation of the Bible, and then call for ‘theological reflection’ upon those facts-that-you-have-just-established. In this case, the theological reflection in ‘This Holy Estate’ presents only three possibilities for the General Synod, none of which affirms a Biblically faithful understanding of marriage and human sexuality…”
Photo of Archbishop Fred Hiltz: Anglican Church of Canada.
Vacancy: ‘Director of Communications for the Anglican Communion’
The Anglican Communion Secretariat in London is seeking to appoint a new Director of Communications.
Tasks include:
“Daily gathering and disseminating good news, without ignoring the divisions in the Communion” and
“Taking charge of communications at Primates’ Meetings, the Lambeth Conference and meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council and assembling an international communications team for the purpose”.
Interested? The closing date for applications is Noon, 15 January 2016.
‘Profound forgiveness. Profound mercy. Profound grace.’
– Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, responds to the Paris attacks.
Bishop Duncan to retire as Bishop of Pittsburgh
“During his address to 150th Annual Convention on Saturday, November 6, held at St. Stephen’s Church, Sewickley, the Most Reverend Robert Wm. Duncan, D.D., Archbishop Emeritus of the Anglican Church in North America, and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, formally announced his desire to retire from diocesan leadership effective June 30, 2016…”
– from The Diocese of Pittsburgh. (Image courtesy Anglican TV.)
Archbishop Wabukala ‘to retire in June 2016’
“The Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, has informed the members of the Kenyan House of Bishops that he will step down in June 2016, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65…”
– George Conger has a brief report at Anglican Ink.
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter October 2015
Speaking of the meeting of Primates called by the Archbishop of Canterbury for January 2016, GAFCON Chairman Eliud Wabukala writes:
“I believe this will be an historic meeting unlike anything that has gone before. There is now a shared realisation that the time for dialogue is over and there must be a decision that will settle the future direction of the Communion and free us from being dragged down by controversy and confusion.”
– Read his full October 2015 Pastoral Letter here.
Global South Primates — Cairo Communiqué
The Global South Primates have released a Communiqué after their meeting in Cairo, October 14–16.
“While we were disappointed that the general Global South Conference in Tunisia was cancelled at the last minute due to security reasons, we are immensely grateful to God who blessed this rescheduled Primates Meeting in Cairo.”
– Read their full Communiqué via the Anglican Communion News Service.
George Conger at Anglican Ink also has the Communiqué with some commentary.
Archbishop Welby, What will you do about it?
“I’m not fond of litigation. I take our witness to the world very seriously, and the damage to that witness from Christians suing each other is serious. And even though my former profession as a criminal prosecutor put me in the position of litigating daily in the courts, I would much prefer followers of Jesus Christ being able to follow 1 Corinthians 6 and work out their disagreements within the Church, through church or secular sponsored arbitration services and negotiated settlements.
I cannot, however, let the injustice pass that occurred in the oral arguments before the South Carolina Supreme Court, between the Diocese of South Carolina (Bishop Mark Lawrence) and The Episcopal Church (TEC.)…”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey is disturbed by the latest legal action in South Carolina, and wonders what the Archbishop of Canterbury will say to the TEC Presiding Bishop at the Primates’ gathering in January.
The wages of spin: death of truth?
“Revisionist leaders talk a lot about their desire for unity in the Church. But more often than not, the only unity they are interested in is with the world, joining with the briefings of the secular culture against orthodox Christianity.
Here is what happened on Thursday, on the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme, where the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, and myself were in separate studios to discuss Justin Welby’s recent invitation to the Primates of the Anglican Communion to attend a meeting in January…”
– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes writes of his experience last week on BBC Radio – and looks at lesson we can learn. (Image: Christian Concern.)
‘The Anglican Communion is already divorced’
“Is the Anglican Communion about to split over different views of sexual ethics?
You might think so after reading headlines about the archbishop of Canterbury’s proposal to “loosen” the structures of the Communion — a way of retaining his relationship to the liberal wing of the Western churches as well as the traditional Anglicans of the Global South.
But to interpret the archbishop’s recent announcement as a split over sexuality is to miss the bigger picture. First, the impending dissolution of Anglicanism as it currently exists institutionally is over much more than sex. Second, the divorce has already taken place, just not formally…”
– At Religion News Service, Trevin Wax gives the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a Primates’ meeting some context.
What brings us together
“Early this week Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, announced that he was inviting the leaders of the Anglican Communion to gather, reflect and pray over the Communion’s future. We later learned through his ‘aides’ that he was open to the Communion moving to a looser federation-like structure. Ruth Gledhill, a long-time reporter on Anglican events, gave a hearty endorsement of this possibility …
While I like Ruth Gledhill’s writing, I don’t share her enthusiasm for the Archbishop’s ‘vision.’ Why can’t I get on board with it and just ‘let go and let God?’ Because that would mean I ‘let go’ of the truth. …
What brings us together as Anglicans isn’t shared mission or endless indaba.”
– At the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashley sees problems with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s hope of holding the Anglican Communion togther.
ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach on the proposed Primates’ gathering
The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America, Foley Beach, writes about his invitation to the Primates’ gathering in January:
“The challenges facing the Anglican Communion over the last couple of decades are no secret, and it is time to face them.”
Full text:
“Many of you have heard the news that I have been invited to attend a gathering of the Primates of the Anglican Communion this coming January.
I did indeed receive a personal call from Archbishop Justin Welby inviting me to attend and participate.
If my fellow GAFCON Primates accept the invitation, and I am expecting that they will, then I have also pledged to attend. The challenges facing the Anglican Communion over the last couple of decades are no secret, and it is time to face them. Previous meetings of the Communion, from the 1998 Lambeth Conference to the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, gave clear direction for maintaining and restoring order within the Communion. Unfortunately, these resolutions were not followed which further divided the Communion. The resulting situation is one in which the fabric of the Communion continues to be torn.
I am thankful for the way in which GAFCON has proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ, and has been seeking the renewal and restoration of the Communion.
I ask your prayers for myself, as well as the other GAFCON and Global South Primates, as we continue to seek to evangelize, proclaim the Gospel, and work for the restoration of the Anglican Communion’s life and witness.
In Christ,
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach.”
– From The Anglican Church in North America.
GAFCON calls for ‘truth on the table’
Here’s a Media Statement from GAFCON concerning the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a meeting of Anglican Primates in January 2016:
“the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter.
They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.”
Read the full text below:
“Media Statement
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a meeting of Primates in January 2016 shows that he has recognised the deep concerns of faithful church leaders around the world, including those belonging to the GAFCON movement who represent the majority of the global Communion’s membership.
GAFCON began with the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 as an initiative to restore the integrity of Anglican faith and order as the Communion descended into deepening crisis.
We are now a global family standing together to restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion with a strength and unity that comes from our common confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, not merely from historic institutional structures.
It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.
Consistent with this position, they have previously advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.
It is therefore of some encouragement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has opened the door of this meeting to the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach. He has already been recognized as a fellow primate of the Anglican Communion by Primates representing GAFCON and the Anglican Global South at his installation in Atlanta last October and he is a full member of the GAFCON Primates Council.
In the end, our confidence is not in any structural reorganisation, useful though it may be, but in the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in the abiding truth of the Bible. That is what empowers us and this is the assurance we bring to our broken world.
September 17, 2015 AD.”
Read it on the GAFCON website.
Archbishop of Canterbury calls for Primates’ Gathering
“The Archbishop of Canterbury today wrote to all 37 Primates inviting them to attend a special Primates’ gathering in Canterbury to reflect and pray together concerning the future of the Anglican Communion.
The meeting, to be held in January 2016, would be an opportunity for Primates to discuss key issues face to face, including a review of the structures of the Anglican Communion and to decide together their approach to the next Lambeth Conference.
The agenda will be set by common agreement with all Primates encouraged to send in contributions…”
– from The Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.
See also: GAFCON calls for ‘truth on the table’.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…