Must Canterbury Fall?
“The current power struggle is about redefining and recasting the faith of the historic Anglican Communion. …
The Episcopal Church has tried to occupy that centre of influence in order to shape the communion according to its vision of the Christian faith, untethered from the authority of scripture. Canterbury under the previous leadership allowed TEC space and even support with its Communion Changing agenda.”
– With the Primates’ meeting just days away, Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden write this opinion piece (also published at Anglican Mainstream) in The Church of England Newspaper. They appear to take a more optimistic view of Canterbury than many. Time will tell.
Pastoral Message and Call to Prayer from the Primate of Uganda
The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, has sent this Pastoral Message and Call to Prayer to all the leaders in his Church.
He addresses the coming Ugandan elections, and also next week’s Primates’ gathering called by the Archbishop of Canterbury –
“The Archbishop of Canterbury understands that the first topic of conversation in the ‘gathering’ of Primates is the restoration of godly order in the Anglican Communion. This is the unfinished business from the non-implemented, but unanimously agreed, Communique from the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam…”
– Read it all at the GAFCON website. (Photo credit: Diocese of Bristol.)
Archbishop Welby requests prayer for Primates’ Meeting
“The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is asking people to pray for the Primates of the Anglican Communion who will be meeting in Canterbury on 11-16 January 2016. The leaders of the 38 Anglican provinces will be at the gathering, which was called by Archbishop Justin Welby in September last year. …
The agenda will be set by common agreement with all Primates. It is likely to include the issues of religiously-motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment, and human sexuality.”
– Report from the Anglican Communion News Service.
The meeting just might also address faithfulness to Christ and obedience to his word.
See also: The Anglican Communion is at a Crossroads – from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council,
“The Archbishop of Canterbury has called together all the Primates of the Anglican Communion for a meeting in Canterbury 11th – 16th January 2016 which we believe will be decisive for the future of the Communion. …
Will Christ rule our life and witness through His word, or will our life and witness be conformed to the global ambitions of a secular culture?
This was the reason GAFCON was formed in 2008: to renew a Communion in crisis, drifting from biblical truth. While the presenting issue was human sexuality, this was really just one symptom of a deeper challenge, the emergence of a false gospel which rejects the core Anglican commitment to the truth and authority of the Bible.
GAFCON works to make this fundamental issue of biblical truth clear to Anglicans everywhere so that, equipped by God’s word and empowered by His Spirit, we can live under the lordship of Christ and make him known as Lord and Saviour to a world in desperate need of Him.
The GAFCON Primates will attend the Canterbury meeting, but they are clear that their continued presence will depend upon action by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a majority of the Primates to ensure that participation in the Anglican Communion is governed by robust commitments to biblical teaching and morality.” (emphasis added)
Nungalinya College vacancies
Nungalinya College in Darwin is seeking to fill three vacancies. Perhaps you know (or are) the right person for one of them.
Either way, we are sure the College would be glad of your prayers. Details here.
Why GAFCON truly matters
“We are now walking in a new spiritual darkness. The churches are ill-prepared. But God is thoroughly prepared; he is not at a loss. There is nothing to fear; but we need to work out what new tactics are required for this new context. Without doubt, we will walk by faith; but what does this mean?”
– GAFCON General Secretary Peter Jensen writes an encouraging reminder of why we need GAFCON.
From the Vault: Are we stronger then He?
Guard what you love
Here’s a short introduction to GAFCON.
The Queen’s Christmas message 2015
Queen Elizabeth II has released her 2015 Christmas Message.
And you can also read the Christmas 2015 sermon from Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached at Canterbury Cathedral. In part, he says, –
“Today, across the Middle East, close to the area in which the angels announced God’s apocalypse, ISIS and others claim that this is the time of an apocalypse, an unveiling created of their own terrible ideas, one which is igniting a trail of fear, violence, hatred and determined oppression. Confident that these are the last days, using force and indescribable cruelty, they seem to welcome all opposition, certain that the warfare unleashed confirms that these are indeed the end times. They hate difference, whether it is Muslims who think differently, Yazidis or Christians, and because of them the Christians face elimination in the very region in which Christian faith began. This apocalypse is defined by themselves and heralded only by the angel of death.”
Archbishop Wabukala writes to GAFCON clergy
GAFCON Chairman, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala has written to GAFCON clergy concerning the Primates’ gathering in January –
“Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray you will take a moment to read this important message.
As those who are ordained, we have a special responsibility to care for the people of God. In the foundational liturgy of our Communion, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer described this work as being that of messengers, watchmen and stewards of the Lord.
For many of us that calling is becoming harder as we face the challenges of a compromised church and an increasingly hostile culture. GAFCON was formed in 2008 to enable faithful gospel ministry to survive and thrive in today’s world as we stand united in our testimony to the truth of God’s Word.
Sadly, that truth continues to be called into question in the Anglican Communion and I am writing to invite you to partner with us as a decisive moment approaches. …”
– Read the full letter here via Anglican Ink.
See also: The Anglican Communion is at a Crossroads (on GAFCON’s updated website).
Update: Archbishop Wabukala has also issued this GAFCON Chairman’s Christmas Pastoral Letter, 2015.
(Archbishop Wabukala welcomes Archbishop Welby to Nairobi’s All Saints Cathedral in this 2013 photo by Russell Powell.)
Archbishop Welby — Why I am a Christian
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, writes on FaceBook:
“People often ask me why I’m a Christian. Here’s what I tell them.
I’m a Christian because Jesus Christ found me and called me, around 40 years ago…”
– Read his full post here.
‘Episcopal Abuses Turn Inward’
“In a development that few Episcopalians of four or five years ago could have imagined, the Episcopal bishops of the most powerful and financially secure dioceses have begun to turn on their own once-strong, but now severely weakened, parishes. Having driven out all the dissenters at enormous expense to their coffers, these dioceses are increasingly trying to make up their losses by sacrificing valuable real estate — even if it means turning out previously loyal congregations from their hard-won property…”
– A S Haley looks at the latest goings on in The Episcopal Church. Plenty to pray about – especially the congregations affected. (Photo: Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles.)
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.
Free speech and religious freedom even for ADF members
“The Federal Court has recently handed down a very important decision on free speech, with connections to religious freedom, in Gaynor v Chief of the Defence Force (No 3) [2015] FCA 1370 (4 December 2015). It encouragingly reaffirms the right of Australians, even members of the Defence Force, to be able to speak their minds, even when their views are not popular…”
– Associate Professor Neil Foster bring us up to speed on another legal ruling – this one with important implications for free speech in Australia.
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.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…