GAFCON Chairman’s February 2014 pastoral letter
“When we met for GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi last October, we drew inspiration from the living tradition of the East African Revival, a movement of the Spirit that led the churches of this region back to a new love for the Lord Jesus and a new obedience to the Scriptures as the Word of God.
The authenticity of the Revival was demonstrated in times of persecution, including Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin. Earlier this month my brother Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, gathered with thousands of people at Mucwini, Kitgum, for the 34th commemoration of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum who was murdered at the hands of Idi Amin on 16th February 1977.”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala’s full letter may be read at the GAFCON website.
Statement from the Global South Primates Steering Committee, Cairo, February 2014
“…we believe that we have to make every effort in order to restore our beloved Communion. Therefore we took the following decisions:
a) We request and will support the Archbishop of Canterbury to call for a Primates Meeting in 2015 in order to address the increasingly deteriorating situation facing the Anglican Communion. It is important that the agenda of this Primates Meeting be discussed and agreed upon by the Primates beforehand in order to ensure an effective meeting.
b) We decided to establish a Primatial Oversight Council, in following-through the recommendations taken at Dromantine in 2005 and Dar es Salam in 2007, to provide pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to keep them within the Communion. …”
– Read the full statement here at Global South Anglican.
Pastoral Guidance from the C of E concerning Same Sex Marriage
The Church of England House of Bishops has issued a Letter and Statement offering Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage.
“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
We write as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ who are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. Our vocation as disciples of Christ in God’s world is to hold out the offer of life in all its fullness. God delights always to give good gifts to his children.
The gospel of the love of God made known to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest of these gifts. The call of the gospel demands that we all listen, speak and act with integrity, self discipline and grace, acknowledging that as yet our knowledge and understanding are partial.
As members of the Body of Christ we are aware that there will be a range of responses across the Church of England to the introduction of same sex marriage. As bishops we have reflected and prayed together about these developments. As our statement of 27th January indicated, we are not all in agreement about every aspect of the Church’s response. However we are all in agreement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. …”
Updated with these comments:
“Anglican Mainstream appreciates and affirms the clear and unequivocal statement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. We are grateful for the assurance that the idea of same sex marriages being solemnized in C of E churches in future is not supported by the Bishops. …”
– Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream.
“… The credibility of this pastoral guidance will, I fear, be very quickly tested. How these things are handled in practice will determine and define the Church’s stance on the issue, more than well-intentioned words. It will be difficult for the bishops to implement their guidance in the face of the intense lobbying they will face, and we must pray for them and support them in any way we can as they seek to carefully shepherd the flock.”
Senate rejects push to dump Lord’s Prayer
“The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed the Senate’s decision to reject the Greens’ push to dump the Lord’s Prayer from parliament.”
– from the Australian Christian Lobby.
TEC Annual Litigation Summary 2014
A. S. Haley, Christian lawyer and blogger (as The Anglican Curmudgeon) has provided a comprehensive list of legal action by (and against) The Episcopal Church of the USA.
See also: How Much Has ECUSA Spent on Lawsuits? (Updated Jan. 2014).
Church Society Director looks to Archbishop Welby for credible action
“After this candid speech, we are looking to him, in a positive and hopeful way, to make the claim that he wants evangelicals like us to flourish in the Church truly credible. He could do that in two ways: first, by engaging conservatives in real dialogue, listening in detail to our concerns; and second, encouraging and ensuring the appointment of 12 Conservative Evangelical Bishops.”
– Church Society Director Lee Gatiss responds to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address to the Church of England’s General Synod.
UK Girl Guide troop which refused to drop ‘God’ from their oath win their fight
“Girl Guides who were told to adopt a new promise which omits God or face being axed from the organisation have won a reprieve after they were told no further action would be taken. …
The group, which meets at Jesmond Parish Church, received a letter from the Girl Guide’s chief commissioner in the North East saying their membership to the organisation would end on December 31 last year unless they used the new promise.”
– story from Mail Online. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Related:
Girlguiding’s New Direction – Is It Really Wanted? – David Holloway, Jesmond Parish Church.
The Religion of the Self – David Holloway, Jesmond Parish Church.
Primate of West Africa’s funeral to be broadcast on the web
“Members of the global Anglican Communion have been invited to watch the funeral of Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa Archbishop S. Tilewa Johnson, online.
Anyone with access to the Internet will be able to watch the funeral and requiem mass which is being streamed live on Friday 21 February.”
– from the Anglican Communion News Service.
Related: Condolence message on the death of Archbishop Johnson. Photo: ENS.
Archbishop of Canterbury on BBC HardTalk
Aired a fortnight ago, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury was interviewed on the BBC’s HardTalk. In a wide-ranging interview, he is asked about human sexuality from 13:27.
The American Anglican Council has a link to the video and a partial transcript. (Image: BBC.)
Church of Uganda to build martyrs’ museum
“The Church of Uganda will soon start building a Shs 36bn museum over the grave of the 23 Anglican martyrs at Namugongo, it was announced on Monday.
‘Not only will tourists be able to understand our rich culture but also understand the power of the Gospel to bring hope and transformation to people’s lives because of the testimony and legacy of the early martyrs,’ said Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, as he unveiled the plans at his office in Namirembe.”
– Story from The Observer, Uganda.
Honorary Oxford degree for TEC PB
“Six leading figures from the worlds of science, the arts and religion are set to receive honorary degrees from the University of Oxford this year… on Wednesday 25 June 2014.”
– Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is one of them. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)
Broadside from Canterbury and York
“The English Archbishops of York and Canterbury have fired the equivalent of a broadside into the respective Anglican Provinces of Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, and naturally it has to do with the Western hot button issue of homosexuality. …
When the head, nominal though he be, of the Anglican Communion lectures and cautions any Province, the implications and threat cannot be missed. It is odd that this lecture and caution would be directed toward the orthodox Anglicans of the Communion and not against the heterodox Anglicans both in North America and indeed within the Church of England itself…”
– Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, looks at the extraordinary intervention during the week.
GAFCON Chairman responds to the statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York
A response to the statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York of 29th January 2014
This week, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York sought to remind the leadership of the Anglican Communion and the Presidents of Nigeria and Uganda of the importance of friendship and care for homosexual people.
Christians should always show particular care for those who are vulnerable, but this cannot be separated from the whole fabric of biblical moral teaching in which the nature of marriage and family occupy a central place.
The Dromantine Communiqué from which the Archbishops quote also affirmed (Clause 17) the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10 which states that ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture’ and that the conference ‘cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions’.
Yet earlier this week, the English College of Bishops accepted the recommendation of the Pilling Report for two years of ‘facilitated conversation’ because at least some of the bishops could not accept the historic teaching of the Church as reaffirmed in the Lambeth resolution.
Indeed, in making the case for such a debate, the Pilling Report observes ‘In the House of Lords debate on same sex marriage, the Archbishop of York commended that the Church needed to think about the anomalies in a situation where it is willing to bless a tree or a sheep, but not a faithful human relationship.’ The anomaly only exists of course if it really is the case that a committed homosexual union can also be Christian.
The good advice of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York would carry much more weight if they were able to affirm that they hold, personally, as well as in virtue of their office, to the collegial mind of the Anglican Communion. At the moment I fear that we cannot be sure.
Regrettably, their intervention has served to encourage those who want to normalize homosexual lifestyles in Africa and has fuelled prejudice against African Anglicans. We are committed to biblical sexual morality and to biblical pastoral care, so we wholeheartedly stand by the assurance given in the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution that those who experience same sex attraction are ‘loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.’
May God in his mercy grant that we may hold to the fullness of his truth and the fullness of his grace.
The Most Rev’d Dr Eliud Wabukala
Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya
and Chairman, GAFCON Primates Council.
30th January 2014
Re-posted from the GAFCON website.
There is urgency about the gospel
“There is urgency about the gospel and it must be proclaimed in word and deed, in season and out of season and it is the same gospel, whether in strife torn nations such as South Sudan or in the affluent but morally disorientated nations of the developed world.
We cannot therefore allow our time and energy to be sapped by debating that which God has already clearly revealed in the Scriptures…”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, has released a pastoral letter to members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
England’s College of Bishops respond to The Pilling Report
“The College of Bishops met on 27th January, 2014 to begin a process of reflection on the issues raised by the Pilling Report…
We are united in welcoming and affirming the presence and ministry within the Church of gay and lesbian people, both lay and ordained. We are united in acknowledging the need for the Church to repent for the homophobic attitudes it has sometimes failed to rebuke and affirming the need to stand firmly against homophobia wherever and whenever it is to be found. …”
And from Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes –
“This re-states an important recommendation of the Pilling Report. Its major weakness is that “affirming the ministry of gay people” is not explained or qualified. It suggests that the church does not distinguish between welcoming someone’s presence within the church, endorsement of their lifestyle, an assumption of Christian fellowship, and affirming their ministry. “
The Pilling Report can be found here (PDF).
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…