ACC ‘forms its own views’
“The Anglican Communion Standing Committee, which met April 6-7 in Lusaka, Zambia, issued the following report to the 16th Meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council…
The Standing Committee received a report from the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Primates’ gathering in January 2016 and noted the stated commitment of the Primates to ‘walk together’ despite differences of view. The Standing Committee welcomed the formation of a Task Group as recommended by the Primates to maintain conversation among them with the intention of restoration of relationship, the rebuilding of mutual trust, and healing the legacy of hurt. The Standing Committee considered the Communiqué from the Primates and affirmed the relational links between the Instruments of Communion in which each Instrument, including the Anglican Consultative Council, forms its own views and has its own responsibilities…”
– from The Episcopal News Service.
Related: Media briefing gives outline for ACC-16. (Anglican Communion News Service.) Should we hope for at least a mention of evangelism or the Great Commission?
Reflections on Archbishop Mouneer Anis’ boycott of ACC-16 Lusaka
“The announcement yesterday by Archbishop Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem and the Middle East) that he will not be attending the upcoming Anglican Consultative Council meeting (ACC-16) has sent shock waves through the leadership of the Anglican Communion…
The Episcopal Church’s intention to continue to participate in the Joint Standing Committee of the ACC (also known as the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion), was just too much. It was a clear and direct rejection of the discipline prescribed by the Primates. It is an act of rebellion aided and abetted by Chairman Tengatenga’s denunciation of the Primates authority.”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey asks is there now any reason at all for any of the GAFCON and Global South Primates to attend ACC-16.
He also looks at the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, and argues why Biblically faithful Primates need to act.
The Primates’ Authority does not depend on Canterbury
“As I observed last week, the Primates must be wondering why they even came together in January at Archbishop Welby’s request if he is now unable to defend them.
And as Archbishop Mouneer notes, that is the source of our impaired Communion. It is a great pity that the source of impaired communion lies in great part in the lack of leadership by Canterbury himself.”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey looks at the failure of Canterbury to respond publicly to the Anglican Consultative Council’s public repudiation of Primatial authority.
Church of Nigeria not taking part in ACC Lusaka meeting
“During the Canterbury meeting itself, the way and manner in which those who hold the orthodox view of human sexuality and marriage were spoken of by the authorities, and denounced as “homophobic”, left no one in doubt that we were in the wrong place…”
– Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of Nigeria, explains why the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) won’t be represented at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, next month. Via GAFCON.
High Noon in Lusaka
“We don’t yet know what will happen in Lusaka, but I can say that one way or another, it will cast the die for the future of the Anglican Communion.”
– The Anglican Church in North America’s Bishop Bill Atwood provides some context for the Anglican Consultative Council’s meeting in Lusaka in April.
TEC will go to the ACC meeting in Lusaka and they will vote, ACC chairman says
“The Episcopal Church “cannot be kicked out of the Anglican Communion and will never be kicked out of the Anglican Communion,” the chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council told a seminary audience last week…”
– Report from Anglican Ink via GAFCON.
‘The Ugandans remember’
In this week’s video chat (Anglican Unscripted) between Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen and Anglican Ink’s George Conger, the topic is the Primates’ Meeting, and the TEC response.
They ask if the exclusion of TEC from certain kinds of participation is a consequence (as the Archbishop of Canterbury says) or discipline? They also respond to suggestions from some in North America that only the Anglican Consultative Council, and not the Primates, has authority to act on these matters.
Watch it here. 18 minutes.
Related
Legalism v. love — Peter Ould on responses to the Canterbury communique – Anglican Ink.
“Here’s two simple things to remember.
i) They’re absolutely right (the ones who claim the Primates have no statutory power to demand such a sanction / consequence)
ii) It doesn’t matter in the slightest, the sanction / consequence is still going to happen because the force behind them is not one of law but one of love…”
A grubby little incident – by Robert Tong at SydneyAnglicans.net, on the 2009 Anglican Consultative Council -14 meeting in Jamaica.
“In a naked display of political power, the American Episcopal Church leadership stopped the Rev Philip Ashey, the clergy representative of the Province of Uganda, from taking his place at the 14th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council held in Jamaica…”
A Response to the Primates Gathering 2016 Statement — Canon Phil Ashey
The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey:
“I am writing from Canterbury, England, where the staff of the American Anglican Council has been on site assisting Archbishop Foley Beach and the GAFCON Primates in their witness at the Primates gathering this week. There is a saying about the fog of war: when it descends, there is often confusion and disorientation in the midst of the fight. Here, it would certainly be fair to say that situations changed on a daily, if not hourly basis. In the fog of war, rarely are battles decisive. More often, they turn out to be one step among many in a long and costly road to victory. Read more
Communiqué from the Primates’ Meeting 2016
This Communiqué from the Primates’ Meeting was issued early Saturday morning, Australian time.
Here is the full text:
The previously-released Statement is an Addendum to this document.
“Walking Together in the Service of God in the World
The meeting of Anglican Primates, the senior bishops of the 38 Anglican Provinces, joined by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America, took place in Canterbury between Monday 11 January and Friday 15 January at the invitation of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first morning was spent in prayer and fasting.
We came knowing that the 2016 Primates’ meeting would be concerned with the differences among us in regard to our teaching on matters of human sexuality. We were also eager to address wider areas of concern. Read more
ACL President’s address — 2013 Annual General Meeting
President of the Anglican Church League, the Rev. Gav Poole, gave this address at the Annual General Meeting earlier this month:
“Chappo knew as much about denominational politics as anyone. He was after all a member of the ACL. But the legacy he left us with was a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
ACL President’s address, 15 August 2013
In 2003 I received an important lesson in priorities. At the time I was ministering in The Episcopal Church (TEC), Dallas, Texas.
In 2003, the TEC General Convention consented to a practicing homosexual becoming the Bishop of New Hampshire. That led to a sequence of events that changed the Anglican Communion forever. Read more
The Gippsland Crisis
At Theological Theology, Dr Mark Thompson, puts the recent developments in Gippsland in their wider Anglican context. We’ve reproduced his comments below, and added links to some related material at the end.
“This all too brief history is widely known. In particular it is known by all the Anglican bishops in Australia. None of them is in the slightest doubt about the volatile state of the communion and the issue which lies at the heart of the turmoil.”
“It is no secret that global Anglicanism is being torn apart over the issue of homosexuality. Actually, homosexuality is just the current presenting issue of a very deep and long running divide between liberal revisionists in the denomination and those who remain committed to the teaching of Scripture and the theological character of Anglicanism as represented in the Thirty-nine Articles, the Homilies and the Book of Common Prayer. However, it is the presenting issue, the point at which gospel faithfulness is currently being tested. Read more
No change to American ban, ACC says
“The Archbishop of Canterbury’s ban on American participation in the Anglican Communion’s international ecumenical dialogues remains in place, a spokesman for the Anglican Consultative Council reports. …
Since Dr. Rowan Williams issued his May 28, 2010 Pentecost letter to the Anglican Communion, there has been controversy over how faithfully its terms have been implemented by the London-based staff of the ACC. …
The reappointment of one of the dismissed Americans to the ALIC, with the same role in the dialogue as before but with the new title of “consultant” further diminished the credibility and integrity of the ACC staff, one Global South leader told CEN.”
– Report from George Conger for the Church of England Newspaper. (Photo taken at the November 2008 JSC meeting: ACNS Rosenthal.)
Out of Egypt
“On 30 January 2010 Bishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt announced that he was resigning from the standing committee of the Anglican Consultative Council…
Bishop Mouneer could easily have camouflaged his resignation in the way that people often do. He could have pleaded the burdens of office or the dangers of stress and ill health. He might even have said that it was time for someone else to take his place, and pretended that he was stepping down in order to give others a chance. He did none of those things…”
– from Gerald Bray’s Churchman Editorial 124/2 (Summer 2010) – on Church Society’s website.
Standing Committee of which Communion?
“…The listing by geography shows that none of the major African provinces of the Communion, with more than 60% of its total members, is even represented on the Committee. It follows that the current make-up of the Committee is designed to effectuate the will of a minority within the Communion…”
– A S Haley, the Anglican Curmudgeon, looks at the makeup of “the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion” and that of the Anglican Consultative Council. (Photo taken at the November 2008 JSC meeting: ACNS Rosenthal.)
FCA General Secretary responds to the Global South to South Encounter
Archbishop Peter Jensen:
“In my judgment, the assembly was unresponsive to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video greetings. I don’t think that what he said was obscure. It just seemed to be from another age, another world. His plea for patience misjudged the situation by several years… He seemed to suggest that the consecration of a partnered lesbian Bishop will create a crisis. In fact the crisis itself has passed. We are now on the further side of the critical moment; the decisions have all been made; we are already living with the consequences.” (Read it all.)
The Fourth Blast of the Trumpet
The image of the trumpet blast seems to be an over-dramatic description of the communiqué issued from the latest Global South Encounter. In fact, the response to it has been somewhat muted. But as a guest at the conference, I believe that it fully deserves the title ‘trumpet’ and will in time be regarded as an historic statement.
One reason why it fails to create a strong reaction is that it simply confirms the obvious. The crisis moment has now passed. Many of the Global South provinces have given up on the official North American Anglicans (TEC and the Canadian Church) and regard themselves as being out of communion with them. They renew the call for repentance but can see that, failing something like the Great Awakening, it will not occur. The positive side to this is that they are committed to achieving self-sufficiency so that they will cease to rely on the Western churches for aid. That is something the Global South has been working on for some time, with success.
In my judgment, the assembly was unresponsive to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video greetings. I don’t think that what he said was obscure. It just seemed to be from another age, another world. His plea for patience misjudged the situation by several years and his talk of the Anglican covenant was not where the actual conference was at. He seemed to suggest that the consecration of a partnered lesbian Bishop will create a crisis. In fact the crisis itself has passed. We are now on the further side of the critical moment; the decisions have all been made; we are already living with the consequences. And it was in working out the consequences that the communiqué may eventually be seen to be historic. Read more
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…