GAFCON Chairman's Advent Letter

To the Faithful of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and friends
from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council

Advent 2014

‘We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’ (2 Corinthians 4:18)

My dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end’.

During this Advent Season we shall be preparing for the joyful celebration of the first coming of our Lord Jesus, but let us also rejoice that we have the promise of his second coming in glorious majesty as Lord, Saviour and Judge, and be willing to stake our lives on what we do not yet see, the fulfilment of the promises of God.

It was this confidence that kept the Apostle Paul from despair despite all the setbacks and suffering of his apostolic ministry and with deep insight he cuts right through earth bound ways of thinking when he writes ‘For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal’ (2 Corinthians 4:18).

This is a truly radical perspective. It brings our lives into line with what is ultimately real and gives us a hope that is not defeated by immediate challenges and loss. This is true whatever the crisis that confronts us and we must continue to pray for those whose lives have been devastated by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, but the difference biblical hope makes is seen most clearly when persecution and violence are unleashed.

As I write these letters, I find that very often I need to emphasise the need to pray for and stand with our bothers and sisters who are experiencing heart-rending suffering as radical Islamic influence grows in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Here in Kenya, al-Shabab gunmen have just murdered twenty-eight non-Muslim passengers from a bus they ambushed in northern Kenya. In some parts of the world Christian communities now live with the constant threat of violent death. One of the most shocking attacks in recent weeks was the burning alive of a young Pakistani Christian man Sajjeed Mashah and his pregnant wife Shama Bibi in a brick kiln near Lahore. How do Christian communities manage to carry on in such circumstances unless they look to ‘the things that are unseen’? As we pray for those who suffer, let us resolve to be of the same mind and to be faithful to Christ wherever he has placed us.

The threat of atrocity is now truly global. Following the jihadist killing of a young soldier on duty at Canada’s national war memorial in Ottawa, I was moved by the gentle yet bold response of Bishop Charlie Masters, recently appointed Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). He spoke of shock and grief, but also how the founding fathers had named the country and he said “they called it the Dominion of Canada, based on Psalm 72:8 ‘he shall have dominion from sea to sea…’ and that was speaking about the Lord Jesus, that he has dominion in this country”. For Bishop Charlie, part of the response to this murder was national repentance to bring the country back to its founders’ vision. The dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ is a reality unrecognized by many, but one day all creation will bow the knee and the greatest service we can do for our nations is to win them for Jesus Christ by the proclamation of the glorious gospel of the Prince of Peace.

The Anglican Network in Canada is part of the Anglican Church in North America which was formed following our first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008. Such steps of radical faith demonstrate our trust in the Advent hope of the ultimate triumph of the gospel. For the New Testament writers, the expectation of Christ’s return was an encouragement not to waver from sound doctrine or godly living, but on crucial issues such as sexual morality and the uniqueness of Jesus as Saviour and Son of God we are in a Communion where there is no longer a common mind.

Some say this does not matter. For instance, the ‘Bishops in Dialogue’ group after their Coventry meeting earlier this year claimed that we must maintain visible unity despite everything because ‘now we see through a glass, darkly’ (1 Corinthians 13:12). In other words, things will only become clear in heaven. This is a bad mistake. It is true that there is much about our future state that we do not yet understand, but God has given us the inspired Scriptures as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps.119:105). Our future hope cannot be turned into an excuse for compromise or silence when Scripture is clear. For Anglicans the collegial mind of the Communion on sexuality and Scripture remains the orthodox position as strongly reaffirmed by the 1998 Lambeth Conference which continues to call us to obedience and pastoral responsibility. Dialogue is no substitute for doctrine.

Despite these challenges, I am confident that our efforts are not in vain. The crucial contribution of GAFCON to the future is that in an increasingly confused Communion it has a clear confessional basis in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration which keeps the gospel at its heart. And where the gospel is, there will be life.

So may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ establish your hearts in all that is good, make you strong and courageous in his service and bring us all with great joy to that day when the Church Militant here on earth shall become the great Church Victorious.

Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council

Anglican TV: Archbishop Duncan discusses visit to Vatican Colloquium

2018 Lambeth Conference cancelled

George Conger, via Anglican Ink:

The 2018 Lambeth Conference has been cancelled. The precarious state of the Anglican Communion has led the Archbishop of Canterbury to postpone indefinitely the every ten year meeting of the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

A spokesman for Archbishop Justin Welby told Anglican Ink that as the archbishop had not yet met with each of the primates of the communion, he would not be commenting on the news. Since his installation last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury has travelled extensively and plans on visiting the 37 other provinces of the Anglican Communion within the first 18 months of his term of office.

News of the cancellation was made public by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori on 23 Sept 2014. In response to a question from the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Prince Singh, who asked if money was being set aside to fund the Episcopal Church’s participation in the 2018 meeting, the Presiding Bishop told the Fall Meeting of the House of Bishops gathered in Taipei, Taiwan, that she had been told by Archbishop Welby the meeting had been cancelled.

According to a report of the exchange printed by the Episcopal News Service, the Presiding Bishop said Archbishop Welby had “been very clear that he is not going to call a Lambeth until he is reasonably certain that the vast majority of bishops would attend. It needs to be preceded by a primates meeting at which a vast majority of primates are present.”

She further stated that “as he continues his visits around the communion to those primates it’s unlikely that he will call such a meeting at all until at least a year from now or probably 18 months from now. Therefore I think we are looking at 2019, more likely 2020, before a Lambeth Conference.”

And, if and when it is held, the format of the gathering will likely be different from that of the controversial 2008 gathering. The next Lambeth will “have a rather different format” and the spouses’ conference will be eliminated “simply because of scale issues and regional contextual issues. Bishops’ spouses fill very different roles in different parts of the communion and the feedback from the last one was that it did not serve the spouses particularly well,” the Presiding Bishop said.

First held in 1867 in London at Lambeth Palace, the Lambeth Conferences have gathered the bishops of the Anglican Communion every ten years to discuss the common issues facing the wider church. The conferences have been postponed only twice. The 1918 gathering was postponed to 1920 due to the First World War, and the 1940 conference was postponed to 1948 because of the Second World War.

The decision to postpone the 2018 gathering due to internal dissention is unprecedented. From the first gathering in 1868 which dealt in part with the contentious issue of episcopal autonomy and Biblical interpretation and the heterodox bishop of Natal the Rt. Rev. John W. Colenso (as he was considered by most of his peers) the Lambeth Conferences have consistently discussed controversial issues. Though the resolutions and debates have no juridical value as each province is governed by its own canon law, the pronouncements have always held great moral authority. The 1930 Conference’s endorsement of contraception, for example, provided the foundation for the Episcopal Church to change its formal view of the morality of birth control in 1948. While in 1998 the Conference restated the church’s formal view that homosexual activity was immoral.

In organizing the 2008 Conference, Dr. Rowan Williams – who had endorsed a minority statement on homosexuality at the conference – changed the parameters and purpose of the meeting. A format of indaba, a South African word that the conference organizers interpreted as meaning a form of guided conversation, was adopted. The new format did not permit formal or conclusive statements and was designed to prevent action through what critics saw was conversation without end.

The gathering was also hampered by the largest boycott in the conference’s history. The bishops of the province of York boycotted the 1868 gathering in protest to what they saw as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presumption at calling a gathering of all the bishops, and J.C. Ryle and a handful of other evangelical bishops boycotted the 1888 gathering out of concerns the conference was institutionalizing what they believed to be an un-biblical prelacy. The question of women bishops attending Lambeth 1998 led a handful of traditionalists to boycott the conference. Two English missionary bishops in Madagascar declined to attend the gathering due to the presence of women bishops,

However the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision to invite the American, Canadian and Central American bishops who consecrated the Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson to Lambeth led to 206 diocesan and 8 suffragan bishops to reject Archbishop Rown Williams’ invitation.

In 2008 the Anglican Communion consisted of 729 dioceses, missionary districts, and ecclesial entities divided into 38 provinces and six extra-provincial jurisdictions. Approximately 260 dioceses and jurisdictions within the Communion were not represented by their diocesan bishops at Lambeth. In addition to those boycotting the meeting in protest, the Archbishop of Polynesia, remained at home to lead the coronation services of the King of Tonga, while the Bishop of Salisbury was felled by a stroke. Pending legal proceedings prevented the Bishop of Pennsylvania from attending while bishops from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of North India have never attended the Lambeth Conference.

Zimbabwe’s uncertain political situation prevented the Bishop of Manicaland from coming while a handful of bishops were also blocked from attending Lambeth due to local circumstances.

Of those identified as absent: 214 bishops from 10 provinces made an affirmative decision not to accept Dr. Williams’ invitation due to reasons of conscience: Australia 7; Southern Cone 1; Episcopal Church 1; Church of England 3; Uganda 30; Nigeria 137; Kenya 25; Rwanda 8; South East Asia 1; and Jerusalem and the Middle East 1. From Africa’s 324 dioceses, 200 diocesan bishops (61 percent) were identified as having refused Dr. Williams’ invitation.

Archbishop Welby’s flying visits across the Communion have sought to ameliorate this situation.

David Ould on the Anglican Communion: The conservatives are not going anywhere

A very encouraging article from David Ould about the ultimate staying power of conservatives in the Anglican Commuion:

The reality is that as the Anglican Communion effectively splits the conflict is being played out most of all in the Anglo national churches. Allan [Haley] has helpfully outlined the key events in the global background to all of this but it’s interesting to consider how it’s working it’s way out in the “Western” Provinces. The history of the North American church now already consists of whole chapters that have been written, with more yet to come but there is much yet to be written in the Church of England and Anglican Church of Australia.

The CofE’s position is a precarious one. Evangelicals have for a long time felt disenfranchised and marginalised. For them it is also, to some limited extent, a question of taxation and representation. Evangelical parishes (of which the large and growing parishes are mainly drawn) pay regular quotas of their offertory to diocesan coffers and on to the national funds. These monies are used to fund what is often perceived as irrelevant or even anti-gospel activities. To compound the situation there is not one single evangelical bishop in the House. At this stage some will protest with indignation that there are indeed evangelicals there, just not of the “conservative” label, to which I say this. The reality is that since the retirement of Bishop Wallace Benn we have not had one genuinely evangelical man representing us at the highest level. We have been marginalised, had the label “conservative evangelical” placed upon us to marginalise us even further, and had a promise of a “conservative evangelical” bishop made but ignored. They tax our tea (which in the Church of England is second in gravity only to taxing cake – or doubling the excise on a good Gin and Tonic) but the Crown gives us no representation.

So while the House of Bishops appears to be holding a fairly conservative position on human sexuality (although there are some glaring inconsistencies in their guidance) there is open opposition from not only clergy and laity but also actual bishops who are once again making outrageous claims (but, of course, don’t have the courage to back up their charge – they do, however, like the salary they get). What will be done in response to Bishop Alan’s open and brazen criticism of his episcopal colleagues? About the same that was done the last time; diddly squat. But the bigger issue is that the Church of England is an institution that is regularly elevating men who hold such views while not placing in leadership those who actually hold to consistent Biblical positions on the controversies of the day. It’s no good claiming to be standing in the right position on a controversy if open and wilful opposition is left unchecked.

All of this is the backdrop to the recent GAFCON Chairman’s pastoral letter which includes these paragraphs:

In the twenty first century, it is becoming clear that we must see the once missionary nations of the West as now themselves mission fields. The fact that the United Kingdom came close to breaking up last week is a symptom of the disintegration that follows when a once common Christian faith has been lost and I want to appreciate the work of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) who are sharing with other mission minded Anglicans in England as they meet for the ‘ReNew’ Conference this week.

AMiE is authorised by the GAFCON Primates to work within and, where necessary, outside the structures of the Church of England as a missionary society. In my message of greeting to the conference I said ‘We understand the challenges that faithful Anglicans face in England. At GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi we recognised that the focus of the struggle for biblical faithfulness has shifted from North America to England. The temptation to dilute the message of Jesus Christ and compromise with the surrounding culture is strong, so it is vital for the gospel in England, and also for the world, that you continue as a beacon to the revealed truth of the Scriptures. The salvation of people from hell is at stake. So nothing could be more important.’

The Anglican Mission in England has been around for a while but is getting on with it’s work slowly. It is, however, a “Tea Party moment”. It signals to the leadership of the Church of England that the fight is not going away. Evangelicals will continue to hold their own, and do so in solidarity with the majority of the Anglican Communion represented by a GAFCON/FCA movement that encourages their work. Just as the Tea Party signalled an irreversible moment in the conflict, so the collaboration of parties such as Church Society and Reform signals an intent which cannot be ignored, even if the pace is not to everyone’s liking.

The irony here is that quasi-evangelicals, such as the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, find themselves in a curious position. They hold a conservative position on human sexuality, but are undermined in their support of women’s consecration. Further, they give the impression they will constantly seek to appease the liberalising tendencies within the church. Tragically this moves them away from their more natural theological partners in parties like the AMiE and into the hands of those who they are, ironically, in far less agreement with on the more substantial issues.

Here in Australia a similar movement is underway, albeit in a different context. The Australia church, not least by virtue of it’s constitutional arrangements, has not officially moved to the extremes although there are some clear pockets of revisionism. The smaller House of Bishops has a variety of perspectives in it but has a good number of genuine conservatives. The new Primate, Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier, is seen as a safer pair of hands and a man with some experience of handling the inherent tensions having overseen the smorgasbord of Melbourne where solid evangelical parishes lie next to blatantly liberal ones. He has recently imposed new rules on the conduct of ministers including asking clear questions about their living arrangements and behaviour prior to ordination and licensing. Nevertheless Melbourne remains home to many who would espouse a gospel that evangelicals simply cannot recognise. My own sense speaking to others here about the matter is that some opposition to conservatives has softened, at least publicly. Privately I have seen correspondence and been involved in conversations where the animosity is a clear as it ever was.

All of this has led to the Australian chapter of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans announcing plans for a first local conference in March 2015. Further details are yet to come but this will prove, I suspect, to be another “Tea Party moment”. It signals to the hierarchy of the Anglican Church of Australia that the conservatives are not going anywhere. This is particularly important given what may happen in the next few years. It is no secret that liberals in Perth are very unhappy with Archbishop Herft’s decision to veto their motion on human sexuality. We should expect the next Archbishop there to be elected on the understanding that he (or she) will allow similar motions to pass. This or similar events will leave conservatives needing to decide how to respond. But the theological revisionists should also be clear on the consequences of their actions. Throwing a few tea chests in the harbour now gives a very clear indication of what might be yet to come.

The reality of the Anglican Communion is that conservatives are not going anywhere. In many senses liberals are fighting a rearguard action trying to hold onto local ground while they see the wider global battle being lost. The wholesale rejection of the Anglican Covenant idea by those same liberals is only further evidence of their increasing parochialism, they want the prestige of being part of the Anglican Communion but not the mutual responsibility. They are, globally, a lone voice crying “God save our picture of Christianity” while the rest of the Communion moves on and battles for their Biblical understanding of what Anglicanism always was and should continue to be.

Just as the British Crown lost control over the colonies and the once Great Britain is now reduced to one small nation amongst others, so also the revisionists in the Communion are looking at a similar shrinking of their influence and standing in the face of conservatives’ standing firm. Expect to see more Tea Parties, if only to let the institutions know that we’re not going away and this is all only going in one direction.

Bishop of Leeds blasts British government's "incoherent" Middle East policy which ignores plight of Iraqi Christians

The Church of England has not been known in recent years for speaking truth to power. Under the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion has more often seemed content to bend to the wishes of secular politicians.

It comes, then, as a most pleasant surprise that Archbishop Welby and his subordinates have taken a leading role in speaking out on behalf of persecuted Christians in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Welby was one of the first international religious leaders to use the word "evil" to describe the Islamic-led genocide of Iraqi Christians and reiterated his revulsion at the tactics of the ISIS extremists in a joint statement with the Archbishop of Melbourne.

Now, the Right Reverend Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Leeds, has written a blistering letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, taking the government to task for an "incoherent" policy in the Middle East which has largely ignored the plight of Iraqi Christians. The letter has the full support of Archbishop Welby.

Dear Prime Minister

Iraq and Islamic State

I am conscious of the speed at which events are moving in Iraq and Syria, and write recognising the complexity and interconnectedness of the challenges faced by the international community in responding to the crises in Syria and Iraq.

However, in common with many bishops and other correspondents here in the UK, I remain very concerned about the government's response to several issues. I write with the support of the archbishop of Canterbury to put these questions to you.

1. It appears that, in common with the United States and other partners, the UK is responding to events in a reactive way, and it is difficult to discern the strategic intentions behind this approach.

Please can you tell me what is the overall strategy that holds together the UK government's response to both the humanitarian situation and what Islamic State is actually doing in Syria and Iraq? Behind this question is the serious concern that we do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamist extremism as it is developing across the globe. Islamic State, Boko Haram and other groups represent particular manifestations of a global phenomenon, and it is not clear what our broader global strategy is – particularly insofar as the military, political, economic and humanitarian demands interconnect.

The Church internationally must be a primary partner in addressing this complexity.

2. The focus by both politicians and media on the plight of the Yazidis has been notable and admirable. However, there has been increasing silence about the plight of tens of thousands of Christians who have been displaced, driven from cities and homelands, and who face a bleak future. Despite appalling persecution, they seem to have fallen from consciousness, and I wonder why. Does your government have a coherent response to the plight of these huge numbers of Christians whose plight appears to be less regarded than that of others? Or are we simply reacting to the loudest media voice at any particular time?

3. As yet, there appears to have been no response to pleas for asylum provision to be made for those Christians (and other minorities) needing sanctuary from Iraq in the UK. I recognise that we do not wish to encourage Christians or other displaced and suffering people to leave their homeland – the consequences for those cultures and nations would be extremely detrimental at every level – but for some of them this will be the only recourse. The French and German governments have already made provision, but there has so far been only silence from the UK government. Therefore, I ask for a response to the question of whether there is any intention to offer asylum to Iraqi migrants (as part of a holistic strategy to addressing the challenges of Iraq)?

4. Following on from this, I note that the bishop of Coventry tabled a series of questions to HM government in the House of Lords on Monday 28 July. All but two were answered on Monday 11 August. The outstanding questions included the following: "The lord bishop of Coventry to ask Her Majesty's government what consideration they have given to resettling here in the UK a fair proportion of those displaced from Isis controlled areas of northern Iraq." I would be grateful to know why this question has not so far been answered – something that causes me and colleagues some concern.

5. Underlying these concerns is the need for reassurance that a commitment to religious freedom will remain a priority for the government, given the departure of ministers who championed this. Will the foreign secretary's human rights advisory panel continue under the new foreign secretary? Is this not the time to appoint an ambassador at large for international religious freedom – which would demonstrate the government's serious commitment to developing an overarching strategy (backed by expertise) against Islamist extremism and violence?

I look forward to your considered response to these pressing questions.

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Rev Nicholas Baines

The bishop of Leeds

St. Andrew's Fort Worth: An appeal for the Venables

From the parish newsletter, St. Andrew's Forth Worth:

A dear friend of this parish and diocese is Archbishop Gregory Venables of Argentina. He was our honored preacher at our centennial service and he was the one that helped the Diocese of Fort Worth find a temporary jurisdictional home in the Southern Cone at the onset of our legal/canonical adventure. We are much in his debt.

Sadly, the Archbishop and his wife, Sylvia, were brutally beaten and robbed at their home last week. One friend of the Venables stated this:

About a week ago Bishop Greg Venables and his wife Sylvia returned home to Olivos in the Buenos Aires only to find a robbery in progress in their home. The thieves threw Sylvia to the floor and bound and terribly beat Greg. They then proceeded to steal everything of value from their home.

The thieves took a MacBook Pro that we had gotten for Greg as well as an unlocked iPhone. All of their electronics were stolen along with all of Sylvia’s jewelry and even Greg’s pectoral crosses. No insurance is available.

To add insult to injury, the Diocese of Argentina bank account in the UK was closed. The bank said it was because there was no answer to mail that they had sent. Of course, all the mail had been answered. Several thousand dollars is being held by the English bank and won’t be recoverable until he can go there in person. In short, they have lost everything except the roof over their heads.

Certainly we as a parish need to be praying for the Venables. But we would also like to offer tangible, material support. Please consider contributing to St. Andrew’s Mercy Fund for the Venables. Our vestry members have already committed to supporting this effort and hope that all in our church family who are able will join them in supporting and lifting up these members of our extended Church family.

We would like to replace the laptop and the iPhone and raise some serious cash on their behalf to assist with many of the items that were lost in this violent attack.

CANA East Synod expresses support for persecuted Nigerian Christians

Faith McDonnell, for Juicy Ecumenism:

A resolution expressing support for Christians in Nigeria, under siege by the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, passed unanimously at the Annual Synod of the Missionary Diocese of CANA East on Saturday, May 3, 2014, in Wayne, PA. The Synod was the second annual gathering of the diocese, one of four missionary dioceses in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) led by Missionary Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Julian M. Dobbs.

Thousands of Nigerian Christians, including Anglicans, have been killed or injured by Boko Haram, which was finally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department last November. The radical Islamist group seeks the eradication of Christians and the total Islamization of Nigeria.

Boko Haram’s latest and possibly most despicable action was to abduct (new estimation) 276 school girls, mostly Christians, from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, northeast Nigeria, on April 14. Reports indicate that the militants are selling these teenage girls and otherwise enslaving them. The abductions followed a declaration by Boko Haram leader, Abubaker Shekau, made just weeks before that “in Islam, it is allowed to take infidel women as slaves and in due course we will start taking women away and sell in the market.” Prayer at the CANA East Synod focused on this tragic event.

This resolution showing solidarity with persecuted Nigerian Christians has a special poignancy because the Diocese of CANA East is a missionary diocese of the Anglican Church of Nigeria and many of its members are Nigerian Americans. And for disenfranchised former members of the Episcopal Church in the United States, such shows of solidarity might be considered a demonstration of gratitude to the Church of Nigeria that offered them a home.

Here is the complete text of the resolution, Prayers for the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion):

BE IT RESOLVED, that this Synod hereby expresses its profound gratitude to the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) for its generosity to and support of Anglicans in North America.

Be it further RESOLVED, that this Synod expresses its support for Christians and everyone whose life and livelihood have been or are being devastated by the attacks of the Boko Haram in Nigeria.

We hereby call on all levels of government in Nigeria to protect its citizens, especially Christians, from the wanton destruction of human life, church property, and personal property perpetrated by radical Islamic elements.

Our sincere prayers are with the citizens of Nigeria, especially the Christian community. May Almighty God defend and provide for His people for Christ’s sake.

Canon Andrew White: The Vicar of Baghdad

Global South Primates issue Cairo Communique

Statement from the Global South Primates Steering Committee, Cairo, Egypt 14-15 February 2014

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3).

1. The Global South Primates Steering Committee met at All Saints Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt from 14-15 February 2014. We were delighted to have The Most Rev. & Rt. Hon. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, the Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA), and Canon David Porter, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Director for Reconciliation, as guests joining this important meeting in which we discussed the way ahead for the Anglican Communion and other matters. The Most Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala, the Primate of Kenya, and The Most Rev. Henri Isingoma, the Primate of Congo, apologized for not being able to attend.

2. We thank God for the times of fellowship, Bible study and prayer together. We also appreciated the frank discussion, open sharing, and spirit of unity among us. We are also encouraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s emphases on renewal, mission and evangelism within the Church of England and the rest of the Anglican Communion.

3. As we reviewed the current situation, we recognized that the fabric of the Communion was torn at its deepest level as a result of the actions taken by The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church in Canada since 2003. As a result, our Anglican Communion is currently suffering from broken relations, a lack of trust, and dysfunctional “instruments of unity.”

4. However, we trust in God’s promise that the “gates of hades will not overcome” the church. Holding unto this promise, 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.

c) We realize that the time has come to address the ecclesial deficit, the mutual accountability and re-shaping the instruments of unity by following through the recommendations mentioned in the Windsor Report (2004), the Primates Meetings in Dromantine (2005) and Dar es Salam (2007), and the Windsor Continuation Group report.

5. We appreciate the costly decision of the House of Bishops of the Church of England, as well as the pastoral letter and pastoral guidance of The Archbishop of Canterbury and The Archbishop of York, in regard to the decision of the Westminster Parliament for same-gender marriage. The faithfulness of the Church of England in this regard is a great encouragement to our Provinces, and indeed the rest of the Communion, especially those facing hardships and wars.

6. We stand in solidarity with The Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul and the people of South Sudan and Sudan, calling for the cessation of fighting, an end to violence, and for a process for peace and reconciliation. We call upon the international community to give every help and support to those displaced as a result of fighting. We commit ourselves to pray for the people of Sudan.

7. We were encouraged to learn about the new constitution of Egypt and how the interim government is achieving the roadmap that was decided by its people on the 3 July 2013. We support the people of Egypt in their efforts to combat violence and terrorism.

8. We decided to activate the Task Forces established at the 4th Encounter of the Global South, which are: Economic Empowerment (coordinated by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala), Theological Resourcing (coordinated by Archbishop Bolly Lapok), Emerging Servant Leaders (coordinated by Archbishop Ian Ernest), and Inter-faith Relations (coordinated by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh).

9. We decided to hold the 5th Encounter of the Global South in 2015 and also organize a seminar for Global South leaders on “How Africa shaped Anglicanism”.

This statement is approved by:

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt and Chairman of Global South
The Most Rev. Ian Ernest, Primate of the Indian Ocean and General Secretary of Global South The Most Rev. Stephen Than Myint Oo, Primate of Myanmar
The Most Rev. Hector “Tito” Zavala, Primate of the Southern Cone
The Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, Primate of Burundi and the Chairman of CAPA
The Rt. Rev. John Chew, representing the Primate of South East Asia
The Rt. Rev. Francis Loyo, representing the Primate of All Sudan

This statement was abstained by:
The Most Rev. Nkechi Nwosu, representing the Primate of All Nigeria

Justin Welby: The harsh reality sets in

If you still had any lingering doubts that Justin Welby is an unmitigated disaster as Archbishop of Canterbury, the events of the past week should clear them all up. First came a press release bearing his name in which he heaped praise upon Madam Oven Mitt on the occasion of her "richly deserved" honorary doctorate from Oxford. It was a statement which, to the many victims of the Presiding Bureaucrat's "intellect" and "compassion," came across as hurtful, insensitive, and mean-spirited.

As Canon Phil Ashey observes:

How can Justin Welby ascribe “remarkable intellectual gifts dedicated to the service of Christ” to a leader who has been challenged time and again over the last ten years by the Windsor Process itself, who has ignored the moratoria begged of her and TEC, and whose acceleration of those innovations was the very cause for the response of the Anglican Churches in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and elsewhere in the majority Global South which offered pastoral care and covering to those Episcopalians, now Anglicans, who would not submit to her innovations as a matter of conscience and fidelity to Biblical teaching and Lambeth Resolution 1.10?

Is such conduct really an expression of remarkable intellect in the service of Christ?

What possessed Justin Welby to say that Jefferts Schori “richly deserves” an honorary award for her “remarkable gift of compassion which she has dedicated to the service of Christ,” in the face of the following facts:

On February 17, 2011, The American Anglican Council published a documented report of how Bishop Jefferts Schori and the leadership of TEC had violated the very text of its canons, due process and natural justice to inhibit and depose (at that time) 12 bishops and 404 deacons and priests. Since then, the estimate of total inhibitions and depositions of bishops, priests and deacons has risen to 700. This represents the largest exercise of penal discipline by any Presiding Bishop in the history of the TEC—and perhaps in the history of any Church in the Anglican Communion.

In one notable case, Bishop Jefferts Schori deposed Bishop Henry Scriven of the Church of England! In another notable case, her “compassion” led her to inhibit retired Bishop Edward MacBurney (VII Quincy) on April 2, 2008. On April 4, his son died, leaving the grieving father and bishop unable to conduct his son’s funeral rites.

Through her Chancellor, Bishop Jefferts Schori authorized and continues to authorize litigation against volunteer vestry (parish council) members and other volunteer leaders in church property cases. Although volunteers do not hold title to the property of the departing congregations, we documented at least 48 instances (as of the date of our report) where such volunteer vestry members have been sued by TEC or the diocese—in some cases, seeking the personal assets of these volunteers for monetary punitive damages in excess of the value of the property at issue. Such claims represent a position by Episcopal bishops and attorneys that a volunteer vestry member‘s vote to leave TEC is oppressive and malicious illegal behavior that justifies the forfeiture of a volunteer‘s personal assets. In addition to suffering the intentional infliction of emotional distress at the possibility of losing their personal assets, volunteer vestry members and other leaders have suffered damages by the mere filing of such claims including difficulty in refinancing their homes, difficulty in obtaining security clearances for new jobs, and prejudice to their credit reports.

When “Christian compassion” might have moved Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and the leadership of TEC to accept the Primates call for a moratorium on litigation at their 2007 meeting in Dar es Salaam, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori chose instead to accelerate the litigation. In 2009 when TEC cut staff and program by 30%, it increased the line items in the budget for litigation. We documented at least 56 complaints filed by TEC and its Dioceses against individual churches, clergy and volunteer vestry members. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori led a delegation of bishops to Lambeth 2008 who demonstrated reckless indifference to the truth by telling other Anglican bishops in their “indaba groups” that TEC was being sued by local churches—when precisely the opposite was true. The Episcopal Church has continued to stonewall every request for an accounting of the funds it has expended on such litigation, and conservative estimates based on public records indicate that the cost is already in excess of $30 million.

Really-Is this “compassion dedicated to the service of Christ?”

Next came the Archbishop's speech to the Church of England General Synod, presented with that typical winsomeness which British clerics seem to think can cover a multitude of sins. Matt Kennedy, however, was not fooled.

This speech by Justin Welby could have easily been given by Rowan Williams or, indeed, any number of revisionist Episcopalian bishops. It is, of course, about women bishops and how those who rightly oppose the move to make them ought to open themselves to the “perfect love” that casts out all that curmudgeonly concern for biblical fidelity which as we all know inhibits “human flourishing”. But this speech is not only about women bishops. The language he uses here is “precisely” the language he uses to push reconciliation with those leaders in the Communion who want to mainstream and bless homosexual behavior. This subtext breaks to the surface quite clearly in the paragraph below

“This sort of gracious reconciliation means that we have to create safe space within ourselves to disagree, as we began to do last summer at the Synod in York, and as we need to do over the issues arising out of our discussions on sexuality, not because the outcome is predetermined to be a wishy-washy one, but because the very process is a proclamation of the Gospel of unconditionally loving God who gives Himself for our sin and failure. It is incarnational in the best sense and leads to the need to bear our cross in the way we are commanded.”

Note here that Welby identifies the gospel with the “very process” of creating a “safe place” to disagree about human sexuality.

No. That is not the gospel. The gospel is the truth that God became Man to save sinners from the consequences of sin and its enslaving power. God did not become Man to make peace with those who lead people into sin. To those who do such things, quite contrary to the Archbishop’s claim, Jesus suggested millstones and deep lakes would be far more bearable compared to what he has planned for them apart from repentance.

Remember, if you will, the constant revisionist refrain beginning in 2003: “These issues do not have to divide us. We still gather round the same table and worship the same Jesus. Let us work on being brothers and sisters despite our differences…”

But these very pleasant sounding coaxings only obscured the truth. The “differences” that divided us then and continue to divide us now are gathered around two options: 1. teach the biblical truth about sexual sin and call people who experience with same sex attraction to live lives of repentance and faith resulting in eternal life or 2. teach people with same sex attraction that the behaviors the bible says will keep people out of the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9) are really no sins at all.

There is no “middle road” here. There is no reconciliation ground between these two viewpoints. None. If those who believe #1 above are correct, then then those who believe #2 are leading people God loves to hell. These leaders must be called to recant or be subject to discipline and expulsion. What Archbishop Welby wants to do, and he does it clearly in this speech, is re-cast the question as if it were tantamount to “should Christians drink wine?” or “What is the appropriate length for women’s skirts?”. He wants to reduce the question to “adiaphora”, to the level of a matter about which God does not speak. This is a lie as anyone equipped with reason, a bible, and the ability to understand human language ought to know. To promote this notion is to sully and obscure the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is time for orthodox, evangelical Anglicans to face the harsh reality about Justin Welby. He is no better than Rowan Williams, and possibly even worse.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

GAFCON Chairman's letter to the Anglican Faithful: "There is an urgency about the Gospel"

There is urgency about the gospel

To the Faithful of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and friends
from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya
and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council

29th January 2014

‘…by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God’ 2 Corinthians 4:2

My dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

I write this first message of 2014 with great hope and confidence for the year ahead. GAFCON 2013 renewed our vision for the Anglican Communion as a global fellowship faithful to the Scriptures and confirmed what many of us had already sensed, that our movement is emerging as the only real answer to the Communion’s problems of fragmentation and confusion.

In the year ahead we must resolve to devote ourselves to the great biblical mandate to make disciples of all nations which was the focus of our gathering in Nairobi. 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. Earlier this week, the English College of Bishops met to reflect upon the ‘Pilling Report’, commissioned to reflect on how the Church of England should respond to the question of same sex relationships. Its key recommendations were that informal blessings of such unions should be allowed in parish churches and that a two year process of ‘facilitated conversation’ should be set up to address strongly held differences within the Church on this issue.

While we should be thankful that the College of Bishops did not adopt the idea of services for blessing that which God calls sin, it did unanimously approve the conversation process and this is deeply troubling. There has been intensive debate within the Anglican Communion on the subject of homosexuality since at least the 1998 Lambeth Conference and it is difficult to believe that the bishop’s indecision at this stage is due to lack of information or biblical reflection. The underlying problem is whether or not there is a willingness to accept the bible for what it really is, the Word of God.

At Lambeth 1998, the bishops of the Anglican Communion, by an overwhelming majority, affirmed in Resolution 1.10 that homosexual relationships were not compatible with Scripture, in line with the Church’s universal teaching through the ages, but the Pilling Report effectively sets this aside. The conversations it proposes are not to commend biblical teaching on marriage and family, but are based on the assumption that we cannot be sure about what the bible says.

I cannot therefore commend the proposal by the College of Bishops that these ‘facilitated conversations ‘ should be introduced across the Communion. This is to project the particular problems of the Church of England onto the Communion as a whole. As with ‘Continuing Indaba’, without a clear understanding of biblical authority and interpretation, such dialogue only spreads confusion and opens the door to a false gospel because the Scriptures no longer function in any meaningful way as a test of what is true and false.

Faced with these challenges, I am reminded of the importance of the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. It places our fellowship under the written word of God, which ‘is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading’. Here we have a solid foundation for the responsible reading of the Bible which preserves its transformative power. As John the Evangelist writes ‘these things are written so that you may believe…..and that by believing you may have life’ (John 20:31).

Plans are already taking shape following GAFCON 2013 to provide our global fellowship with the organisation and communications it needs if the Anglican Communion is to recover its unity by listening to and obeying the Word of God. Using modern communications it is possible for us to experience the connectedness of being a global communion in a way that our predecessors could never have imagined. Each one of us can play a part and so may I conclude by inviting you, if you have not yet done so, to join the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans at http://fca.net. My pastoral messages and other communications can then be sent direct to you by email and together we can serve the cause of the gospel at this critical time.

South Carolina Rogue Diocese loses again, Volume MCMXXXVLXVIII

Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina via Anglican Ink:

U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck issued a sharply worded ruling today that rebuffed efforts by The Episcopal Church to sidestep a South Carolina Circuit Court injunction preventing the denomination from seizing the identity and symbols of the Diocese of South Carolina.

In his ruling, Judge Houck said, “It appears Bishop [Charles G.] vonRosenberg is using the motion to express his disagreement with the Court’s ruling and to ‘rehash’ previously presented arguments. … As such, Bishop vonRosenberg’s motion is improper and reconsideration is not justified.”

Bishop vonRosenberg had asked Judge Houck to effectively overturn a state court injunction preventing him and his followers from claiming to be the Diocese of South Carolina.

“We are grateful Judge Houck saw through The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) efforts to distract from the real issues in this case,” said Jim Lewis, Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese. “Their attempt to claim violation of trademark rights was little more than a stalling tactic.

“It’s understandable that TECSC wants to postpone the adjudication of the actual issues involved, but we’re confident the courts will not be distracted,” Lewis said. “Sadly, all the legal shenanigans simply add to the tens of millions of dollars the denomination has spent on legal bills aimed at bullying disaffected members to remain with TEC.”

TEC has historically used the courts to punish parishes and dioceses who disagree with the denomination’s shifting theology. The group has spent more than $22 million on legal efforts to seize individual church property and evict parishioners. At times when judges have ruled against TEC, the denomination has filed time-consuming appeals that have tied up break-away resources and, occasionally, worn down the resolve of individuals seeking religious freedom.

The state court case is scheduled to go to trial in July.

The Diocese of South Carolina disassociated from the Episcopal Church in October 2012 after TEC tried to defrock Bishop Lawrence. Following the Diocese’s decision, 49 churches representing 80 percent of the Diocese’s 30,000 members voted to remain in union with the Diocese and not with TEC.

The Diocese has consistently disagreed with TEC’s embrace of what most members of the global Anglican Communion believe to be a radical fringe scriptural interpretation that makes following Christ’s teachings optional for salvation.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different outcome.

All in all, a great day to be in South Carolina, unless your name is Schori or vonRosenberg.

+Anis: Voting and dancing in Egypt

Via Anglican Ink:

Once again, the Egyptian people have surprised the world. Yesterday was the first day of the Referendum on the new Constitution of Egypt. The supporters of the former President Mohammed Mursi called people to boycott the Referendum. Surprisingly enough, yesterday millions of people went to the polls to vote and they are still voting today! Going to the polls was risky because of those who were trying to use violence to scare people from voting, but the army and the police exerted a great effort to protect the polls and to give assurance to the people who would like to vote.

Unlike the previous Constitution that was written under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, the new Constitution affirms equality and the rights of women within the Egyptian society. It was a phenomenon to see crowds of women at each poll, many of whom queued for hours to vote. Some of them were singing and rejoicing, and even dancing, before and after they cast their vote. There was a general spirit of joy among the people of Egypt who voted, in a way that never happened before. We, alongside other Christian denominations, encouraged the people of Egypt to fulfill their civil duty to vote and to pray for the future of Egypt.

All of this is a message to those who called the 30 June 2013 Revolution a “military coup.” The same millions of people who went out in the streets that day, also went to vote yesterday and today. It is also an indirect support of the Road Map that was announced on 3 July, the day of the removal of the former President. The Road Map, designed by different streams of politicians as well as the Grand Imam of Al Azhar and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, formed an interim government and appointed a Committee of 50 (representatives of all sectors of the society) to write the new Constitution. The interim government, after the Referendum on the Constitution, will prepare for Parliamentary and Presidential elections. Many voters carried the photos of Field Marshall al-Sisi, the Minister of Defense, in an attempt to persuade him to run for the presidency. This is because al-Sisi was the one who responded to the request of the millions of demonstrators on 30 June who called for early Presidential elections and the removal of the former President.

The new Constitution affirms the rights of citizenship, and prohibits all forms of discrimination. It has clauses that ensure the development of education and health care for every citizen. It allows the freedom of worship and the building of churches, and Article 3 gives the right for non-Muslims (Christians and Jews) to resort to their canon laws in regard to civil issues.

I can see my beloved country standing on the doorstep of a new day. Do pray that the hopes and dreams of millions of people, of a more settled, secure and democratic country, will be fulfilled.

May the Lord bless you!

+ Mouneer Egypt

Archbishop Duncan: Church, theology, and culture

Part I



Part II

Communique from ACNA College of Bishops

A message from the College of Bishops following their January meeting.

January 10, 2014

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1

The bishops of the Anglican Church in North America met in Orlando, Florida from January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, to January 10th. We were blessed to be joined by the Rt. Rev. Humphrey Peters, Bishop of Peshawar, Pakistan. This has been our largest meeting, with only a few bishops absent due to inclement weather or overseas assignment. The bishops of the Anglican Church in North America have made it clear that it is a high priority to be together to pray and meet in council to carry forward the apostolic ministry of the Church. This week we again met in an atmosphere of mutual support and affection, with much prayer for one other. Bishop William Ilgenfritz, Missionary Diocese of All Saints, served as Chaplain for the College.

In our opening Eucharist, the Rt. Rev. Todd Hunter was invested as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, commonly called “C4SO.”

We were blessed by Biblical teaching each morning from Dr. Wesley Hill, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry. In this season of Epiphany, we were encouraged by Dr. Hill’s teaching on the nature of our triune God as both transcendent above his creation and present with us in our suffering.

It was a thoroughly productive gathering in which the bishops were able to address a range of topics, working to establish consensus and maintain fraternal relations. We were encouraged by our times of sharing about the fruitful ministries in our dioceses and by testimonies of God’s grace and answered prayers.

Following two years of work by the Catechesis Task Force, the bishops unanimously approved a new Catechism for trial use, with mechanisms for feedback and refinement planned over the next two years. The Catechism, written primarily for adults, is designed to speak to those who are exploring the faith, as well as to disciple Christians to greater knowledge and spiritual maturity. The Catechism, produced to uphold and communicate apostolic faith through pastoral application, is invitational in approach, drawing inquirers to faith in Christ, pursue a loving relationship with the Father, and welcome the power of the Holy Spirit in everyday life. We are eager for trained catechists to be raised up to use this wonderful tool, as well as for additional discipleship resources to be developed and shared across the Church.

As we continue to develop a Prayer Book to enrich our common liturgical life, the bishops worshiped using the Province’s approved texts for Holy Communion and daily Morning and Evening Prayer. We did initial work on a first draft of liturgies for Baptism, Confirmation and Admission of Catechumens, refining them to help insure that those liturgies are accessible and reflect the richness of the historic Anglican faith and tradition. The College continues to look forward to the day when the Province will have its own Book of Common Prayer.

As Archbishop Duncan is retiring as Archbishop in June, 2014, the bishops also discussed and prayed about the process of electing a successor and the subsequent transition. Archbishop Duncan reflected with the College on his experience in the office and the bishops expressed gratitude for his courageous and persevering leadership. Archbishop Duncan then graciously absented himself so we could pursue facilitated conversation with Dr. Cynthia Waisner, who again served as our consultant. Seeking to avoid a political process, the bishops committed to a covenant of behavior and a season of prayer as we move toward the bishops’ conclave in June. The College of Bishops will have regular days of prayer and fasting in the coming months, and then gather the week before the Provincial Assembly to discern in prayer the one whom God is calling as successor to Archbishop Duncan.

The Rt. Rev. Humphrey Peters shared with us about ministry in his diocese in Pakistan. It was All Saints Church in his diocese that was attacked by suicide bombers after Sunday worship last September, killing more than 100. We were all touched by his reports of both the challenges and the rewards of pursuing Gospel ministry in Pakistan. Bishop Humphrey presented Archbishop Duncan with gifts from his diocese and Archbishop Duncan responded with the presentation to Bishop Humphrey of a signed copy of our new Texts for Common Prayer.

The tragic conflict in South Sudan was also forefront in our prayers. We sent greetings and encouragement to our brothers and sisters in the Church in Sudan and promised to call the Anglican Church in North America to intercede for peace and justice in South Sudan.

We heard an excellent presentation by Dr. Louise Duncan Jakubik about mentoring, which was helpful to our work of discipling Christians and developing leaders.

We received a report from Canon Nancy Norton, Executive Director of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund. We were encouraged to hear that more than $1.2 million was given for development projects in nine countries, and for disaster relief in Oklahoma and Colorado. The bishops were enthusiastic in praise of Canon Norton and her accomplishments as she looks toward retirement at the Provincial Assembly.

We reflected on our time at GAFCON-2 in Nairobi, which was attended by almost all of our bishops. We rejoiced at the continued growth of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA) and its role as a vital Instrument of Communion. We discussed our international relationships and the challenges faced by the GFCA.

Transferring to the chapel of a nearby church, the bishops prayerfully consented to the election of the Rev. J. Mark Zimmerman as first Bishop of the Diocese of the Southwest. Fr. Zimmerman has served as rector of Somerset Anglican Church (formerly St. Francis-in-the-Fields) in Somerset, PA since 1999. His consecration is scheduled for February 28, 2014 at the Church of St. Clement, El Paso, TX.

The bishops also consented to the election of the Rt. Rev. William J. White as Bishop Coadjutor in the REC Diocese of the Southeast. Bishop White has served as Suffragan Bishop of that diocese since 2008.

The Bishops received with gratitude the report of the Theological Task Force on Holy Orders. Their work includes faithful scholarship and conversations of significance in an atmosphere of respect and trust that is important to our common life. Though the issue of Holy Orders produces anxiety for some in the Church, we are thankful for the way that the Task Force is modeling a commitment to full theological inquiry and fidelity. This gives rise to the bishops’ expectation that we will emerge having faithfully found God’s guidance for our Church.

In reviewing the steps that the Task Force has taken, we approved its report on hermeneutical (interpretation of Scripture) principles. This expresses the principles by which we approach the theological study of Holy Orders. This report will now be released to the Church and sent to the International Theological Commission of GAFCON and our ecumenical partners, seeking their input. It is important to note that this careful, thorough and collegial study into Holy Orders has rarely been done before by Anglicans.

The next phase of the work of the Task Force will identify the ecclesiological (nature of the Church) principles of ministry and orders, including what the Anglican formularies say about the nature of the church, the general character of ordained ministry, the characteristics of each order, and the relationship between the ordained ministry and Christ and his Church. The Task Force has formed sub-committees which will engage scholars and scholarship from the Anglo-Catholic, Spirit-led, and Reformed traditions. A draft of this work will be presented to the bishops in June.

Church planting continues to be at the heart of our Provincial life. We heard the exciting report of the Rev. Canon Alan Hawkins, Vicar of Anglican1000, about the work of establishing new congregations and worshiping communities across the Province. In the huge mission field with Hispanics, fifty-seven Spanish-speaking congregations have been planted. Particularly helpful was his emphasis that we are now engaged in planting just the first 1000 churches. Anglican1000 continues to support diocesan leaders, church planters, coaches and the church at large. Three regional events have been held in the past few months and additional events will be held soon in Phoenix, Atlanta and Chicago. The Greenhouse Movement is also having a huge impact by catalyzing clusters of new congregations.

Bishop Ray Sutton, Provincial Ecumenical Officer, reported on the growing relationship with the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which includes the recent decision by the NALC to create at Trinity School for Ministry a “seminary center” for the training of its ordinands. The College approved an agreed statement on Eucharistic hospitality with the NALC. Bishop Sutton also shared about upcoming dialogues with the Polish National Catholic Church and the Messianic Jewish community.

An Anglican Unity Task Force was established to address the issues that have arisen through the formation of new churches and dioceses, resulting in overlapping jurisdictions throughout the province. Bishops from this task force, together with lay and clergy leaders, will meet again this spring.

Mindful of the opportunities and challenges before us, this meeting of the College of Bishops has been characterized by Gospel joy. We are deeply thankful for the fellowship we share in Christ.

We are so pleased by the gracious service and support that many people offer to our Church. The Provincial staff is a devoted and truly productive team. We are deeply indebted to them, and to the many clergy and laity who serve on the various working groups of the Province, including those task forces which reported to us this week: Catechesis, Prayer Book and Liturgy, Governance, Ecumenical Relations, and the Theological Task Force on Holy Orders. We are grateful to the Anglican Chaplains who provided administrative support to GAFCON-2 in Nairobi.

We are blessed as a Church and humbled by what we have seen the Lord accomplish in our midst in these first few years we have been together as the Anglican Church in North America. We continue to pursue the Lord’s vision of a Biblical, missionary, and united Anglicanism. May God be greatly praised.

Rogue diocese loses again in South Carolina

Bishop Lawrence

St. George, SC, December 30, 2013 – South Carolina Circuit Judge Diane S. Goodstein today denied efforts by The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) to expand its lawsuit by adding claims against four diocesan officials.

The judge, who had only a few months ago rejected efforts by the national Episcopal Church to drag literally all of the diocese’s officers into the suit, said there was no reason to single out the specific members of the clergy for acting consistent with the wishes of the Diocese as approved by literally thousands of members of the diocese.

In November, TECSC had asked the judge to expand its suit to include Bishop Mark Lawrence and three other clerics, alleging that actions they took to withdraw the diocese from the denomination were outside the scope of their legal authority and violated state law. In denying the motion, Judge Goodstein briefly referenced a last minute TECSC affidavit that asserted an early conspiracy to leave TEC. The Very Rev. Paul Fuener, a priest named in the affidavit, observed, “I am confident that his recollection of our interview is seriously in error, if not worse.”

In its official response to the motion, the diocese filed a document that stated, in part: “The allegations on any paper other than one filed in a court would be libelous. … In an era when the public believes the legal profession contributes very little to society’s well-being, the … motion serves only to support that belief.”

Following the judge’s decision, the diocese expressed gratitude:

“We are grateful that Judge Goodstein dismissed this most recent effort to harass our people with time-consuming, expensive litigation,” said Jim Lewis, Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese. “Attorneys for both TEC and TECSC have tried to distract attention from the denomination’s efforts to seize our property by suing our clergy and pursuing our lay leadership. The judge’s decision ends the legal fishing expedition and forces all to focus on the only issue that matters: whether our religious freedom is protected.”

TEC’s motion alleged that the four individuals were responsible for a laundry list of offenses, including breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, conversion, trademark infringement and civil conspiracy. The four were:

Bishop Lawrence, who led the diocese out of TEC after the denomination attempted to remove him as its duly elected Bishop of the diocese.

Jim Lewis, who is Canon to the Ordinary of the diocese.

Jeffrey Miller, former president of the Standing Committee of the diocese and rector of The Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort, one of the congregations that filed suit to protect parish and diocesan property from TEC’s efforts to seize them.

Paul Fuener, former president of the Standing Committee and rector of Prince George-Winyah in Georgetown, another plaintiff in the suit against TEC.

TEC has historically used the courts to punish parishes and dioceses who disagree with the denomination’s shifting theology. The group has already spent more than $22 million on legal efforts to seize individual church property and evict parishioners. At times when judges have ruled against TEC, the denomination has filed time-consuming appeals that have tied up resources of churches and Dioceses which separated from TEC and, occasionally, worn down the resolve of individuals seeking religious freedom.

Meanwhile, Judge Goodstein said the case will go to trial in July.

The Diocese of South Carolina disassociated from the Episcopal Church in October 2012 after TEC tried to defrock Bishop Lawrence. Following the Diocese’s decision, 49 churches representing 80 percent of the Diocese’s 30,000 members voted to remain in union with the Diocese and not with TEC.

The Diocese has consistently disagreed with TEC’s embrace of what most members of the global Anglican Communion believe to be a radical fringe scriptural interpretation that makes following Christ’s teachings optional for salvation.

In his own words: ++Akinola recounts ordeal in gunmen's hands

Reported in Nigeria's Osun Defeder via The Nation:

Former Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Dr Peter Jasper Akinola relived yesterday his abduction and rescue, saying “it was like a drama”.

Rev. Akinola, his daughter and driver were rescued by the police after their abduction in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Tuesday.

He said while his ordeal lasted, he was in fear, imagining how he could die in the hands of his abductors.

He was at the Saviour’s Anglican Church, Abeokuta.

Ministers of God and members of the church, who converged for the Christmas service, were grateful to God for the safe return of Rev. Akinola.

The retired Primate and former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) said Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Commissioner of Police, Mr Ikemefuna Okoye and Secretary to State Government(SSG) Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, led the rescue operation, adding that his abductors were demanding “dollars” from him.

His words: “I want to thank all of you for your outpouring of love and prayers. What happened yesterday was what I used to think is drama thing that we used to see on the television, until much more later that I realised it was real.

“I left the house about 11am to go to our site where we are building structure to train young people in Nigeria that are unemployed. The irony of it is that as I was coming out of the place where I had gone to give food to our workers for Christmas.

“As I was stepping out, these two young men came out of their car from nowhere. They asked me to open the door and were knocking the glass with their guns. I instructed my driver, Jonah, to open the door for them. They sand-witched us at the back of the car and they drove off.

“They told us to put our head down and that they will blow off our head if we look up. They drove for about an hour, where we don’t know, until we discover that we are in the midst of a thick forest. Then I requested to talk and informed them that there was no enough fuel in the car.

“They queried us for not having enough fuel in the car and my driver responded that we just returned from a journey. In the bush there, I was surprised at how they were able to locate a filling station, bought N3,000 fuel and continued with the journey that was about three(3pm) in the afternoon.

“They started asking questiond about dollars, which I said there was none. I told them I was a village pastor that has just retired and that the car was given to me by the church, they asked about the security of the car and I told them there was none. They searched for it for almost two hours but couldn’t find anything.

“I was just praying that God of mercy should come to our rescue. I was just remembering how God saved some believers in the bible and I concluded that if I must die, how can it be in the hands of these people? Unknown to us, the news had started circulating around and people started praying.

“Meanwhile, they had taken everything from us; they have taken my shirt, my shoe. I was left with my singlet and trouser, but my driver was not so lucky; his cloth, trouser and shoe were taken; he was left with boxer.

“They said I should walk on. When we moved about 100 meters from the car, I was asked to take the left while my driver was asked to take the right inside the bush, I was hearing how they were threatening my driver.

“After a while, we started hearing gun shot. Apparently, the police were around. Later, we learnt that the Governor himself with the Commissioner of Police, the Secretary to the State Government led the rescue team. When we couldn’t hear any gunshot, I trekked back to the footpath, shouting for my driver.

“Not quite long I saw a vehicle coming. They approached me. I raised up my hands and told them it was my car they took and that I’m looking for my driver. They said they were police and they said I should come into the car.

“The leader of the police team, the state anti-robbery squad; they called him TJ, was a wonderful man. For the first time in my life I doffed my hat for the police for their performance.

“This same man, a Muslim, approached me and said they had heard about what I was doing, that I should not stop. He said God had preserved my life for this purpose. He charged me to do more, right from Imasayi to Ayetoro and right to Randa.

“It was just beyond my imagination that I come back in peace but was worried about my driver whom I later found out was at the hospital.”

Christmas Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence

Dear Friends in Christ,

My mother died last year shortly before Christmas. It was a gentle death and so for her perhaps the best of Christmases. I recall, however, that during my childhood and early adult years, she was always hoping for the perfect Christmas Eve. It was a misplaced hope from the beginning. Sometimes the failure exceeded human control—the lemon pies didn’t set up, the meat was tough, the turkey dry. On one occasion the culprit was my father having stayed too long at a local watering hole. Sometimes it was my brother Porter who was the spoiler—high on drugs one Christmas, in prison for two, and dead on a third. One year it was her son, Mark, who played the troubler of Israel—declaring himself an agnostic and having no interest in attending the midnight service. So far as I know my mother’s perfect Christmas Eve never came in this mortal life.

Perfection in this world is hard to come by. And when it does occasionally show up—such as when a major league pitcher throws a no hitter retiring 27 batters in a row—it is only in one small compartment of life. That same man who delivered perfection on the mound may go home and end the evening in a conflict with his wife. The actor who delivers a perfect performance on film may not keep her marriage together or her children happy. We humans are a troubled and troubling lot. Nature’s riddle, wrote a sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, God’s problem children. As the Bible tellingly puts it: What we don’t want to do we do, and what we want to do we don’t do.

If our holiday observance is only about dinners and presents, eggnog and rum, nostalgia and home, than like my mother’s hope for a perfect Christmas Eve it is a futile effort. But, No! That is not the case: there are three ways we can make Christmas Eve if not perfect then at least good. These come down to us from the pages of the Bible.

First, a good Christmas Eve is when God’s Savior is received. Hear the words of the Angelic messenger: “Do not be afraid.” Though sin, guilt and shame lurk in the closets and storage rooms of our lives, though insecurities and imperfections are at every turn, and debts and failures abound—“…unto you is born a Savior….” The One born in Bethlehem, who lived a perfect life in obedience to his Father dying a shameful death bearing the sins of the world, and rose from the tomb in the power of the Spirit, is alive today. He speaks a word to each of us: “Behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice I will come into him and sup with him and he with me.” When we open to him, accepting his forgiveness, his perfection is draped over us and our true dignity is restored. In the words of a famous carol, “When charity stands watching/and faith holds wide the door/the dark night wakes, the glory breaks/and Christmas comes once more.”

Secondly, Christmas Eve is made good when God’s Truth is pondered and treasured. “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” What a gracious gift of God—to treasure and ponder the work and ways of God. Consider this, that when you were conceived in your mother’s womb someone who had never existed before came into being. Yet, when Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary no new person came into being. Rather the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God entered into a world that was created through him, and by him, and for him. He was united to manhood forever. “God from all eternity willed to become man in Jesus Christ for our good; did become man in time for our good, and he will remain man in eternity for our good.” (Karl Barth)

Thirdly, Christmas is rightly observed when God is praised and his feast re-membered. “The Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.” The carols, choir anthems and liturgy are our offerings of praise and thanksgiving to the glory of God. Whether we sing on pitch or off-key, say the responses by memory or barely mumble the words, it is what we were created to do as our participation in the Christ Mass, the Holy Communion, which is his wonderful gift of himself to us.

All this is summed up well in the John Betjeman’s poetic lines:

“No love that in a family dwells,

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells

Can with this single Truth compare—

That God was Man in Palestine

And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.”

Merry Christmas,

Mark Joseph Lawrence
Bishop of South Carolina

Bishop Venables says all that needs to be said about the Pilling Report

Bishop Venables

New Anglican Ink has wall to wall coverage of the already infamous Pilling Report, the Church of England's new working document on human sexuality. Suffice it to say, the report recommends near total surrender to the spirit of the age, with the dissenting Bishop of Birkenhead being the lone voice in the wilderness crying out for sanity.

Of all the responses which have been issued, however, Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina has issued a brief statement, in English and Spanish, which says all that needs to be said.

Regarding the Pilling Report:

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:12-13

On the wearisome theme of "justice"

In addition to his royal obligations back home, the other reason Archbishop Justin Welby was unable to stick around for last week's GAFCON gathering in Nairobi was a previous commitment to attend the Porvoo Primates' Meeting in Iceland. The sermon he delivered at that gathering has now been posted, along with a press release, at the Archbishop's official website.

Predictably, Welby's address, based on Luke 18:1-8, is typical of the innocuous little homiletical doilies spun by church leaders in such settings. There is nothing particularly objectionable, but nothing particularly remarkable. In the grand tradition of Harry Emerson Fosdick, however, he resorts to the tried and true hermeneutical trick of reading his predetermined point back into the biblical text. That predetermined point is also typical and unremarkable.

The widow is caught up in her desire for justice. For her the cause is clear and she will not give in.

Justice is something we seek when it is not against us. The heritage of church abuse and patriarchy reminds us that the church follows the world in its injustice and too often combines its misuse of power with the blasphemy of theological justification. But the widow cries out, and in one of the very rare occasions where Luke explains the parable, we are told that it is to stop people giving up in prayer.

That is the first lesson. As Pope Francis said, the church is not called to be a Christian NGO. One of my churchwardens said something similar many years ago when I was leading a parish: 'We are not the Rotary with a pointy roof.' When we lose sight of prayer and the reading of the scriptures, both as individuals and Christian communities, we lose the road we are to travel. Prayer for justice seems vain when compared to action. But Jesus is speaking out of the tradition of the psalms, where the psalmist calls to God to wake up. Prayer for justice, and a church that prays for justice, should be blunt and clear.

We need to find together in the Porvoo churches a regular renewal of our prayer and the forms with which to celebrate, to protest and and to lament. The widow is caught up with the judge. Are we truly caught up with God? Is his life what calls us together, or merely agreement, habit and obligation? In each other do we see the face of Christ and hear the call to follow together the Lord of justice, to encourage each other so that when the Lord comes he finds faith on the earth? Being caught up with God means that faith is found, not organisation, and faith is the assurance of things unseen.

We are all living in societies that change radically amongst Christian communities that are divided in their response, a reality studied amongst us. We will only find renewal and common purpose in the service of proclaiming the news of the Kingdom, and in making new Disciples, when we are together caught up in the prayer and worship of God.

But there is more. God is a God of justice, and the widow finds her answer. Any serious view of the nature of human beings, any proper theological anthropology, tells us that without the action of God the can be no true justice, and that the church is there to be the widow, to cry out and claim and struggle. That must involve action, which may be slight or grand.

The emphasis on this rather vapid concept called justice has become more wearisome to the beleaguered faithful longing for pure spiritual food than even the widow to the unjust judge.

One wonders if Welby and others who emphasize this theme have seriously thought out the implications of the God of justice motif. As the Archbishop's predecessor at Durham, N.T. Wright, points out in his commentary on Luke, the parable of the persistent widow should not be read in isolation from the immediately following parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Both parables pretty much tell the same story from different perspectives. There is nothing to suggest that the widow was any more deserving of a hearing before the judge than the tax collector was worthy to enter the Temple to pray. Nevertheless, as the tax collector "went down to his house justified" for no other reason than the mercy of God upon a penitent sinner, the widow receives a judgment in her favor simply because the judge is worn down by her persistence. In other words, the focus of both parables is not justice in the vague social liberal sense, but justification as the gift of God's grace and mercy. Ironically, the very people who most often scream about justice are the very ones who would benefit least if justice, apart from mercy, was the sum of God's purposes. A God of justice does not hesitate to cast all sinners (that means all of us) into the lake of fire. A God of mercy saves sinners from such a fate through the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, whose death satisfies the justice required under the law.