Global South Anglican

The Rt. Rev. Valentino L. Mokiwa, Bishop of Dar es Salaam in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, was elected archbishop of the province Feb. 28 during a special session of the General Synod in Dodoma.

A meeting of friends. 

“For the brief time from September to December 2007, Professor Wright expended himself to help in the drafting of the catechetical outline. I remember him as a humble, meticulous, and wise mentor… “

The Rt. Rev. Stephen Myint Oo Than, Bishop of Hpa’an, was enthroned on Febuary 17, 2008 to be the 6th Primate and Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Myanmar and the 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Yangon.

The Gafcon organizing committee, which is arranging an alternative to the Anglican Lambeth Conference, has announced that the dates and venue of the Jerusalem conference have been changed. Following consultations with the Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Rev Suheil Dawani, the conference will now be broken into two parts: a consultation for church leaders in Jordan from June 18-22 and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from June 22-29.

Read the rest here

The Standing Committee of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney has given its full support to Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen’s decision not to attend the Lambeth Conference. The decision was announced earlier this month and this was Standing Committee’s first meeting since then. Read full report

“The decision of our Bishops not to attend the Lambeth Conference in 2008 is the culmination of ten years of thought, prayer and action. We have played our part in challenging false teaching and practice, always hoping that those who have flouted the strong position taken by the last Lambeth Conference would turn back in repentance...” Archbishop Peter Jensen, in his address at the Synod (18th Feb 2008). Read it all here

A CORRECTION on the Church of Uganda position regarding the Anglican Communion and the Lambeth Conference…

Seven Anglican congregations voted this weekend to accept the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Most churches accepted this option with decisive majorities.

Read more here

Eighty-six per cent of participating parishioners at Metchosin’s St. Mary the Incarnation Anglican Church voted yesterday to separate from their national body over the issue of same-sex marriage, part of a pattern that has developed across the country.

Meanwhile, St. Matthew’s Anglican parish in Abbotsford became the second Lower Mainland congregation in a week to split from the Vancouver-area diocese overseen by Bishop Michael Ingham.

We have received your letter encouraging us to attend the Lambeth Conference with you. We trust that we are united in faithful obedience to the Scriptures and also to the Anglican Formularies.  We understand your desire to continue to support the efforts of the Archbishop of Canterbury. As GAFCON Bishops and primates, we share with you a commitment to the communion and its future. We ask you to understand that we have reached a different conclusion and request you to understand our decision…

More here

Vancouver Sun: Members of what is described as the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada voted strongly Wednesday to split with Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over his support for same-sex blessings. “It means that the community speaks with one mind,” said St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church spokeswoman Lesley Bentley, after a preliminary count showed that out of 495 ballots cast, only 11 opposed the split and nine abstained.

Read more here

Anglican Network of Canada (ACN) - Bishop Harvey welcomes St John’s (Shaughnessy). Read more here

St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church to vote on breaking with church - Read here

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada urges parishes to remain within the Anglican Church in Canada - Read here

...Since this crisis has not yet been resolved, the Bishops of the Church of Uganda have resolved that they will not be participating in the Lambeth Conference to be held in July 2008 in Canterbury, England, a position that the Provincial Assembly Standing Committee strongly endorses.  This decision has been made to protest the invitations extended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams, to TEC Bishops whose stand and unrepentant actions created the current crisis of identity and authority in the Anglican Communion. 

Theological convictions, not bruised feelings, will prevent at least three provinces from attending the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Primate of the West Indies has said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury announced the formation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG), as proposed in his Advent Letter.

The book, edited by Dr Lisa Nolland, Sarah Finch and Dr Chris Sugden, seeks to correct the imbalance in the ‘Listening Process’ called for by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The editors argue that, so far, the whole listening process has been in “one direction and with one ultimate end” - the full inclusion of practising gay Anglicans at the very heart of the church’s establishment. The editors seek to put into the public domain not only the views of Christians who first thought themselves homosexual, and then chose to follow Biblical teaching, but also the expert evidence and research of psychologists, counsellors and theologians in the field. Further sections analyse the impact of the gay agenda on our culture.

Expert contributions include chapters by Professor Joseph Nicolosi, former President of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, and Professor Robert A. J. Gagnon, author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice (2001). For more background to this book, see Anglican Mainstream’s post and also The Latimer Trust. The book can also be ordered on-line from these links.

I respect the consciences of those who have said they do not feel able to attend because there will be those present who have in their view acted against the disciplinary and doctrinal consensus of the communion.  Needless to say, I regret such a decision, since I believe we should be seeking God’s mind for the Communion in prayer and study together; but it simply reminds us that even the most ‘successful’ Lambeth Conference leaves us with work still to be done in rebuilding relationships.  The decision of some to be absent not only shows the deep differences over theology and ethics that have so strained our connections; it also reflects, uncomfortably for us, some of the legacy of hurt that is felt by some of our provinces at what is experienced as patronising or manipulative or insensitive actions and attitudes on the part of many of the churches of the ‘West’ or ‘North’ – not only the Episcopal Church in the USA, but us as well.  That’s hard to hear, but we have to hear it and to offer apologies and seek for better understanding.  Lambeth can’t be the end of the story; and if at Lambeth we try to do proper justice to the idea of a Covenant, it must be in the light of that need for a more serious and profound mutuality between us all.

Read the rest here

The draft is “tentative” – the Covenant Design Group underlines – in particular with regard to the “procedural appendix” that has (rightly) been the centre of animated discussion.  The draft is meant “for discussion”, “offered for reflection in the Communion at large, and in particular by the Lambeth Conference” to be convened this summer.

In this spirit I offer the following observations to further the discussion. 

Today, ‘Generous Love: the truth of the Gospel and the call to dialogue‘ - an Anglican theology of inter faith relations - was launched at the Anglican Communion Office in London. It is a report from the Anglican Communion Network for Inter Faith Concerns.

The Covenant Design Group (CDG) held its second meeting at the Anglican Communion Offices, St. Andrew’s House, London, UK, between Monday, 28th January, and Saturday, 2nd February, 2008, under the chairmanship of the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies.

The St. Andrew’s Draft of the Covenant: Full text , PDF Copy

The Global South Anglican (GSA) Theological Formation and Education Task Force* is grateful to the GSA Primates Steering Committee for commending our unanimous report Anglican Catechism in Outline (ACIO) to the Communion for study and feedback. A copy of the Interim Report has been sent to churches represented at the Global South Primates Meeting (Kigali, September 2006) for feedback by 30 April 2008. The Task Force also welcomes comments from individuals and institutions…

The Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev Drexel Gomez, said that a new formula had been found that would allow the disciplining of errant churches while respecting the traditional autonomy of the 38 worldwide Anglican provinces. Urging all Anglican bishops to attend the Lambeth Conference this year, he said that it would be a “tremendous tragedy” if the Church fell apart.

The Anglican Future Conference is not designed to take the place of Lambeth. Some people may well choose to go to both. Its aim is to draw Biblical Anglican Christians together for urgent consultation. It is not a consultation which can take place at Lambeth, because Lambeth has a different agenda and far wider guest list.  Unlike Lambeth, the Future Conference is not for Bishops alone - the invitations will go to clergy and lay people also.  It seeks to plan for a future in which Anglican Christians world-wide will increasingly be pressured to depart from the biblical norms of behaviour and belief. It gives an opportunity for many to draw together to strengthen each other over the issue of biblical authority and interpretation and gospel mission.

- Another article by Peter Jensen, “Lambeth boycott needed to stand by biblical view” can be read here

- The Anglican Primate of Australia, Phillip Aspinall, has commented on Sydney’s decision. Read here

American priests Terrel Glynn, John Miller and Philip Jones were consecrated bishops into the Church of Rwanda in a ceremony at AMiA’s winter conference in Dallas, Texas, which was attended by Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and Justice Akrofi, the Archbishop of West Africa.

Saturday 2nd February 2008

Statement from Archbishop Peter Jensen - speaking after the service of ordination of 48 deacons at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney -

‘With regret, the Archbishop and Bishops of the Diocese of Sydney have decided not to attend the Lambeth Conference in July. They remain fully committed to the Anglican Communion, to which they continue to belong, but sense that attending the Conference at this time will not help heal its divisions. They continue to pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lambeth Conference.’

The Elizabethan settlement has served us well but no longer are we white western or British, a new settlement must emerge with systems and structures that will sustain and protect Anglicanism.

The GAFCON Theology Resource Team Conference gathered in late January and focused on Authentic Global Anglicanism. Among the papers presented was one by Rev Professor Stephen Noll, vice-chancellor of Uganda Christian University on The Global Anglican Communion and Anglican Orthodoxy. It can be read here.

Twenty one English Bishops have written to Primates urging them to attend the Lambeth Conference. Read here

The Primate of Nigeria, the Most Reverend Peter Akinola, gave a press conference in Lagos, Nigeria on January 30.

Tom Wright, ‘Evangelicals are not about to jump ship’ now online at Fulcrum, co-published with The Church Times, 25 Jan 2008

Graham Kings, ‘Substance and Shadow: Lambeth Conference and GAFCON’ online at Fulcrum, co-published with the CEN 31 Jan.

Vinay Samuel responds to Tom Wright in CEN