Global South Anglican

The first meeting of the GAFCON Primates’ Council has taken place in London on Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd August. The twofold task of the Council is ‘to authenticate and recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith.’ The Primates have therefore laid the basis for the future work of both the Council and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA). The GAFCON movement continues its advance…

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Recently, a pastoral response was released from the Diocese of Singapore in the light of an article in the Strait Times (Singapore) on the past and expressed views of the Archbishop of Canterbury on the issue of homosexuality as reported in UK Times on 7th August 2008.

Their depressing and urgent situation in The Episcopal Church becomes ever clearer over time, despite all of the efforts of their liberal church leaders to try and persuade the rest of the Anglican Communion that really we’re just like you. Close watchers of the US, and readers of this newspaper, will be more aware than most of the state of that Church. Heterodoxy is never punished, whereas orthodox impatience is the subject of lawsuits all over the country. And the amount of heterodoxy uttered in The Episcopal Church is truly astonishing…

This open letter, a response to Bishop’s Duncan ‘leaked letter’ is worth reading, including the discussions by commenters over at the Covenant site.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today sent a letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion, setting out his personal reflections on the Lambeth Conference.

Graham Kings, Fulcrum: Patience and urgency came together in the substance and context of the Lambeth Conference. The Windsor Process and the Anglican Covenant, the GAFCON shadow conference in Jerusalem, and the three Presidential Addresses by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the announcement of the Pastoral Forum, were all closely related. Read the rest here

David Anderson, American Anglican Council: May I submit, from my own position far down the ecclesial food chain, that there is no longer theological space to be an orthodox bishop of the church and privately believe that which is contrary to what the Church teaches on core doctrine and moral discipline. To do so becomes, in the most benign situation, a form of mental illness where the individual experiences a bifurcation of mind, and in more extreme form, a spiritual illness representing a foot in each Kingdom. This time in the life of the Christian and Anglican Church calls for a clear mind aligned with and fully embracing the core teachings of the Christian faith, reformed and catholic. Full Stop. Read the rest here

Paul Richardson, Religious Intelligence: Even if the Communion overcomes the immediate causes of division it will be important to address the underlying factors. Part of the problem is that, while bright young Catholic students, whether they be Thomists, liberation theologians, or Augustinians, all flock to Rome to study, Anglicans study in different parts of the Communion and, for the most part, read different texts. Read the rest here.

THE ANGLICAN Communion must prepare for “an orderly” separation if differences cannot be healed, claims the Bishop of Winchester. In a report addressed to his diocese relaying his reflections on the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt said that the Archbishop of Canterbury had three realistic options ahead of him after the next Primates meeting in 2009.

In view of today’s letter from Deborah Pitt in the Times,  we unreservedly apologise for the remarks we made in our last issue of Editorial Comments that might be considered unfair or inaccurate. 

We have also made some necessary changes to the article in question.

No matter how profound the documents and formularies produced by these Provinces may become, the real test for the strength of this “Communion” is the indwelling Spirit of God. It is only when that Spirit of the Living God is dwelling in us collectively as well as individually, that we can fully share this Communion with one another. Then other aspects such as our institutional loyalty, our nationality, our culture or even our cherished church traditions, become secondary as we experience “O Blest Communion, Fellowship Divine” as the hymn writer expressed it in a somewhat different context.

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One of those who have been touched by the Word of God is Ms Liu Yali, a member of the China national women’s soccer team. Yali came to faith after experiencing peace through prayer and the reading of the Bible.  She found that every word in the Bible was speaking to her personally.  She said, “God’s Word gives me strength to live.”