From The Nigerian Tribune:
by Tope Olukole
5/24/08
ANGLICAN Communion worldwide has been on this journey for ten long years. It has been costly and debilitating for all concerned as most recently demonstrated by the tepid response to the invitations to the proposed Lambeth Conference 2008.
At a time when the church should be able to gather together and celebrate remarkable stories of growth there is little enthusiasm towards the meeting.
There are continual cries for patience and understanding; and yet the record shows that those who hold to the “faith once and for all delivered to the saints” have shown remarkable forebearance while their pleas have been ignored, leaders have been demonised, and advocates marginalised.
In 1998, the Anglican Communion made a deliberate decision with regard to matters of human sexuality; it was supported by an overwhelming majority of the Bishops of the Communion. It reflected traditional teaching interpreted with pastoral sensitivity.
And yet it has been ignored and those who uphold it were derided for their stubbornness. However, the church continued to meet and pray and struggle to find ways to maintain the spirit of unity.
The journey started in February 1997 in Kuala Lumpur. It was there, during the 2nd Encounter of the Global South Anglican Communion, that a statement was issued in which concern was expressed about the apparent setting aside of the Biblical teaching by some Provinces and Dioceses. The statement pleaded for dialogue in a spirit of true unity before any part of the communion embarks on radical changes to church discipline and moral teachings.
Sadly, this plea and several similar warnings have been ignored and ten years later, in February, 2007, the Primates of the Anglican Communion met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and experienced an agonising time trying to repair the communion that has been so badly broken. Their earlier prediction at the Primates’ Meeting at Lambeth palace in 2003, that rejection of the faith committed to the church would tear “the fabric of our communion at its deepest level,” has proven to be accurate.
In Dar es Salaam, the Primates proposed, as one last attempt to restore unity, a period of seven months for those who have brought the communion to the brink of destruction to reconsider their actions and put a stop to the harmful actions that have so polarised the church.
With about seven weeks to go, hope for a unified Communion is not any brighter than it was seven months or ten years ago. Rather, the intransigence of those who reject the Biblical authority continues to obstruct the mission and it now seems that the Communion is being forced to choose between following their innovations or continuing on the path that the church has followed since the time of the Apostles.
The communion made enormous efforts since 1997 to avoid this crisis, but without success. Now, it confronts a moment of decision, which if they fail to act, they risk leading millions of people away from the church.
In what appeared to be a deliberate defiance, the Diocese of New West Minster in Canada voted in June 2002 to approve the blessings of same sex union(s) with the enthusiastic support of their Bishop, Michael Ingham. Later that year, ACC-12 meeting in Hong Kong in October, 2002 approved a resolution (34) urging dioceses and bishops to refrain from unilateral actions and policies that would strain the communion.
The following year, ECUSA met in a General Convention in Minneapolis in July/August 2003. Among many actions, they chose to reject a Resolution [B001] affirming the authority of the Scriptures and other basic elements of the Christian faith while approving the election as bishop [C045], someone living in a sexual relationship outside marriage.
The primates’ meeting specially convened at Lambeth palace in October 2003 issued a pastoral statement condemning ECUSA’s decisions at General convention describing them as actions that “threaten the unity of our own communion as well as the relationships with other parts of the Christ Church, the mission and witness, and the relations with other faiths, in a world already confused in areas of sexuality, morality and theology and the polarised Christian opinion. They also declared that if the consecration proceeds, “the future of the Communion itself will be out in jeopardy” and that the action will “tear the fabric of the communion at its deepest level, and may lead to further division on this and other issues as provinces have to decide in consequence whether they can remain in communion with provinces that choose not to break communion with the Episcopal Church (USA).
ECUSA responded the following month by proceeding with the consecration of Gene Robinson, thereby tearing the fabric of the Anglican church and forcing Nigeria along with many other provinces to sever communion with ECUSA.
Earlier, in June 2003, those in the Church of Nigeria had cut links with the diocese of New West Minster and sent a clear warning of reconsidering the relationship with ECUSA should Gene Robinson be consecrated. As always, the communion was ignored.
In 2004, there was a growing number of so-called ‘blessings’ of same sex unions by American and Canadian priests even though the Windsor Report released in September 2004 reaffirmed Lambeth 1.10 and the authority of the Scriptures as central to the Anglican Common Life. The Windsor Report also called for moratoria on public rites of same-sex blessings and on the election and consent of any candidate to the episcopate living in a same-sex union.
The Province of Nigeria made the conscious decision to initiate CANA in the light of the leadership of the Episcopal Church, USA (TECUSA) and the Anglican Church of Canada (AC of C) seems to have concluded that the Bible is no longer authoritative in many areas of human experiences, especially sexuality. They claim to have ‘progressed’ beyond the clear teaching of the Scriptures and they have not hidden their intention to lead others to these same conclusions. They have even boasted that they are years ahead of others in fully understanding the truth of the Holy Scriptures and the nature of God’s love.
For both TECUSA and AC of C, their actions have betrayed them. Their intention is clear: they have chosen to walk away from the Biblically based path, once all walked together.
The unrelenting persecution of the remaining faithfuls among them shows how they have used the past few years to isolate and destroy any and all oppositions.
The Communion now confronts the seriousness of their actions as the Lambeth Conference draws near. The consequence is most serious because even if only one province chooses not to attend, the Lambeth Conference effectively ceases to be an Instrument of Unity. Failure to recognise the gravity of this moment will have a devastating impact.
Following the 1997 warning, the 1998 Lambeth Conference issued Resolution 1:10 that affirmed the teaching of the Holy Scriptures with regard to faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in a lifelong union and declared that homosexual practice was incompatible with the Biblical teachings. At their meeting in Porto, Portugal, in March 2000, the Primates reaffirmed the supremacy of the Scriptures as the “decisive authority in the life of our communion.”
The general convention of the Episcopal Church, USA responded in July 2000 by approving resolution DO39 acknowledging relationship other than marriage “in the Body of Christ and in this Church” and that those who disagree with the traditional teachings of the church on human sexuality will act in contradiction to that position!
In 2001, the Primates’ meeting in Kanuga, North Carolina, issued a pastoral letter acknowledging estrangement in the Church due to change in theology and practices regarding human sexuality, and calling on all provinces of the communion to avoid actions that might damage the “credibility of the mission in the world.”
Approved were resolutions promoting homosexual relationships as well as one apologising to homosexuals in the Anglican Communion following the Biblical principles. A pledge to include openly homosexual persons was requested “of our sister churches in the Anglican Communion and Anglican Communion bodies as evidence of the apology”.
Finally, someone who does not regard homosexual behaviour as a sin, and does not consider Jesus the one way to the Father, was elected as the presiding Bishop. The agony of a frustrated communion was visible worldwide except among those already prepared to embrace this dangerous path departing from the faith.
The Anglican Communion Primates’ meetings in Dar es Salaam in February 2007 reaffirmed the 1998 Lambeth resolution and called on ECUSA (now TEC) to consider definite actions which could heal the communion as well as reassure those who have been alienated of adequate pastoral care.
By June 2007, both the AC of C and TEC indicated unwillingness to comply but a desire to remain part of the Communion they have hurt so much. The situation has been made even more incoherent by the decision, made earlier this year, to extend an invitation to the Lambeth conference of those responsible for this crisis with no call of repentance, whilst rejecting bishops who have stood firm for the faith.
Although the Primates in February 2005 at their meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, advised the withdrawal of both ECUSA and the AC of C from the ACC on the continued influence of these churches on the communion and their renewed efforts to make others adopt their intransigent line frustrating any genuine reconciliation attempts. The agonising journey towards unity and faith seemed unending.
The obvious reluctance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the unwillingness of the other Instruments of Unity to effect discipline on those who had rejected the mind of the communion prompted the Church of Nigeria to effect a change in her constitution during a General Synod held in Onitsha in September 2005. This constitutional change not only protects the Church of Nigeria from being led into error by any Church in the Communion but also makes a full constitutional provision for the convocation of the Anglican in North America (CANA).
Ignoring all the calls for repentance, homosexual unions and nominations for episcopacy continued in the USA with the Archbishop of Canterbury expressing “deep unease” with such nominations in California in February 2006.
Therefore, if absolute obedience to the Scriptures is the basis of being in communion together as supported by the Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888, and article vi of the thirty-ninth of faith, then those who have resolved to obey the Scriptures unequivocally have opted for a separate meeting to think about the future of Anglicanism. This is what has led to GAFCON, which simply means, Global Anglican Future Conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment