Draft Rule of Life Covenant Proposed

From The Living Church:

Posted on: August 1, 2008


Bishops would stay in conversation with partners and seek each other’s counsel, especially of those who could be expected to disagree with them, when making decisions that may strain the bonds that hold the Anglican Communion together under “A Draft Rule of Life Covenant.” The document was submitted to the Windsor Continuation Group by two bishops from The Episcopal Church on July 31, according to an archbishop.

Under the plan bishops would partner with diocese from other provinces from at least two continents. The secretariat for the Anglican Consultative Council would maintain a list of existing partnerships and assist bishops in making new partnerships under the proposal.

A summary at the end of the document notes that it is “offered in the context of our common life together at the Lambeth Conference by bishops from several provinces of the Communion, out of concern that the current Covenant to which many people seem reactive, does not lead us into deeper communion but rather keeps us from it. We believe that we will find our salvation as a communion from drinking the Living Water from the same well.”

Steve Waring