Beloved in Christ,
I am away from Atlanta this week at a Covenant Group meeting which I have attended annually for over a decade. The group is comprised of rectors from conservative evangelical congregations from around the United States. Once all were inside the Episcopal Church (TEC), but now each year brings a change of status for one or two who move to overseas Provincial affiliation. It is a healthy and challenging group where sharing is at a deep and personal level, and pastors have a chance to pastor one another.
On the international scene, we have been advised that David Peck has left his development work at Lambeth Palace to become rector of St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Andrew Norman has left his international work at Lambeth Palace to become principal at Ridley Hall. Previously Jim Rosenthal left his position at the Anglican Communion Office when funding from the United States was greatly diminished, and now we hear that Greg Cameron is leaving his Covenant work to become a bishop in Wales. Taken in the aggregate, this is a significant personnel resource withdrawal that raises some uncomfortable questions. Why the brain drain? Is there a sense that things have stagnated and there are no creative answers other than to just muddle through? How can anyone put their hope in an Anglican Covenant when there won’t be anyone to make it job #1, and TEC will purposefully avoid dealing with it at this summer’s General Convention?
Within the United States, the AAC is greatly disappointed in the ruling of the California Supreme Court. Although they rightly determined that the court must weigh the decisions based on neutral principles of law, they failed to weigh the evidence supporting the churches and gave undue weight to the so-called Dennis Canon and the fact that this has been a contested issue since its inception. We pray for the churches affected and the balance of the litigation, that fairness and justice might yet find a home in Southern California.
Recently, two TEC bishops, on losing a congregation to overseas Provincial affiliation, cried that they had not been consulted by the congregations about their concerns and the clergy hadn’t come to them to discuss the situation. Both Milwaukee and Upper South Carolina apparently expected the clergy and lay leaders to come to them and volunteer for persecution. In most settings, when clergy discuss their desire to leave, they are given a godly admonition or removed or inhibited. In Connecticut several years ago, when a congregation discussed their concerns with the bishop, the bishop sent representatives to the bank to freeze the financial resources of the parish.
The decision to stay or to leave is a momentous one and should be explored with both prayer and care. Whether a church finally decides to stay and continue to witness within TEC or to depart, there are precautions they should take to prevent sudden Pearl Harbor attacks by diocesan officials. The AAC stands ready to help congregations desiring to stay in, those who are preparing to leave, and those totally out or never in. The decision belongs to the parish, but there is much accumulated wisdom to be shared, whichever direction is taken by the congregation.
Although the Communion Partners believe there is still hope inside TEC, others are voting with their feet every week, sometimes individually, and sometimes as a congregation or portion thereof. A major challenge within TEC will be this summer’s General Convention of TEC in Anaheim where indications are that B033 (the resolution agreeing to not ordain any additional homosexual bishops) will be repealed, probably with apologies to the homosexual community. The one hope that Lambeth Palace seems to hold onto—the Communion Covenant—will be side-stepped and avoided at TEC's convention. Diplomatically, TEC will not have technically rejected the Covenant; they will have failed to consider it. Although TEC has repeatedly asserted that heresy and schism are both terrible, and some TEC bishops have averred that schism is worse than heresy, the truth is that TEC is the schismatic body. TEC has been the schismatic partner in the Anglican Communion, and those leaving TEC are leaving the schismatic body (TEC) to align with the non-schismatic larger Anglican Communion. The Communion Partners staying in TEC are by strategy and intent staying within a schismatic body, praying and hoping to bring TEC back from error into truth. The AAC wishes the Communion Partners success in this ministry, and hopes that they do not feel that they need to question the efforts of the Anglican Church in North America/Common Cause Partners in their work. There is enough to be done for both groups to work at what they do best, and perhaps between inside and outside tactical work a strategy for orthodoxy will be achieved.
Blessings and peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
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