From Christian Post via TitusOneNine:
Thursday, Apr. 22, 2010 Posted: 8:03:49PM HKT
Anglican archbishops and representatives of the registered Chinese Protestant Church and a Coptic Orthodox bishop posing for a photo with the President of the Republic of Singapore S R Nathan at the Istana. (Photo: Global South of the Anglican Communion)
Though it has been struggling with an internal crisis, the worldwide Anglican Communion is still attracting positive attention.
Casting sights on possible ecumenical partnerships with the Communion are the registered Protestant Church in China and Coptic Orthodox Church.
This is mainly due to the rise of the Anglican Global South.
Representatives of both church bodies were invited to the fourth Anglican Global South summit held this week in Singapore.
The church leaders have expressed an interest in deepening their relationship with the Anglican Communion.
“I hope that the Chinese Church and the Anglican Global South can expand their cooperation,” said Elder Fu Xianwei.
The Chairman of the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) was making his parting speech before leaving earlier today.
Opportunities for dialogue at the summit have benefited him, Elder Fu expressed.
“The Bible studies, talks and discussions have been helpful for my spiritual growth and for church management,” he said.
Elder Fu told Anglican leaders that he had increased confidence in building his Church. He had attended all the public talks and most of the discussion groups.
Both the Anglican Communion and the Chinese Church face similar challenges of serving God in a multi-religious, globalised and secularised context.
Because of this, dialogue has increased understanding and counsel between the two church bodies.
A key way in which Christians could serve God in such a context is by serving others, he remarked.
The TSPM, together with the China Christian Council, gathers over 20 million Christians in 55,000 churches.
The Coptic Orthodox Church was similarly moved by the unity and purpose of the grouping of Anglican provinces in the southern hemisphere and Asia.
The Christian Post understands that the 12 million-member Oriental Orthodox denomination had been in dialogue with the Anglican Communion for many years.
Such relations were suspended, however, after the ordination by The Episcopal Church (North America) of an openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop.
His Grace Anba Suriel, a representative, said: “We stopped the dialogue because we said: ‘How can we continue a dialogue with a Church that is not abiding by the basic teachings of the Scriptures?’”
The situation has changed with the rise of the Global South, he told this paper yesterday.
“We are interested, perhaps, to begin a new dialogue with the Global South to South,” the Bishop of Melbourne said.
Bishop Suriel had encouraged Anglican leaders in a greeting on Monday to continue standing for the truth.
While the Anglican Communion has experienced increasing internal division, its Global South leadership has been holding together strongly.
Many of the heads of the 20 provinces are attending the present summit. Some are absent because of busy schedules. Many archbishops appear eager to promote unity in biblical truth.
The primates are also expected to sign on to an Anglican Communion Covenant. The covenant mainly defines faith and ecclesial relationships in Anglicanism.
Leaders are hoping it would promote commitment, the lack of which has been identified as the root of the theological-ethical crisis.
The Anglican Global South summit concludes tomorrow afternoon.
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