Isn’t time the ACNA had a real Provincial Assembly?!
By Robin G. Jordan
Farce. n. an empty or patently ridiculous act, proceeding, or situation
Members of the Anglican Church in North America might put their money to better use if they stayed away from Assembly 2012, as the first meeting of the ACNA Provincial Assembly since Bedford, Texas is being billed. This will be a carefully orchestrated event like the Bedford meeting. If any legislation is presented to the gathering, the delegates won’t be given much time to consider it. As at the Bedford meeting Archbishop Duncan can be expected to urge the delegates to finish the business before the Assembly as quickly as possible because speakers are waiting. Don’t examine it, don’t debate it, just trust your Archbishop and the other bishops and ratify it!
Look what that got the Anglican Church of Rwanda in 2007—a set of canons that made the structure and doctrine of the Church of Rwanda Roman Catholic. And who drafted that set of canons? Why the same AMiA canon who helped to draft the ACNA constitution and canons a year later, which the Bedford meeting rubberstamped in 2009.
Assembly 2012 is nothing more than a super-sized pep rally. The speakers and the workshops could be streamed over the Internet from a studio. The money spent to attend this gathering could be used to pay the rent on the building where your church meets. It could be invested in a better sound system or video projection system. It could be used to buy supplies for your church’s children’s ministry.
What you can expect to hear at Assembly 2012 are appeals for money, money to operate the ACNA's increasingly top-heavy structure. If you read The Apostle: The Anglican Church in North America's Ministry in Review Report, you experienced a foretaste of the appeals that will directed at those who attend the gathering. Don’t be surprised if you are loaded up with DVDs to taken back to your church in which Archbishop Duncan and other top ACNA leaders make pitches for donations from your church.
Do yourself and your church a favor. Instead registering for Assembly 2012, send Archbishop Duncan an email:Dear Archbishop Duncan,
We, the congregation and leaders of ......... Anglican Church have decided to put our money to better use than waste it on Assembly 2012. We are going to use it to ..........
When the Anglican Church in North America has undergone much needed reforms; responsible, synodical church government has been implemented; and the Provincial Assembly is made a real Provincial Assembly, we will send delegates to it.
Your brothers and sisters in Christ,
..........
..........
..........
If Archbishop Duncan receives an avalanche of emails like this one, it will tell him and the other top ACNA leaders that they aren’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.
1 comment:
"If any legislation is presented to the gathering, the delegates won’t be given much time to consider it. As at the Bedford meeting Archbishop Duncan can be expected to urge the delegates to finish the business before the Assembly as quickly as possible because speakers are waiting. Don’t examine it, don’t debate it, just trust your Archbishop and the other bishops and ratify it!" The sad thing is that virtually every Anglicanesque organization in North America does the same thing whenever they hold a synod or convention. The voting is simply a token rubber-stamp for what had been decided beforehand by a select few. I've been there and seen it done several times.
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