How the Anglican Church in North America Is Creating Obstacles to Its Own Growth - Part 2
By Robin G. Jordan
By Robin G. Jordan
Millenials are more likely than any other generation use
their smart phones during church services to check the factual assertions that
pastors make in their sermons. The pastor who makes frequent factual mistakes
in his sermons quickly loses his credibility with this particular audience.
Millenial fact checking is not limited to sermons. Millenials are
also more likely to research the assertions that denominations and their
judicatories and congregations make on their websites as well as those that writers who represent a particular school of thought or special interest group in the
denomination make in articles and other documents on the Internet.
Those who takes the time to research what a proponent of a
particular view is claiming to be Anglican has a good chance of discovering
that the claim is only one of a number of views held by Anglicans. It may be a
view over which Anglicans themselves have been strongly divided. They are also
likely to discover that Anglicans do not agree on the “orthodoxy” of the
particular view.
Where the classic Anglican formularies are understood in their
received sense, in the way that the Anglican Church understood them before the
nineteenth century Tractarian movement and the Tractarians’ reinterpretation of
the formularies in a “Catholic sense,” a particular view may be regarded as an
innovation or corruption that is inconsistent with the Bible. Where weight is
given to what the pre-Reformation Medieval Catholic Church believed, the same
views may be regarded as thoroughly “orthodox.” Tractarian-turned-Roman
Catholic John Henry Newman’s theory of doctrinal development may be used to
explain away or rationalize any inconsistency with the Bible.
A province-in-formation like the Anglican Church in North
America that is not open and truthful about the doctrinal differences that
divide Anglicans on key issues runs the same risk as the pastor does not check
his facts in preparing his sermon. The pastor is likely to raise a credibility
barrier that will discourage people who visit his church from returning. The
church may over time gain a reputation as a church that does not value the
truth. The church’s public image will suffer and keep people away.
The doctrinal divide to which I am referring is the one that
separates those who identify themselves as Anglican and who are Reformed or
otherwise Protestant in their beliefs from those who identify themselves as
Anglican and who are unreformed Catholic in their beliefs. The two groups of
self-identified Anglicans interpret the Bible differently. They have divergent
and even diametrically-opposed views on revelation, salvation, the sacraments, and
other important issues.
Beginning with the constitution and canons that were adopted
in 2009, the Anglican Church in North America has raised a number of doctrinal
barriers that effectively prevent Christians who are Reformed or otherwise
Protestant in their beliefs from becoming a part of the ACNA and maintaining
and propagating their beliefs in the ACNA. These doctrinal barriers have
another effect: they also keep such Christians who are already a part of the
ACNA from maintaining and propagating their beliefs in that body and discourage them from remaining in the ACNA.
These doctrinal barriers act like a filter: they block what is perceived as undesirable element from entering the ACNA or remaining in the ACNA. This element is Protestant beliefs. This includes the Reformed doctrinal views articulated in the classic Anglican formularies and held by Anglicans in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and elsewhere. The gifts, money, skills, and other resources of the people holding these beliefs may be welcome but not their beliefs.
These doctrinal barriers act like a filter: they block what is perceived as undesirable element from entering the ACNA or remaining in the ACNA. This element is Protestant beliefs. This includes the Reformed doctrinal views articulated in the classic Anglican formularies and held by Anglicans in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and elsewhere. The gifts, money, skills, and other resources of the people holding these beliefs may be welcome but not their beliefs.
The same barriers convey the message that the ACNA is
designed for people who are unreformed Catholic in their beliefs or open to
unreformed Catholic beliefs. The province-in-formation has no room for people
who are Protestant in their convictions. Only people who are willing to abandon
those convictions are welcome.
As recognition of the ACNA’s intolerance of Protestants,
Protestant Christianity, and evangelicalism becomes more widespread, it can be
expected to impede the growth of the ACNA’s population base. If the ACNA leaders
who adopted unreformed Catholic doctrine and practice are banking upon attracting
people to the ACNA with this doctrine and practice, they may have
miscalculated.
The Roman Catholic Church has not experienced significant
growth in the United States since the late 1950s. The Roman Catholic Church is
only growing in areas of the country where the Roman Catholic population is
growing, more specifically the part of the Roman Catholic population that has
not dropped out of that denomination over the sexual abuse scandals of the past
few years and continues to regularly attend Mass and send children to parochial
schools. In other areas of the country the Roman Catholic Church is
consolidating or closing parishes and parochial schools. For the small trickle
of high-profile evangelicals who have entered the Roman Catholic Church, a much
larger torrent of Roman Catholics are leaving that denomination for evangelical
churches.
The unreformed Catholic beliefs of the Continuing Anglican
Churches have failed to help those bodies expand their population base. Their
population bases are shrinking and they are shrinking with their population
bases.
The Pentecostal denomination that is experiencing the most
growth in the United States is basically Protestant and evangelical in its
beliefs. This denomination is attracting a large number of Millenials. As missiologist Ed
Stetzer has reported on his blog, only a tiny segment of the Millenial
population is attracted to traditional, liturgical churches. He plans to
publish his research.
I am curious whether Stetzer’s research shows what is
attracting this segment—the ambience of these churches, their doctrine, their
continuity with the past, or a combination of these factors. Its ambience has
primarily attracted people to the Episcopal Church. Its ambience enabled the
Episcopal Church to survive a major doctrinal shift that cost the denomination
members, congregations, and dioceses. However, its ambience has not helped the
denomination to recoup its losses, much less expand its population base.
The evidence suggests that ACNA leaders’ adoption of
unreformed Catholic doctrine and practice has little to do with being
outward-focused. Rather they appear to be playing favorites, indulging the
preferences of special interest groups in the ACNA when they should have
displayed non-preferential treatment. They are clearly showing favoritism toward a
particular segment of the ACNA. For example, the trial eucharistic rites and
the catechism permit the teaching of Roman Catholic doctrine. They do not
extend a similar license to the teaching of Reformed doctrine. This display of
favoritism, of partisanship, itself creates an obstacle to the ACNA’s expansion
of its population base.
At the present time the ACNA has a number of churches that
identify themselves as Protestant and evangelical on their websites. They
appear to be churches whose clergy and congregations are Reformed or otherwise
Protestant in their beliefs. They also appear to be actively working to expand
the ACNA’s population base. However, with each new doctrinal statement adopted
by denominational leaders, it must become increasingly clear to these churches
that their efforts on behalf of the denomination are not appreciated. They are
expected to abandon their convictions and embrace the denomination’s official
unreformed Catholic teaching. The new congregations they start are also
expected to accept this teaching. Their incentive to plant what they believe
are biblically orthodox, gospel-centered churches is evaporating.
The clergy of these churches have friends outside of the
Anglican Church in North America—clergy in other denominations, seminarians
training for gospel ministry in these denominations, and young men discerning a
call to gospel ministry. A number of people in this group, while they may not
be acquainted with the clergy of a particular church are acquainted with its
ministry. They are Reformed or otherwise Protestant in their beliefs. They are
also attracted to liturgical forms of service that embody their beliefs. This
group of gospel workers and future gospel workers may have gifts and skills
that the ACNA needs to expand its population base. With each new doctrinal
statement adopted by ACNA leaders, their incentive to become a part of the ACNA
is also evaporating.
In the South Protestantism and evangelicalism have shaped
popular perceptions of Roman Catholics. While the piety of individual Roman
Catholics may be admired, the Christian profession of Roman Catholics as
members of a particular denomination is viewed as flawed. Roman Catholics are
seen as not fully accepting the teaching of the Bible in matters of faith and
practice.
Episcopalians, like Roman Catholics, were not perceived as being
genuine “Bible Christians” even before the ascendency of liberalism in the
Episcopal Church. In a number of beliefs and practices the Episcopal Church too
closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church.
In parts of the South such as Kentucky the Episcopal Church
was strongly influenced by the nineteenth century Catholic Revival. Here in
western Kentucky Episcopal churches are found only in communities that have a
Roman Catholic church. The one exception has a Roman Catholic church in a
neighboring community.
Episcopalians may attend Mass at the Roman Catholic church
on occasion or have family members and relatives who regularly attend Mass at
the Roman Catholic church. Roman Catholics form roughly 2% of the population in
western Kentucky, Episcopalians less than 1%. Continuing Anglicans form an even
tinier segment of the population.
One of the reasons Continuing Anglicans in western Kentucky
have not succeeded in expanding their population base is they are also
perceived as not being genuine “Bible Christians.” A visit to the one active
Continuing Anglican church in the region supports that perception
The unreformed Catholic beliefs and practices that ACNA
leaders are mandating or permitting in the Anglican Church in North America can
be expected to foster a similar perception of Anglicans in that body not only
in the South but also in other regions of the United States. They will not be
looked on as being genuine “Bible Christians,” even those who are. While the
unreformed Catholic beliefs and practices may attract a small number of people,
they can be expected to keep a much larger group of people away.
The public image of the Anglican Church in North America as
a denomination that is unreformed Catholic in doctrine and practice is going to
hamper the ministry of ACNA churches that are Protestant and evangelical and
which somehow manage to retain this identity in the face of pressure from the
denomination and the judicatory to conform to the denomination’s official
unreformed Catholic teaching. They will be confronted with similar public image
problems to those that confront conservative Episcopal churches in a liberal
denomination. These challenges will be particularly pronounced in regions like
western Kentucky in which the religious ethos of the region is Protestant and
evangelical and has shaped even the unchurched population’s views of what is
authentic biblically-orthodox Christianity.
See also
How the Anglican Church in North America Is Creating Obstacles to Its Own Growth - Part 1
2 comments:
I have a similar problem. I am attracted to the liturgical service and I agree for the most part with the 39 articles. I took a confirmation class and was shocked by the RCC doctrine it contained. I almost left the church. My pastor preaches biblical sermons and has been a blessing to us. Often we sings that are unabashedly Catholic and I refuse to sing. I will leave if it becomes too romanized.
I have a similar problem. I am attracted to the liturgical service and I agree for the most part with the 39 articles. I took a confirmation class and was shocked by the RCC doctrine it contained. I almost left the church. My pastor preaches biblical sermons and has been a blessing to us. Often we sings that are unabashedly Catholic and I refuse to sing. I will leave if it becomes too romanized.
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