“Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

Sometime the revisionists in the Episcopal Church remind me of the Borg in the second Star Trek series. Other times, they remind me more of the rampaging, power hungry Darleks in the BBC Dr. Who series, waving their death-ray projectors and shrilling “Eradicate! Eradicate!!” Embrace radical inclusiveness; affirm homosexuality, gays, and lesbians; or leave! This is what the Episcopal Church is saying with the proposed new set of disciplinary canons to those who uphold an historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity. Get with the program or get out! Don’t try to rock the boat and cause trouble. If you do, we will eject you from the Episcopal Church just as we have jettisoned the apostolic faith. If this proposal is not a wake-up call to those who believe that they can maintain an orthodox witness in the Episcopal Church, I do not know what it will take to draw their attention to the precarious position in which they will soon find themselves.

The revisionists control almost all of the Episcopal Church’s seminaries. They control most of the dioceses and the process for the selection of candidates for ordination in most of the dioceses. They are signaling that they are not going to tolerate any resistance to their agenda for change in the Episcopal Church. They are preparing to consecrate more practicing homosexuals as bishops and to sanction gay marriage. They may preach inclusiveness and tolerance but their inclusiveness and tolerance does not extend to those who hold an historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity. The latter are not welcome in the Episcopal Church. The revisionist plan is to isolate them and push them to the periphery of the church. From the revisionist standpoint they are trouble makers and the sooner they leave the better. They put up a fight before they are ousted but the proposed new set of disciplinary canons is designed to keep that from happening. Resistance will put them upon the fast track to expulsion from the Episcopal Church.

If the primates do persuade Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to excommunicate the Episcopal Church, the revisionists are likely to look for a scapegoat, someone upon whom they can blame the consequences of their own actions. They already show a propensity to blame the victim. The 2003 General Convention enacted legislation banning discrimination in the Episcopal Church on the grounds of sexual orientation. We may see a time in the not too distant future when this legislation is used to deny the office of bishop to anyone who takes a biblical position on homosexuality.

Those who uphold a historical, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity are faced with three choices: [1] They can acquiesce to the revisionist agenda, compromise the apostolic faith for the sake of a false unity in the Episcopal Church and suffer the eternal consequences of apostasy; [2] They can prepare for their departure from the Episcopal Church, channeling their tithes into a independent trust, establishing home fellowships, locating a meeting place for worship services, and launching a new congregation under the oversight of an orthodox global South bishop; [3] Or they can be ejected from the Episcopal Church without having made any preparations for this contingency. Staying on to maintain an orthodox witness is not a realistic option. The longer they stay, the more tainted they will become by revisionist culture of the Episcopal Church.

U.S. Anglicans outside the Episcopal Church, those in the Anglican Mission in America or otherwise under global South episcopal oversight, in the Continuing Churches, and in the Reformed Episcopal Church need to patch up their differences, close ranks, and form a united orthodox Anglican witness in the United States. While they may initially be denied the formal recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury, this lack of recognition should not prevent them from establishing an Anglican province in the United States. A strong, dynamic, growing Anglican Church in North America is the best answer to the apostasy of the Episcopal Church and contemporary Episcopalianism. As the Episcopal Church declines, closing churches, the Anglican Church will gather new congregations and plant new churches. A total commitment to an aggressive program of church planting and evangelism is the key to the resurgence of orthodox Christianity in the Anglican tradition in North America.

Orthodox Anglicans in the United States cannot be satisfied with just creating a safe haven for themselves outside of the Episcopal Church. The second largest generation in North America, the Bridgers, those born between 1977 and 1994, has yet to be evangelized and won to Christ. Only a few in this generation are pre-Christians, having been raised with Judeo-Christian values. One of our greatest challenges is that this generation finds Jesus’ exclusive claims a major stumbling block to faith. They have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the pluralism and political correctness that characterizes today’s popular culture in the United States and Canada. Many mainline churches will be tempted to follow the Episcopal Church’s lead and to adopt a theology of inclusivism. Indeed inclusivism may become a major heresy of the 21st century. An Anglican witness that affirms the exclusive claims of Jesus and is faithful to apostolic teaching will be greatly needed in North America in the new millennium.