Church on the Tipping Point

http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/index.php/2007/12/13/church-on-the-tipping-point/

[Anglican Mainstream] 14 Dec 2007--‘This is an historic weekend on both coasts,’ said Bishop Bob Duncan, the moderator of Common Cause in the United States. He had attended the vote of the Diocese of San Joaquin in California to leave The Episcopal Church (TEC), and flew to Washington to attend the consecration of four new bishops for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). He brought them ‘greetings from the wider fellowship which is our common future,’ looking forward to a new Anglican entity in North America.

The Church of the Epiphany, near Dulles International Airport, in Washington DC is the home of the CANA offices. Some 1,000 people gathered there last Sunday for a three-hour service for the consecration of two Nigerians and two Anglo-Americans as bishops of CANA. The Convocation of Anglicans in North America has 60 congregations in 20 states in the USA, with a total average Sunday attendance of approx 8,600, larger than 70 per cent of TEC dioceses. A senior leader said CANA expected to grow to 200 congregations in the next year. All the glories of Anglican worship were there: a splendid liturgy, the great hymns of the church, enthusiastic African praise songs accompanied by drums and the celebrant on tambourine led by a dominant Nigerian soprano, and robust biblical exposition. It was impossible to tell if this was a Nigerian service in which Anglo-Americans took part, or an Anglo-American service in which Nigerians took part. CANA and other Anglican entities on North America are working hard to express true partnership across cultures. It is hard to see what else other than the crisis we are in could have brought about such a deep desire from Westerners for Global South help.

Archbishop Edmund Akanya of Kaduna insisted in his sermon that the antidote to prevailing heresy is the faithful teaching of the whole Bible. ‘We will continue to face the growth of heresies. Teach the Word, it is your duty to protect and preserve what God has given to our hands. The divisions in the Anglican Communion are not about sexuality. It is the beginning of a new kind of religion which not only reinterprets traditional doctrines but jettisons many altogether.’ To this task the new bishops, Roger Ames, David Anderson, Amos Fagbamiye and Nathan Kanu were consecrated. The Missionary Bishop of CANA Martyn Minns said in his pastoral call, that all would continue in their parish ministry: