The Anglican Church in North America Welcomes You – Part I

By Robin G. Jordan

How would you react if you went to visit a church, an usher barred the entrance to the church and handed a questionnaire to you instead of a service leaflet? How would you feel when you discovered upon reading the questionnaire that you and people like you were not welcome at that church? In its constitution and its code of canons the Anglican Church in North America is doing exactly that. It is not just turning away liberal Anglicans who are heterodox in their beliefs but orthodox Anglicans who are biblically faithful and whose Anglicanism is historically genuine.

Article I of the ACNA constitution identifies as characteristic of “the Anglican Way” and essential for membership the doctrinal position that the historic episcopate is “an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice.” It goes on to assert that this doctrinal position is of “the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ” as the Anglican Way has received it. This doctrinal position is historically associated with the Roman Catholic Church, the Oxford Movement, and Anglo-Catholicism, and is not held by all orthodox Anglicans. With Article I the ACNA constitution raises a significant doctrinal barrier to the membership of conservative evangelical Anglicans in the ACNA.

Due to the influence of the 19th century Oxford Movement and 20th century Anglo-Catholicism many North American Anglicans are unfamiliar with the doctrinal position of the English Reformers on the historic episcopate. The English Reformers found no evidence in the Holy Scriptures that God had ordained any one form or order of church government. They concluded, however, that while episcopacy was not divinely ordained, it was in the words of Bishop John Jewel “ancient and allowable.” To the English Reformers the one necessary mark of the Church was its continuance in apostolic and scriptural teaching, not the institution of episcopacy. What mattered most was the succession of the word, not a succession of persons. A bishop was a successor to the apostles in so far as he taught what they had taught. He had no other grounds to claim to be a successor of the apostles. The authority of a bishop was derived from his adoption of apostolic doctrine. If a bishop did not teach what the apostles taught, the bishop had no authority. This is not only the doctrinal position of the 16th century Reformers on the historical episcopate, it is the doctrinal position of classical evangelical Anglicism and of 21st century conservative evangelical Anglicans in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, North America, and other parts of the world.

In identifying the Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate with “the apostolic faith and practice” and “the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ” the ACNA constitution excludes from the churches, dioceses, and provinces with which the ACNA desires fellowship those who do not subscribe to this particular doctrine. This includes churches, dioceses, and provinces that are members of GAFCON and have supported the formation of a new province in North America. In equating the Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate with Anglican orthodoxy, conservative evangelical Anglicans who are biblically faithful and whose Anglicanism is historically genuine are excluded from the ranks of orthodox North American Anglicans for which the ACNA aspires to be seen as the spokesman.

The ACNA constitution gives carte blanche to the bishops of the ACNA to disqualify conservative Evangelicals from ordination in the ACNA or to refuse to license for ministry within their jurisdictions conservative Evangelicals who are already ordained. It also gives them authorization to do what they will to suppress the doctrinal views of the English Reformers and their Evangelical successors on episcopacy and apostolic succession in the ACNA. This includes taking disciplinary action against clergy who teach such views or belong to organizations whose members subscribe to these views.

Under the provisions of the ACNA canons only groups that subscribe “without reservation” to its Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate as well as its weak affirmation of the 1662 BCP as a worship standard and the Thirty-Nine Articles as a doctrinal standard may become ministry partners with the ACNA.

Under the provisions of Title I, Canon 10, Section 3 conservative Evangelicals who have committed their lives to Christ, are baptized and confirmed, and are following Christ in a biblically faithful and authentically Anglican way are disqualified from membership in an ACNA congregation because they hold to the doctrinal position of the English Reformers on the historic episcopate. Benchmark Anglican divines like Bishop John Jewel and Archbishop John Whitgift would be disqualified from membership due to their views on episcopacy and apostolic succession. A number of contemporary conservative Evangelical leaders and theologians, members of GAFCON and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, and supporters of the formation of a new North American province would also not qualify.

A number of sections of the ACNA, while they are in themselves not particularly problematic, present a problem for conservative Evangelicals because the ACNA constitution and code of canons identify the Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate with “the doctrine of Christ.” All clergy in the ACNA will be required to teach the Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate. The likelihood of the ACNA adopting a Prayer Book and Church Catechism that reflects this doctrinal position is a very real possibility.

Instruction in and adherence to the Catholic doctrinal position on the historical episcopate is a general requirement for admission to holy orders in the ACNA. All candidates for ordination to the diaconate and presbyterate and consecration to the episcopate in the ACNA must subscribe to a declaration in which they solemnly engage to conform to this doctrinal position. In the case of candidates for diaconal orders they must subscribe “without reservation.”

Title III, Canon 8, Section 2 establishes the Catholic doctrinal position on apostolic succession as the ACNA position: “By the tradition of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, Bishops are consecrated for the whole Church and are successors of the Apostles through the grace of the Holy Spirit given to them…”. This is a reference to the Catholic belief that the consecrating bishops in the historic apostolic succession pass onto a new bishop a special grace that sets him apart as a bishop in that succession when they lay hands on him at his consecration.

Among the charges or accusation that may be presented against a ACNA archbishop, bishop, presbyter, or deacon under the provisions of Title IV, Canon 2, Section 1 are: “apostasy from the Christian faith,” “violation of ordination vows,” “acceptance of membership in a religious jurisdiction with purpose contrary to that of this Church,” “violation of any provision of the Constitution of this Church,” and “disobedience, or willful contravention of the Canons of this Church or of the constitution or canons of the Diocese in which he holds office,” and “willful refusal to follow a lawful Godly Admonition.” Since the ACNA constitution and code of canons identifies the Catholic doctrinal position on the historic episcopate as “an integral part of the apostolic faith and practice,” equates it with “the doctrine of Christ,” and adopts the Catholic doctrinal position on apostolic succession as the doctrinal position of the ACNA, a ACNA archbishop, bishop, presbyter, or deacon who subscribes to the Evangelical doctrinal positions on the historic episcopate and apostolic succession or accepts membership in ecclesiastical jurisdiction that subscribes to these doctrinal positions can be charged, tried, and deposed under the provisions of this section.

The application guidelines for groups of congregations seeking to be recognized as an ACNA diocese or diocese in formation require that nominees for the ACNA episcopate must fully embrace “the Fundamental Declarations of this Province.” The governing board of each congregation in an application must also subscribe to “the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church in North America.” These requirements effectively bar conservative evangelical Anglican clergy from nomination as a candidate for bishop of a new diocese and conservative evangelical Anglican congregations from inclusion in a group of congregation’s application for recognition as an ACNA diocese or diocese in formation.

Conservative evangelical Anglicans are not the only group of orthodox North American Anglicans who are not welcome in the ACNA. In the second part of this article I examine the serious obstacles facing those who value a synodical form of government and who believe that a diocese should elect its own bishops and that the clergy and laity should play a substantial role in the nomination and election process of not only diocesan and auxiliary bishops but the primate of the province. I also look at what the members of these two groups can do in response to this state of affairs.