Undercurrents in the Anglican Communion

In whatever ways we justify and reinterpret the Communion instruments of the Anglican Communion, it is clear the instruments no longer serve to unite Anglican churches worldwide. Canterbury, the Lambeth Conferences, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meetings have become an obstacle rather than means of solving the Communion ills.

The reasons are clear. The 'Anglican Communion' itself, understood as a 'Christian World Communion' alongside the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and other families of churches, is a novel idea in the post Western missionary era. The instruments emerged in haphazard ways amid the devolution of metropolitan authorities from Canterbury and New York to churches in the southern continents. To be sure, they were useful to connect churches with one another in years surrounding the independence of the southern churches. They have now become part of the problem, and have lost their legitimacy in the new conditions in the new century. For one, international conferences are expensive exercises, which are hardly sustainable in present-day economic conditions. More important, there is a worrying disconnect between what happens at Communion-levels and takes place at local levels. The faithful in their parishes are expected to remain loyal Anglicans week in and week out. To them, the Anglican disputes are irrelevant. Many of them perhaps have not even heard about the Anglican Communion Covenant. Churches of weaker numerical strengths and in more fragile conditions are sidelined as well in a high-stake and wasting religious war.

The two watch-words of the Anglican Communion Covenant – 'Accountability and Interdependence' are not merely policy matters between top clerics around the globe. They express our communal life – "one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father" (Ephesians 4:4-6). They point us to the ascended Christ's continuing sanctifying work in the church – "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Which points to an urgent need to clarify the subtle movements of thought that are shaping the ways we approach communal life. The Anglican family of churches are not merely confronted with a faith/moral issue (namely, same sex unions and homosexuality), and a question on order (namely, Windsor-compliance). Anglicans have dealt with explosive issues before. The 1948 Lambeth decisions on ordination of women was one that deeply offended the Chinese Anglicans. However, the present issues have become intractable, and are fast plunging the Anglican Communion towards breakup. Polemicists from different sides of the disputes have not really addressed the deep-seated powerful currents that are twisting the ways we connect with one another. To read more, click here.