Some More (unAmerican) Thoughts on Rwanda, AMiA and Chuck Murphy

A few days ago, as this story was breaking, I made some comments based on my experience with African oversight and church politics. Since that time AMiA Bishop Chuck Murphy has made the break and there is all kinds of back and forth on this issue, I keep feeling compelled to say more, because this in many ways is bigger than just the AMiA or North American Anglicanism in general.

What I am about to say isn’t going to sit well with many people. It’s based on some very deep convictions of mine regarding the whole course of Christianity these days which have developed both in my years of involvement in the whole Anglican blogosphere and in my work for the Church of God. But it’s time to lay some things out.

It’s instructive to go back to the end of the last millennium, when it became apparent to some in the Episcopal Church that they were headed to a dead end re being in an orthodox church. (Why this took so long is beyond me, but I digress…) The AMiA was the first tangible organisation in this round of North American Anglican churches started to address this problem. Unlike previous churches, it had the advantage of, via the two primates (one from Rwanda and one from Singapore,) of being in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is a necessary prerequisite for being a part of the Anglican Communion. The AMiA has been successful up to now in fulfilling its mission, and it has had many who have followed its pattern by seeking communion with other provinces in communion with Canterbury. To read more, click here.