A Statement to the Clergy and Laity of the Anglican Mission

The following statement has been posted on the Anglican Mission website. It is designed to shape Anglican churches, pastors, and mission partners' perception of the Bishop Murphy's break with Rwanda and to mold public opinion on this matter. Note that it claims that with the resignation of Bishops Murphy, Greene, Hunter, Johnston, Jones, Loomis, Miller, Ng, and Rodgers, the Anglican Mission withdrew from the oversight of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. However, Bishop Murphy in resigning as Primatial Vicar ceased to be Chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of the Anglican Mission under the provisions of its Canonical Charter for Ministry.

While Bishop Murphy and the other bishops who resigned with him may withdraw from the oversight of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, they do not have the authority to withdraw the Anglican Mission with them, having relinquished that authority when they resigned. What Murphy is seeking to do is persuade the Anglican Mission churches, pastors, and mission partners that the Anglican Mission has a seperate existence from the Anglican Church of Rwanda. This has not been the case since 2008 and perhaps even earlier. What Murphy is attempting to do is mislead them, claiming authority over the congregations and clergy of the Anglican Mission, which he relinquished when he resigned as Primatial Vicar. As I have written elsewhere, the canons that Donlon drafted, Murphy approved, and Kolini sponsored altered the doctrinal norms and formularies of the Anglican Mission, thereby dissolving the Anglican Mission under the provisions of Article V of the Solemn Declaration.

Bishop Murphy is engaging in some highly unethical and I suspect illegal manuevering. It is certainly not the kind of thing that a Christian leader should be doing. In backing Murphy, the other bishops who resigned with Murphy are themselves guilty of complicity in his actions. This reflects poorly upon them as Christian leaders. Under the circumstances the wise thing for them to do is withdraw their support from Murphy. It would also be wise for Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini, Moses Tay and Yong Ping Chung to distance themselves from what Murphy is doing. In light of how Murphy has treated the Rwandans, any Anglican Primate that Murphy approaches should think twice before providing any breakaway group under Murphy's leadership with a provincial home. If an Anglican Primate does offer oversight to the group, it should be conditional upon Murphy's retirement as its leader.

As you may know, on December 5, in response to unforeseen and extraordinary circumstances, the Anglican Mission in the Americas withdrew from the pastoral oversight of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. In addition, Bishop Chuck Murphy resigned as Primatial Vicar and Bishops Murphy, Sandy Greene, Todd Hunter, TJ Johnston, Philip Jones, Doc Loomis, John Miller and Silas Ng, as well as retired Bishop John Rodgers, resigned from the House of Bishops of Rwanda.

During this interim period, the Anglican Mission is under the oversight of our founding Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini, Moses Tay and Yong Ping Chung until we have a new provincial home within the Anglican Communion. Bishop Murphy is meeting with these overseeing archbishops in London next week to discuss options for the best way forward.

While these events came as a significant surprise to all of us, and circumstances beyond our control have necessitated rapid decisions and actions, we are very encouraged about our future in the Anglican Mission and see a powerful missional opportunity to move toward formation of a missionary society. Since we highly value continuity, this is a logical, consistent progression of what God has been doing in and through the Anglican Mission since 2000. The missionary society concept provides the appropriate structure for us to be...a mission, nothing more, nothing less and in many ways represents "a long obedience in the same direction." To read more, click here.