It was important for the four Americans to make their case to the wider Anglican Communion.
Bishop Martins noted that some of the Global South brothers were "very cool toward us because we remain in, what they see, as a hopelessly compromised church."
The Americans were not giving up. They had something to say to their like-minded Global South Anglican brethren. They wanted to be heard. "The consensus among the four Episcopal Church representatives here is that the trip was definitely worthwhile. It put our names and faces in front of people who might otherwise be tempted to forget about us or write us off," the bishop explained. "We want the Global South, which, let's face it, represents the overwhelming majority of the world's Anglicans, to be very clear that not all in The Episcopal Church are supportive of the Communion-shattering and self-absorbed actions of recent General Conventions." Read more
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"We want the Global South, which, let's face it, represents the overwhelming majority of the world's Anglicans, to be very clear that not all in The Episcopal Church are supportive of the Communion-shattering and self-absorbed actions of recent General Conventions."
So they remain in the Episcopal church and keep their dioceses and congregations in the Episcopal organization. Their money continues to flow into the coffers of the Episcopal organization. They continue to fellowship and support the General Convention. Yes, they protest. Yes, they have been protesting ones since the 1950's but they keep as many as they can in the Episcopal organization. Why don't they leave? Whom are they trying to fool? They are a real part of the problem. If they don't leave, they give credence to the Episcopal organization. That organization is whom they cohort with.
Where would they go, Joe, the Anglican Church in North America? The ACNA is only a few steps behind the Episcopal Church. The ACNA has a form of ecclesiastical governance that Katherine Schori would give her eye teeth for. No friendly global South primate is going to take them under his wing. They will be expected to become a part of the ACNA. The global South primates are either in the dark about the true character of the ACNA or they do not care.
Where would they go? That is difficult to say. Where are they? Are they Christian? Are they an Anglican expression of Christianity? What BCP do they use? What is their theology? Are they anglo-catholic? Are they somewhere between orthodox Anglicanism and modern episcopalianism? Are they more conservative than the ACNA? Are they more in line with AOC? Are these bishops able to live together in on ecclesiastical body outside of ecusa? Where would they go? Who knows? But, staying in ecusa only give that heretical organization credence if they are truly Christians.
The problem--at least to my mind—is that we are making the assumption that God is calling all Biblically orthodox and authentically Anglican clergy and congregations out of the Episcopal Church and ruling out the possibility that God has chosen to keep a faithful remnant in the Episcopal Church for his purposes. Does the presence of such clergy and congregations in the Episcopal Church give credibility or legitimacy to the heretical clergy and congregations in that body or does it expose them as having departed from the teaching of the Bible and the historic formularies? The presence of a Biblically orthodox, authentically Anglican remnant highlights the extent of their heresy.
While the more liberal dioceses of the Episcopal Church are declining, the conservative dioceses are growing. If they continue to grow, they will be numerically stronger than the liberal dioceses and have more resources than the liberal dioceses. Remember a substantial number of the liberal dioceses are dependent upon income from endowments and trusts, not revenues from giving. This money is going to eventually dry-up.
Among the proposals for the restructuring of the Episcopal Church is significant devolution. If this proposal is adopted, it will strengthen the position of the conservative dioceses.
Add to this picture the fact that a number of bishops who did vote for the authorization of the use of the trial same sex blessing rites have NOT authorized the use of these rites in their dioceses. This suggests that they are concerned how the folks in their dioceses are going to react to the use of the rites in the diocese. It has long been recognized that the clergy tend to be more liberal in the Episcopal Church than the laity. Bishops whose dioceses are already suffering financial woes do not want to increase them by creating tensions in the diocese over same sex blessings.
Jesus also reminded the disciples that a builder before he erects a tower counts the number of bricks that he has and a king before goes to war counts the number of troops that he has and the number of troops that his opponent has. If his opponent has more troops than he does, he sues for peace. The cost of a diocese withdrawing from the Episcopal Church we has seen is high. The diocese and its congregations are forced to leave their buildings behind them and to find other facilities. The latter is becoming increasingly more difficult. (cont'd below)
While some folks in the conservative dioceses may be ready to succeed from the Episcopal Church, others for a variety of reasons are not. Does a shepherd abandon the bulk of his flock to the wolves to lead a handful to safety? Or does he stay and do whatever he can to protect the whole flock?
We are also assuming where their shepherd might lead them is safe. But is it?
Another dimension of the problem is that from a conservative evangelical perspective the Anglican Church in North America, the Anglican Mission in America, the Continuing Anglican Churches, and even the Anglican Orthodox Church are far from heresy-free. If we regard the unreformed Catholic doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church as heretical as did the English Reformers, we must view these churches as heretical as they have adopted such doctrines and practices. The Anglican Orthodox Church uses the retrograde 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Its clergy and congregations have not entirely escaped the influence of the Catholic Revival of the past 200 years. Do the Communion Partner bishops lead their dioceses out of one heretical church into another?
A third dimension of the problem is the motives of the global South bishops and the ACNA leaders in urging the Communion Partner bishops to lead their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church. The ACNA is a tiny denomination. Anglicans in North America are less than 1% of the population. The ACNA needs a second exodus of conservative Episcopal dioceses into that body to bolster its numbers and to add to its prestige. The global South Primates need a further exodus of conservative dioceses into the ACNA to demonstrate that they were justified in intervening in the United States and Canada and right in calling for a new orthodox Anglican province in North America.
If the Communion Partner bishops opt to lead their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church affiliating with the ACNA for them may not be the best exit strategy. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori has blocked the sale of church property to departing congregations that affiliate with the ACNA but not to those that do not identify themselves as Anglican. The Communion Partner bishops may do better to form their own ecclesiastical organization.
I am offering this to you, Joe, not as the final word on the matter but as food for thought.
Robin,
These bishops and dioceses must remember the warning of Paul not to be unequally hitched to the unbeliever. It is true that there is no sufficiently reformed Anglican body in America. This is lamentable, but then Anglicanism unfortunately was never perfectly reformed.
You have a point there, Joe. At the same time in his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes:
"To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)
Paul warn against the uniting of believers with unbelievers but does not urge believers already united to unbelievers to separate from them.
This naturally leads to the question, "Are all the folks in the Anglican Church in North America and the other Anglican entities in Canada and the United States believing Christians?"
The Prayer Book charitably presumes that the newly baptized are regenerate. At the same time Article 26 reminds us that in the visible Church there is always a mingling of evil with good and at times evil persons hold the chief positions in the ministry of the Word and sacraments. Article 27 reminds us that only for those who receive baptism rightly does it accomplish the purposes for which Christ ordained it.
In the aforementioned churches are individuals who believe that they are saved by the washing of baptism and the regular partaking of the Lord's Supper and clergy who teach them that they are. Are we to regard them as believers? Or are we to regard solely as believers those who have turned from sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus for their salvation? How are we to view a church that contains both the believing and the unbelieving? Is it a believing church or an unbelieving church?
Here again I am just offering food for thought.
No one has considered the possibility that the Communion Partner bishops are waiting to be thrown out of the Episcopal Church before leading their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church. They can then say that they did not willingly abandon the Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church's policy of inclusivism is a farce. It does not extend to conservatives like themselves.
Robin,
One other consideration. The Church is the bride of Christ. We are enjoined to be faithful to Christ and Christ's church (congregation of all faithful believers) and not to denominations which have sprung up for reasons of necessity of man's pride. It is altogether too easy to love our own traditions, even those traditions that run counter to God's Law.
I will admit that it would be difficult for these bishops and dioceses to find a place in so called American Anglicanism of the continuum that would be much better than ecusa. But I would also go back to my questions above. Where are these bishops and dioceses? Are they on a different path or just a few steps behind ecusa?
Joe,
This is something that we will see in the days ahead.
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