The Anglican Church in North America in Dire, Yes, DIRE Need of Reform

By Robin G. Jordan

David Virtue’s recent article, "New Anglican Diocese to be launched in the Mid-West," reminded me how desperately urgent is the need for reform in the Anglican Church in North America. The opening paragraph of the article in particular caught my attention:

A New Anglican Diocese - the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest - has been launched and should receive official approval and recognition by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) House of Bishops when they meet June in Nashotah House, Wisconsin.

Under the provisions of its constitution and canons, the Provincial Council, not the College of Bishops, has responsibility for approving the creation and admission of new dioceses of the Anglican Church in North America. What we have here appears to be further evidence of the College of Bishops’ usurpation of the powers of the Provincial Council and its violation of the provisions of the ACNA governing documents. The provisions of the ACNA governing documents delegate to the Archbishop authority to appoint a vicar general for a diocese-in-formation and to the College of Bishops authority to confirm the newly-elected bishop of a new diocese or select a bishop for a new diocese if that diocese opts to delegate to the College of Bishops the selection of a bishop for the new diocese. They do not delegate to the College of Bishops the authority to recognize new dioceses and other groupings and receive them into union with the ACNA. A number of amendments to the ACNA governing documents were ratified at the last Provincial Assembly. Such a delegation of authority was not among them. As I have pointed out in previous articles, the College of Bishops has demonstrated little respect for the provisions of the ACNA governing documents, constitutionalism, and the rule of law. This is a grave defect of the ACNA but it is not its only one.

Among the serious drawbacks of the ACNA is that it makes no room for major ecclesiological and theological differences between conservative Reformed evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, both the traditionalists influenced by the nineteenth century Anglo-Catholic revival and Tractarianism and the newer variety influenced by the Ancient Future, or Convergence, movement and ”three streams, one river” theology. The ACNA governing documents give a largely cosmetic role to the laity in the determination of major policy decisions and evidence a basic distrust of this segment of the Church, which comprises the larger part of the Body of Christ. They are designed to give one party or group in the ACNA control of every aspect of life and ministry in that ecclesiastical body. The model ACNA diocesan governing documents, which the ACNA Governance Task Force drew up, not only deliberately misinterpret the provincial ACNA constitution and canons but also, if adopted, reduce diocesan autonomy and give to the office of Archbishop powers that the provincial ACNA governing documents do not give or recognize as inherent in that office. The present holder of the office of Archbishop has also arrogated to that office powers not given to it by the provincial ACNA governing documents or recognized as inherent in the office by them. The ACNA disciplinary canons are poorly written, lack basic procedural safeguards, and permit the manipulation of the disciplinary process.

David’s article was also a reminder of the extent of the denial of ACNA supporters, both in and outside that ecclesiastical body, where the need for reform in the ACNA and the urgency of that need are concerned. This denial envelops the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the GAFCON Primates Council like a swirling dark cloud. Those in these organizations who see through the fog and recognizes the desperate need for reform in the ACNA are hesitant to break ranks and draw attention to this need. Either they believe that doing so will somehow give an advantage to The Episcopal Church and its allies. Or they view it as a North American problem that the North Americans themselves should resolve. This ignores the fact that the North Americans have yet to recognize the problem or if they do, they have yet to overcome their reluctance to publicly acknowledge its existence and severity and to do something about it. In pretending that “all is well” in the ACNA, those in the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the GAFCON Primates Council who recognize the pressing need for reform in the ACNA are themselves contributing to the problem.

At least one person of more cynical cast of mind than myself has suggested to me that the monetary benefits of supporting the ACNA may be what is motivating some in the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the GAFCON Primates Council, who, while recognizing the need for reform in the ACNA, keep mum about it. Drawing attention to this need might cause an interruption in the flow of such benefits. The independence of Anglican provinces that receive financial assistance from The Episcopal Church has been questioned. It is difficult to see how Anglican provinces that accept financial assistance from the ACNA or one of its subdivisions are not likewise beholden to the organization providing them with such aid.

This dynamic is one that merits examination in any study of the relationship of the ACNA with the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, the GAFCON Primates Council, and the global South Anglican provinces. North Americans have a long history of using money to extend their influence beyond their national borders. North Americans in the ACNA have not abandoned the belief that leading the global community of Anglican churches is the destiny of the North American Church, a destiny that can be clearly seen and cannot be changed. “Three streams, one river” theology feeds this belief with its notion that the three mainstreams of Christianity—Catholicism, evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism—are converging in a unique way in the ACNA. This convergence, it is taught, is the work of the Holy Spirit and represents the future of Anglicanism and Christianity. This notion fits hand in glove with the belief that global Anglican leadership is the manifest destiny of the North American Church. In rejecting Biblical teaching and embracing liberal theology The Episcopal Church forfeited this leadership role, which God has now given to the ACNA. One picks up hints of this grandiose vision of the ACNA in Archbishop Bob Duncan’s sermons and addresses.

Later this year the second GAFCON conference will be meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. It would be interesting if the conference’s organizers required all of the delegates to the conference to unreservedly subscribe to the doctrine of the Thirty-Nine Articles (as received by the Church of England and not as reinterpreted by the Tractarian Movement) and the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement (as official interpreted in Being Faithful: The Shape of Historic Anglicanism Today). I wonder how many delegates from the ACNA would actually be able to subscribe to this doctrine without reservation. This likely would be a fruitless exercise as I expect some would subscribe to the doctrine of these documents even though they had reservations about what the documents upheld.

Something that might be more fruitful would be for the conference to commission a task group to conduct an independent review of developments in the ACNA. My cynical friend would say that such a task force would most likely apply a liberal coat of white-wash over the ACNA. On the other hand, it might have the chutzpah to dig deeply into what is happening in the ACNA and finally bring it into the light of day, forcing those bedazzled by that ecclesiastical body to face the truth.

The Anglican Church in North America may offer an illusion of providing “a safe harbor for orthodox Anglicans under siege by the liberally led Episcopal Church.” But the safety it offers is a figment of the imagination. It is like a body of water that to those who have little or no nautical experience appears to be protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. However, the seasoned mariner knows that hidden beneath its seemingly calm surface are sharp rocks that will tear out the bottom of a boat and sand bars upon which a boat may run aground. Time has come to dispel the illusion that the ACNA is a refuge for all orthodox Anglicans and to reveal the ACNA for what it really is.