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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Mike Ovey: Extinction in a generation?


Have a read of this report from the Daily Telegraph: ‘Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, warns Christianity “a generation away from extinction” in Britain. Clergy are now gripped by a “feeling of defeat”, congregations are worn down by “heaviness” while the public simply greets both with “rolled eyes and a yawn of boredom”, he said.’

Lord Carey goes on to say how in particular ‘we’ have let down young people and that we must deploy ministers to get children and youth back into church.

There’s much here to admire. Lord Carey may no longer be Archbishop of Canterbury, but it still takes courage for such an establishment figure to point out just how bad things are. But he’s quite right: Christianity is a generation away from extinction in the United Kingdom. This is something both very old and very new. Let me explain. Keep reading
I read Mike Ovey's comments on Lord Carey's warning with an eye to how they might apply to North America and the Anglican Church in North America. They prompt me to ask the following questions:

Is the Anglican Church in North America, to use Ovey's words, actually preaching the gospel?

Due to its present movement in the direction of unreformed Catholicism is the ACNA preaching something else?

Do the clergy and laity in ACNA churches know the gospel personally, understand it intellectually and care enough to share it?

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