A Look Past the Spin: The ACNA College of Bishop's January Communiqué

By Robin G. Jordan

On Friday January 10, 2014 the ACNA College of Bishops issued a communiqué following its January meeting. The communiqué is posted on the ACNA website. What is noteworthy about the  communiqué is that it reports that the College of Bishops unanimously approved a new Catechism for trial use. The mechanisms for feedback and refinement, we are told, are “planned over the next two years.” The communiqué does not state how the trial use of this Catechism will be conducted, where it will be conducted, how the churches at which the trial use of the Catechism will be conducted will be selected, and what steps will be taken to ensure that these churches actually represent a broad spectrum of the theological opinions present in the Anglican Church in North America?

The communiqué also says nothing about how soon the new Catechism will be made available to interested parties for independent study and if and when the document will be posted on the ACNA website. If the ACNA leadership follows the pattern that has characterized it since the formation of the ACNA, it will take its own sweet time in making the new Catechism available and then when it does publish the Catechism, it will do so with as much hoopla as it can muster. The communiqué itself uses exaggerated language in referring to the new Catechism, describing it as “wonderful.” Whoever drafted the communiqué already appears to be trying to influence the ACNA membership’s view of the new Catechism.

Along with ACNA constitution, canons, ordinal, and trial services the proposed Catechism will provide additional evidence of the theological direction in which the ACNA leadership is taking the Anglican Church in North America. To date, the evidence points to a definite movement away from authentic historic Anglicanism in the direction of unreformed Catholicism.

The communiqué contained this statement, which also deserves comment:

As we continue to develop a Prayer Book to enrich our common liturgical life, the bishops worshiped using the Province’s approved texts for Holy Communion and daily Morning and Evening Prayer. We did initial work on a first draft of liturgies for Baptism, Confirmation and Admission of Catechumens, refining them to help insure that those liturgies are accessible and reflect the richness of the historic Anglican faith and tradition. The College continues to look forward to the day when the Province will have its own Book of Common Prayer.

Nowhere does the ACNA constitution or canons authorize the College of Bishops to develop a Prayer Book for use in Anglican Church in North America. Nowhere do these governing documents recognize the authority to develop liturgies for use in the province as collectively inherent in the College of Bishops. In taking this task upon itself the College of Bishops is usurping the authority of the Provincial Council. This goes well beyond a difference in interpretation of the ACNA governing documents. It amounts to a total disregard of constitutionalism and the rule of law—important safeguards against episcopal abuse of power. Whatever liturgies the College of Bishops develops are not binding upon the congregations and clergy of the Anglican Church in North America unless the Provincial Council adopts a canon making their use obligatory and the Provincial Assembly ratifies this canon.

A major source of concern for North American Anglicans who are committed to the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies should be the inclusion of the phrase, “…reflect the richness of the historic Anglican faith and tradition… in this statement. Similar phrases used in the description of the ACNA ordinal were allusions to the unreformed Catholic doctrines and practices given expression in its services. The College of Bishops has shown with its approval of the ACNA “theological lens,” the ACNA ordinal, and the ACNA trial services of Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion that it cannot be relied upon to protect the Biblical and Reformation faith of authentic historic Anglicanism.

The communiqué also contains reference to two documents that will provide further evidence of the direction in which the ACNA leadership is taking the Anglican Church in North America. The first reference is to the Theological Task Force on Holy Orders’ report on hermeneutical principles. Hermeneutical principles are the principles used in the interpretation of Scripture. They generally reflect the particular theological leanings of those using them—Anglo-Catholic, liberal, and Reformed Evangelical, for example. The College of Bishops approved the task force’s report and authorized its release. How widely this report will be disseminated and if and when it will be posted on the ACNA website is anyone’s guess. According to the communiqué, copies of the report will be sent to the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the ACNA’s “ecumenical partners.”

The second reference is to a document that is yet to be drafted:

The next phase of the work of the Task Force will identify the ecclesiological principles (i.e., principles of the nature of the Church) of ministry and orders including what the Anglican formularies say about the nature of the church, the general character of ordained ministry, the characteristics of each order, and the relationship between the ordained ministry and Christ and his Church. The Task Force has formed sub-committees which will engage scholars and scholarship from the Anglo-Catholic, Charismatic, and Evangelical traditions (“three streams”). A draft of this work will be presented to the bishops in June.

This document upon its completion should be very revealing. Note the reference in the foregoing statement to the Anglo-Catholic, Charismatic, and Evangelical traditions, to the “three streams.”  A major source of concern for North American Anglicans who are committed to the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies should be whether the “Evangelical tradition” is adequately represented in this identification of ecclesiological principles. A number of those who identify themselves as “evangelicals” in the Anglican Church in North America subscribe to beliefs and practices that are not consistent with classical Anglican evangelicalism but reflect the influence of Anglo-Catholicism and “three streams” theology. They do not hold to historic evangelical positions on key issues.

The communiqué goes on to report that fifty-seven Spanish-speaking congregations have been planted as result of the Anglican 1000 initiative. It, however, does not give their size or how long they have been existence, critical indications of a viability of a new church plant. It contains a vague reference to the Greenhouse Movement “catalyzing clusters of new congregations.” The communiqué is silent about the congregations that have left the Anglican Church in North America, which reportedly include at least three in Archbishop Duncan’s own diocese.

What else is noteworthy about the communiqué is the tone of the document. The College of Bishops presents itself as if it is the board of governors of the Anglican Church in North America, making the important decisions that affect the life and ministry of the church. Nowhere in the ACNA constitution and canons, however, is this role assigned to the College of Bishops. Nowhere in the ACNA governing documents is this role recognized as inherently a role of that body. It is a serious mistake not to object to the College of Bishops’ usurpation of the role of the ACNA official governing bodies and not to insist that it function within constitutionally and canonically defined limits. It only can lead to greater problems down the road.