By Robin G. Jordan
In writing articles about the Anglican Church in North
America, I have set for myself four tasks:
1. Dispel common misperceptions of the Anglican Church in
North America particularly in regard to the character of the denomination, its
adherence to the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican
formularies; its acceptance of the tenets of orthodoxy that the Jerusalem
Declaration identifies as underpinning Anglican identity; and its commitment to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
2. Draw attention to areas in the Anglican Church in North
America in need of reform in particular to such areas as doctrine and practices,
form of governance, appointment or election and term of office of bishops, and rites
and services; stimulate thinking as to how these areas might be reformed; and
advocate specific reforms.
3. Encourage for the purposes of evangelizing North America
and furthering authentic historic Anglicanism in North America the formal and
informal networking of orthodox Anglican clergy and congregations in the
Anglican Church in North America, who fully accept the Bible as their rule of
faith and life and the Anglican formularies as their standard of doctrine and
worship.
4. Promote the establishment of an ecclesiastical province that
is either an autonomous part of the Anglican Church in North America or
independent of that denomination, which embodies the Protestant, reformed, and
evangelical character of authentic historic Anglicanism, which holds to the
teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies, is
committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and has its own declaration
of principles, governing documents, general synod, standing committee,
moderator, bishops, Prayer Book, and catechism.
The outcome that I hope to see is a flourishing network of
churches that is biblically faithful and genuinely Anglican, which is expanding
throughout North America, which is not hampered by conventional thinking about
the local church and its ministry and witness, and which is reaching and
engaging the unreached and unengaged in all segments of the North American
population—in the inner city, small towns, and rural areas as well as urban
areas and the suburbs.
A denomination cannot hope to reach and engage the
unchurched population of Canada and the United States if it is wed to solely
one model of the local church. The late twentieth century model of the local
church found in the Anglican Church of Canada, the Anglican Church in North
America and the Episcopal Church and centered upon the sacramental ministry of
an ordained priest and the weekly celebration of the Eucharist has limited usefulness in
the twenty-first century. It is a model that is resource-intensive and is not
sustainable in a number of areas of Canada and the United States. It has become
an impediment to the advancement of the Gospel in North America. Simpler, more
flexible models are needed, models that enable every community and neighborhood
to have a thriving Anglican church that gathers around God’s Word on Sunday or whenever
it meets.
As long as a denomination clings to this model, its own
expansion will be limited by its ability to supply congregations with ordained priests and congregations' ability to pay their stipends.
Whether such a model facilitates the spread of the Gospel and the making of
disciples is questionable. What it does is cater to a particular form of
consumer Christianity in which ambiance and sacramental grace are the two goods
that the local church is expected to provide. It damages both the local church and those pastoring it.
This is one of the reasons that I am concerned about the
direction in which the College of Bishops is taking the Anglican Church in
North America. The theology that the College of Bishops is endorsing is not
only inconsistent with the Bible and the Anglican formularies but it also
produces a dysfunctional local church. It makes the priest “the focus of local ministry” and encourages
a consumer mentality in the people. A similar theology has been a major
contributing factor to the decline of North America’s Continuing Anglican
Churches North America.
What is needed is a theology that is grounded in the Bible and shaped for mission and which restores local ministry to the whole church and empowers and mobilizes it in the service of the Gospel. A theology that emphasizes the sacerdotal office and sacramental ministry of the ordained priest is not that theology. Unfortunately it is such a theology that the College of Bishops has endorsed and which underpins the theology of the Anglican Church in North America's catechism and service book.
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