By Robin G. Jordan
Rough seas lies ahead for Biblically faithful, genuinely
Anglican, mission-oriented clergy and congregations in the Anglican Church in
North America. They need to batten down the hatches and prepare for the
onslaught of the storm.
Under the provisions of Canon II.2.1 of the Anglican Church
in North America until the adoption of a Book of Common Prayer in the ACNA
clergy and congregations in that jurisdiction may use the authorized Books of
Common Prayer of the originating jurisdictions. Among the originating
jurisdictions that have an authorized service books of their own are the
Anglican Church of Kenya, the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern
Cone, the Anglican Church of Rwanda, The Anglican Mission in the Americas, the
Church of Nigeria (Anglican), and the Reformed Episcopal
Church.
The American Anglican Council, The Anglican Communion
Network, The Anglican Network in Canada, and Forward in Faith – North America,
however, did not have an authorized service book of their own. Clergy and congregations in these ecclesial organizations used one of the authorized service
books of the Anglican Church of Canada or the Episcopal Church.
Whether the provisions of Canon II.2.1 apply to the
authorized services books of the last two jurisdictions is debatable. They are
not originating jurisdictions of the Anglican Church in North America. A strict
interpretation of the provisions of Canon II.2.1 would prohibit their use.
In any event when the proposed Prayer Book currently in
preparation is formally adopted, whatever services books are presently being
used by ACNA clergy and congregations will no longer be authorized. The ACNA
canons make no provision for their continued use.
Clergy and congregation who do not agree with the unreformed Catholic teaching
and practices countenanced in the proposed Prayer Book will have no choice but
to use it. To do otherwise will constitute a violation of the ACNA canons.
Presumably the ACNA catechism will be incorporated into the
proposed Prayer Book along with such rites as have not yet been completed. This
means that clergy and congregations who do not agree with its teaching will be
required to teach what it teaches. The ACNA catechism departs in a number of places from the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Anglican formularies--the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571, the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, and the Ordinal of 1662..
The doctrine of the proposed Prayer Book, including the
catechism, will be the official doctrine of the jurisdiction. Teaching anything
beside what it teaches will also constitute a violation of the ACNA canons.
Under the provisions of the governing documents of the
Missionary Dioceses of CANA East and CANA West in the case ofa mission the
bishop may at the present time “permit whatever degree of autonomy and
deviation from the usual Anglican order of worship… which he deems appropriate
for the particular group.” The adoption of the proposed Prayer Book will take
away this authority from CANA bishops and will require them to permit only the
use of the proposed Prayer Book. CANA will no longer be able to authorize its
own rites of baptism and confirmation.
The proposed Prayer Book is not designed for the North
American mission field. Its use may prove a significant hindrance to CANA
missions and may reduce CANA’s effectiveness as a church-planting network.
CANA is not the only group of churches that will be
negatively affected by the adoption of the proposed Prayer Book. Two other
groups will be greatly impacted by this change. The first group of
clergy and congregations are those who fully accept the teaching of the Holy
Scriptures and the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Anglican
formularies. They will be required to accept and teach
what are in the words of the 1662 Ordinal “erroneous and strange doctrines
contrary to God’s word.” They will be required to follow practices associated
with such doctrines.
Essentially they will be forced to compromise their own
beliefs and convictions in order to participate in the Anglican Church in North
America. They will be prohibited from passing on those beliefs and convictions
to future generations.
In other words, the proposed Prayer Book implements a form
of theological exclusion—one that goes further than the ACNA’s fundamental
declarations with their insistence upon the acceptance of an
Anglo-Catholic/Roman Catholic view of the episcopate as being essential to the very
existence of the Church. This view, as the late Peter Toon pointed out as early
as 2006 in an assessment of the Common Cause Theological Statement, “excludes
the majority of Anglicans since 1549 who have recognized other Churches
(Lutheran, Presbyterian etc) as genuine churches with genuine presbyters, even
if lacking the good thing of the Episcopate.” The ACNA fundamental declarations
were taken from the Common Cause Theological Statement.
The target of this theological exclusion are conservative Evangelical
Anglicans and other confessional Anglicans particularly those who are Biblical
and Reformed in their theological outlook.
The second group of clergy and congregations that the
adoption of the proposed Prayer Book will greatly impact are those seeking to
reach and engage the unchurched segments of the North American population. The
proposed Prayer Book is seriously lacking in the kind of flexibility needed for
the mission field in the twenty-first century.
The teaching embodied in its rites and services and articulated
in its catechism proclaims a different gospel from that of the New Testament. It
includes that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross must be offered again and again
in the celebration of the Mass. The gospel that it proclaims is not the gospel
that transforms lives. It is a gospel of sacraments and good works.
No comments:
Post a Comment