By Robin G. Jordan
One way the type of organization like the one that I
advocated in yesterday’s article might champion the Reformation heritage of the
Anglican Church is to establish and maintain a register of clergy who stand in
that heritage—clergy who are confessional Anglicans, who genuinely subscribe to
the Biblical and Reformation doctrine and principles embodied in the Anglican formularies,
and who are committed to the preservation of the Anglican Church’s Reformation
heritage and the advancement of its protestant and reformed beliefs and
convictions. Such a register would be a useful resource for participating
churches looking for a new pastor or staff member.
The organization could also monitor the clergy selection and
licensing process of the dioceses of participating churches and investigate and
document cases where bishops rejected a participating church’s choice of pastor
on basis of his adherence to these beliefs and convictions or denied licensure
to a pastor or staff member for the same reason. Such cases could be brought to
the attention of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and its leaders
and used to build a case for intervention in the Anglican Church in North
America.
The organization could similarly monitor the process for
selecting and training candidates for ordination in these judicatories, investigating
and documenting cases where a judicatory
discriminates against a postulant or candidate for ordination on the basis of
his adherence to the same beliefs and convictions. It could also investigate
and document cases in which those training for ordination are discouraged or
prevented from studying the Reformation heritage of the Anglican Church under
teachers who are sympathetic to that tradition or are required to undergo
instruction in teaching and practices not consistent with the Bible and the
Anglican formularies under teachers who are unsympathetic to the Anglican
Church’s Reformation heritage. This documentation could also be used to build a
case for GFCA intervention.
The organization could develop a supplemental curriculum of
its own to compensate for defects in the training of candidates for ordination
as such training relates not only to the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage
but also to the Bible and the Anglican formularies.
In the absence of GFCA intervention the evidence of
discrimination against Reformation heritage Anglicans gathered in the monitoring
process would be helpful to the participating churches in determining what
should be their next course of action.
These five benefits are not the only benefits that
Reformation heritage Anglicans in the Anglican Church in North America would
gain from organizing. However, they are important ones. What other benefits can
you think of?
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