By Robin G. Jordan
The GAFCON Primates prematurely recognized the Anglican
Church in North America as an authentic expression of Anglicanism without
waiting for the real theological character of that denomination to emerge. That character has emerged over the past five years and it is far from genuinely Anglican.
The ACNA would more accurately be described as an independent Catholic
jurisdiction rather than an Anglican one. The ACNA is officially unreformed
Catholic in its doctrine and practices as evidenced by its own formularies—its
Fundamental Declarations, its Canons, its Ordinal, its Catechism, and its
proposed Prayer Book. The doctrine and practices countenanced in these formularies
are at odds with the biblical and Reformation principles of authentic historic
Anglicanism. The denomination makes no room in its formularies for the
doctrinal and liturgical views of confessing Anglicans—orthodox Anglicans
faithful to the Bible and the historic Anglican formularies and standing in the
Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage.
Primary responsibility for the direction in which the
Anglican Church in North America has moved in the past five years lies with the
present ACNA leadership—its College of Bishops. Members of that body have
spoken against the Protestant Elizabethan Settlement; have assured those who
share their doctrinal and liturgical views that the denomination’s Fundamental
Declarations, not the Jerusalem Declaration (and by the inference not the Bible
and the historic Anglican formularies), would guide and inform the faith and
life of the denomination; have blocked efforts to make the denomination more
comprehensive; have called for a new Catholic Revival and taken steps to foster
a movement toward that end; and have consistently voted in favor of giving
a central place to unreformed Catholic doctrine and practices in the
denomination’s formularies to the exclusion of genuine historic Anglican
thought.
In terms of faithfulness to the Bible, the historic Anglican
formularies, and the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage, the bishops of the
Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (the operational name of the Church of England in
South Africa) are far more deserving of an invitation to the 2020 Lambeth
Conference than are the ACNA bishops. Julian Mann’s recent proposal that the GAFCON Primates leverage an invitation for
the ACNA bishops to the 2020 Lambeth Conference by threatening a boycott of the
conference if the ACNA bishops are not invited is not only high questionable
from a moral and ethical standpoint but it also shows a lack of familiarity on
Mann’s part with the present situation in North America. Mann is the vicar of a
Church of England parish. Its website describes the Church of England as “a
Bible-believing Church in the Reformed tradition.” If Mann’s theological
outlook fit with this description of the Church of England, it is
incomprehensible to me that he would make such a proposal. Why would he
champion the cause of bishops who do not share his theological outlook and who
have been fostering a theological climate in their denomination that is inimical
to that outlook? It makes no sense.
The recent Primates gathering revealed one very troubling
fact. A sizeable number of Primates of the Anglican Communion are not
acquainted with developments in the Episcopal Church in the USA and the
Anglican Church of Canada. That being the case, a strong likelihood exists that
they are not familiar with developments in the Anglican Church in North
America.
In searching the Internet for articles for Anglicans Ablaze
I have repeatedly encountered articles in which opinions have been expressed
that show that the leaders and members of the Global Fellowship of Confessing
Anglicans and the GAFCON Primates themselves are not well-informed where the
ACNA is concerned.
The Anglican Church in North America does have an orthodox Anglican wing
of undetermined size, which is faithful to the Bible and the Anglican
formularies and stands in the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage. This
wing, however, does not occupy the place of power in the denomination. Its
presence in the ACNA is tolerated—at least for the present time. This wing and
the legitimate school of Anglican thought that it represents has no official
standing in the denomination. Its position is precarious and its future is
uncertain. Under the provisions of the ACNA canons the clergy and congregations
forming this wing will be required to use the proposed Prayer Book upon its
completion. This includes the ACNA Catechism and the ACNA Ordinal which will be
incorporated into the book. If they do not conform to the doctrine and
practices in these formularies, they are, under the provisions of the ACNA
canons, subject to inhibition and deprivation in the case of the clergy and
disaffiliation in the case of the congregations.
The form of governance of the Anglican Church in North
America is modeled more on that of a sub-division of the Roman Catholic Church
than a province of the Anglican Communion. Its canons incorporate doctrine,
governing principles, and language from the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. The disciplinary
canons ignore longstanding principles of Anglican jurisprudence. Its College of
Bishops functions like a conference of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.
Its Provincial Assembly has negligible authority and serves a largely cosmetic
function.
As one can see, the Anglican Church in North America as a
replacement for the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Anglican Church of
Canada as the official branch of the Anglican Church on the North American
continent falls short in a number of key areas. The ACNA does not represent
authentic historic Anglicanism in its doctrine, practices, and its form of
governance. It is not genuinely committed to the restoration of the Bible, the
historic Anglican formularies and the gospel to the heart of the Anglican
Communion.
Until the ACNA provides generous space in its formularies
for the doctrine and practices of orthodox Anglicans faithful to the Bible and
the historic Anglican formularies and standing in the Anglican Church’s
Reformation heritage and adopts and implements other much needed reforms, its
bishop should at best be granted the status that is granted to Eastern Orthodox
and Roman Catholic bishops at Anglican Communion gatherings—that of observers.
Until the Anglican Church in North America makes these
necessary changes, what the GAFCON Primates can do to further the cause of
biblical Anglicanism in North America is to support the formation of a
convocation of Anglican churches in the United States and Canada that brings
together into a single organization
orthodox Anglicans faithful to the Bible and the historic Anglican formularies
and standing in the Anglican Church’s Reformation heritage—those in the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada as well as in the Anglican
Church in North America and those outside these ecclesial bodies. The banner of
biblical Anglicanism should not be allowed to fall to the ground. Confessing Anglicans
in North America should not be left bereft of an ecclesial body that genuinely
stands for what the Jerusalem Declaration upholds. The formation of such a
convocation with the support of the GAFCON Primates would go a long way toward
restoring their credibility as the champions of Biblical Christianity and
authentic historic Anglicanism.
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