By Robin G. Jordan
What are the benefits of bringing Anglicans in North America
faithful to the Bible and the historic Anglican formularies together under one
roof, together in a province of their own?
Right now these Anglicans are scattered in a number of
jurisdictions, in a number of dioceses and other groupings. They are
disorganized and conflicted over what path they should take. Their position is
a weak one and they exercise little influence upon the ecclesial bodies of
which they are presently a part. Their position is also precarious. Their
future in these bodies is uncertain. Their presence may be tolerated but that
tolerance is likely to grow thin over time.
Forming Anglicans in North America faithful to the Bible and
the historic Anglican formularies into their own province will be beneficial in
at least five different ways:
1. They can
accomplish what the Common Cause Partnership failed to do in response to the
GAFCON Primates’ call for a new orthodox Anglican province in the North America.
They can establish a province that by the standards of historic Anglicanism and
its formularies is Biblically orthodox and fully Anglican—something that the
Anglican Church in North America is not by any stretch of the imagination.
2. They can pool their
resources for the spread of the gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom.
They can collaborate together on the planting of new churches, confident that
their efforts will not go to waste.
3. They can choose
their own bishops to provide them with spiritual oversight. They can adopt
measures to ensure that their bishops are themselves faithful to the Bible and
the historic Anglican formularies and are true servants of the gospel. Both in
the Episcopal Church in the USA and in the Anglican Church in North America
bishops have failed “to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange
doctrine contrary to God’s Word” but have themselves introduced and propagated
such doctrine.
4. They can become a
genuine force for the renewal of biblical Anglicanism in North America and
throughout the world. They can be a model of biblical Anglicanism for others
to emulate.
5. They can give a
full role to the laity in the governance of the Church as well as its ministry
and mission, in recognition that its governance, like its ministry and
mission, is properly the responsibility of the whole Church, laity and clergy
together, and not just one segment of it. All Christians who have accepted
Christ as their Lord and Saviour are members of Christ’s Body and servants of
the gospel and share a common priesthood. God bestows charisms, or spiritual gifts,
as He wills. He does not limit his gift-giving to one segment of the Church.
What other benefits
are there to bringing Anglicans in North America faithful to the Bible and
historic Anglican formularies together under one roof?
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