South African Diocesan Synod Affirms GAFCON's Jerusalem Declaration

The Synod of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth unanimously passed a proposal which requires that any future nominee for bishop of the Diocese must affirm the Jerusalem Declaration. The Jerusalem Declaration affirms the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571, The Book of Common Prayer of 1662, and the Ordinal of 1661 as the longstanding doctrinal and worship standard for historic Anglicanism but also addresses a number of contemporary issues that the historic Anglican formularies do not address. Like the Articles of Religion one of the purposes of the Jerusalem Declaration is to define Anglican orthodoxy. Requiring nominees for bishop of the Diocese to affirm the declaration is one way of ensuring at least initially that they are orthodox. It does not guarantee, however. that the nominee who is elected bishop of the Diocese will remain orthodox. Nor does it prevent a candidate from affirming the declaration in a bid to gain the office of bishop in order to introduce revisionist changes in the Diocese. Here a provision in the constitution and canons of the Diocese like that in the Constitution of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa would prove useful. It requires members of the clergy to resign if they should cease to uphold the doctrinal views of REACH South Africa. The synod of a Diocese might adopt a similar provision requiring the bishop and other members of clergy to step down if they cease to agree with the tenets of Anglican orthodoxy set out in the Jerusalem Declaration.