http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/03/bishop-of-rochester-steps-down-early-.html
[Times Online] 30 Mar 2009--Bishop Michael of Rochester has announced that he is to step down as Bishop of Rochester. The inevitable question now is, will his plan 'to work in education and mission overseas' see him emerge as a new 'bishop' of an emerging Global South? His outspoken views on Muslims are thought to have cost him Canterbury, but it is in this area that he wants now to focus his attention. He is an Islamic scholar and has good relations with Christians in Islamic areas in Pakistan and the Middle East, and it is to this mission field and churches in the developing world that he wishes to devote his remaining years in service. In February last year he had to be given police protection after he and his family received death threats. He had claimed that parts of Britain had become no-go areas for non-Muslims.
His fearless conservative evangelicalism has won him the hearts of the Anglican churches in Asia and Africa that were behind Gafcon. No vacuum exists at present with Bob Duncan firmly in pole position, but if asked to play a leading role, would he demur? 'That is a hypothetical question and we should not speculate,' said a source.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Emmanuel Kolini: The Unlikely Archbishop of Rwanda
http://societyandreligion.com/emmanuel-kolini-the-unlikely-archbishop-of-rwanda/1164/
[Soicety & Religion] 30 Mar 2009--Any pastor will tell you that no church is immune to conflict, whether the issue in question is a central point of doctrine or the choice of new carpet. But imagine serving a congregation made up of both the victims and the perpetrators of the most brutal massacre in recent history. In assuming his new post as Archbishop of Rwanda in the wake of the 1994 genocides, Emmanuel Kolini faced huge challenges. How was he to turn a sick, confused, and broken society full of widows, orphans, and prisoners and their families into a reconciled, cohesive society?
Emmanuel Kolini: The Unlikely Archbishop of Rwanda traces the story of this remarkable man through the impoverishment and racial tensions of his childhood, the years spent in refugee camps, his life as a husband and father, and his ascent through the ranks of Anglican leadership. Based on their friendship of almost ten years, author Mary Weeks Millard shines the light on the inner workings and motivations of a leader who has inspired cooperation between Muslims and Christians, led the way in restoring a nation ravaged by genocide, and pioneered HIV/AIDS initiatives.
[Soicety & Religion] 30 Mar 2009--Any pastor will tell you that no church is immune to conflict, whether the issue in question is a central point of doctrine or the choice of new carpet. But imagine serving a congregation made up of both the victims and the perpetrators of the most brutal massacre in recent history. In assuming his new post as Archbishop of Rwanda in the wake of the 1994 genocides, Emmanuel Kolini faced huge challenges. How was he to turn a sick, confused, and broken society full of widows, orphans, and prisoners and their families into a reconciled, cohesive society?
Emmanuel Kolini: The Unlikely Archbishop of Rwanda traces the story of this remarkable man through the impoverishment and racial tensions of his childhood, the years spent in refugee camps, his life as a husband and father, and his ascent through the ranks of Anglican leadership. Based on their friendship of almost ten years, author Mary Weeks Millard shines the light on the inner workings and motivations of a leader who has inspired cooperation between Muslims and Christians, led the way in restoring a nation ravaged by genocide, and pioneered HIV/AIDS initiatives.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What the Evidence Really Says about Scripture and Homosexual Practice: Five Issues
http://robgagnon.net/articles/homosexScripReallySays.doc.pdf
[Richard Gagnon] 26 Mar 2009--1. Jesus
Claim: Jesus had no interest in maintaining a male-female requirement for sexual relations.
What the evidence really shows: Jesus believed that a male-female requirement for sexual relations was foundational, a core value of Scripture’s sexual ethics on which other sexual standards should be based, including the ‘twoness’ of a sexual union.
[Richard Gagnon] 26 Mar 2009--1. Jesus
Claim: Jesus had no interest in maintaining a male-female requirement for sexual relations.
What the evidence really shows: Jesus believed that a male-female requirement for sexual relations was foundational, a core value of Scripture’s sexual ethics on which other sexual standards should be based, including the ‘twoness’ of a sexual union.
Canada--two more parishes quit
http://geoconger.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/canada-two-more-parishes-quit-cen-32009-p-9/
[George Conger] 26 Mar 2009--Two British Columbia parishes have quit the Anglican Church of Canada and have affiliated with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The votes by St Matthias in Victoria and St Mary’s Nanoose Bay increase the breakaway group’s ranks to 28 parishes served by three former Anglican Church of Canada bishops and 73 priests and deacons.
By a vote of 170 in favor and 10 opposed, St Matthias withdrew from the diocese on March 8 and joined the traditionalist breakaway group led by Bishop Don Harvey, the former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. The congregation has left its property to the diocese and a remnant group and on March 15 began worshipping at a local community center.
The 200 members of St Mary’s Church on Feb 8 also voted to quit the diocese. However the rural congregation has stayed in its building and is engaged in litigation with the diocese over its ownership.
[George Conger] 26 Mar 2009--Two British Columbia parishes have quit the Anglican Church of Canada and have affiliated with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The votes by St Matthias in Victoria and St Mary’s Nanoose Bay increase the breakaway group’s ranks to 28 parishes served by three former Anglican Church of Canada bishops and 73 priests and deacons.
By a vote of 170 in favor and 10 opposed, St Matthias withdrew from the diocese on March 8 and joined the traditionalist breakaway group led by Bishop Don Harvey, the former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. The congregation has left its property to the diocese and a remnant group and on March 15 began worshipping at a local community center.
The 200 members of St Mary’s Church on Feb 8 also voted to quit the diocese. However the rural congregation has stayed in its building and is engaged in litigation with the diocese over its ownership.
Southern Baptists urge their members to evangelize more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-25-baptist-evangelize_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
[USA Today] 26 May 2009--The Southern Baptist Convention, which is launching a new national campaign to bring unbelievers to Jesus, is up against a major obstacle: motivating its own members to evangelize.
But it may be the only effective way to reach people, according to a survey of 15,173 people by LifeWay Research, a Christian research firm.
[USA Today] 26 May 2009--The Southern Baptist Convention, which is launching a new national campaign to bring unbelievers to Jesus, is up against a major obstacle: motivating its own members to evangelize.
But it may be the only effective way to reach people, according to a survey of 15,173 people by LifeWay Research, a Christian research firm.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Archbishop Gomez: Covenant a Tough Sell in Divided Communion
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/3/24/archbishop-gomez-covenant-a-tough-sell-in-divided-communion
[The Living Church] 25 Mar 2009--As the Covenant Design Group readies its handiwork for deliberation by the Anglican Consultative Council, the group’s chairman acknowledges that selling a unity document to a divided communion will be neither automatic nor easy.
Retired West Indies’ Archbishop Drexel Wellington Gomez identified current Episcopal Church attitudes as a danger to ratification of the proposed Covenant.
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori already has said General Convention this summer should decline to take up for consideration the design group’s yet-to-be perfected recommendations for measures aimed at respecting local autonomy while providing accountability for divisive actions.
“The Episcopal Church has its own agenda,” Archbishop Gomez said in Dallas March 22, “and that agenda does not have much accommodation with the rest of the Communion.”
[The Living Church] 25 Mar 2009--As the Covenant Design Group readies its handiwork for deliberation by the Anglican Consultative Council, the group’s chairman acknowledges that selling a unity document to a divided communion will be neither automatic nor easy.
Retired West Indies’ Archbishop Drexel Wellington Gomez identified current Episcopal Church attitudes as a danger to ratification of the proposed Covenant.
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori already has said General Convention this summer should decline to take up for consideration the design group’s yet-to-be perfected recommendations for measures aimed at respecting local autonomy while providing accountability for divisive actions.
“The Episcopal Church has its own agenda,” Archbishop Gomez said in Dallas March 22, “and that agenda does not have much accommodation with the rest of the Communion.”
SAN JOSE, CA: New Anglican Church Will Come under ACNA
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10139
[VirtueOnline] 25 Mar 2009--The first congregation in the San Francisco Bay area to leave an Episcopal diocese - St. James Anglican Church - has come directly under the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
The initial launch team for St. James is lead by Fr. Ed McNeill, 49, rector of St. Edward's Episcopal Church for 10 years before his congregation voted overwhelming to leave The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of El Camino Real under Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves.
In a phone call to VirtueOnline, McNeill said the parting from the diocese was "gracious" with Bishop Gray-Reeves inhibiting him "with regret".
80 of the 110 members left and had their first worship Sunday, March 15 in the nearby Camden Community Center.
[VirtueOnline] 25 Mar 2009--The first congregation in the San Francisco Bay area to leave an Episcopal diocese - St. James Anglican Church - has come directly under the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
The initial launch team for St. James is lead by Fr. Ed McNeill, 49, rector of St. Edward's Episcopal Church for 10 years before his congregation voted overwhelming to leave The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of El Camino Real under Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves.
In a phone call to VirtueOnline, McNeill said the parting from the diocese was "gracious" with Bishop Gray-Reeves inhibiting him "with regret".
80 of the 110 members left and had their first worship Sunday, March 15 in the nearby Camden Community Center.
How Church Liberals Get Away With It
http://cranmercurate.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-church-liberals-get-away-with-it.html
[Cranmer's Curate] 25 Mar 2009--It had to happen on Mothering Sunday – a prayer to God our Mother.
No prayer for mothers as such, but an androgynous prayer for those in general who provide care for others.
The suburban, quintessentially English Victorian church in which this feminisation of God took place was oh so very respectable – choral evensong with robed choir according to the Book of Common Prayer with the newly-installed vicar, a rising star in the liberal firmament, officiating.
[Cranmer's Curate] 25 Mar 2009--It had to happen on Mothering Sunday – a prayer to God our Mother.
No prayer for mothers as such, but an androgynous prayer for those in general who provide care for others.
The suburban, quintessentially English Victorian church in which this feminisation of God took place was oh so very respectable – choral evensong with robed choir according to the Book of Common Prayer with the newly-installed vicar, a rising star in the liberal firmament, officiating.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Ecclesiastical Government in the Anglican Church in North America
By Robin G. Jordan
In this second article in my series on the ACNA provisional constitution and canons I examine the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council and their roles in the ecclesiastical government of the Anglican Church in North America. I also look at a number of the weaknesses of the particular form of ecclesiastical government that the provisional constitution and canons establishes.
The ACNA provincial constitution provides for a Provincial Assembly composed of representatives of the constituent bodies of the ACNA “in balance and in number from the laity, bishops and other clergy as from time-to-time determined by canon.” This Provincial Assembly is largely a titular body. Article VI, Section 1 states that “the chief work of the Provincial Assembly shall be strengthening the mission of the Province.” This is the envisioned role for the Provincial Assembly. How the Provincial Assembly is expected to fulfill this role is discussed below.
Article VI, Section 2 of the provisional constitution states that “the Provincial Assembly shall ratify Constitutional amendments and Canons adopted by the Provincial Council” Article VI, Section 3 states “the Provincial Assembly shall elect the Provincial Council.” These are the extent of the Provincial Assembly’s powers. The Provisional Assembly has no power to elect its own officers, appoint its own committees, or establish its own standing rules. It has no power to conduct hearings and inquiries or summon witnesses. It has no power to censure or suspend or remove from office. It has no power to initiate, adopt, amend, or repeal legislation.
Canon 2 of the ACNA provisional canons state:
“Every diocese, cluster or network has representation at the Provincial Assembly at the basic level of its bishop(s), two clergy and two laypersons. For dioceses, clusters or networks with an ASA in multiples of 1,000, there will be an additional cleric and lay person for each additional 1000 ASA.”
Canon 3 states:
“The diocese, cluster or network "in formation" shall be represented in the Provincial Assembly by the Vicar General and one clergy and one layperson.”
The provisional constitution also provides for a Provincial Council “composed of an equal number of bishops, clergy and lay persons, chosen by the Provincial Assembly from among its members.” Article II, Section 2 of the provisional constitution states that “new dioceses, clusters or networks (whether regional or affinity-based) may be added to the Province by invitation of the Provincial Council….” Article V gives the Provincial Council power to make canons. Article VII, Section 1 states that “the Provincial Council is the governing body for the Anglican Church in North America and shall have the authority to establish the program and budget of the Province.” Article VII, Section 5 gives the Provincial Council power to co-opt six additional persons to be members of the Provincial Council. It does not specify whether these persons should be clergy or laypersons or both. Article VII, Section 6 gives the Provincial Council power to appoint officers; Article VII, Section gives the Provincial Council the power to appoint an Executive Committee. Article XI vests the appointment of the members of the Provincial Tribunal in the Provincial Council. Article XIV gives the Provincial Council the power to expel a constituent body of the ACNA or a group of constituent ACNA bodies.
Canon 3 delineates a procedure by which the Provincial Council may confer temporary “in formation” status to dioceses, clusters, and networks “in formation.” Canon 8 gives responsibility for developing the program and budget of the ACNA to the Executive Committee of the Provincial Council. Canon 9 gives the Executive Committee “authority to carry out the work of the Province between meetings of the Provincial Council.”
Like the ecclesiastical organs of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church, the clergy dominate the ecclesiastical organs of the ACNA. By “clergy” I mean both episcopal and non-episcopal clergy. While bishops may differ in rank and office from presbyters and deacons, they are nonetheless clergy. (Catholics would say that they differ in order but I am writing from an Evangelical viewpoint.) The lay members of the ACNA are not represented on these bodies in proportion to their actual numbers. If we examine the constitutions of a number of Anglican Provinces, we discover some attempt to give lay members representation at least in the General Synod in greater proportion to their actual numbers. In the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria the ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives from a diocese is two clergy representatives to every three lay representatives. This is also the case in the diocesan representation in the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. Provisions for co-opted and ex-officio members of the General Synod may to a certain degree offset these ratios so that the proportion of non-episcopal clergy in these two bodies may be greater than the ratio of two clergy representatives to every three lay representatives. The presence of episcopal clergy, or bishops, in the two bodies gives the clergy fairly substantial representation in the two bodies. In the Governing Body of the Church in Wales and the General Synod of the Church of Ireland ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives from a diocese is roughly one clergy representative to every two lay representatives. Here again provisions for co-opted and ex officio members and the presence of episcopal clergy give the clergy fairly substantial representation.
The General Synod of the Church of England is composed of three houses—the Upper and Lower Houses of the Convocation of Canterbury and York and a House of Laity. The Upper House of Convocation consists of the archbishops and bishops of the two provinces. The Lower House of the Convocation consists of three persons elected by and from the deans of the Province of Canterbury; either the Dean of Jersey or the Dean of Guernsey; the proctors of the clergy of the Province of Canterbury; a minimum of three and a maximum of four persons in holy orders elected or chosen from the armed forces chaplains of the Province of Canterbury; the Chaplain General of the Prisons or a prison chaplain nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury; a maximum of two persons chosen by the priests and deacons who are members of religious communities with their mother house in the Province of Canterbury; and the Dean of the Arches and Auditor, the Vicar-General of the Province of Canterbury, the Third Church Estates Commissioner, the Chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board and any member of the Archbishops’ Council beneficed, licensed or resident in the Province of Canterbury, if such persons are priests or deacons; two persons elected by and from the deans of the Province of York; the proctors of the clergy of the Province of York; a maximum of two persons chosen by the priests and deacons who are members of religious communities with their mother house in the Province of York; and the Vicar-General of the Province of York and any member of the Archbishops’ Council beneficed, licensed or resident in the Province of York, if such persons are deacons or priests. The canons of the Church of England limit the maximum number of “proctors directly elected and specially elected” to the Lower House of Convocation from the dioceses in the Province of Canterbury to 136 and from the dioceses in the Province of York to 59. Each diocese has a minimum of three proctors with the exception of the Diocese in Europe and the Diocese of Sodor and Man. The diocese in Europe has two proctors and the Diocese of Sodor and Man one proctor. The canons of the Church of England also give the Lower House of the Convocation power to co-opt a maximum of three persons in holy orders in the case of Canterbury and two persons in holy orders in the case of York to be members of that House.
Schedule 3, Part IV of the Synodical Government Measure of 1969 establishes the House of Laity of the General Synod. The House of Laity consists of the members elected by the diocesan electors of each diocese of the Provinces of Canterbury and York; three members, two from the Province of Canterbury and one from the Province of York, chosen by “chosen by the lay members of religious communities from among their number;” and an a number of ex-officio and co-opted members. Except in the case of the diocese in Europe, the diocesan electors are the members of the houses of laity of all the deanery synods in the diocese other than persons co-opted to the deanery synod and persons who are lay members of a religious community with separate representation in the General Synod. The diocesan electors of the diocese in Europe are elected by the annual meetings of the chaplaincies in that diocese, the number of diocesan electors being determined by the bishop’s council and standing committee of the diocese.
Schedule 3, Section IV, states:
“[F136] [F2 (1) The total number of members directly elected and specially elected from the dioceses in the Province shall not exceed one hundred and seventy for Canterbury and eighty for York and no diocese shall have fewer than three directly elected members (except the diocese in Europe which shall elect two members, and the diocese of Sodor and Man which shall elect one member). Ex officio and co-opted members (as defined in rule [F342]) shall be additional to the said total number. In this rule the term “specially elected” means the representatives of the religious communities referred to in rule [F335(1)] and the representatives of the Channel Islands elected in accordance with the Channel Islands (Representation) Measure 1931 and such persons shall be included in the said total number.”
It goes on to states:
“[F4(2)] The total number of members to be elected by the diocesan electors of all the dioceses shall be fixed by resolution of the General Synod not later than the last day of November in the fourth year after the last preceding election of the house of Laity (but subject as hereinafter provided), and the resolution shall apportion the number so fixed to the Provinces of Canterbury and York in a proportion of sixty eight to thirty two or as nearly as possible thereto and shall divide the number among the dioceses so that the number of members to be elected by the several dioceses are as nearly as possible proportionate to the total number of names certified for them under the following paragraph.]
“[F4(3)] The secretary of each diocesan synod shall, not later than the first day of August in the fourth year after the last preceding election of the House of Laity, certify to the secretary of the General Synod the total number of names on the rolls of the parishes of the diocese . . . F5”
Schedule 3, Section IV further states:
“[F142] (1) The following persons, if they are not in Holy Orders, shall be ex-officio members of the House of Laity;—
“(a) the Dean of the Arches and Auditor;
“[F2(b) the Vicar-General of the Province of Canterbury;]
“[F3(c)] the Vicar-General of the Province of York;
“[F3(d)] the three Church Estate Commissioners;
“[F3(e)] the Chairman of the Central Board of Finance.
“[F4(f) the Chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board.]
“[F5(g) the members of the Archbishops’ Council who are actual communicants]
“(2) The House of Laity shall have power to co-opt persons who are F6. . . [F7actual lay communicants]of [F8eighteen years or upwards] to be members of the House of Laity:
“Provided that:—
“(a) the co-opted members shall not at any time exceed five in number; and,
“(b) no person shall be qualified to become a co-opted member unless not less than two-thirds of the members of the Standing Committee of the House of Laity shall have first consented to his being co-opted, either at a meeting of the Standing Committee or in writing.
“(3) Except in regard to their appointment, the ex-officio and co-opted members shall have the same rights and be subject to the same rules and regulations as elected members….”
It is noteworthy that the House of Laity has initiated a number of important resolutions, including the resolution that led to the General Synod of the Church of England debating whether the church should be evangelizing adherents of other faiths. The bishops of the Church of England with some notable exceptions were opposed to such a debate. They favored maintaining “community cohesion” over the evangelizing the growing Hindu, Muslim, and pagan populations of the British Isles. The debate led in turn to the General Synod affirming the Biblical doctrine of salvation in Christ alone.
One might have expected that in light of the role of bishops and other clergy in the drift of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church away from orthodox Christianity and Biblical Anglicanism and the greater conservatism and numbers of the laity, the lay members of the ACNA would have greater representation in the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council of the ACNA. In the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church, in which the clergy dominate the system of ecclesiastical government of the province, the clergy has historically demonstrated a high susceptibility to innovations in doctrine and practice. As the clergy of the province has increasingly grown liberal and revisionist, the province has increasingly moved in a liberal and revisionist direction. On other hand, the laity has shown a more conservative disposition. The laity also comprises the largest segment of the ACNA membership. They are major stakeholders in the ACNA without which the ACNA is likely to become another Continuing Anglican jurisdiction. They carry the main burden of the evangelistic outreach of the local church. They pay the salaries of the clergy. They fund, lead, and staff the ministries and programs of the local church. They make the mortgage payments on the newly constructed church buildings or the rent payments on the temporary facilities used by the local church. They support with their financial giving the ecclesiastical structures of the ACNA. One would expect that the laity would have been given greater representation in the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council on this basis alone.
However, the drafters of the ACNA provisional constitution and canons appear to have followed at least in this case the models to which they were accustomed, that of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church. Consequently, a number of attendant problems can be expected to carryover to the Anglican Church in North America from these ecclesiastical bodies. The adoption of these models also eliminate a potential check of the check and balance variety since in a system in which the clergy have fairly substantial representation; the lay representatives are more vulnerable to clergy efforts to manipulate them and to control their vote. They are more likely to vote with the clergy representatives. They are not likely to exercise any independence and to vote their conscience. This explains how lay delegates who hold a conservative position on a number of key issues can attend a session of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and vote in support of the liberal position on these issues.
Like the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church the ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives for each “diocese” is one clergy representative for every lay representative. Under the constitutions of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church each diocese is entitled to a minimum of four non-episcopal clergy delegates and four lay delegates to the General Synod or General Convention, as the case may be. An ACNA “diocese” is entitled to a minimum of two non-episcopal clergy delegates and two lay delegates to the Provincial Assembly. An ACNA “diocese” in formation is entitled to only one non-episcopal clergy delegate and one lay delegate. For an ecclesiastical organization that has boasted in recent months that it is larger than a number of Anglican provinces, the ACNA has a relatively small Provincial Assembly.
Along with the clergy dominance and size of the Provincial Assembly, what is also notable about the Provincial Assembly is that it has very limited powers. Its function has been described as being more like the AMiA Winter Conference than the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. For those unfamiliar with the AMiA Winter Conference, it bears a strong resemblance to a three-day long pep rally. There is Bible study sessions, prayer meetings, inspirational talks, workshops, booths, and addresses by visiting dignitaries from the global South Anglican provinces. Members of the AMiA from one part of North America have an opportunity to meet members of the AMiA from other parts of North America. The AMiA Conference is also used to announce new AMiA initiatives. It is not a governing body like a General Synod or a General Convention.
The ANCA provisional constitution assigns to the even smaller Provincial Council the powers normally assigned to the General Synod or the equivalent of an Anglican province in a synodical form of ecclesiastical government. Under the terms of the ACNA provisional constitution the Provincial Assembly does not exercise any kind of oversight over the Provincial Council. The Provincial Council, while it is elected by the Provincial Assembly and must submit canons and constitutional amendments to the Provincial Assembly for ratification, is not accountable to the Provincial Assembly. The Provincial Council is not even required to consult the Provincial Assembly on major budgetary and program decisions. In a synodical form of ecclesiastical government the Provincial Council or its equivalent would be the executive organ of the General Synod or its equivalent and would be accountable and subject to the General Synod. The General Synod would appoint and remove its members, determine its powers and functions, and exercise oversight over the Provincial Council.
As I have written elsewhere the Provincial Council bears a striking resemblance to the board of directors of a corporation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union, the People’s Council of Ministers of the People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, and similar bodies. In all these instances the smaller body and not the larger body electing it is the real center of power in the organization—whether corporation, party, or nation.
The ACNA clergy dominates the Provincial Council as they do the Provincial Assembly. With the concentration of so much power in the Provincial Council, one can expect to see that body the focus of intense political maneuvering. Different factions can be expected to emerge in the ACNA and form alliances to control that body. The Provincial Council is vulnerable to takeover by the strongest faction in the ACNA and its allies with the coalition that they form determining the direction of the ACNA.
The concentration of power in one small body nullifies whatever safeguards the ACNA provisional constitution establishes for the protection of theological affinity groups. These safeguard are at best minimal—one provision for the organization of “dioceses” on the basis of theological affinity, a provision that is greatly weakened by the canonical requirement that such a “diocese” must within the space of five years grow to at least 12 churches with an ASA of at least fifty each and a collective ASA of 1000 in order to become a recognized diocese of the ACNA. This provision is further weakened by the terms of the ACNA provisional constitution that vest the governance of the ACNA in the Provincial Council in which the “diocese” in formation is not guaranteed even minimal representation.
The ACNA provisional constitution does not offer to its “dioceses” any safeguards like those that the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia offers to its dioceses. Under the terms of the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia any proposed canon that deals with or concerns the faith, ritual, ceremonial, or discipline of the church is treated as a special bill in the General Synod. In order to pass the General Synod a special bill must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of each of the three houses present. If a special bill passes the General Synod, it becomes a provisional canon. The provisional canon is then referred to the diocesan synod of each diocese for its consideration. Each diocesan synod, within a period of time specified by canon or by the provisional canon, submits to the President of the General Synod “its assent to or dissent from the provisional canon together with such report and recommendation as it may think fit.” If every diocesan synod assents to the provisional canon, it is, upon the declaration of the President that every diocesan synod had assented to it, a canon duly passed. However, if every diocesan synod does not assent to the provisional canon, the reports and recommendations received from the diocesan synods are presented to the General Synod and the provisional canon is presented to the General Synod as if it were a bill. If the bill is approved by at least two-thirds of the members of each of the three houses present, it is a canon duly passed. However, if the General Synod, immediately before the vote is taken, by a majority of the three houses voting together, so resolves, it is a provisional bill only, whereupon the foregoing procedure is again followed.
Any canon affecting the faith, ritual, ceremonial, or discipline of the church is deemed to affect the order and good government of the church within a diocese, and does not come into force in any diocese unless and until the diocese by ordinance adopts the canon. If the General Synod declares that the provisions of any other canon affect the order and good government of the church within a diocese, it does not come into force in any diocese unless and until the diocese by ordinance adopts it. If the General Synod does not so declare, the diocesan synod of a diocese may declare its opinion that the provisions of the canon affect the order and good government of the church within such diocese and notify the President within one month after so declaring its opinion. If that diocesan synod so declare its opinion within a period of two years from the date of the passing of the canon and the Standing Committee of the General Synod advises the President that it agrees with the diocesan synod’s opinion the canon does not and is deemed not to have come into force in that convocation unless and until it is adopted by ordinance of the diocesan synod. If the diocesan synod declare its opinion at any time after the expiration of the period of two years and the Standing Committee of the General Synod advises the President that it agrees with the diocesan synod’s opinion the canon ceases to apply to the diocese as from the date of the Standing Committee’s declaration and does not after that date again come into force in such diocese unless and until it is adopted by ordinance of the diocesan synod. If the Standing Committee of the General Synod in either case does not so advise the President he refers the question raised by the diocesan synod’s opinion to the Appellate Tribunal for its determination and unless the Appellate Tribunal determines the question in the negative the canon is deemed not to have come into force in that diocese in the first case or to have force or effect in that diocese after the date of the diocesan synod’s declaration in the second case until the diocesan synod by ordinance adopts the canon. Any canon adopted as just described by a diocesan synod may by ordinance be excluded at a subsequent date.
These provisions of the Anglican Church of Australia’s constitution preserve the autonomy of the diocese in the ACA. They provide safeguards against enactments of the General Synod that would impose unacceptable changes in faith, ritual, ceremonial or discipline upon a diocese. The domination of the General Synod by one faction and its allies is much more difficult under these provisions. They also discourage hastily conceived legislation. They encourage those seeking to propose legislation in the General Synod to consult with all the diocesan synods beforehand and to work out with the these bodies legislative proposals that are agreeable to them. The provisions of the ACA constitution also limit what financial liabilities the General Synod can impose on any diocese by canon or rule.
The lack of similar safeguards in the ACNA provisional constitution is surprising after what has happened in the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church during the past two decades. So is the absence of substantial guarantees of diocesan autonomy in view of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statements about the relationship of the diocese, the See of Canterbury, and the Anglican Communion and the general agreement of conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians with this position, as well as the events of the last two decades. This leads individuals like myself to ask has all through which we have gone been for nothing. The ACNA provisional constitution is extremely disappointing. The provisional canons are not any less disappointing.
In my next article in this series on the ACNA provisional constitution and canons I examine the procedure for the election and appointment of bishops and the new office of Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America in the ACNA provisional constitution and canons.
I have submitted to the ACNA leadership a proposal for an alternative constitution for the ACNA modeled on that of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas; it is on the Internet with an introduction explaining its features and a commentary on two sections needing further revision at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/01/proposed-constitution-of-anglican.html
In this second article in my series on the ACNA provisional constitution and canons I examine the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council and their roles in the ecclesiastical government of the Anglican Church in North America. I also look at a number of the weaknesses of the particular form of ecclesiastical government that the provisional constitution and canons establishes.
The ACNA provincial constitution provides for a Provincial Assembly composed of representatives of the constituent bodies of the ACNA “in balance and in number from the laity, bishops and other clergy as from time-to-time determined by canon.” This Provincial Assembly is largely a titular body. Article VI, Section 1 states that “the chief work of the Provincial Assembly shall be strengthening the mission of the Province.” This is the envisioned role for the Provincial Assembly. How the Provincial Assembly is expected to fulfill this role is discussed below.
Article VI, Section 2 of the provisional constitution states that “the Provincial Assembly shall ratify Constitutional amendments and Canons adopted by the Provincial Council” Article VI, Section 3 states “the Provincial Assembly shall elect the Provincial Council.” These are the extent of the Provincial Assembly’s powers. The Provisional Assembly has no power to elect its own officers, appoint its own committees, or establish its own standing rules. It has no power to conduct hearings and inquiries or summon witnesses. It has no power to censure or suspend or remove from office. It has no power to initiate, adopt, amend, or repeal legislation.
Canon 2 of the ACNA provisional canons state:
“Every diocese, cluster or network has representation at the Provincial Assembly at the basic level of its bishop(s), two clergy and two laypersons. For dioceses, clusters or networks with an ASA in multiples of 1,000, there will be an additional cleric and lay person for each additional 1000 ASA.”
Canon 3 states:
“The diocese, cluster or network "in formation" shall be represented in the Provincial Assembly by the Vicar General and one clergy and one layperson.”
The provisional constitution also provides for a Provincial Council “composed of an equal number of bishops, clergy and lay persons, chosen by the Provincial Assembly from among its members.” Article II, Section 2 of the provisional constitution states that “new dioceses, clusters or networks (whether regional or affinity-based) may be added to the Province by invitation of the Provincial Council….” Article V gives the Provincial Council power to make canons. Article VII, Section 1 states that “the Provincial Council is the governing body for the Anglican Church in North America and shall have the authority to establish the program and budget of the Province.” Article VII, Section 5 gives the Provincial Council power to co-opt six additional persons to be members of the Provincial Council. It does not specify whether these persons should be clergy or laypersons or both. Article VII, Section 6 gives the Provincial Council power to appoint officers; Article VII, Section gives the Provincial Council the power to appoint an Executive Committee. Article XI vests the appointment of the members of the Provincial Tribunal in the Provincial Council. Article XIV gives the Provincial Council the power to expel a constituent body of the ACNA or a group of constituent ACNA bodies.
Canon 3 delineates a procedure by which the Provincial Council may confer temporary “in formation” status to dioceses, clusters, and networks “in formation.” Canon 8 gives responsibility for developing the program and budget of the ACNA to the Executive Committee of the Provincial Council. Canon 9 gives the Executive Committee “authority to carry out the work of the Province between meetings of the Provincial Council.”
Like the ecclesiastical organs of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church, the clergy dominate the ecclesiastical organs of the ACNA. By “clergy” I mean both episcopal and non-episcopal clergy. While bishops may differ in rank and office from presbyters and deacons, they are nonetheless clergy. (Catholics would say that they differ in order but I am writing from an Evangelical viewpoint.) The lay members of the ACNA are not represented on these bodies in proportion to their actual numbers. If we examine the constitutions of a number of Anglican Provinces, we discover some attempt to give lay members representation at least in the General Synod in greater proportion to their actual numbers. In the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria the ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives from a diocese is two clergy representatives to every three lay representatives. This is also the case in the diocesan representation in the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. Provisions for co-opted and ex-officio members of the General Synod may to a certain degree offset these ratios so that the proportion of non-episcopal clergy in these two bodies may be greater than the ratio of two clergy representatives to every three lay representatives. The presence of episcopal clergy, or bishops, in the two bodies gives the clergy fairly substantial representation in the two bodies. In the Governing Body of the Church in Wales and the General Synod of the Church of Ireland ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives from a diocese is roughly one clergy representative to every two lay representatives. Here again provisions for co-opted and ex officio members and the presence of episcopal clergy give the clergy fairly substantial representation.
The General Synod of the Church of England is composed of three houses—the Upper and Lower Houses of the Convocation of Canterbury and York and a House of Laity. The Upper House of Convocation consists of the archbishops and bishops of the two provinces. The Lower House of the Convocation consists of three persons elected by and from the deans of the Province of Canterbury; either the Dean of Jersey or the Dean of Guernsey; the proctors of the clergy of the Province of Canterbury; a minimum of three and a maximum of four persons in holy orders elected or chosen from the armed forces chaplains of the Province of Canterbury; the Chaplain General of the Prisons or a prison chaplain nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury; a maximum of two persons chosen by the priests and deacons who are members of religious communities with their mother house in the Province of Canterbury; and the Dean of the Arches and Auditor, the Vicar-General of the Province of Canterbury, the Third Church Estates Commissioner, the Chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board and any member of the Archbishops’ Council beneficed, licensed or resident in the Province of Canterbury, if such persons are priests or deacons; two persons elected by and from the deans of the Province of York; the proctors of the clergy of the Province of York; a maximum of two persons chosen by the priests and deacons who are members of religious communities with their mother house in the Province of York; and the Vicar-General of the Province of York and any member of the Archbishops’ Council beneficed, licensed or resident in the Province of York, if such persons are deacons or priests. The canons of the Church of England limit the maximum number of “proctors directly elected and specially elected” to the Lower House of Convocation from the dioceses in the Province of Canterbury to 136 and from the dioceses in the Province of York to 59. Each diocese has a minimum of three proctors with the exception of the Diocese in Europe and the Diocese of Sodor and Man. The diocese in Europe has two proctors and the Diocese of Sodor and Man one proctor. The canons of the Church of England also give the Lower House of the Convocation power to co-opt a maximum of three persons in holy orders in the case of Canterbury and two persons in holy orders in the case of York to be members of that House.
Schedule 3, Part IV of the Synodical Government Measure of 1969 establishes the House of Laity of the General Synod. The House of Laity consists of the members elected by the diocesan electors of each diocese of the Provinces of Canterbury and York; three members, two from the Province of Canterbury and one from the Province of York, chosen by “chosen by the lay members of religious communities from among their number;” and an a number of ex-officio and co-opted members. Except in the case of the diocese in Europe, the diocesan electors are the members of the houses of laity of all the deanery synods in the diocese other than persons co-opted to the deanery synod and persons who are lay members of a religious community with separate representation in the General Synod. The diocesan electors of the diocese in Europe are elected by the annual meetings of the chaplaincies in that diocese, the number of diocesan electors being determined by the bishop’s council and standing committee of the diocese.
Schedule 3, Section IV, states:
“[F136] [F2 (1) The total number of members directly elected and specially elected from the dioceses in the Province shall not exceed one hundred and seventy for Canterbury and eighty for York and no diocese shall have fewer than three directly elected members (except the diocese in Europe which shall elect two members, and the diocese of Sodor and Man which shall elect one member). Ex officio and co-opted members (as defined in rule [F342]) shall be additional to the said total number. In this rule the term “specially elected” means the representatives of the religious communities referred to in rule [F335(1)] and the representatives of the Channel Islands elected in accordance with the Channel Islands (Representation) Measure 1931 and such persons shall be included in the said total number.”
It goes on to states:
“[F4(2)] The total number of members to be elected by the diocesan electors of all the dioceses shall be fixed by resolution of the General Synod not later than the last day of November in the fourth year after the last preceding election of the house of Laity (but subject as hereinafter provided), and the resolution shall apportion the number so fixed to the Provinces of Canterbury and York in a proportion of sixty eight to thirty two or as nearly as possible thereto and shall divide the number among the dioceses so that the number of members to be elected by the several dioceses are as nearly as possible proportionate to the total number of names certified for them under the following paragraph.]
“[F4(3)] The secretary of each diocesan synod shall, not later than the first day of August in the fourth year after the last preceding election of the House of Laity, certify to the secretary of the General Synod the total number of names on the rolls of the parishes of the diocese . . . F5”
Schedule 3, Section IV further states:
“[F142] (1) The following persons, if they are not in Holy Orders, shall be ex-officio members of the House of Laity;—
“(a) the Dean of the Arches and Auditor;
“[F2(b) the Vicar-General of the Province of Canterbury;]
“[F3(c)] the Vicar-General of the Province of York;
“[F3(d)] the three Church Estate Commissioners;
“[F3(e)] the Chairman of the Central Board of Finance.
“[F4(f) the Chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board.]
“[F5(g) the members of the Archbishops’ Council who are actual communicants]
“(2) The House of Laity shall have power to co-opt persons who are F6. . . [F7actual lay communicants]of [F8eighteen years or upwards] to be members of the House of Laity:
“Provided that:—
“(a) the co-opted members shall not at any time exceed five in number; and,
“(b) no person shall be qualified to become a co-opted member unless not less than two-thirds of the members of the Standing Committee of the House of Laity shall have first consented to his being co-opted, either at a meeting of the Standing Committee or in writing.
“(3) Except in regard to their appointment, the ex-officio and co-opted members shall have the same rights and be subject to the same rules and regulations as elected members….”
It is noteworthy that the House of Laity has initiated a number of important resolutions, including the resolution that led to the General Synod of the Church of England debating whether the church should be evangelizing adherents of other faiths. The bishops of the Church of England with some notable exceptions were opposed to such a debate. They favored maintaining “community cohesion” over the evangelizing the growing Hindu, Muslim, and pagan populations of the British Isles. The debate led in turn to the General Synod affirming the Biblical doctrine of salvation in Christ alone.
One might have expected that in light of the role of bishops and other clergy in the drift of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church away from orthodox Christianity and Biblical Anglicanism and the greater conservatism and numbers of the laity, the lay members of the ACNA would have greater representation in the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council of the ACNA. In the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church, in which the clergy dominate the system of ecclesiastical government of the province, the clergy has historically demonstrated a high susceptibility to innovations in doctrine and practice. As the clergy of the province has increasingly grown liberal and revisionist, the province has increasingly moved in a liberal and revisionist direction. On other hand, the laity has shown a more conservative disposition. The laity also comprises the largest segment of the ACNA membership. They are major stakeholders in the ACNA without which the ACNA is likely to become another Continuing Anglican jurisdiction. They carry the main burden of the evangelistic outreach of the local church. They pay the salaries of the clergy. They fund, lead, and staff the ministries and programs of the local church. They make the mortgage payments on the newly constructed church buildings or the rent payments on the temporary facilities used by the local church. They support with their financial giving the ecclesiastical structures of the ACNA. One would expect that the laity would have been given greater representation in the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council on this basis alone.
However, the drafters of the ACNA provisional constitution and canons appear to have followed at least in this case the models to which they were accustomed, that of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church. Consequently, a number of attendant problems can be expected to carryover to the Anglican Church in North America from these ecclesiastical bodies. The adoption of these models also eliminate a potential check of the check and balance variety since in a system in which the clergy have fairly substantial representation; the lay representatives are more vulnerable to clergy efforts to manipulate them and to control their vote. They are more likely to vote with the clergy representatives. They are not likely to exercise any independence and to vote their conscience. This explains how lay delegates who hold a conservative position on a number of key issues can attend a session of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and vote in support of the liberal position on these issues.
Like the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church the ratio of non-episcopal clergy representatives to lay representatives for each “diocese” is one clergy representative for every lay representative. Under the constitutions of the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church each diocese is entitled to a minimum of four non-episcopal clergy delegates and four lay delegates to the General Synod or General Convention, as the case may be. An ACNA “diocese” is entitled to a minimum of two non-episcopal clergy delegates and two lay delegates to the Provincial Assembly. An ACNA “diocese” in formation is entitled to only one non-episcopal clergy delegate and one lay delegate. For an ecclesiastical organization that has boasted in recent months that it is larger than a number of Anglican provinces, the ACNA has a relatively small Provincial Assembly.
Along with the clergy dominance and size of the Provincial Assembly, what is also notable about the Provincial Assembly is that it has very limited powers. Its function has been described as being more like the AMiA Winter Conference than the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. For those unfamiliar with the AMiA Winter Conference, it bears a strong resemblance to a three-day long pep rally. There is Bible study sessions, prayer meetings, inspirational talks, workshops, booths, and addresses by visiting dignitaries from the global South Anglican provinces. Members of the AMiA from one part of North America have an opportunity to meet members of the AMiA from other parts of North America. The AMiA Conference is also used to announce new AMiA initiatives. It is not a governing body like a General Synod or a General Convention.
The ANCA provisional constitution assigns to the even smaller Provincial Council the powers normally assigned to the General Synod or the equivalent of an Anglican province in a synodical form of ecclesiastical government. Under the terms of the ACNA provisional constitution the Provincial Assembly does not exercise any kind of oversight over the Provincial Council. The Provincial Council, while it is elected by the Provincial Assembly and must submit canons and constitutional amendments to the Provincial Assembly for ratification, is not accountable to the Provincial Assembly. The Provincial Council is not even required to consult the Provincial Assembly on major budgetary and program decisions. In a synodical form of ecclesiastical government the Provincial Council or its equivalent would be the executive organ of the General Synod or its equivalent and would be accountable and subject to the General Synod. The General Synod would appoint and remove its members, determine its powers and functions, and exercise oversight over the Provincial Council.
As I have written elsewhere the Provincial Council bears a striking resemblance to the board of directors of a corporation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union, the People’s Council of Ministers of the People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, and similar bodies. In all these instances the smaller body and not the larger body electing it is the real center of power in the organization—whether corporation, party, or nation.
The ACNA clergy dominates the Provincial Council as they do the Provincial Assembly. With the concentration of so much power in the Provincial Council, one can expect to see that body the focus of intense political maneuvering. Different factions can be expected to emerge in the ACNA and form alliances to control that body. The Provincial Council is vulnerable to takeover by the strongest faction in the ACNA and its allies with the coalition that they form determining the direction of the ACNA.
The concentration of power in one small body nullifies whatever safeguards the ACNA provisional constitution establishes for the protection of theological affinity groups. These safeguard are at best minimal—one provision for the organization of “dioceses” on the basis of theological affinity, a provision that is greatly weakened by the canonical requirement that such a “diocese” must within the space of five years grow to at least 12 churches with an ASA of at least fifty each and a collective ASA of 1000 in order to become a recognized diocese of the ACNA. This provision is further weakened by the terms of the ACNA provisional constitution that vest the governance of the ACNA in the Provincial Council in which the “diocese” in formation is not guaranteed even minimal representation.
The ACNA provisional constitution does not offer to its “dioceses” any safeguards like those that the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia offers to its dioceses. Under the terms of the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia any proposed canon that deals with or concerns the faith, ritual, ceremonial, or discipline of the church is treated as a special bill in the General Synod. In order to pass the General Synod a special bill must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of each of the three houses present. If a special bill passes the General Synod, it becomes a provisional canon. The provisional canon is then referred to the diocesan synod of each diocese for its consideration. Each diocesan synod, within a period of time specified by canon or by the provisional canon, submits to the President of the General Synod “its assent to or dissent from the provisional canon together with such report and recommendation as it may think fit.” If every diocesan synod assents to the provisional canon, it is, upon the declaration of the President that every diocesan synod had assented to it, a canon duly passed. However, if every diocesan synod does not assent to the provisional canon, the reports and recommendations received from the diocesan synods are presented to the General Synod and the provisional canon is presented to the General Synod as if it were a bill. If the bill is approved by at least two-thirds of the members of each of the three houses present, it is a canon duly passed. However, if the General Synod, immediately before the vote is taken, by a majority of the three houses voting together, so resolves, it is a provisional bill only, whereupon the foregoing procedure is again followed.
Any canon affecting the faith, ritual, ceremonial, or discipline of the church is deemed to affect the order and good government of the church within a diocese, and does not come into force in any diocese unless and until the diocese by ordinance adopts the canon. If the General Synod declares that the provisions of any other canon affect the order and good government of the church within a diocese, it does not come into force in any diocese unless and until the diocese by ordinance adopts it. If the General Synod does not so declare, the diocesan synod of a diocese may declare its opinion that the provisions of the canon affect the order and good government of the church within such diocese and notify the President within one month after so declaring its opinion. If that diocesan synod so declare its opinion within a period of two years from the date of the passing of the canon and the Standing Committee of the General Synod advises the President that it agrees with the diocesan synod’s opinion the canon does not and is deemed not to have come into force in that convocation unless and until it is adopted by ordinance of the diocesan synod. If the diocesan synod declare its opinion at any time after the expiration of the period of two years and the Standing Committee of the General Synod advises the President that it agrees with the diocesan synod’s opinion the canon ceases to apply to the diocese as from the date of the Standing Committee’s declaration and does not after that date again come into force in such diocese unless and until it is adopted by ordinance of the diocesan synod. If the Standing Committee of the General Synod in either case does not so advise the President he refers the question raised by the diocesan synod’s opinion to the Appellate Tribunal for its determination and unless the Appellate Tribunal determines the question in the negative the canon is deemed not to have come into force in that diocese in the first case or to have force or effect in that diocese after the date of the diocesan synod’s declaration in the second case until the diocesan synod by ordinance adopts the canon. Any canon adopted as just described by a diocesan synod may by ordinance be excluded at a subsequent date.
These provisions of the Anglican Church of Australia’s constitution preserve the autonomy of the diocese in the ACA. They provide safeguards against enactments of the General Synod that would impose unacceptable changes in faith, ritual, ceremonial or discipline upon a diocese. The domination of the General Synod by one faction and its allies is much more difficult under these provisions. They also discourage hastily conceived legislation. They encourage those seeking to propose legislation in the General Synod to consult with all the diocesan synods beforehand and to work out with the these bodies legislative proposals that are agreeable to them. The provisions of the ACA constitution also limit what financial liabilities the General Synod can impose on any diocese by canon or rule.
The lack of similar safeguards in the ACNA provisional constitution is surprising after what has happened in the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church during the past two decades. So is the absence of substantial guarantees of diocesan autonomy in view of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statements about the relationship of the diocese, the See of Canterbury, and the Anglican Communion and the general agreement of conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians with this position, as well as the events of the last two decades. This leads individuals like myself to ask has all through which we have gone been for nothing. The ACNA provisional constitution is extremely disappointing. The provisional canons are not any less disappointing.
In my next article in this series on the ACNA provisional constitution and canons I examine the procedure for the election and appointment of bishops and the new office of Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America in the ACNA provisional constitution and canons.
I have submitted to the ACNA leadership a proposal for an alternative constitution for the ACNA modeled on that of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas; it is on the Internet with an introduction explaining its features and a commentary on two sections needing further revision at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/01/proposed-constitution-of-anglican.html
The Delay of Marriage and the Decline of Church Attendance
http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2009/03/the-delay-of-marriage-and-the-decline-of-church-attendance-23/index.html
[The Christian Post] 23 Mar 2009--W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia has written a must-read article in the "Houses of Worship" column of The Wall Street Journal. Wilcox, whose research and analysis is consistently top-notch and relevant, considers the impact of the expansion of the government sector in American society. As the "welfare state" expands, the church recedes as the source of needed charity and social services. Thus, as Wilcox notes, the expansion of the state is, in effect, a driving force behind the secularization of the society.
In "God Will Provide - Unless the Government Gets There First," Wilcox offers reflections on the recent release of the American Religious Identification Survey [ARIS] which indicated that the number of secular Americans has increased from 2% in 1962 and 8% in 1990 to fully 15% in 2008.
His argument, put simply, is that the expansion of the government sector to offer cradle-to-grave social services contributes to the secularization of the society.
Then he offers this crucial insight....
[The Christian Post] 23 Mar 2009--W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia has written a must-read article in the "Houses of Worship" column of The Wall Street Journal. Wilcox, whose research and analysis is consistently top-notch and relevant, considers the impact of the expansion of the government sector in American society. As the "welfare state" expands, the church recedes as the source of needed charity and social services. Thus, as Wilcox notes, the expansion of the state is, in effect, a driving force behind the secularization of the society.
In "God Will Provide - Unless the Government Gets There First," Wilcox offers reflections on the recent release of the American Religious Identification Survey [ARIS] which indicated that the number of secular Americans has increased from 2% in 1962 and 8% in 1990 to fully 15% in 2008.
His argument, put simply, is that the expansion of the government sector to offer cradle-to-grave social services contributes to the secularization of the society.
Then he offers this crucial insight....
ACNA Expects at Least Five Inaugural Dioceses
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/3/21/acna-expects-at-least-five-inaugural-dioceses
[The Living Church] 23 Mar 2009--The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) expects to receive at least five, and perhaps as many as eight, applications for official recognition as a diocese when it meets for its first provincial assembly in June.
A letter sent in January by the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan to members of the Common Cause Partnership encouraged the formation of dioceses.
“Consistent with all Anglican practice, congregations are a part of an Anglican province because they are part of a diocese, which in turn, is part of a group of dioceses banded together as a national (or international) church,” Bishop Duncan wrote. “This principle is critical to understanding the provisional constitution of the [ACNA], and to the steps we all need to take as we move toward our first provincial assembly.”
[The Living Church] 23 Mar 2009--The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) expects to receive at least five, and perhaps as many as eight, applications for official recognition as a diocese when it meets for its first provincial assembly in June.
A letter sent in January by the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan to members of the Common Cause Partnership encouraged the formation of dioceses.
“Consistent with all Anglican practice, congregations are a part of an Anglican province because they are part of a diocese, which in turn, is part of a group of dioceses banded together as a national (or international) church,” Bishop Duncan wrote. “This principle is critical to understanding the provisional constitution of the [ACNA], and to the steps we all need to take as we move toward our first provincial assembly.”
Sioux Indians quit US Church
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4142
[Religious Intelligence] 23 Mar 2009--Members of nine congregations closed last year on a Sioux Indian reservation have quit the Diocese of South Dakota and formed the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church.
On March 14, the clergy and members of the nine redundant rural churches created the new group, which they say will not be affiliated with either the Episcopal Church or its rival Anglican Church in North America, to oversee the reservation churches.
Speaking to the Rapid City Journal, Lori Ann Two Bulls said the group has petitioned the tribe’s Land Committee to transfer ownership rights to the church properties from the diocese to the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church. It asked the tribal council to allow it to “continue operating the churches expelled by The Episcopal diocese,” she explained.
[Religious Intelligence] 23 Mar 2009--Members of nine congregations closed last year on a Sioux Indian reservation have quit the Diocese of South Dakota and formed the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church.
On March 14, the clergy and members of the nine redundant rural churches created the new group, which they say will not be affiliated with either the Episcopal Church or its rival Anglican Church in North America, to oversee the reservation churches.
Speaking to the Rapid City Journal, Lori Ann Two Bulls said the group has petitioned the tribe’s Land Committee to transfer ownership rights to the church properties from the diocese to the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church. It asked the tribal council to allow it to “continue operating the churches expelled by The Episcopal diocese,” she explained.
Church’s concern over Sharia law rule
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4140
[Religious Intelligence] 23 Mar 2009--The church of Pakistan will take a wait and see approach to the deal forged last month by the government of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Islamist militant group the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah-Mohammadi (TNSM) that imposed Sharia law on the Swat Valley.
The General Secretary of the Church of Pakistan, Humphrey Peters told The Church of England Newspaper that it was “not very clear” what form of Sharia law was under consideration in the former princely state of 1.8 million people, located 100 miles northeast of Peshawar.
“We are closely watching what type of law will be implemented, and then we will manage to see and comment on its implications,” Mr Peters said. On Feb 16 the NWFP government and the leader of the TNSM, Sufi Mohammad Khan, agreed to a truce to end two years of fighting that according to records released last year by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had lead to the deaths of at least 400 civilians and the destruction of over 1,000 homes.
[Religious Intelligence] 23 Mar 2009--The church of Pakistan will take a wait and see approach to the deal forged last month by the government of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Islamist militant group the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah-Mohammadi (TNSM) that imposed Sharia law on the Swat Valley.
The General Secretary of the Church of Pakistan, Humphrey Peters told The Church of England Newspaper that it was “not very clear” what form of Sharia law was under consideration in the former princely state of 1.8 million people, located 100 miles northeast of Peshawar.
“We are closely watching what type of law will be implemented, and then we will manage to see and comment on its implications,” Mr Peters said. On Feb 16 the NWFP government and the leader of the TNSM, Sufi Mohammad Khan, agreed to a truce to end two years of fighting that according to records released last year by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had lead to the deaths of at least 400 civilians and the destruction of over 1,000 homes.
Church of Nigeria Formally Accepts Emerging Anglican Province
http://www.christianpost.com/Intl/Church_bodies/2009/03/church-of-nigeria-formally-accepts-emerging-anglican-province-21/
[The Christian Post] 23 Mar 2009--The Church of Nigeria, the largest province in the Anglican Communion, has become the first to formally accept a new orthodox province emerging in North America.
Although official recognition from the entire 77 million-member Anglican Communion is expected to take years, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria resolved unanimously to be in "full communion" with the emerging Anglican Church in North America and recognize it as a branch in the global body, according to an announcement on Friday.
[The Christian Post] 23 Mar 2009--The Church of Nigeria, the largest province in the Anglican Communion, has become the first to formally accept a new orthodox province emerging in North America.
Although official recognition from the entire 77 million-member Anglican Communion is expected to take years, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria resolved unanimously to be in "full communion" with the emerging Anglican Church in North America and recognize it as a branch in the global body, according to an announcement on Friday.
Britons are believers of 'fuzzy faith', says survey
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5030049/Britons-are-believers-of-fuzzy-faith-says-survey.html
[Telegraph] 23 Mar 2009--According to the study, only 12 per cent of Britons feel they "belong" to a church, compared with 52 per cent in France.
It also found that the UK has one of the highest rates of "fuzzy faith" - or people who have an abstract belief in God and an ill-defined loyalty to Christian traditions.
[Telegraph] 23 Mar 2009--According to the study, only 12 per cent of Britons feel they "belong" to a church, compared with 52 per cent in France.
It also found that the UK has one of the highest rates of "fuzzy faith" - or people who have an abstract belief in God and an ill-defined loyalty to Christian traditions.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Evangelicalism in America Waxing or Waning?
http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2009/03/evangelicalism-in-america-20/index.html
[The Christian Post] 20 Mar 2009--Back in 2007, the New York Times famously proclaimed that the evangelical movement in America was cracking up. Since then, the media has relished exposing what they see as fault lines in evangelicalism over such issues as abortion, marriage, and the environment.
The pundits seized upon President Obama’s decisive electoral victory last fall to opine that evangelicals were no longer the political force they once were.
And just last week, a well-known evangelical blogger predicted the “collapse” of evangelicalism in America within the next decade, even though he also predicted that out of the ruins of evangelicalism, “new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born.”
But the American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 gives me reason to think that the predictions of evangelicalism’s demise are greatly exaggerated. In fact, quite the opposite may be true.
[The Christian Post] 20 Mar 2009--Back in 2007, the New York Times famously proclaimed that the evangelical movement in America was cracking up. Since then, the media has relished exposing what they see as fault lines in evangelicalism over such issues as abortion, marriage, and the environment.
The pundits seized upon President Obama’s decisive electoral victory last fall to opine that evangelicals were no longer the political force they once were.
And just last week, a well-known evangelical blogger predicted the “collapse” of evangelicalism in America within the next decade, even though he also predicted that out of the ruins of evangelicalism, “new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born.”
But the American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 gives me reason to think that the predictions of evangelicalism’s demise are greatly exaggerated. In fact, quite the opposite may be true.
Anglicans Form Dioceses for Rival Body
http://www.christianpost.com/church/Denomination/2009/03/anglicans-form-dioceses-for-rival-body-20/index.html
[The Christian Post] 20 May 2009--Anglican congregations in the southeast and now in the northwest have formed dioceses outside of The Episcopal Church and intend to be part of the new rival body of Anglican conservatives in North America.
Just as 73 Anglican clergy and lay leaders in Jacksonville, Fla., agreed to press ahead with a new orthodox diocese – called The Anglican Diocese in the Southeast – seven congregations in Washington state have also united to form a regional body.
The Washington group, which is calling itself the Diocese of Cascadia, sent a formal application for membership as a diocese to the Anglican Church in North America.
"Today, we are committing to an Anglican reawakening and to contributing to a Christian reawakening for a revival here in the Pacific Northwest," said Fr. Kevin Bond Allen, newly elected president of the Diocesan Council and rector of St. Brendan's Anglican Church, at the first meeting of the new diocese on March 7, according to VirtueOnline, a conservative Anglican publication.
[The Christian Post] 20 May 2009--Anglican congregations in the southeast and now in the northwest have formed dioceses outside of The Episcopal Church and intend to be part of the new rival body of Anglican conservatives in North America.
Just as 73 Anglican clergy and lay leaders in Jacksonville, Fla., agreed to press ahead with a new orthodox diocese – called The Anglican Diocese in the Southeast – seven congregations in Washington state have also united to form a regional body.
The Washington group, which is calling itself the Diocese of Cascadia, sent a formal application for membership as a diocese to the Anglican Church in North America.
"Today, we are committing to an Anglican reawakening and to contributing to a Christian reawakening for a revival here in the Pacific Northwest," said Fr. Kevin Bond Allen, newly elected president of the Diocesan Council and rector of St. Brendan's Anglican Church, at the first meeting of the new diocese on March 7, according to VirtueOnline, a conservative Anglican publication.
CANA praises Church of Nigeria decision to be in full communion with Anglican Church in North America
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/?p=8832
[Anglican Mainstream] 20 May 2009--The Convocation of Anglicans in North America praised the unanimous decision of the Church of Nigeria Standing Committee to be in full communion with the emerging Anglican province, the Anglican Church of North America. The Church of Nigeria is the first Anglican province to formally accept the emerging province as a branch of the Anglican Communion. CANA is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, which includes about 700 congregations.
“Once again, we within CANA are grateful to the Church of Nigeria for creating a formal branch between orthodox Anglican congregations in North America and the well-respected Province, as the Church of Nigeria did for CANA several years ago. It is a significant decision that will strengthen the unity among those in the U.S. who wish to remain faithful to their Christian beliefs while remaining in good standing as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Our continued prayer is for Anglicans across the world to be able to stay faithful to orthodox beliefs within the Anglican Communion. This decision by the Church of Nigeria formalizes that hope,” said CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns.
[Anglican Mainstream] 20 May 2009--The Convocation of Anglicans in North America praised the unanimous decision of the Church of Nigeria Standing Committee to be in full communion with the emerging Anglican province, the Anglican Church of North America. The Church of Nigeria is the first Anglican province to formally accept the emerging province as a branch of the Anglican Communion. CANA is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, which includes about 700 congregations.
“Once again, we within CANA are grateful to the Church of Nigeria for creating a formal branch between orthodox Anglican congregations in North America and the well-respected Province, as the Church of Nigeria did for CANA several years ago. It is a significant decision that will strengthen the unity among those in the U.S. who wish to remain faithful to their Christian beliefs while remaining in good standing as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Our continued prayer is for Anglicans across the world to be able to stay faithful to orthodox beliefs within the Anglican Communion. This decision by the Church of Nigeria formalizes that hope,” said CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns.
Where traditionalists are going now
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=71749
[Church Times] 20 Mar 2009--It was a great privilege for me to attend part of the Church of England General Synod last month, and to participate in a fringe event. As a retired member of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, I have attended many synods. Few have been so convivial.
Another notable exception was the November 2008 synod of the fledgling Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), for which it is now my delight to serve as Moderator (News, 2 May 2008). This synod was characterised by unity in the Spirit, the joy of the Lord, and an eagerness to get on with the mission of proclaiming the good news of salvation through Christ.
Although it was our first synod, and there was much work to be done in setting up foundational processes and canons, well over half of our time together was devoted to prayer, praise, ministry of the word, and reports from the member parishes of how they were ministering in their communities. For many of these parishes, their short time in the ANiC had not been easy. But, without exception, they all expressed the joy and freedom they were experiencing.
God has indeed been good. Since the ANiC was launched in November 2007 with two small churches, two priests, and two bishops, we have grown to comprise 73 priests and deacons, three bishops, and 28 parishes, with a total average Sunday attendance of 3500.
That initial growth has come from Canadian Anglicans who have felt conscience-bound to align with a biblically faithful Church, while still retaining their full Anglican identity.
[Church Times] 20 Mar 2009--It was a great privilege for me to attend part of the Church of England General Synod last month, and to participate in a fringe event. As a retired member of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, I have attended many synods. Few have been so convivial.
Another notable exception was the November 2008 synod of the fledgling Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), for which it is now my delight to serve as Moderator (News, 2 May 2008). This synod was characterised by unity in the Spirit, the joy of the Lord, and an eagerness to get on with the mission of proclaiming the good news of salvation through Christ.
Although it was our first synod, and there was much work to be done in setting up foundational processes and canons, well over half of our time together was devoted to prayer, praise, ministry of the word, and reports from the member parishes of how they were ministering in their communities. For many of these parishes, their short time in the ANiC had not been easy. But, without exception, they all expressed the joy and freedom they were experiencing.
God has indeed been good. Since the ANiC was launched in November 2007 with two small churches, two priests, and two bishops, we have grown to comprise 73 priests and deacons, three bishops, and 28 parishes, with a total average Sunday attendance of 3500.
That initial growth has come from Canadian Anglicans who have felt conscience-bound to align with a biblically faithful Church, while still retaining their full Anglican identity.
When the Pastor Says It's 'A Time to Sow'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123751393100191463.html
[The Wall Street Journal] 20 May 2009--In 2007, my wife Barbara and I left The Falls Church, which we had happily attended from the time we became Christians a quarter-century ago. It's a 277-year-old church in northern Virginia well-known for its popular preacher, the Rev. John Yates, its adherence to traditional biblical teachings and its withdrawal in 2005 from the national Episcopal church. Our three grown daughters and their families stayed behind at The Falls Church.
We didn't leave in anger. We didn't have political or theological anxieties. Rather, we left for a new church because our old church wanted us to. The Falls Church has become entrepreneurial as well as evangelical. It's in the church-planting business. And we were encouraged by Mr. Yates to join Christ the King, the church "planted" near our home in Alexandria. We were a bit ambivalent about the move, but when Christ the King opened its doors in September 2007, we were there.
Well, not quite its doors. The church began with a monthly service in a 600-seat school auditorium. About 30 people showed up, mostly members of the seed group dispatched from The Falls Church. Soon Christ the King, which was launched with a grant of $100,000 from The Falls Church, rented an assembly hall, seating about 100, in a private school and started regular worship every Sunday. Now, with 130 adults and 40 kids, we meet Sunday mornings in another church, whose own service is held in the evening.
[The Wall Street Journal] 20 May 2009--In 2007, my wife Barbara and I left The Falls Church, which we had happily attended from the time we became Christians a quarter-century ago. It's a 277-year-old church in northern Virginia well-known for its popular preacher, the Rev. John Yates, its adherence to traditional biblical teachings and its withdrawal in 2005 from the national Episcopal church. Our three grown daughters and their families stayed behind at The Falls Church.
We didn't leave in anger. We didn't have political or theological anxieties. Rather, we left for a new church because our old church wanted us to. The Falls Church has become entrepreneurial as well as evangelical. It's in the church-planting business. And we were encouraged by Mr. Yates to join Christ the King, the church "planted" near our home in Alexandria. We were a bit ambivalent about the move, but when Christ the King opened its doors in September 2007, we were there.
Well, not quite its doors. The church began with a monthly service in a 600-seat school auditorium. About 30 people showed up, mostly members of the seed group dispatched from The Falls Church. Soon Christ the King, which was launched with a grant of $100,000 from The Falls Church, rented an assembly hall, seating about 100, in a private school and started regular worship every Sunday. Now, with 130 adults and 40 kids, we meet Sunday mornings in another church, whose own service is held in the evening.
Pope tells Muslims 'genuine religion' rejects violence
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-19-pope-africa_N.htm
[USA Today] 20 May 2009--Religion must reject violence, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim leaders Thursday before celebrating an open-air Mass in front of thousands and delivering a message of hope for Africa's expanding, vibrant Catholic flock.
In Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, a clapping, swaying crowd of 40,000 welcomed Benedict to a sports stadium — his first occasion as pope to be among a great crowd of faithful on the continent that is witnessing the church's biggest growth.
[USA Today] 20 May 2009--Religion must reject violence, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim leaders Thursday before celebrating an open-air Mass in front of thousands and delivering a message of hope for Africa's expanding, vibrant Catholic flock.
In Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, a clapping, swaying crowd of 40,000 welcomed Benedict to a sports stadium — his first occasion as pope to be among a great crowd of faithful on the continent that is witnessing the church's biggest growth.
Church of Nigeria on ACiNA
http://www.anglican-nig.org/main.php?k_j=12&d=308&p_t=index.php?
[Church of Nigeria News] 20 Mar 2009--Whereas the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) meeting in Obafemi Awolowo University, lIe Ife, Osun State has welcomed the Right Reverend Robert W. Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, and
Whereas we have heard his testimony regarding the remarkable emergence of the Anglican Church in North America bringing together eleven ecclesiastical jurisdictions consisting of seven hundred congregations representing more than one hundred thousand Anglicans in the United States and Canada who have held true to the faith once delivered to the saints, and....
[Church of Nigeria News] 20 Mar 2009--Whereas the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) meeting in Obafemi Awolowo University, lIe Ife, Osun State has welcomed the Right Reverend Robert W. Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, and
Whereas we have heard his testimony regarding the remarkable emergence of the Anglican Church in North America bringing together eleven ecclesiastical jurisdictions consisting of seven hundred congregations representing more than one hundred thousand Anglicans in the United States and Canada who have held true to the faith once delivered to the saints, and....
Holy iTunes? Churches adopting point-click hymnal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-19-hymns-gospel_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
[USA Today] 20 Mar 2009--When Joe Christian started planning church services 35 years ago, it meant spending hours flipping through hymnals and copying sheet music.
Today, it's point, click, worship.
Christian, the music minister at Una Baptist Church in Nashville, is one of more than 12,000 people who have signed up for a new iTunes-like website called LifeWayworship.com. Along with buying recordings of worship songs and hymns, users can create and download sheet music for church bands and choirs. LifeWay officials hope their new site will make life easier for music ministers, while following copyright laws.
"We've needed to do this for a long time," Christian says.
The LifeWay Worship Project is also a great resource for non-Baptist churches. LifeWay has produced The Worship Hymnal, a non-denomination version of the new Baptist Hymnal. All the recordings and down loads are available to users of The Worship Hymnal.
[USA Today] 20 Mar 2009--When Joe Christian started planning church services 35 years ago, it meant spending hours flipping through hymnals and copying sheet music.
Today, it's point, click, worship.
Christian, the music minister at Una Baptist Church in Nashville, is one of more than 12,000 people who have signed up for a new iTunes-like website called LifeWayworship.com. Along with buying recordings of worship songs and hymns, users can create and download sheet music for church bands and choirs. LifeWay officials hope their new site will make life easier for music ministers, while following copyright laws.
"We've needed to do this for a long time," Christian says.
The LifeWay Worship Project is also a great resource for non-Baptist churches. LifeWay has produced The Worship Hymnal, a non-denomination version of the new Baptist Hymnal. All the recordings and down loads are available to users of The Worship Hymnal.
The Anglican Credibility Crunch
http://www.anglicanspread.org/?p=163
[SPREAD] 20 Mar 2009--Lord Turner, the recently appointed Chairman of the UK’s banking regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has just announced proposals aimed at restoring confidence in Britain’s financial institutions and the FSA itself. Just as lack of banking discipline has led to the global credit crunch, so a lack of spiritual discipline has led to what we might term the Anglican Communion’s ‘credibility crunch’ - the growing realisation that, in its Lambeth form, it has ceased to be a body united around core doctrine and is taking on the nature of a religious debating society.
That is not to say that the Lambeth Communion lacks beliefs, just that they are the wrong ones. Interestingly, the BBC has borrowed theological language, reporting ‘Lord Turner said that too much faith had been put in the dogma that financial markets were always right and corrected themselves.’ It has become clear that this ideology lured the FSA into a false sense of security so that it seriously underestimated the massive pressures building up in the global banking system and contented itself with issues of process, of legal form rather than economic substance.
Does that not sound familiar? Misplaced faith in ecclesiastical institutions and the ideology that being Anglican is defined by relationship to the Archbishop of Canterbury have led the ‘instruments of unity’ to concentrate on legalistic form rather than spiritual substance, with disastrous results. With no effective restraint, a counterfeit Christianity has established itself within the Anglican Communion, pushing well beyond the boundaries of orthodox faith and morality in North America with the British Isles not far behind. Adherence to legal form means that ecclesiastical law can nonetheless be used aggressively to deprive orthodox congregations of their assets while those who encourage the law suits - some 60 in the United States alone - continue to participate in endless ‘conversation’.
[SPREAD] 20 Mar 2009--Lord Turner, the recently appointed Chairman of the UK’s banking regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has just announced proposals aimed at restoring confidence in Britain’s financial institutions and the FSA itself. Just as lack of banking discipline has led to the global credit crunch, so a lack of spiritual discipline has led to what we might term the Anglican Communion’s ‘credibility crunch’ - the growing realisation that, in its Lambeth form, it has ceased to be a body united around core doctrine and is taking on the nature of a religious debating society.
That is not to say that the Lambeth Communion lacks beliefs, just that they are the wrong ones. Interestingly, the BBC has borrowed theological language, reporting ‘Lord Turner said that too much faith had been put in the dogma that financial markets were always right and corrected themselves.’ It has become clear that this ideology lured the FSA into a false sense of security so that it seriously underestimated the massive pressures building up in the global banking system and contented itself with issues of process, of legal form rather than economic substance.
Does that not sound familiar? Misplaced faith in ecclesiastical institutions and the ideology that being Anglican is defined by relationship to the Archbishop of Canterbury have led the ‘instruments of unity’ to concentrate on legalistic form rather than spiritual substance, with disastrous results. With no effective restraint, a counterfeit Christianity has established itself within the Anglican Communion, pushing well beyond the boundaries of orthodox faith and morality in North America with the British Isles not far behind. Adherence to legal form means that ecclesiastical law can nonetheless be used aggressively to deprive orthodox congregations of their assets while those who encourage the law suits - some 60 in the United States alone - continue to participate in endless ‘conversation’.
Pine Ridge Congregations Form New Church
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/3/20/pine-ridge-congregations-form-new-church
[The Living Church] 20 Mar 2009--Members of the nine congregations on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation that were closed by the Diocese of South Dakota voted March 14 to create the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church, elected officers, wrote bylaws and approved a resolution that it will submit to the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Land Committee on March 23. A report this week in the Rapid City Journal said the resolution asks for ownership rights to any of those church properties that the tribe receives from the diocese.
“Other than by media reports, we are not informed of the most recent developments,” Steven W. Sanford, diocesan chancellor, told The Living Church. “The diocese has no intent or interest in any disposition except that which best promotes local control. We have had productive discussions with the Oglala Tribal Land Office and hope that we can accomplish agreed transfer to the tribe or other local interests in the near future, assuming the litigation in tribal court can be resolved. We also expect to make adequate arrangements for preservation of any cemetery associated with a closed location.”
[The Living Church] 20 Mar 2009--Members of the nine congregations on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation that were closed by the Diocese of South Dakota voted March 14 to create the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church, elected officers, wrote bylaws and approved a resolution that it will submit to the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Land Committee on March 23. A report this week in the Rapid City Journal said the resolution asks for ownership rights to any of those church properties that the tribe receives from the diocese.
“Other than by media reports, we are not informed of the most recent developments,” Steven W. Sanford, diocesan chancellor, told The Living Church. “The diocese has no intent or interest in any disposition except that which best promotes local control. We have had productive discussions with the Oglala Tribal Land Office and hope that we can accomplish agreed transfer to the tribe or other local interests in the near future, assuming the litigation in tribal court can be resolved. We also expect to make adequate arrangements for preservation of any cemetery associated with a closed location.”
Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1687_never_let_the_gospel_get_smaller/
[Desiring God] 20 Mar 2009--Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:
Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.
Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.
[Desiring God] 20 Mar 2009--Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:
Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.
Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
‘Churches to blame’ for Easter ignorance
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4128
[Religious Intelligence] 19 Mar 2009--The churches only have themselves to blame for young people not knowing what Easter is about, according to a cathedral dean.
The accusation comes from the Very Rev Adrian Newman, Dean of Rochester, who declares: “We must find new ways to bring them to know its meaning.”
Dean Newman makes the plea in the March issue of Rochester Link, the Rochester diocesan monthly, in comments on a new survey revealing that people aged 16 to 24 “no longer have much of a clue what Easter is about”.
He says: “As our culture has become distant from our Christian roots, the meaning of Easter has somehow got lost in translation. These days when people encounter the great Christian traditions, it’s like they are stepping into a foreign country where the language and the customs are unfamiliar and odd.”
[Religious Intelligence] 19 Mar 2009--The churches only have themselves to blame for young people not knowing what Easter is about, according to a cathedral dean.
The accusation comes from the Very Rev Adrian Newman, Dean of Rochester, who declares: “We must find new ways to bring them to know its meaning.”
Dean Newman makes the plea in the March issue of Rochester Link, the Rochester diocesan monthly, in comments on a new survey revealing that people aged 16 to 24 “no longer have much of a clue what Easter is about”.
He says: “As our culture has become distant from our Christian roots, the meaning of Easter has somehow got lost in translation. These days when people encounter the great Christian traditions, it’s like they are stepping into a foreign country where the language and the customs are unfamiliar and odd.”
How Fast Is America Losing Faith?
http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Opinions/2009/03/how-fast-is-america-losing-faith-17/index.html
[The Christian Post] 19 Mar 2009--The most viewed and arguably the most controversial article published in The Christian Science Monitor this past week? An analysis of the massive economic tsunami waves hitting billions around the world? Instead, it's a a deeply troubling must-read article on "The coming evangelical collapse" (http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html).
On top of that comes a brand-new report from the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., that religion in America is declining rapidly. Americans are losing their faith at unprecedented rates.
How are we to interpret such news? It's important to remember that everyone has or will face crises of life and faith. That fact alone shouldn't alarm us. Instead, we need to see these pivotal times as a necessary part of each person's spiritual journey.
[The Christian Post] 19 Mar 2009--The most viewed and arguably the most controversial article published in The Christian Science Monitor this past week? An analysis of the massive economic tsunami waves hitting billions around the world? Instead, it's a a deeply troubling must-read article on "The coming evangelical collapse" (http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html).
On top of that comes a brand-new report from the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., that religion in America is declining rapidly. Americans are losing their faith at unprecedented rates.
How are we to interpret such news? It's important to remember that everyone has or will face crises of life and faith. That fact alone shouldn't alarm us. Instead, we need to see these pivotal times as a necessary part of each person's spiritual journey.
Sharia Law Begins to Restrict Women in Swat Valley
http://www.christianpost.com/Intl/Overseas/2009/03/sharia-law-begins-to-restrict-women-in-swat-valley-18/index.html
[The Christian Post] 19 Mar 2009--Women living in the northwest region of Pakistan have begun to feel the restrictive effects of sharia law this week as its courts start to administer justice.
Under the newly imposed Islamic laws, which began on Monday, women living in Malakand area are not allowed to be or speak in public by themselves, they must cover their heads, and thousands of girls are likely to now be unable to go to school, according to Asia News.
Also, Protestant and Catholic residents, who number about a thousand, fear discrimination and many have begun to move to areas where sharia law is not the legal justice system.
The local government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), with the approval of the central government headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, had reached an agreement with local Muslim leaders to allow sharia courts to be in charge of justice in the Malakand area in exchange for terrorist groups to stop their extremist activities in the region.
In recent months, there has been a surge in violence by terrorist groups, especially in Swat Valley, including beheadings, burning girls schools and assaulting security forces.
The Muslim leaders, who have intimate ties with local terrorist groups, assured that if sharia courts are allowed to administer justice then groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda will cease their attacks on civilians.
It’s worth noting that one of the Muslim leaders participating in the negotiation had previously led a band of men to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan against the U.S.-led coalition.
[The Christian Post] 19 Mar 2009--Women living in the northwest region of Pakistan have begun to feel the restrictive effects of sharia law this week as its courts start to administer justice.
Under the newly imposed Islamic laws, which began on Monday, women living in Malakand area are not allowed to be or speak in public by themselves, they must cover their heads, and thousands of girls are likely to now be unable to go to school, according to Asia News.
Also, Protestant and Catholic residents, who number about a thousand, fear discrimination and many have begun to move to areas where sharia law is not the legal justice system.
The local government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), with the approval of the central government headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, had reached an agreement with local Muslim leaders to allow sharia courts to be in charge of justice in the Malakand area in exchange for terrorist groups to stop their extremist activities in the region.
In recent months, there has been a surge in violence by terrorist groups, especially in Swat Valley, including beheadings, burning girls schools and assaulting security forces.
The Muslim leaders, who have intimate ties with local terrorist groups, assured that if sharia courts are allowed to administer justice then groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda will cease their attacks on civilians.
It’s worth noting that one of the Muslim leaders participating in the negotiation had previously led a band of men to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan against the U.S.-led coalition.
Religious people less anxious, brain activity shows
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16789-religious-people-less-anxious-brain-activity-shows.html
[New Scientist] 19 Mar 2009--If the deeply devout seem less self-doubting than others, perhaps it's because religion helps them shrug off mistakes. So say researchers who found religious people exhibit lower activity than non-believers in a brain region linked to anxiety when erring on a simple test.
"Religion offers an interpretative framework to understand the world. It lets you know when to act, how to act, and what to do in specific situation," says
Michael Inzlicht, a neuroscientist at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, who led the new study. "It provides a kind of blueprint on how to interact with the world."
Religion – and perhaps other strongly held belief systems – buffer against second-guessing decisions, he says.
[New Scientist] 19 Mar 2009--If the deeply devout seem less self-doubting than others, perhaps it's because religion helps them shrug off mistakes. So say researchers who found religious people exhibit lower activity than non-believers in a brain region linked to anxiety when erring on a simple test.
"Religion offers an interpretative framework to understand the world. It lets you know when to act, how to act, and what to do in specific situation," says
Michael Inzlicht, a neuroscientist at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, who led the new study. "It provides a kind of blueprint on how to interact with the world."
Religion – and perhaps other strongly held belief systems – buffer against second-guessing decisions, he says.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Kent: ecumenical funeral held for medieval 'witch'
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/witch324.html
[Independent Catholic News] 18 Mar 2009--A joint Anglican and Catholic funeral service was held in a Kent church on Saturday for a young woman possibly killed as a witch several hundred years ago.
Six years ago, archaologists working in an unconsecrated part of the Hoo St Werburgh parish church grounds discovered the remains of a medieval body.The head was found removed from the body and placed next to it - meaning the girl may have been a criminal, a suicide victim or suspected of witchcraft. They named the girl 'Holly' as she was found under a holly bush.
The Vicar of Hoo, the Rev Andy Harding, made the decision to re-bury Holly and give her a funeral that was most probably denied her at the time of her death.
[Independent Catholic News] 18 Mar 2009--A joint Anglican and Catholic funeral service was held in a Kent church on Saturday for a young woman possibly killed as a witch several hundred years ago.
Six years ago, archaologists working in an unconsecrated part of the Hoo St Werburgh parish church grounds discovered the remains of a medieval body.The head was found removed from the body and placed next to it - meaning the girl may have been a criminal, a suicide victim or suspected of witchcraft. They named the girl 'Holly' as she was found under a holly bush.
The Vicar of Hoo, the Rev Andy Harding, made the decision to re-bury Holly and give her a funeral that was most probably denied her at the time of her death.
Second Anglican Diocese Forms in Pacific Northwest
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10107
[VirtueOnline] 18 Mar 2009--A second Anglican diocese has formed outside of The Episcopal Church, but inside its ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
In a historic decision this week signaling a unified faith among Anglican believers in the Pacific Northwest, seven Anglican congregations in Western Washington have come together to form The Diocese of Cascadia. The first Anglican diocese - the Diocese of the Southeast - was formed recently with 73 Anglican clergy and wardens in Jacksonville, Florida, under vicar general the Rev. Neil Lebhar.
Lay and clergy representatives from seven Anglican churches met March 7 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Shoreline, Washington, for the first Synod meeting of the new diocese, according to spokesman Mark Cutshall.
A formal application for membership as a diocese-in-formation has been sent to the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Founding congregations of The Diocese of Cascadia are: St. Barnabas; St. Paul's (Shoreline); St. Brendan's (Bellingham); St. Charles (Poulsbo); St. Peter's (Tacoma); St. Stephen's (Oak Harbor) and St. Ursula's (Sultan). An eighth parish, Trinity (Mt. Vernon), will hold a congregational vote Sunday, March 22.
[VirtueOnline] 18 Mar 2009--A second Anglican diocese has formed outside of The Episcopal Church, but inside its ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
In a historic decision this week signaling a unified faith among Anglican believers in the Pacific Northwest, seven Anglican congregations in Western Washington have come together to form The Diocese of Cascadia. The first Anglican diocese - the Diocese of the Southeast - was formed recently with 73 Anglican clergy and wardens in Jacksonville, Florida, under vicar general the Rev. Neil Lebhar.
Lay and clergy representatives from seven Anglican churches met March 7 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Shoreline, Washington, for the first Synod meeting of the new diocese, according to spokesman Mark Cutshall.
A formal application for membership as a diocese-in-formation has been sent to the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Founding congregations of The Diocese of Cascadia are: St. Barnabas; St. Paul's (Shoreline); St. Brendan's (Bellingham); St. Charles (Poulsbo); St. Peter's (Tacoma); St. Stephen's (Oak Harbor) and St. Ursula's (Sultan). An eighth parish, Trinity (Mt. Vernon), will hold a congregational vote Sunday, March 22.
Charlie Chaplin’s statue can’t be erected in India because he was Christian
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4123
[Religious Intelligence] 18 Mar 2009--Film and theatre artistes will hold a protest in the southern state of Karnataka on March 20 against Hindu nationalists’ opposition to erection of a statue of master comedian Charlie Chaplin for a film because he was a Christian.
The artistes and software professionals are planning to gather on Friday in Bangalore, Karnataka’s capital and India’s IT hub, to register their protest, reported The Times of India daily.
Filmmaker Hemanth Hegde was planning to erect a 67-foot statue of Chaplin at the Maravanthe beach, for his film “House Full”. The statue, if built, could possibly find mention in the Guinness Book of World Records and become a tourist attraction, but a group of unidentified people, suspected to be Hindu nationalists, raised objections on it on March 15 on the ground that a Christian’s statue would not be allowed to come up there because there was a temple near the spot.
[Religious Intelligence] 18 Mar 2009--Film and theatre artistes will hold a protest in the southern state of Karnataka on March 20 against Hindu nationalists’ opposition to erection of a statue of master comedian Charlie Chaplin for a film because he was a Christian.
The artistes and software professionals are planning to gather on Friday in Bangalore, Karnataka’s capital and India’s IT hub, to register their protest, reported The Times of India daily.
Filmmaker Hemanth Hegde was planning to erect a 67-foot statue of Chaplin at the Maravanthe beach, for his film “House Full”. The statue, if built, could possibly find mention in the Guinness Book of World Records and become a tourist attraction, but a group of unidentified people, suspected to be Hindu nationalists, raised objections on it on March 15 on the ground that a Christian’s statue would not be allowed to come up there because there was a temple near the spot.
The Other Side of Church Growth
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/march/24.52.html
[Christianity Today] 18 Mar 2009--In our time, we are witnessing an extraordinary phenomenon: the virtual wiping out of the church in a place it has existed for nearly 2,000 years. The plight of Iraq's Christian community reminds us that church expansion is not a constantly upward slope.
In his 2002 book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, historian Philip Jenkins told the world where Christianity was heading. In his latest—The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — and How It Died (HarperOne, 2008)—Jenkins looks at where it has come from. The Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Penn State University, Jenkins first notes that the faith is not rooted in any one culture. "The more you look at history, the more you realize Christianity is not solely a European religion," he says. "It's European, but it's also Asian and African, and it has a long history of developing in very different societies."
Second, Jenkins shows how and why churches in entire regions have died. Christianity Today's managing editor for special projects, Stan Guthrie, spoke with Jenkins.
[Christianity Today] 18 Mar 2009--In our time, we are witnessing an extraordinary phenomenon: the virtual wiping out of the church in a place it has existed for nearly 2,000 years. The plight of Iraq's Christian community reminds us that church expansion is not a constantly upward slope.
In his 2002 book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, historian Philip Jenkins told the world where Christianity was heading. In his latest—The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — and How It Died (HarperOne, 2008)—Jenkins looks at where it has come from. The Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Penn State University, Jenkins first notes that the faith is not rooted in any one culture. "The more you look at history, the more you realize Christianity is not solely a European religion," he says. "It's European, but it's also Asian and African, and it has a long history of developing in very different societies."
Second, Jenkins shows how and why churches in entire regions have died. Christianity Today's managing editor for special projects, Stan Guthrie, spoke with Jenkins.
The Islamic Assault on Free Speech
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/muehlenberg/2009/03/the-islamic-assault-on-free-speech
[Quadrant Online] 18 Mar 2009--It is one of the many benefits of Christianity that the West enjoys religious freedom and freedom of conscience. The properly understood notion of the separation of church and state arose from the Christian worldview, and goes back to the words of Jesus: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”.
Islam of course knows of no such separation. Church and state are one in Islam. There is no sacred-secular distinction in the Muslim world. Everything is religious and everything is political. As Rodney Stark wrote, “Muhammad was not only the Prophet, he was head of state. Consequently, Islam has always idealized the fusion of religion and political rule, and sultans have usually also held the title of caliph” (The Victory of Reason).
Or as Dinesh D’Souza put it, “The prophet Muhammad was in his own day both a prophet and a Caesar who integrated the domains of church and state. Following his example, the rulers of the various Islamic empires, from the Umayyad to the ottoman, saw themselves as Allah’s viceregents on earth” (What’s So Great About Christianity?).
As Bernard Lewis explains, “In classical Arabic and in the other classical languages of Islam, there are no pairs of terms corresponding to ‘lay’ and ‘ecclesiastical,’ ‘spiritual’ and ‘temporal,’ ‘secular’ and ‘religious,’ because these pairs of words express a Christian dichotomy that has no equivalent in the world of Islam” (Islam and the West).
It is the genius of the West to have run with the Christian version of events in this regard, and not the Islamic one. But these cherished freedoms are ironically now being whittled way in the West as we increasingly seek to appease militant Islamists.
[Quadrant Online] 18 Mar 2009--It is one of the many benefits of Christianity that the West enjoys religious freedom and freedom of conscience. The properly understood notion of the separation of church and state arose from the Christian worldview, and goes back to the words of Jesus: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”.
Islam of course knows of no such separation. Church and state are one in Islam. There is no sacred-secular distinction in the Muslim world. Everything is religious and everything is political. As Rodney Stark wrote, “Muhammad was not only the Prophet, he was head of state. Consequently, Islam has always idealized the fusion of religion and political rule, and sultans have usually also held the title of caliph” (The Victory of Reason).
Or as Dinesh D’Souza put it, “The prophet Muhammad was in his own day both a prophet and a Caesar who integrated the domains of church and state. Following his example, the rulers of the various Islamic empires, from the Umayyad to the ottoman, saw themselves as Allah’s viceregents on earth” (What’s So Great About Christianity?).
As Bernard Lewis explains, “In classical Arabic and in the other classical languages of Islam, there are no pairs of terms corresponding to ‘lay’ and ‘ecclesiastical,’ ‘spiritual’ and ‘temporal,’ ‘secular’ and ‘religious,’ because these pairs of words express a Christian dichotomy that has no equivalent in the world of Islam” (Islam and the West).
It is the genius of the West to have run with the Christian version of events in this regard, and not the Islamic one. But these cherished freedoms are ironically now being whittled way in the West as we increasingly seek to appease militant Islamists.
Touting Religion, Grabbing Land
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/17french.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
[The New York Times] 18 Mar 2009--The demonstrations across Pakistan last week that forced President Asif Ali Zardari to reinstate the nation’s former chief justice, following the attack by militants on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, were simply the latest phase in the broad destabilization of the country.
This was hardly to have been anticipated 18 months ago, when I flew to Islamabad with Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister. At that time, the prospects were good: Mr. Sharif had made an agreement with his main rival, Benazir Bhutto, to return the country to democracy. “I am not afraid,” Mr. Sharif told me. “I am going home after seven years. My primary concern is to put an end to the curse of dictatorship and give some relief to the people of Pakistan.”
[The New York Times] 18 Mar 2009--The demonstrations across Pakistan last week that forced President Asif Ali Zardari to reinstate the nation’s former chief justice, following the attack by militants on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, were simply the latest phase in the broad destabilization of the country.
This was hardly to have been anticipated 18 months ago, when I flew to Islamabad with Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister. At that time, the prospects were good: Mr. Sharif had made an agreement with his main rival, Benazir Bhutto, to return the country to democracy. “I am not afraid,” Mr. Sharif told me. “I am going home after seven years. My primary concern is to put an end to the curse of dictatorship and give some relief to the people of Pakistan.”
The Fetus as Organ Factory - The Next Moral Frontier?
http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2009/03/the-fetus-as-organ-factory-the-next-moral-frontier-18/index.html
[The Christian Post] 18 Mar 2009--"Buckle up. We're on our way." So wrote William Saletan, one of the most influential reporters covering today's medical and moral controversies. Saletan writes for Slate.com, and his words made reference to the fact that our world just got a little more complicated . . . and a lot more dangerous.
From London, the Daily Mail reported late last week that Oxford Professor Sir Richard Gardner now proposes that organ tissues from aborted fetuses might represent "at least a temporary solution" to the shortage of available organs for transplant.
As the Daily Mail reported:
Kidneys and livers from aborted foetuses could be given to the desperately ill and ease the organ donor shortage, a leading scientist has claimed.
Professor Sir Richard Gardner, an Oxford University stem cell expert, said foetal tissues may offer a more realistic solution to the lack of organs than other technologies being developed.
Further:
Calling for studies into the feasibility of transplanting foetal organs, Sir Richard, an advisor to Britain's fertility watchdog and the Royal Society, said he was surprised the possibility had not been considered, and that experiments in mice have shown that foetal kidneys grow extremely quickly when transplanted to adult animals.
Sir Richard said: 'It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others.'
[The Christian Post] 18 Mar 2009--"Buckle up. We're on our way." So wrote William Saletan, one of the most influential reporters covering today's medical and moral controversies. Saletan writes for Slate.com, and his words made reference to the fact that our world just got a little more complicated . . . and a lot more dangerous.
From London, the Daily Mail reported late last week that Oxford Professor Sir Richard Gardner now proposes that organ tissues from aborted fetuses might represent "at least a temporary solution" to the shortage of available organs for transplant.
As the Daily Mail reported:
Kidneys and livers from aborted foetuses could be given to the desperately ill and ease the organ donor shortage, a leading scientist has claimed.
Professor Sir Richard Gardner, an Oxford University stem cell expert, said foetal tissues may offer a more realistic solution to the lack of organs than other technologies being developed.
Further:
Calling for studies into the feasibility of transplanting foetal organs, Sir Richard, an advisor to Britain's fertility watchdog and the Royal Society, said he was surprised the possibility had not been considered, and that experiments in mice have shown that foetal kidneys grow extremely quickly when transplanted to adult animals.
Sir Richard said: 'It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others.'
Highly Religious Patients Fight to Live Longer
http://www.christianpost.com/Education/Polls_reports/2009/03/highly-religious-patients-fight-to-live-longer-18/index.html
[The Christian Post] 18 Mar 2009--A new study on patients with advanced cancer found that those who used their religious faith to cope with their illness were far more likely to want doctors to do everything possible to keep them alive than were less religious patients.
Patients with a high level of "positive" religious coping – seeking God's love and care – were three times more likely than others to receive intensive life-prolonging treatment in their last week of life, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"People think that spiritual patients are more likely to say their lives are in God’s hands – 'Let what happens happen' – but in fact we know they want more aggressive care," said Holly G. Prigerson, the study’s senior author and director of the Center for Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, according to The New York Times.
"To religious people, life is sacred and sanctified, and there's a sense they feel it's their duty and obligation to stay alive as long as possible," she added to the NY Times.
[The Christian Post] 18 Mar 2009--A new study on patients with advanced cancer found that those who used their religious faith to cope with their illness were far more likely to want doctors to do everything possible to keep them alive than were less religious patients.
Patients with a high level of "positive" religious coping – seeking God's love and care – were three times more likely than others to receive intensive life-prolonging treatment in their last week of life, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"People think that spiritual patients are more likely to say their lives are in God’s hands – 'Let what happens happen' – but in fact we know they want more aggressive care," said Holly G. Prigerson, the study’s senior author and director of the Center for Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, according to The New York Times.
"To religious people, life is sacred and sanctified, and there's a sense they feel it's their duty and obligation to stay alive as long as possible," she added to the NY Times.
To ask God is to praise him
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/senior_clergy/archbishop_jensen/articles/to_ask_god_is_to_praise_him/
[sydneyanglicans.net] 18 Mar 2009--When the lame man was healed as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, he went about walking and leaping and praising God for what had happened to him. As you would.
The other day I went for my usual walk. I often pray as I walk, but on this occasion I decided to confine my prayers to the praise of God for what he has given us in creation. There was no shortage of things to praise him for, and no shortage of beautiful and wonderful things. Mind you, the beautiful and the wonderful are so common that we often take them for granted and forget just how remarkable the world is – and how remarkable and kind is the God who made the world.
Now what did I praise him for?
[sydneyanglicans.net] 18 Mar 2009--When the lame man was healed as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, he went about walking and leaping and praising God for what had happened to him. As you would.
The other day I went for my usual walk. I often pray as I walk, but on this occasion I decided to confine my prayers to the praise of God for what he has given us in creation. There was no shortage of things to praise him for, and no shortage of beautiful and wonderful things. Mind you, the beautiful and the wonderful are so common that we often take them for granted and forget just how remarkable the world is – and how remarkable and kind is the God who made the world.
Now what did I praise him for?
O Canada, glorious and free?
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/insight/o_canada_glorious_and_free/
[sydneyanglicans.net] 18 Mar 2009--The Canadian national anthem has these lines:
God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Bishop Donald Harvey, is the Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, the coalition of orthodox Anglican churches who have withdrawn from the Anglican Church of Canada.
Last month he spoke at an Anglican Mainstream gathering on the situation in Canada. For this blog I pick up some themes from his speech.
[sydneyanglicans.net] 18 Mar 2009--The Canadian national anthem has these lines:
God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Bishop Donald Harvey, is the Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, the coalition of orthodox Anglican churches who have withdrawn from the Anglican Church of Canada.
Last month he spoke at an Anglican Mainstream gathering on the situation in Canada. For this blog I pick up some themes from his speech.
Kogarah confirms snowballing church
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/sydneystories/indo_confirmation/
[sydneyanglicans.nt] 18 Mar 2009--A whole Indonesian-speaking ministry of new Christians has been baptised into the parish of Kogarah this week, and the 100 confirmees are eager to reach even more.
Sunday’s confirmation saw the Christ Life Church – an Indonesian ministry of 130 people based on the premises of St Paul’s Kogarah – officially become a part of the ministry of St Paul’s.
Most of the confirmees have become Christians since Christ Life Church first began meeting in St Paul’s’ church hall two years ago.
[sydneyanglicans.nt] 18 Mar 2009--A whole Indonesian-speaking ministry of new Christians has been baptised into the parish of Kogarah this week, and the 100 confirmees are eager to reach even more.
Sunday’s confirmation saw the Christ Life Church – an Indonesian ministry of 130 people based on the premises of St Paul’s Kogarah – officially become a part of the ministry of St Paul’s.
Most of the confirmees have become Christians since Christ Life Church first began meeting in St Paul’s’ church hall two years ago.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Return to Ritual
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/preachingworship/worship/returntoritual.html
[Christianity Today] 17 Mar 2009--We keep hearing of churches "returning to ritual." Such churches often share common elements: weekly Communion, written prayers, creeds, corporate confession, and other things that for some stalwarts may feel awfully Catholic.
Are liturgical elements a worship fad, like amateur drama and pop-star singers of the 1990s? Or is there lasting interest in expressions of the faith older than ourselves?
"Dimming the lights doesn't make you liturgical," said one pastor when asked about the advantages of weekly Communion. "We can create worship services with the candles and creeds, and people would have a great experience, but that's not a good reason to do it. We shouldn't reclaim liturgy because it 'works' in a postmodern age or because other churches are successful at it. We should do it because it reconnects us with historic Christianity and moves us from my spirituality to our spirituality, dating back 2,000 years."
Perhaps that's why we're hearing of more such churches popping up. For these congregations, the new worship means going old school.
[Christianity Today] 17 Mar 2009--We keep hearing of churches "returning to ritual." Such churches often share common elements: weekly Communion, written prayers, creeds, corporate confession, and other things that for some stalwarts may feel awfully Catholic.
Are liturgical elements a worship fad, like amateur drama and pop-star singers of the 1990s? Or is there lasting interest in expressions of the faith older than ourselves?
"Dimming the lights doesn't make you liturgical," said one pastor when asked about the advantages of weekly Communion. "We can create worship services with the candles and creeds, and people would have a great experience, but that's not a good reason to do it. We shouldn't reclaim liturgy because it 'works' in a postmodern age or because other churches are successful at it. We should do it because it reconnects us with historic Christianity and moves us from my spirituality to our spirituality, dating back 2,000 years."
Perhaps that's why we're hearing of more such churches popping up. For these congregations, the new worship means going old school.
BlogSpotting: How to Bring in Hymns
http://blog.buildingchurchleaders.com/2009/03/blogspotting_how_to_bring_in_h.html
[Off the Agenda] 17 Mar 2009--Are you or someone in your church interesting in singing more hymns? At his blog In Light of the Gospel, James Grant shares a few suggestions for bringing hymns to a congregation that isn't used to them.
[Off the Agenda] 17 Mar 2009--Are you or someone in your church interesting in singing more hymns? At his blog In Light of the Gospel, James Grant shares a few suggestions for bringing hymns to a congregation that isn't used to them.
Words not what they used to be in the post-Windsor Anglican Communion
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/?p=8735
[AnglicanMaisntream] 17 Mar 2009--Words are no longer what they used to be in the post-Windsor Anglican Communion.
Am I just being nostalgic or can I really remember a time when we more or less knew the meaning of words across the Church?
Now it seems we are locked into a war over words as much as a battle of theological ideas. The Windsor Report pretty much started this by delivering an imprecise, committee-driven document by which words like ‘regret’ as opposed to more traditional ones like ‘repent’ were carefully inserted in order to secure agreement around a process, rather than a conclusion.
[AnglicanMaisntream] 17 Mar 2009--Words are no longer what they used to be in the post-Windsor Anglican Communion.
Am I just being nostalgic or can I really remember a time when we more or less knew the meaning of words across the Church?
Now it seems we are locked into a war over words as much as a battle of theological ideas. The Windsor Report pretty much started this by delivering an imprecise, committee-driven document by which words like ‘regret’ as opposed to more traditional ones like ‘repent’ were carefully inserted in order to secure agreement around a process, rather than a conclusion.
A Primer for Those in the Pews
http://episcopalmajority.com/?p=58
[The Episcopal Majority] 17 Mar 2009--Over the past century The Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. has been transformed. What had been a church overly steeped in the ways of English gentlemen rewrote its Book of Common Prayer in 1928 to be more inclusive and friendly to those who worshiped each Sunday. Women no longer had to sit in a certain area at the back of the nave. The pure English rootstock of the church was being augmented by more recent arrivals to our country - once, of course, they had reached a modicum of wealth and position. The leaders of the church, bishops, priests and laity, were content that tradition still held and innovation was strictly limited.
Firm in their belief, the leaders guided the church through a depression, a world war, a cold war and a period of unbridled growth in the wealth and living standards of the American family. Oh, there were always disagreements within the Church, some quite heated. The most contentious during the first six and one half decades of the twentieth century was “Low Church” vs. “High Church.” Low Church congregations took the first word of the church’s name “Protestant” very seriously. One would never call the priest “Father” or, for that matter, think of him as a priest at all. He was a minister, thank you. These congregations would typically have Morning Prayer service on all but one Sunday in the month and then on the remaining Sunday, have Holy Communion. On the other end of the Episcopal spectrum were the High Church “Anglo-Catholics.” Smells and Bells. Priestly garb and call me Father. The Eucharist was the center of almost every Sunday service. We Episcopalians have always had a high tolerance for diverse opinions. Low Church/High Church tested that tolerance but with only a few convention fist fights and shouting matches, the church kept on its “via media” (by the middle) course.
[The Episcopal Majority] 17 Mar 2009--Over the past century The Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. has been transformed. What had been a church overly steeped in the ways of English gentlemen rewrote its Book of Common Prayer in 1928 to be more inclusive and friendly to those who worshiped each Sunday. Women no longer had to sit in a certain area at the back of the nave. The pure English rootstock of the church was being augmented by more recent arrivals to our country - once, of course, they had reached a modicum of wealth and position. The leaders of the church, bishops, priests and laity, were content that tradition still held and innovation was strictly limited.
Firm in their belief, the leaders guided the church through a depression, a world war, a cold war and a period of unbridled growth in the wealth and living standards of the American family. Oh, there were always disagreements within the Church, some quite heated. The most contentious during the first six and one half decades of the twentieth century was “Low Church” vs. “High Church.” Low Church congregations took the first word of the church’s name “Protestant” very seriously. One would never call the priest “Father” or, for that matter, think of him as a priest at all. He was a minister, thank you. These congregations would typically have Morning Prayer service on all but one Sunday in the month and then on the remaining Sunday, have Holy Communion. On the other end of the Episcopal spectrum were the High Church “Anglo-Catholics.” Smells and Bells. Priestly garb and call me Father. The Eucharist was the center of almost every Sunday service. We Episcopalians have always had a high tolerance for diverse opinions. Low Church/High Church tested that tolerance but with only a few convention fist fights and shouting matches, the church kept on its “via media” (by the middle) course.
Study shows Wicca on the rise
http://www.usatoday.com/news/video/player.htm?maven_playerId=immersiveproduction&maven_referralPlaylistId=2099847ae09d7376bc77375c17a6e7bead6b6816&maven_referralObject=1054765955#mainviewer
[USA Today] 17 Mar 2009--A video on the growth of Wicca and other non-mainstream religions.
[USA Today] 17 Mar 2009--A video on the growth of Wicca and other non-mainstream religions.
Time to speak out on demons
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/mission/missionthinking/time_to_speak_out_on_demons/
[sydneyanglicans.net] 17 Mar 2009--Do you believe in demons? Lots of Christians don’t.
Talk of demons and exorcisms just sets off the ‘weird’ alert. If you wanted to explain the Christian faith today how many people are going to turn to Jesus exorcising demons. When talk of exorcisms do hit the news its usually a scandal - remember the Mercy Ministries front page of the Herald: ‘these girls needed help - instead they got exorcisms!’ So culturally there’s a lot of pressure to hush any talk of demons or evil powers.
There is also a bit of a backlash against weird Christian groups that see demons everywhere. The super spiritual commando warfare theology of Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness is the classic of this genre.
All of which adds up to silence from the Sunday pulpit and the Monday water cooler on demons. Turn to the gospels though and you keep seeing Jesus showing his authority over demons. Turn to Ephesians 6 and you get this challenge....
[sydneyanglicans.net] 17 Mar 2009--Do you believe in demons? Lots of Christians don’t.
Talk of demons and exorcisms just sets off the ‘weird’ alert. If you wanted to explain the Christian faith today how many people are going to turn to Jesus exorcising demons. When talk of exorcisms do hit the news its usually a scandal - remember the Mercy Ministries front page of the Herald: ‘these girls needed help - instead they got exorcisms!’ So culturally there’s a lot of pressure to hush any talk of demons or evil powers.
There is also a bit of a backlash against weird Christian groups that see demons everywhere. The super spiritual commando warfare theology of Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness is the classic of this genre.
All of which adds up to silence from the Sunday pulpit and the Monday water cooler on demons. Turn to the gospels though and you keep seeing Jesus showing his authority over demons. Turn to Ephesians 6 and you get this challenge....
My imam father came after me with an axe
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5907458.ece
[Times Online] 17 Mar 2009--We are all too familiar with the persecution of Christians in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet sitting in front of me is a British woman whose life has been threatened in this country solely because she is a Christian. Indeed, so real is the threat that the book she has written about her experiences has had to appear under an assumed name.
The book is called The Imam’s Daughter because “Hannah Shah” is just that: the daughter of an imam in one of the tight-knit Deobandi Muslim Pakistani communities in the north of England. Her father emigrated to this country from rural Pakistan some time in the 1960s and is, apparently, a highly respected local figure.
He is also an incestuous child abuser, repeatedly raping his daughter from the age of five until she was 15, ostensibly as part of her punishment for being “disobedient”. At the age of 16 she fled her family to avoid the forced marriage they had planned for her in Pakistan. A much, much greater affront to “honour” in her family’s eyes, however, was the fact that she then became a Christian – an apostate. The Koran is explicit that apostasy is punishable by death; thus it was that her father the imam led a 40-strong gang – in the middle of a British city – to find and kill her.
Hannah Shah says her story is not unique – that there are many other girls in British Muslim families who are oppressed and married off against their will, or who have secretly become Christians but are too afraid to speak out. She wants their voices to be heard and for Britain, the land of her birth, to realise the hidden misery of these women.
[Times Online] 17 Mar 2009--We are all too familiar with the persecution of Christians in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet sitting in front of me is a British woman whose life has been threatened in this country solely because she is a Christian. Indeed, so real is the threat that the book she has written about her experiences has had to appear under an assumed name.
The book is called The Imam’s Daughter because “Hannah Shah” is just that: the daughter of an imam in one of the tight-knit Deobandi Muslim Pakistani communities in the north of England. Her father emigrated to this country from rural Pakistan some time in the 1960s and is, apparently, a highly respected local figure.
He is also an incestuous child abuser, repeatedly raping his daughter from the age of five until she was 15, ostensibly as part of her punishment for being “disobedient”. At the age of 16 she fled her family to avoid the forced marriage they had planned for her in Pakistan. A much, much greater affront to “honour” in her family’s eyes, however, was the fact that she then became a Christian – an apostate. The Koran is explicit that apostasy is punishable by death; thus it was that her father the imam led a 40-strong gang – in the middle of a British city – to find and kill her.
Hannah Shah says her story is not unique – that there are many other girls in British Muslim families who are oppressed and married off against their will, or who have secretly become Christians but are too afraid to speak out. She wants their voices to be heard and for Britain, the land of her birth, to realise the hidden misery of these women.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bigger Is Better. Or Is It?
By Robin G. Jordan
A recent article drawing attention to the size of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in comparison to a number of liberal provinces such as the Church in Wales points to the ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness. Wales, it should be noted, is a small country and has never had a large Anglican population. This preoccupation also helps to explain why the ACNA provisional canons require that a group of congregations seeking admission to the ACNA as a cluster, diocese, or network of churches must consist of at least 12 churches each with an average Sunday attendance of at least 50 people and a total average Sunday attendance of 1000 people. These are unusual requirements when they are compared with similar requirements in the canons of The Episcopal Church and other Anglican church bodies in and outside of North America. The Episcopal Church only requires the minimum of six parishes and six clergy for the formation of a new diocese in that denomination. An Episcopal parish may range in size from a minimum of 25 to 100 members, depending upon the diocese and the region in which it is located. In largely rural dioceses the minimum size of a parish tends to be smaller than in predominantly urban dioceses. The explanation for the ACNA’s particular requirements is the very American and human desire to be seen as successful. In the United States bigness is equated with success.
The typical Continuing Anglican jurisdiction is composed of a small number of dioceses that in turn are composed of a small number of congregations. The congregations that compose each diocese are themselves small. These jurisdictions, dioceses and congregations do not fit the American idea of success. They are not big.
The Episcopal Church is steadily loosing members. Its dioceses are shrinking in terms of number of congregations as well as number of members. The Episcopal Church also does not fit the American idea of success. It is small and it is declining.
ACNA leaders can point at the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions and The Episcopal Church and then at the ACNA and assure themselves that they are doing something right. The ACNA is big and successful. These Anglican church bodies are not.
While the ACNA leaders have been critical of The Episcopal Church’s accommodation of contemporary culture, they themselves are not entirely free from the influence. Like the executives of a number of American corporations before the latest recession they want to project an image of bigness and therefore of success for the ACNA.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness explains its use of average Sunday attendance as one of the admission requirements for new ACNA judicatories. Average Sunday attendance, or ASA, measures the size of the worship gathering on Sunday mornings. It does not measure the size of the church’s worship gathering if it is held on another day beside Sunday such as a Saturday evening or weeknight. It does not measure the size of the congregation. ASA can make a church appear big when the actual size of the congregation is more modest. A worship gathering of a church include all kinds of people—seekers visiting a church for the first time, church shoppers who go from church to church, friends and relatives visiting a regular attendee, visitors from another church, guest musicians and preachers, as well as the regular attendees who form the congregation of the church.
An explanation that proponents of the ACNA offer for the high admission requirements as an ACNA judicatory is that they discourage bishops of tiny Continuing Anglican jurisdictions from apply for admission of their jurisdiction as an ACNA judicatory and becoming a member of ACNA hierarchy. The ACNA leadership, it appears, does not want its ranks swollen with vagrante bishops of dubious succession in charge of very small if not non-existent jurisdictions. They have a decided preference for bishops who are overseeing large, thriving jurisdictions, bishops who fit the image that they want to project for the ACNA—big and successful.
This reluctance to share leadership with bishops of tiny Continuing Anglican jurisdictions also appears motivated by the fear that these bishops may prove an obstacle to the growth of the ACNA. They have not shown themselves dynamic leaders of their respective jurisdictions. They have not demonstrated a mission mindset. Their jurisdictions have evidenced little if any gospel and numerical growth. Under their leadership the Continuum has further fragmented. Indeed a number of them have been personally responsible for the splintering of the Continuum.
It must be noted, however, very few bishops of Continuing Anglican jurisdictions showed interest in joining Common Cause before the ACNA was formed and the provisional canons and their requirements for the admission of new ACNA judicatories were adopted. Big fish in small ponds prefer to remain big fish in small ponds. While proponents of the ACNA might like to see these requirements as deterring an undesirable situation, it is unlikely that this situation would have developed if the requirements had not been adopted. Just as a number of people do not want to remain under the umbrella of The Episcopal Church, a number of people do not want to come under the umbrella of the ACNA. They do not see a lot of difference between the two church bodies. They also see the ACNA as tainted by the Episcopal background of its members who are largely former Episcopalians.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness comes at a price. The high admission requirements for new ACNA judicatories discourage the formation of ACNA judicatories from small-membership churches. Small-membership churches have different concerns and needs from larger churches. Organizations composed of small-membership churches are more likely to be responsive to these needs than organizations that are composed of small-membership churches and large churches and in which large churches dominate the organization.
The ACNA provisional constitution and canons contain no provisions for the formation of judicatories on the basis of church size as a common denominator—only geographic proximity and theological affinity. While the provisional canons permit the waiving of the admission requirements for new judicatories and their provisional acceptance as new ACNA judicatories in formation, the provisional canons require a judicatory in formation to meet the admission requirements in a space of five years. They make no provision for the extension of this period of formation in event the judicatory in formation does not meet these requirements as, for example, a judicatory in formation composed of a group of congregations in a rural or sparsely-populated area is likely to do. They do not make any provision for the admission of a judicatory composed of a smaller group of congregations than 12, each with an ASA of less than 50 people, or of a larger group of congregations than 12, each also with an ASA of less than 50. There is no room for networks of small-membership churches, small or large, in the ACNA. What are valued in the ACNA are the large church and the large judicatory. Small-membership churches and small-membership church networks do not fit the image that the ACNA leadership wants to project for the denomination—big and successful. Small membership churches will at best be tolerated as a transitional stage to something larger.
In Canada and the United States there are rural and sparsely populated areas where a network of small-membership churches is the only realistic option. But it would appear that these areas are not the concern of the ACNA leadership. They appear to be interested only in those areas that will support large churches and large judicatories. The ACNA admission requirements for new judicatories rule out networks exclusively composed of cell churches, home fellowships, and other alternative churches. This seems very short sighted at a time when economic conditions, zoning laws, and generational attitudes call for other options beside the traditional parish church. We have also entered a post Christian era. Christians in western countries are increasingly finding themselves the object of persecution.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness also affects the role of the bishop in the ACNA. The role of bishop in the ACNA is a continuation of the role of bishop in The Episcopal Church. The provisional constitution and canons of the ACNA appear to envision ACNA bishops primarily as administrators, corporate executives, prelates, and policy-makers. The role of bishop as a shepherd of a flock and a teacher and guardian of the faithful is missing from that vision. A bishop overseeing a large judicatory will not have the time or the skills to carryout this role. This is one of the disadvantages of large judicatories. They require an administrator/corporate executive and not a pastor/teacher. Smaller judicatories are required in order for a bishop to perform the latter role.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness is bound to have other unforeseen effects upon the ACNA. ACNA stakeholders need to ask themselves whether they are willing to pay the price of maintaining the image of big and successful that the ACNA leadership wishes to project for the ACNA? What is in it for them? What is the downside?
In my next article in this series I examine the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council and their roles in the ACNA and a number of weaknesses in the form of ecclesiastical government established by the ACNA provisional constitution.
A proposal for an alternative constitution for the ACNA modeled on that of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas is on the Internet with an introduction explaining its features and a commentary on two sections needing further revision at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/01/proposed-constitution-of-anglican.html
A recent article drawing attention to the size of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in comparison to a number of liberal provinces such as the Church in Wales points to the ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness. Wales, it should be noted, is a small country and has never had a large Anglican population. This preoccupation also helps to explain why the ACNA provisional canons require that a group of congregations seeking admission to the ACNA as a cluster, diocese, or network of churches must consist of at least 12 churches each with an average Sunday attendance of at least 50 people and a total average Sunday attendance of 1000 people. These are unusual requirements when they are compared with similar requirements in the canons of The Episcopal Church and other Anglican church bodies in and outside of North America. The Episcopal Church only requires the minimum of six parishes and six clergy for the formation of a new diocese in that denomination. An Episcopal parish may range in size from a minimum of 25 to 100 members, depending upon the diocese and the region in which it is located. In largely rural dioceses the minimum size of a parish tends to be smaller than in predominantly urban dioceses. The explanation for the ACNA’s particular requirements is the very American and human desire to be seen as successful. In the United States bigness is equated with success.
The typical Continuing Anglican jurisdiction is composed of a small number of dioceses that in turn are composed of a small number of congregations. The congregations that compose each diocese are themselves small. These jurisdictions, dioceses and congregations do not fit the American idea of success. They are not big.
The Episcopal Church is steadily loosing members. Its dioceses are shrinking in terms of number of congregations as well as number of members. The Episcopal Church also does not fit the American idea of success. It is small and it is declining.
ACNA leaders can point at the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions and The Episcopal Church and then at the ACNA and assure themselves that they are doing something right. The ACNA is big and successful. These Anglican church bodies are not.
While the ACNA leaders have been critical of The Episcopal Church’s accommodation of contemporary culture, they themselves are not entirely free from the influence. Like the executives of a number of American corporations before the latest recession they want to project an image of bigness and therefore of success for the ACNA.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness explains its use of average Sunday attendance as one of the admission requirements for new ACNA judicatories. Average Sunday attendance, or ASA, measures the size of the worship gathering on Sunday mornings. It does not measure the size of the church’s worship gathering if it is held on another day beside Sunday such as a Saturday evening or weeknight. It does not measure the size of the congregation. ASA can make a church appear big when the actual size of the congregation is more modest. A worship gathering of a church include all kinds of people—seekers visiting a church for the first time, church shoppers who go from church to church, friends and relatives visiting a regular attendee, visitors from another church, guest musicians and preachers, as well as the regular attendees who form the congregation of the church.
An explanation that proponents of the ACNA offer for the high admission requirements as an ACNA judicatory is that they discourage bishops of tiny Continuing Anglican jurisdictions from apply for admission of their jurisdiction as an ACNA judicatory and becoming a member of ACNA hierarchy. The ACNA leadership, it appears, does not want its ranks swollen with vagrante bishops of dubious succession in charge of very small if not non-existent jurisdictions. They have a decided preference for bishops who are overseeing large, thriving jurisdictions, bishops who fit the image that they want to project for the ACNA—big and successful.
This reluctance to share leadership with bishops of tiny Continuing Anglican jurisdictions also appears motivated by the fear that these bishops may prove an obstacle to the growth of the ACNA. They have not shown themselves dynamic leaders of their respective jurisdictions. They have not demonstrated a mission mindset. Their jurisdictions have evidenced little if any gospel and numerical growth. Under their leadership the Continuum has further fragmented. Indeed a number of them have been personally responsible for the splintering of the Continuum.
It must be noted, however, very few bishops of Continuing Anglican jurisdictions showed interest in joining Common Cause before the ACNA was formed and the provisional canons and their requirements for the admission of new ACNA judicatories were adopted. Big fish in small ponds prefer to remain big fish in small ponds. While proponents of the ACNA might like to see these requirements as deterring an undesirable situation, it is unlikely that this situation would have developed if the requirements had not been adopted. Just as a number of people do not want to remain under the umbrella of The Episcopal Church, a number of people do not want to come under the umbrella of the ACNA. They do not see a lot of difference between the two church bodies. They also see the ACNA as tainted by the Episcopal background of its members who are largely former Episcopalians.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness comes at a price. The high admission requirements for new ACNA judicatories discourage the formation of ACNA judicatories from small-membership churches. Small-membership churches have different concerns and needs from larger churches. Organizations composed of small-membership churches are more likely to be responsive to these needs than organizations that are composed of small-membership churches and large churches and in which large churches dominate the organization.
The ACNA provisional constitution and canons contain no provisions for the formation of judicatories on the basis of church size as a common denominator—only geographic proximity and theological affinity. While the provisional canons permit the waiving of the admission requirements for new judicatories and their provisional acceptance as new ACNA judicatories in formation, the provisional canons require a judicatory in formation to meet the admission requirements in a space of five years. They make no provision for the extension of this period of formation in event the judicatory in formation does not meet these requirements as, for example, a judicatory in formation composed of a group of congregations in a rural or sparsely-populated area is likely to do. They do not make any provision for the admission of a judicatory composed of a smaller group of congregations than 12, each with an ASA of less than 50 people, or of a larger group of congregations than 12, each also with an ASA of less than 50. There is no room for networks of small-membership churches, small or large, in the ACNA. What are valued in the ACNA are the large church and the large judicatory. Small-membership churches and small-membership church networks do not fit the image that the ACNA leadership wants to project for the denomination—big and successful. Small membership churches will at best be tolerated as a transitional stage to something larger.
In Canada and the United States there are rural and sparsely populated areas where a network of small-membership churches is the only realistic option. But it would appear that these areas are not the concern of the ACNA leadership. They appear to be interested only in those areas that will support large churches and large judicatories. The ACNA admission requirements for new judicatories rule out networks exclusively composed of cell churches, home fellowships, and other alternative churches. This seems very short sighted at a time when economic conditions, zoning laws, and generational attitudes call for other options beside the traditional parish church. We have also entered a post Christian era. Christians in western countries are increasingly finding themselves the object of persecution.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness also affects the role of the bishop in the ACNA. The role of bishop in the ACNA is a continuation of the role of bishop in The Episcopal Church. The provisional constitution and canons of the ACNA appear to envision ACNA bishops primarily as administrators, corporate executives, prelates, and policy-makers. The role of bishop as a shepherd of a flock and a teacher and guardian of the faithful is missing from that vision. A bishop overseeing a large judicatory will not have the time or the skills to carryout this role. This is one of the disadvantages of large judicatories. They require an administrator/corporate executive and not a pastor/teacher. Smaller judicatories are required in order for a bishop to perform the latter role.
The ACNA leadership’s preoccupation with bigness is bound to have other unforeseen effects upon the ACNA. ACNA stakeholders need to ask themselves whether they are willing to pay the price of maintaining the image of big and successful that the ACNA leadership wishes to project for the ACNA? What is in it for them? What is the downside?
In my next article in this series I examine the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Council and their roles in the ACNA and a number of weaknesses in the form of ecclesiastical government established by the ACNA provisional constitution.
A proposal for an alternative constitution for the ACNA modeled on that of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas is on the Internet with an introduction explaining its features and a commentary on two sections needing further revision at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2009/01/proposed-constitution-of-anglican.html
Struggling with Same-Gender Attraction
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/communitylife/discipleship/strugglingsamegenderattraction.html
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--Sarah is a 33-year old single woman who shows up on Fridays at a support group for men and women with unwanted same-sex attraction. No one in her church knows about her struggle or her loneliness. She needs brothers and sisters within her congregation to love and mentor her.
Here's how a church can create a safe environment in which this can happen.
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--Sarah is a 33-year old single woman who shows up on Fridays at a support group for men and women with unwanted same-sex attraction. No one in her church knows about her struggle or her loneliness. She needs brothers and sisters within her congregation to love and mentor her.
Here's how a church can create a safe environment in which this can happen.
Back From the Brothel
http://www.christianitytoday.com/outreach/articles/backfromthebrothel.html
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--I never thought I would be sitting at a table full of women comparing their daily quotas of paid sex. Linda, a former top madam in Australia, who once grossed $30,000 per week, remarked that in her days on the street the "girls" serviced around five clients a day; now they have to accommodate ten to fifteen. Juanita, from Costa Rica, looked shocked. "Fifteen? I did a hundred a day, on a double shift! The men lined up outside the door and we had only ten minutes with each one."
I was attending a conference of 45 Christian groups involved in ministry to women in prostitution, with 30 countries represented. Ostensibly, I was interviewing the ministry leaders, but they mostly stayed silent. Instead, former prostitutes themselves told heart-breaking stories of degradation and transformation.
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--I never thought I would be sitting at a table full of women comparing their daily quotas of paid sex. Linda, a former top madam in Australia, who once grossed $30,000 per week, remarked that in her days on the street the "girls" serviced around five clients a day; now they have to accommodate ten to fifteen. Juanita, from Costa Rica, looked shocked. "Fifteen? I did a hundred a day, on a double shift! The men lined up outside the door and we had only ten minutes with each one."
I was attending a conference of 45 Christian groups involved in ministry to women in prostitution, with 30 countries represented. Ostensibly, I was interviewing the ministry leaders, but they mostly stayed silent. Instead, former prostitutes themselves told heart-breaking stories of degradation and transformation.
The Real St. Patrick
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2004/stpatricks.html
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--'Tis the season for parades, green beer, shamrocks, and articles talking about why St. Patrick's day isn't all about parades, green beer, and shamrocks.
First, a few misconceptions about Patrick:
Patrick isn't really a Saint with a capital S, having never been officially canonized by Rome. And Patrick couldn't have driven the snakes out of Ireland because there were never any snakes there to begin with. He wasn't even the first evangelist to Ireland (Palladius had been sent in 431,about five years before Patrick went). Patrick isn't even Irish. He's from what's now Dumbarton, Scotland (just northwest of Glasgow).
The Celtic Church has numerous saints that were not canonized by Rome. In the Celtic Church a holy life, not canonization, was what made a saint.
[Christianity Today] 14 Mar 2009--'Tis the season for parades, green beer, shamrocks, and articles talking about why St. Patrick's day isn't all about parades, green beer, and shamrocks.
First, a few misconceptions about Patrick:
Patrick isn't really a Saint with a capital S, having never been officially canonized by Rome. And Patrick couldn't have driven the snakes out of Ireland because there were never any snakes there to begin with. He wasn't even the first evangelist to Ireland (Palladius had been sent in 431,about five years before Patrick went). Patrick isn't even Irish. He's from what's now Dumbarton, Scotland (just northwest of Glasgow).
The Celtic Church has numerous saints that were not canonized by Rome. In the Celtic Church a holy life, not canonization, was what made a saint.
The New Colonialism: Ganging up on Nigeria
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/03/reverse-colonialism-ganging-up-on.html
[The Anglican Curmudgeon] 14 Mar 2009--The Anglican blogworld (or a certain part of it, at any rate) is alight with outrage about a law that has been proposed for passage by the National Assembly of Nigeria, and that makes it a crime for two persons of the same sex to come together (in some sort of ceremony, presumably) "with the purpose of leaving together as husband and wife". The bill also criminalizes all who aid or abet in performing any such ceremony uniting two people of the same sex. (A press release from Amnesty International USA quoting parts of the law, and speculating on ways in which it might violate parts of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as international treaties to which Nigeria is a party, may be read here.)
What has some Episcopalians, as well as the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the liberal and gay-rights bloggers, in such an upset is that the Anglican Church of Nigeria has issued a five-page statement in support of the bill under the authority of its Primate and Metropolitan, the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola. The statement quotes passages from the Bible in support of its arguments against same-sex marriage, and condemns homosexual practice, as well as those who support making it legal in Nigeria. (Existing law in Nigeria already makes criminal sex between two males, or between two females, with a punishment nearly three times as severe as that proposed for same-sex marriage. So in one sense, I suppose one could say that the proposed bill improves existing law, by encouraging same-sex couples to marry in order to reduce the time they have to spend in jail.)
My purpose in commenting here is not to join this fray, but to note that it is a campaign mounted mostly by those on the liberal side of the Church, and as such may possibly lack a certain degree of consistency---or, as I shall now say more frequently, it may exhibit a certain fuzzy logic. Consider these points, if you will....
[The Anglican Curmudgeon] 14 Mar 2009--The Anglican blogworld (or a certain part of it, at any rate) is alight with outrage about a law that has been proposed for passage by the National Assembly of Nigeria, and that makes it a crime for two persons of the same sex to come together (in some sort of ceremony, presumably) "with the purpose of leaving together as husband and wife". The bill also criminalizes all who aid or abet in performing any such ceremony uniting two people of the same sex. (A press release from Amnesty International USA quoting parts of the law, and speculating on ways in which it might violate parts of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as international treaties to which Nigeria is a party, may be read here.)
What has some Episcopalians, as well as the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the liberal and gay-rights bloggers, in such an upset is that the Anglican Church of Nigeria has issued a five-page statement in support of the bill under the authority of its Primate and Metropolitan, the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola. The statement quotes passages from the Bible in support of its arguments against same-sex marriage, and condemns homosexual practice, as well as those who support making it legal in Nigeria. (Existing law in Nigeria already makes criminal sex between two males, or between two females, with a punishment nearly three times as severe as that proposed for same-sex marriage. So in one sense, I suppose one could say that the proposed bill improves existing law, by encouraging same-sex couples to marry in order to reduce the time they have to spend in jail.)
My purpose in commenting here is not to join this fray, but to note that it is a campaign mounted mostly by those on the liberal side of the Church, and as such may possibly lack a certain degree of consistency---or, as I shall now say more frequently, it may exhibit a certain fuzzy logic. Consider these points, if you will....
Too late for Anglicanism?
http://ugleyvicar.blogspot.com/2009/03/too-late-for-anglicanism.html
[The Ugley Vicar] 14 Mar 2009--Well, if there is one thing that Liberals and Traditionalists agree on in the Anglican Church, it is that we should ‘expel the immoral brother’. The trouble is, they disagree totally as to what qualifies as ‘immorality’.
Is it immoral for the Church of Nigeria to support the criminalizing of same-sex relationships (as used to be the case in all Western societies until very recently)? Or is it immoral for the Church in North America to sanctify those relationships (and at the same time to shift the boundaries of what may be believed doctrinally so as to threaten any connections with the church’s received faith)?
The truth is, it hardly matters any more as far as the Communion is concerned. St Paul’s warning has finally come true: “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
The sad truth is that, even if the Church of Nigeria might need to hear a word of correction, Western Anglicanism is hardly in a position to deliver it. Why should anyone listen to a Church which scarcely has any theological coherence whatsoever? And similarly, how can the Western Church expect to be listened to by the Church in Nigerian, given that it is unwilling to listen itself to a rebuke from that quarter?
[The Ugley Vicar] 14 Mar 2009--Well, if there is one thing that Liberals and Traditionalists agree on in the Anglican Church, it is that we should ‘expel the immoral brother’. The trouble is, they disagree totally as to what qualifies as ‘immorality’.
Is it immoral for the Church of Nigeria to support the criminalizing of same-sex relationships (as used to be the case in all Western societies until very recently)? Or is it immoral for the Church in North America to sanctify those relationships (and at the same time to shift the boundaries of what may be believed doctrinally so as to threaten any connections with the church’s received faith)?
The truth is, it hardly matters any more as far as the Communion is concerned. St Paul’s warning has finally come true: “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
The sad truth is that, even if the Church of Nigeria might need to hear a word of correction, Western Anglicanism is hardly in a position to deliver it. Why should anyone listen to a Church which scarcely has any theological coherence whatsoever? And similarly, how can the Western Church expect to be listened to by the Church in Nigerian, given that it is unwilling to listen itself to a rebuke from that quarter?
Alpha's Nicky Gumbel blasts London diocese
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/03/alphas-nicky-gumbel-blasts-london-diocese.html#more
[Times Onlin] 14 Mar 2009--Alpha's Nicky Gumbel is the darling of the London diocese. Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, the Golden Goose of London with all its rich, young and beautiful worshippers in Knightsbridge, Kensington and countless "planted" offshoots, the Bishop of London Richard Chartres is fulsome in his praises of the merits of this evangelical stronghold. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speaks there often. So what has inspired the star of numerous Alpha videos to weigh in against the diocese? It is, as we report, the proposed sale of St Mark's Mayfair to the developer of Covent Garden's Sanctuary, to be turned into an alternative health centre.
Even though Westminster has turned down Hammer's planning application - the pic here shows campaigners cheering outside after the planners met in December - the diocesan finance committee is expected to press ahead with its plan to sell the Grade-I listed church to Hammer on Monday evening. But the bombshell dropped by Gumbel today, in a letter to Archdeacon of Charing Cross Dr William Jacob, is that he was offered the church to house his abundant flock, and said 'yes'. If anyone can afford to restore this redundant wreck to its own and God's glory, it has to be HTB. But it seems like this is one battle in their spiritual war the evangelicals are not going to win. Read Nicky's letter in full, below, and the original missive that prompted it, Dr Jacob's own letter to Lady Sainsbury, a local resident and evangelical Christian backing the campaign to save St Mark's.
[Times Onlin] 14 Mar 2009--Alpha's Nicky Gumbel is the darling of the London diocese. Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, the Golden Goose of London with all its rich, young and beautiful worshippers in Knightsbridge, Kensington and countless "planted" offshoots, the Bishop of London Richard Chartres is fulsome in his praises of the merits of this evangelical stronghold. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speaks there often. So what has inspired the star of numerous Alpha videos to weigh in against the diocese? It is, as we report, the proposed sale of St Mark's Mayfair to the developer of Covent Garden's Sanctuary, to be turned into an alternative health centre.
Even though Westminster has turned down Hammer's planning application - the pic here shows campaigners cheering outside after the planners met in December - the diocesan finance committee is expected to press ahead with its plan to sell the Grade-I listed church to Hammer on Monday evening. But the bombshell dropped by Gumbel today, in a letter to Archdeacon of Charing Cross Dr William Jacob, is that he was offered the church to house his abundant flock, and said 'yes'. If anyone can afford to restore this redundant wreck to its own and God's glory, it has to be HTB. But it seems like this is one battle in their spiritual war the evangelicals are not going to win. Read Nicky's letter in full, below, and the original missive that prompted it, Dr Jacob's own letter to Lady Sainsbury, a local resident and evangelical Christian backing the campaign to save St Mark's.
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