The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles this weekend elected Mary Glasspool, an openly lesbian priest, to be one of its assistant bishops. This is sure to trigger new anxieties and power struggles in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Under limitations in effect since the election of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003, Anglicans have more or less developed a consensus not to elect openly practicing homosexuals to the office of bishop. With this move, the consensus becomes all but unsustainable.

In my view, the election of Rev. Glasspool will fuel these power struggles:

1. Between Episcopal pragmatic traditionalists and the left wing on whether her election should be affirmed by the national church. (A majority of US dioceses must approve of this move and are likely to grant approval in this case.)

2. Between Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori regarding the future relationship between the American church and global Anglicanism. (Conservatives will now press more aggressively for ABC Williams to recognize the Anglican Church of North America. Church of England conservatives are also putting great pressure of Williams to hold the line.)

3. Among conservatives who remain inside the American church and the growing number of breakaway leaders. (There are still a sizable number of conservative/evangelical pastors and other leaders inside TEC -- mostly in suburban areas. These conservatives face the dilemma of what to do beyond verbal criticism of this action in Los Angeles.)

Meanwhile up North, the left-leaning Anglican Church of Canada has won a major victory when a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of the Vancouver-area Anglican diocese in a property fight with St. John's, Shaughnessy, one of the largest and most evangelical parishes in the national church, and several other conservative churches in the area. Some $20 million in property is at stake.

What do these developments mean for conservative Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, or non-denominational evangelicals?

Based on recent experience, here are four developing trend lines:

A. Flight, not fight. At the local level, more conservatives will become what I call "faith-based refugees." They might end up at your church!

B. Objection to homosexual conduct is equivalent to homophobia. The rhetoric of the left increasingly is that any opposition to active homosexuals in any leadership capacity is homophobia, unjust, and discriminatory. This has wide-spread implications for all of civil society, regardless of denomination.

C. Gay + Christian is emerging as a global movement. Most American Christians seem to be quite unaware of how the faith-based gay movement has strong coherence in the UK and other Euro-zone nations.

D. Conservatives remain deeply divided by politics, strategy, and theology. I continue to be surprised at how the conservative majority has had so much difficulty overcoming their disagreements over women in ministry, communion, the influence of Reformed theology, just to name a few things. These disagreements are likely to ripple far beyond Anglican borders.

Posted by Tim Morgan at December 7, 2009 | Comments (58)

In the days following, the General Convention of TEC (the Episcopal Church based in the US), Rowan Williams, as Archbishop of Canterbury, has held off making any comment. Until today.

The UK's Daily Telegraph says:

Dr Williams acknowledged for the first time that believers may have to accept "two styles of being Anglican" in order to avoid schism. The decision by Episcopal bishops in the US earlier this month to press ahead with the ordination of homosexual priests and bishops — effectively overturning a ban on the practice — has pushed the 80 million-strong global church to the brink of an irrevocable split.

Williams' lengthy statement puts an accent on realistic analysis and description. It is likely to make some, if not most, on both sides of the global Anglican Communion, unhappy in that Williams does not map out how Anglicans are to resolve their differences once and for all.

The core issues are: gay clergy, gay bishops, the inter-dependence of the communion's 35-plus members and their commitment to traditional/orthodox teaching.

Here are just a few highlights from the ABC:

* A realistic assessment of what [the TEC] Convention has resolved does not suggest that it will repair the broken bridges into the life of other Anglican provinces; very serious anxieties have already been expressed. The repeated request for moratoria on the election of partnered gay clergy as bishops and on liturgical recognition of same-sex partnerships has clearly not found universal favour, although a significant minority of bishops has just as clearly expressed its intention to remain with the consensus of the Communion. The statement that the Resolutions are essentially 'descriptive' is helpful, but unlikely to allay anxieties.

* No Anglican has any business reinforcing prejudice against LGBT people, questioning their human dignity and civil liberties or their place within the Body of Christ. Our overall record as a Communion has not been consistent in this respect and this needs to be acknowledged with penitence.

* A blessing for a same-sex union cannot have the authority of the Church Catholic, or even of the Communion as a whole. And if this is the case, a person living in such a union is in the same case as a heterosexual person living in a sexual relationship outside the marriage bond; whatever the human respect and pastoral sensitivity such persons must be given, their chosen lifestyle is not one that the Church's teaching sanctions, and thus it is hard to see how they can act in the necessarily representative role that the ordained ministry, especially the episcopate, requires.

Here's the link to the full statement.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 27, 2009 | Comments (8)

Last Friday, The Episcopal Church (TEC) completed its General Convention in Anaheim, California. The bottom line for conservatives still inside TEC is that they are increasingly adopting the language of remnant theology to describe their commitment to remain within TEC.

The church's Left-learning majority exercised extraordinary dominance and pressed forward with two measures:

D025. Gay Clergy, Bishops. This measure strongly endorses opening the office of priest and bishop to all qualified persons and is widely viewed as legally opening the door to gay and lesbian ordination as clergy and consecration as bishop.

C056. Same-sex blessings. This measure authorizes church leaders to develop services for the blessing of same-sex unions and openly allows bishops to respond sort of on a case by case basis and grants an attitude of generosity toward LGBT couples seeking a church blessing of their relationship.

In response, about 29 bishops (nearly all conservatives) signed the so-called Anaheim Statement. George Conger reports:

Twenty-nine bishops have endorsed a letter affirming their desire to remain part of the Anglican Communion and Episcopal Church while being faithful to the calls for restraint made by the wider church.

Styled as the "Anaheim Statement," the letter of dissent to the actions of the 76th General Convention pledged the bishops' fealty to the requests made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the primates' meetings and ACC-14 to observe a moratoria on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate.

So, the big question for conservatives is this: What is holding this remnant together?

The Left sees only conservative condemnations and what conservative evangelicals are against as the glue that can only hold the Right together for so long.

The Right, however, puts high hopes on the Anglican Convenant, evangelism, natural church growth, and liberal over-reach as elements that will give them the edge in the long haul.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 20, 2009 | Comments (22)

One day after The Episcopal Church vote to open the sacramental offices of clergy and bishop to active gays and lesbians, the church is poised today to vote on a resolution that will endorse the blessing of same-sex unions through a officially permitted rite.

Here are some of the details from George Conger, now writing for the Washington Times:

The U.S. Episcopal Church put itself on a collision course with the rest of the Anglican Communion by formally approving Tuesday the ordination of gay bishops, defying warnings that the Church of England may respond by recognizing a rival Anglican church. The 2.1-million-member U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion also was preparing Wednesday to approve blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions, a further slap at the Archbishop of Canterbury, who warned the U.S. church last week not to act in ways that deepen the splits in the 77-million-member worldwide communion. In Tuesday's actions, the U.S. church reversed a promise made to the rest of the communion by agreeing to end the church's gay-bishop ban, which the church imposed in 2006 at its last triennial convention after the worldwide furor over the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Conservative reaction to these events is growing hotter. Virtue Online raised further anxiety about "tyranny of the majority:"

Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield [IL] rose in opposition to the whole matter. "Why waste my time and your time...is it casting a pearl before swine thing. This is another clear instance that we are allowing our church to be shaped by the secular culture rather than pursuing our God given mission in pursing the secular culture." Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington said the church allowed divorced persons as a concession to human frailty. "It is time for the church be liberated from hypocrisy under which it has been operating about our gay brothers and sisters. Divorce contradicted sexual ethics. Our gay and lesbian members don't think much about what other Anglicans around the world think. The Nigerians are our most ardent critic. The Scribes and the Pharisees tied people up in burdens..." Bishop Beckwith then requested the resolution be approved by a roll call vote, which would ensure voting on it is public and recorded. This was passed and the House went into recess. C056 is now scheduled for consideration tomorrow afternoon; if it passes through the House of Bishops it will move to the House of Deputies for adoption. Not all bishops were in favor of C056.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 15, 2009 | Comments (11)

Starting last week, The Episcopal Church (TEC) has been meeting in Anaheim, California, for its General Convention. The convention is subdivided into the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies (lay and clergy).

The big question coming into the convention was whether the convention would move to repeal so-called B033, approved at their last convention. This resolution B033 called for the church to abide by a moratorium for consecrating openly homosexual individuals to the office of Bishop. (In 2003, the openly gay V. Gene Robinson was named as Bishop of New Hampshire.)

Last night, the House of Bishops approved D025, a measure from the House of Deputies that will allow gay clergy to serve openly in all offices of the church. The Associated Press reports:

The Episcopal Church moved Monday toward affirming their acceptance of gays and lesbians for all roles in ministry, despite pressure from fellow Anglicans worldwide for a decisive moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop.

Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.

Lay and priest delegates to the meeting had comfortably approved a nearly identical statement, and were expected to adopt the latest version before the meeting ends Friday.

Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.

During the debate, several conservative bishops spoke out, according to Virtue Online:

The bishop of West Virginia objected, "We need to face the fact that this is a repudiation of B033... now we're shooting the gap..." and will, he felt, do the very things that the Communion has asked The Episcopal Church not to do. Peter Beckwith, Bishop of Springfield, agreed, "I do not believe it is right... sex outside marriage is inappropriate" and more importantly, he thought that what was at stake was "a perceived justice issue" over and against the "integrity of the Communion." The Bishop of Albany Bill Love spoke in the same vein, stating that "If this resolution passes, The Episcopal Church will cease to be what its always been." For him, passing amended D025 would "totally shred" the Communion... a loss to us and the wider Church." Others, notably Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina and Bishop John W. Howe of Central Florida spoke powerfully against the resolution. But the tide of the House was against them and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had warned against such legislation earlier that day at General Synod.

The vote was hailed as a milestone by Integrity, the leading organization for supporters of gay ordination. Late yesterday, Integrity in a press statement said:

By a nearly 2-1 margin, the bishops of the Episcopal Church passed an amended version of resolution D025, which effectively ends the "BO33 Era" and returns the church to relying on its canons and discernment processes for the election of bishops. "While concurrence on the amended resolution by the House of Deputies is necessary before it is officially adopted by the church as a whole," said Integrity President Susan Russell, "there is no question that today's vote in the House of Bishops was an historic move forward and a great day for all who support the full inclusion of all the baptized in the Body of Christ."

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 14, 2009 | Comments (20)

For about the past two years, I have had this hunch that sooner or later the US Supreme Court would be presented with a church-property dispute that would sharply question the role of the judiciary in settling disputes between a Protestant denomination and a local parish or congregation.

It looks like 'sooner' has arrived now.

About noon today (May 5), while Anglicans worldwide are watching events in Jamaica, where top leaders are debating the proposed Anglican Covenant, St. James Anglican, Newport Beach, California, released an press statement saying they would be appealing the decision of the California Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court.

Here's some of what the press statement said:

St. James Anglican Church, at the centerpiece of a nationally publicized church property dispute with the Episcopal Church, announced today that it will file a petition for writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to resolve an important issue of religious freedom: Does the United States Constitution, which both prohibits the establishment of religion and protects the free exercise of religion, allow certain religious denominations to disregard the normal rules of property ownership that apply to everyone else?

I would have to agree the US Supreme Court should address this area. In recent years, the high court has not done as good a job as it might have on mapping the boundaries between church and state.

The issue here from my point of view is state and judicial intervention into the inner workings of voluntary religious organizations (denominations); and, based on the California Supreme Court ruling recently, the court's inappropriate preference for the religious institution versus the individual congregation.

Let's face it. For the vast number of American Protestant congregations, the relationship today with their denomination is mostly a one-way street. Send money to the HQ and get very little in return.

The leaders at St. James Anglican said in their statement:

Under longstanding law, no one can unilaterally impose a trust over someone else's property without their permission.

Yet, in the St. James case before the California Supreme Court, named Episcopal Church Cases, the Court created a special perquisite for certain churches claiming to be "hierarchical," with a "superior religious body," which may allow them to unilaterally appropriate for themselves property purchased and maintained by spiritually affiliated but separately incorporated local churches. St. James will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that this preferential treatment for certain kinds of religion violates the U.S. Constitution.

You can find the full statement here.

If you worship in a church that is part of a Protestant denomination, what do you get for that in return?

Is the relationship "until death do you part"?

Or, does your denomination allow individual congregations to dis-affiliate?

Post your comments below.

(Photo credit: St. James Newport Beach, interior.)

Posted by Tim Morgan at May 5, 2009 | Comments (11)

Breaking news:

Top conservative Anglicans have been meeting in London this week and as expected they have issued a communique that offers recognition to Bishop Robert Duncan, former Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh, and his organization the Anglican Communion in North America, a proposed new province.

The ACNA expects to meet this summer to more formally establish an organization of traditional and conservative Anglicans in the United States and Canada. In the meantime, the ligitation over church property, financial assets, trust funds, and endowments continues between the Episcopal Church and parishes and dioceses that have separated from TEC.

See below for the full statement, released early this morning:

Communiqu? from the GAFCON/FCA Primates' Council

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We meet in the week after Easter, rejoicing again in the power of the risen Lord Jesus to transform lives and situations. We continue to experience his active work in our lives and the lives of our churches and we rejoice in the Gospel of hope.

From its inception, the GAFCON movement has centered on the power of Christ to make all things new. We have heard this week of the great progress made in North America towards the creation of a new Province basing itself on this same biblical gospel of transformation and hope. We have also envisioned the future of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans as a movement for defending and promoting the biblical gospel of the risen Christ.

Yet we are saddened that the present crisis in the Anglican Communion of which we are a part remains unresolved. The recent meeting of Primates in Alexandria served only to demonstrate how deep and intractable the divisions are and to encourage us to sustain the important work of GAFCON.

The GAFCON Primates' Council has the responsibility of recognizing and authenticating orthodox Anglicans especially those who are alienated by their original Provinces. We are also called to promote the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) in its stand against false teaching and as a rallying point for orthodoxy. It is our aim to ensure that the unity of the Anglican Communion is centered on Biblical teaching rather than mere institutional loyalty. It is essential to provide a way in which faithful Anglicans, many of whom are suffering much loss, can remain as Anglicans within the Communion while distancing themselves from false teaching.

At this meeting highly significant progress was made on the following fronts.

Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) ? The FCA in its initial stages is attracting membership by individuals, churches, dioceses, provinces and organizations involving millions of Anglicans. We are heartened by the large numbers of Anglicans who share a commitment to the theological formularies of true Anglicanism that provide a firm foundation for our faith.

We have therefore reviewed the strategy and structures of the FCA to better reflect the demands now made on it. We were glad to receive from the FCA Theological Group their Commentary on the Jerusalem Declaration. We have established the FCA web-site, www.fca.net. We received reports from those involved in partnership development work in the Sudan and elsewhere.

The FCA is committed to pursue our common mission through the establishment of regional chapters and networks of Anglicans who will strengthen and support each other. We rejoice in the development of an active branch of the FCA in the United Kingdom and the proposed launch on July 6th in Westminster Central Hall, London. The establishment of an Advisory Board of bishops, clergy, and laity from around the world reflects the growing breadth of support.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) - Careful consideration was given to the new Province in North America. We met with Bishop Bob Duncan and other key leaders. The emergent Province consists currently of approximately 100,000 Christians in Canada and the US who wish to continue in full membership of the Anglican Communion world-wide.As a result of this process, we celebrate the organization and official formation of ACNA around the same principles that gave rise to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and now the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA). Though many Provinces are in impaired or broken communion with TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, our fellowship with faithful Anglicans in North America remains steadfast.

The FCA Primates' Council recognizes the Anglican Church in North America as genuinely Anglican and recommends that Anglican Provinces affirm full communion with the ACNA. Anglican Covenant? As the Jerusalem Declaration insists we believe that the existing theological formularies of Anglicanism provide an adequate basis for the restoration of the relationships within the Anglican Communion. While we support the concept of an Anglican Covenant, we understand that its adequacy depends on the willingness to address the crisis that has "torn the fabric" of the Communion. We welcome the Ridley Cambridge Draft Covenant and call for principled response from the Provinces.

Relationships ?We value our relationships within the Anglican Communion and those with our ecumenical friends. Already, regional chapters and links are forming in many parts of the world with those who share the commitments expressed in GAFCON and FCA. We look forward in real hope to a positive response amongst the Churches, Dioceses and Provinces of the Communion to our call to enter into full communion with the new Anglican Church in North America. Only in this way, we believe, will the need for the so-called ?cross border incursions' come to an end and a measure of peace restored.

We are especially grateful for the contributions made by the three previous gatherings of the Global South in Limuru, Kenya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Ein-Sukhna, Egypt, and the clarion sound of the "Trumpets." We look forward to sharing in gatherings in the future.

Conclusion
We remain committed to the Anglican Communion and to being a faithful and creative voice for renewal within it to recapture a focus on Biblical teaching and mission. Though conscious of our inadequacies, in the light of Christ's resurrection power, we speak with confidence and seek only to serve the Lord, the people of the Anglican Communion and those who have yet to hear the life-changing message of the Gospel. We are encouraged by the Word of the Lord. The Good News of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is our only hope and our focus. We continue steadfastly in our commitment to share the fullness of the Gospel in our nations and around the world.

Alleluia! Christ is risen: The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

London, April 16, 2009

Posted by Tim Morgan at April 16, 2009 | Comments (2)

Update: 4:30, CST

Reactions to statements from Anglican primates are piling up in my in box.

Here's one important voice: Bishop Martyn Minns, CANA:

"We also welcome a period of gracious restraint as the Primates describe it but are distressed by the reality that The Episcopal Church continues to initiate punitive litigation on a massive scale. To date, there are at least 56 lawsuits initiated by The Episcopal Church, or its dioceses, against individual churches, clergy and vestries across the country.

"We are saddened to read that within hours of agreeing to this statement Presiding Bishop Schori is already questioning whether the Primates' call for gracious restraint is something to which The Episcopal Church wants to make a commitment ?'the long-term impact of ?gracious restraint' is a matter for General Convention,' she said in a statement.

"We appreciate the encouragement for those of us connected with the Anglican Church in North America to continue to move forward as faithful Anglicans and to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ."

If you have loads of time, read the final communique, here

* * *
Noon, Thursday, Feb. 5, CST

Today, Anglican watchers worldwide have been awaiting the release of the communique from the Anglican Communion's top bishops and archbishops, who have been meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, this week.

Episcopal News Service reports:

Anglican leaders meeting in Egypt have affirmed the recommendations of the Windsor Continuation Group and called for the development of a "Pastoral Council" and the appointment of "Pastoral Visitors" to assist in healing and reconciliation given the current "situation of tension" in the Anglican Communion.

In a communiqu? released on the final day of their February 1-5 meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, the primates are also encouraging all parties in the current controversies to maintain "gracious restraint" with respect to actions that could exacerbate the tensions, such as same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate.

For the Episcopal Church and Anglicans in Virginia, this initiative from Anglican primates comes at an exceedingly touchy time since they have entered the appeal phase of their litigation.

Recently, the Anglican District of Virginia issues a public call to conclude all litigation. In a press statement, ADV said:

FAIRFAX, Va. (February 3, 2009) ? In response to the appeal filed today by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) called for an end to the two year Virginia church property litigation. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Bellows issued his final rulings in December. The rulings were in favor of the nine ADV congregations and found that each has a legal right to their church property.

"Judge Bellows upheld the written law, correctly applied the Constitution, and was judicious in his rulings throughout this legal process. We hoped that TEC and the Diocese would recognize this and would have put this legal battle behind us," said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of ADV. "We are saddened that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese find it necessary to continue with more litigation. An appeal process will cost additional millions of dollars that could be spent on mission and ministry. Both sides have already spent some $5 million in legal costs, money that could have gone to our communities in need during these tough economic times. Although we are disappointed by this development, we are fully prepared to continue to defend ourselves and remain confident in our legal position.

"These legal victories for religious freedom have encouraged us to stand firm in our Anglican faith. Our congregations will continue to work together delivering the message of Christ. All we have ever wanted to do is continue to worship and serve God in the same tradition as our ancestors and the worldwide Anglican Communion."

On December 19, 2008, the Anglican District of Virginia congregations received favorable final rulings regarding whether four parcels of property owned by the Anglican congregations were covered by the congregations' Division petitions. (TEC and the Diocese had previously acknowledged that the congregations' other properties were all covered by the congregations' Division petitions.)

So in a matter of days, it should be clear whether The Episcopal Church will change its strategy of litigation against departing parishes and presentments against bishops who are leaving TEC.

Posted by Tim Morgan at February 5, 2009 | Comments (3)

Last Friday, regular readers of CT's Liveblog know I posted about Rick Warren's offer of assistance to Anglicans who are about to lose their church buildings in hostile litigation or who were starting a new congregation through new Anglican structures. (In early December after the Civil Forum in Washington, Rick and I discussed the Anglicans story.)

First, a 'mea culpa' from me that this offer was done on a private basis and I misread this message as part of a public gesture. (I wrote a cover story Purpose Driven in Rwanda and an update interview with Rick was published in CT recently.) So CT staff agreed to take the posting off the CT site. But, of course, it lives on via RSS feeds and elsewhere.

This story has taken on quite a life of its own. So since Liveblog has been silent on this subject for days, I asked Rick for a brief clarification. He's given permission to release these comments:

"In our first 13 years as a congregation, Saddleback was forced to use 79 different meeting places, so we understand the difficulty of finding space. So, as standard procedure, anytime an evangelical congregation loses its place to meet, we offer them space, out of gratitude, to the churches that helped us before we got our own building.

It's just one of many quiet ways we support the Body of Christ behind the scenes. Without any press, we've helped 5 other denominations plant new churches in the Saddleback Valley. We never view other congregations as competition, but as team members in the Great Commission. Helping other congregations is consistent with my calling, and 30 year track record, of serving, encouraging, and championing other pastors.

It is what the Purpose Driven Network is all about.

When I read in the paper that another local congregation has lost its place to meet, I send a private email to the leadership offering space. It certainly wasn't a reaction to anyone or any group. I cc'd Tim Morgan because he's a personal friend who has traveled with me to Africa twice and he knew the folks I wrote to. The letter wasn't intended to be a public statement, just an offered kindness. Those who contacted me learned this. Those who didn't attributed a inaccurate motivation and misread the timing."

Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
Global PEACE Coalition
Purpose Driven Network

I'll add in. There's no mystery, no malice, or hidden agenda here. Gratitude still works, Thanks be to God.

Posted by Tim Morgan at January 14, 2009 | Comments (4)

A long awaiting ruling of the Californai Supreme Court was released today concerning three conservative parishes that left the national Episcopal Church. The ruling is a huge set back for conservatives.

According to media reports:

In an unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled that the property belongs to the Episcopal Church because the parishes agreed to abide by the mother church's rules, which include specific language about property ownership.

St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's Church in North Hollywood pulled out of the 2.1 million-member national Episcopal Church in 2004 and sought to retain property ownership.

Each church held deeds in their names to the property. The court ruled that Episcopal Church canons made it clear the property belonged to the individual parishes only as long as they remained part of the bigger church.

"When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it," Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin wrote for the seven-member court.

Reaction to the ruling predictably have leaders in the Episcopal church declaring complete victory.

I will update this entry with comments and reactions in a few hours' time.

Posted by Tim Morgan at January 5, 2009 | Comments (11)

Breaking news: Friday 11 a.m., CST

Early this week, I caught word that the judge in Virginia would issue an important ruling today in the church property dispute involving the Episcopal Diocese of Virgina, the national Episcopal Church, and break-away congregations organized into the Anglican District of Virginia.

Here's the press release, which I received about 15 minutes ago:

FAIRFAX, Va. (December 19, 2008) ? The judge presiding in the church property trial between the Episcopal Church and eleven former congregations, now affiliated with the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), ruled in the congregations' favor today. The final rulings in this case concerned whether four parcels of property owned by the Anglican congregations were covered by the congregations' Division petitions.

"We welcome these final, favorable rulings in this case. This has been a long process and we are grateful that the court has agreed with us," said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of ADV. "It is gratifying to see the court recognize that the true owner of The Historic Falls Church is The Falls Church's congregation, not the denomination, and that the building is protected by the Division Statute. The Falls Church has held and cared for this property for over 200 years."

"We hope that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia will realize that it is time to stop this legal battle. In these economic times, we should be focused on helping our communities and spreading the Gospel, not spending millions of dollars on ongoing legal battles. The money we have been forced to spend to keep our property from being forcibly taken away from us is money that could have been spent in more productive ways.

"While the judge ruled that issues surrounding The Falls Church Endowment Fund will be heard at a later date, ADV is confident that we will prevail on this last outstanding issue," Oakes said.

On April 3, 2008, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows issued a landmark ruling that acknowledged a division within The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia and the larger Anglican Communion. Judge Bellows affirmed that the Anglican congregations in Virginia could invoke the Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code ? 57-9) in their defense. The Virginia Division Statute states that majority rule should apply when a division in a denomination or diocese results in the disaffiliation of an organized group of congregations. On June 27, 2008, Judge Bellows issued a ruling that confirmed the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code ? 57-9) under the First Amendment. On August 22, 2008, he issued a ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the Division Statute under the Contracts Clause of the Constitution.

"We hope that the Diocese will reconsider its previous promises to appeal. While we are prepared to continue to defend ourselves, we are ready to put this litigation behind us so we can focus our time, money and effort on the work of the Gospel," Oakes concluded.

The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Diocese abruptly broke off settlement negotiations with the Anglican congregations in January 2007 and filed lawsuits against the Virginia churches, their ministers and their vestries. The decision of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese to redefine and reinterpret Scripture caused 11 Anglican churches in Virginia to sever their ties with TEC and the Virginia Diocese.

For conservative Anglicans, this is a day to rejoice. It's an early Christmas present. But while one battle is won, the war (so to speak) seems far from over. It is widely expected that Episcopal church lawyers will file an appeal very soon.

Here's what Anglican Bishop Martyn Minns, from Truro Church and the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, had to say:

"The Court's decision is a great victory for religious freedom. It makes it clear that we cannot be forced to leave our churches and our foundational Christian beliefs because of the decision by the leadership of The Episcopal Church (TEC) to change the core components of our faith."

"While on paper this has been a battle about property, the division within our church has been caused by TEC's decision to walk away from the teaching of the Bible and the unique role of Jesus Christ. They are forging a prodigal path ? reinventing Christianity as they go ? which takes them away from the values and beliefs of the historical church here in the United States and the worldwide Anglican Communion as a whole.

"Our position has always been that we have a right to continue to hold dear the same things that our parents and most of the leaders of the Anglican Communion have always believed. The Bible is the authoritative word of God and is wholly relevant to all Christians today and for generations to come.

"We hope and pray that TEC will refrain from causing all of our congregations to spend more money on further appeals. The money could be used instead to provide more help to the least, the last, and the left out in our communities."

I'm no fan of posting press releases online, so click here for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia statement about the case.

The fight goes on. The bottom line is that TEC Bishop Lee will be filing an appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Posted by Tim Morgan at December 19, 2008 | Comments (2)

A new alliance for North American Anglicans will have an important benchmark event in Wheaton, Illinois, on Wed., Dec. 3.

See below for the full press statement.

It's fascinating to see that both the Billy Graham Center and Wheaton's Evangelical Free church will both serve as venues for this meeting of the Common Cause Partnership, the organization that has pooled resources for conservatives, who report 100,000 Anglicans as participants in their movement.

I will update this entry with reactions in a day or two.

ANGLICAN LEADERS SEEK TO UNITE NORTH AMERICAN CHURCHES:

Draft Constitution to be Unveiled, Jerusalem Declaration Signed at Dec. 3 Chicago Gathering

WHEATON, IL, Nov. 14 -- Leaders of the Common Cause Partnership, a federation of more than 100,000 Anglican Christians in North America, will release to the public on the evening of Dec. 3 the draft constitution of an emerging Anglican C?hurch in North America, formally subscribe to the Jerusalem Declaration of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and affirm the GAFCON Statement on the Global Anglican Future at an evening worship celebration in suburban Chicago.

This historic event comes in the wake of GAFCON held in Israel last June with leaders from more than one-half of the world's 77 million Anglicans. At the close of that gathering, Anglican leaders released the Jerusalem Declaration and the GAFCON Statement on the Global Anglican Future, which outlined their Christian beliefs and goals to reform, heal and revitalize the Anglican Communion worldwide.

"One conclusion of the Global Anglican Future Conference held in Jerusalem last June was that the time for the recognition of a new Anglican body in North America had arrived," observed Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of Common Cause Partnership. "The public release of our draft constitution is an important concrete step toward the goal of a biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America."

Provinces, dioceses and parishes around the world have been making formal decisions to support the Jerusalem Declaration and the GAFCON Statement on the Global Anglican Future since its release this summer. Leading bishops and representatives of the North American Common Cause Partnership will officially subscribe to the Declaration and affirm the Statement at the public worship service at Wheaton Evangelical Free Church in Wheaton, IL at 7:30 p.m. CST on December 3. All Anglicans in attendance will also be given an opportunity to individually subscribe to the Declaration and affirm the Statement.

"We enthusiastically issue a public invitation to all fellow Christians in hopes that they will witness, participate in and celebrate our unity and common mission," Bishop Duncan added.

Prior to the evening service, at 2 p.m. CST earlier on Dec. 3, a reception will be held at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton to give thanks and learn about the mission of Christ Awakening. Rooted among Anglicans, Christ Awakenings are quickly spreading to the larger Christian community. The first Christ Awakening was held in September 2007 in Chicago. Since then, the grassroots movement of Christ Awakenings has held events in Vancouver, Ohio and New England to call Christians to work together, in unity, partnering for mission worldwide. After the reception, a media briefing with Common Cause leaders will follow at 5:30 p.m. CST, addressing the significance of the historic worship celebration that evening.

The Common Cause Partnership is a federation of Anglican Christians that links together eight Anglican jurisdictions and organizations in North America, including the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Forward in Faith North America, the Reformed Episcopal Church, and the bishops and congregations linked with Kenya, Uganda, and South America's Southern Cone. Together they represent more than 100,000 Anglican Christians worshiping each Sunday in the United States and Canada.

Posted by Tim Morgan at November 17, 2008 | Comments (15)

As expected, the Great Exodus out of the Episcopal Church continues. (See below for a press statement from the Diocese of Quincy, Illinois.) They join the dioceses of San Joaquin and Pittsburgh.

The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, will have its annual convention this coming weekend. Considering that on the diocesan website there is an article, "10 Reasons Why Now is the Time to Realign," you can catch the drift here.

Fort Worth Episcopalians are quite likely to vote to leave TEC (The Episcopal Church) for the second time, finalizing a vote from last year.

Here's what Bishop Iker had to say in Reason #7:

7. At this time there is nothing in the Constitution or Canons of TEC that prevents a Diocese from leaving. Oh, I know that General Convention officials claim that dioceses cannot leave TEC, but you will not find that anywhere in the Constitution and Canons as they presently stand. So we have this window of opportunity to do what we need to do, for you can be sure that the next General Convention will close off this option by adopting amendments that will make it even more difficult to separate in the future.

TEC will meet in General Convention next summer (July 2009 in Anheim, California) and indeed there is a developing effort to close and lock tight the ability of any other diocese to depart via majority vote of their convention.

Then, there is another effort to repeal Resolution B-033, which officially expects TEC leaders to refrain from same-sex rites and consecration of non-celibate bishops who are gay. Here's a word or two from WAKE UP:

"WAKE UP is a coalition of concerned Episcopalians who seek a Full Inclusion Church. We came into being during the summer of 2006, following the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. While pleased at the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop, we experienced the passage of Resolution B-033 as a betrayal of the Church's professed acceptance of lesbian and gay Christians as full members of the Body of Christ. We also view with alarm the attempts of some, both within and outside the Episcopal Church, to move us in a direction of exclusion, intolerance, and dogmatic 'purity codes' that have never been part of the Anglican heritage. Our primary purpose is to TAKE ACTION to STOP THE APPEASEMENT of theological bullies, and protect the Anglican heritage of inclusion and openness that has been passed down to us. We value the unity of the Anglican Communion, but not at the price of appeasement and injustice."

So contrary to the view among some leaders that "the worst is over," you can expect the political struggle, the property fight, and the theological battle to persist throughout much of 2009.

Sure feels like a war of attrition to me.

Continue for the full press statement from Quincy:

PRESS STATEMENT
Diocese of Quincy Realigns With South American Province

The Annual Synod of the Diocese of Quincy's meeting November 7-8 in Quincy, Illinois, has voted by strong margins to realign itself with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, breaking its ties with The Episcopal Church in the US. On two key votes more than ? of the clergy and lay deputies voted in favor of the realignment.

The move came after several years of prayer and discernment about the diocese's relationship with The Episcopal Church. Many in the Quincy Diocese, both clergy and lay people, have been at odds with the national leadership and other dioceses over the authority of the Bible, church order and discipline, and the church's moral standards and teaching on Christian marriage.

On the vote to disaffiliate from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, 75% of the clergy and 82% of the lay deputies voted in favor. On the subsequent vote to realign the diocese with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone the vote in favor was 92% in the clergy order and 87% in the lay order.

"This decision was not made lightly," said Fr. John Spencer, press officer for the diocese. "We have talked and prayed about this for a very long time. But we take our relationship to the Anglican Communion very seriously. Since 2003, over half the Provinces of the Anglican Communion have been in a state of broken Communion with The Episcopal Church. By realigning with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, we are now back in full communion with the majority of over 75 million Anglicans around the world."

Canon Ed den Blaauwen, incoming President of the Standing Committee, said the focus of the diocese will remain on mission. "Our churches and our diocese will continue in mission and ministry locally and around the world. We feel much at home under the oversight of Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone, who has warmly welcomed us into affiliation with that Province," den Blaauwen said. "We are once again back in full fellowship with our brother and sister Anglicans."

Shortly after the votes were taken, Canon den Blaauwen, who acted as chairman for the Synod, read a letter from Archbishop Venables welcoming Quincy as a member of the Province of the Southern Cone.

Bishop Keith Ackerman who retired from leadership of the diocese on November 1, spoke to the gathering Friday afternoon just before the synod convened. Quoting the Epistle of Jude, he encouraged them to remain faithful to the Gospel of Christ and the historic faith of the Christian Church as they considered the momentous decisions before them.

"While the votes show there was very strong support for this decision," Fr. Spencer said, "we realize this was not a unanimous decision." By a separate action, the synod made provision for a nine months grace period during which a congregation or member of the clergy might consider withdrawing from the diocese in order to stay in the Episcopal Church. "It is a matter of allowing everyone to follow their consciences in these very difficult times, without recrimination," Spencer said.

Posted by Tim Morgan at November 10, 2008 | Comments (6)

As long expected, the exodus of conservatives from The Episcopal Church is gathering steam. This afternoon, the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to leave TEC and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina.

What does this mean for TEC and global Anglicanism?

My analysis is that the bluff of TEC and its left-leaning House of Bishops is being called. Right now, TEC and a number of dioceses around the nation are so involved in litigation that the situation is moving beyond unmanageable.

Starting another court fight over Pittsburgh's decision would be staggering in its expense. TEC probably is spending more per month on litigation nationwide than at any other time in its history. However, actual figures are being withheld from public scrutiny.

Keep reading for the entire press statement from TEC Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and from the soon to be recalled Pittsburgh Bishop Duncan:

* * *
October 4, 2008

I believe that the vast majority of Episcopalians and Anglicans will be intensely grieved by the actions of individuals who thought it necessary to remove them from The Episcopal Church. I have repeatedly reassured Episcopalians that there is abundant room for dissent within this Church, and that loyal opposition is a long and honored tradition within Anglicanism. Schism is not, having frequently been seen as a more egregious error than charges of heresy.

There is room in this Church for all who desire to be members of it. The actions of the former bishop of Pittsburgh, and some lay and clergy leaders, have removed themselves from this Church; the rest of the Church laments their departure. We stand ready to welcome the return of any who wish to rejoin this part of the Body of Christ. We will work with remaining Episcopalians in Pittsburgh to provide support as they reorganize the Diocese and call a bishop to provide episcopal ministry. The people of The Episcopal Church hold all concerned in our prayers ? for healing and comfort in time of distress, and for discernment as they seek their way into the future.

The mission of God, in which The Episcopal Church participates, is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We cannot do one without doing the other. We believe that it is in serving the least among us that we discover the image of God, and the presence of a suffering Christ. It is in serving those least that we rediscover our common mission, which transcends our differences. Jesus weeps at the bickering of his brothers and sisters, particularly when they miss him in their midst.

* * *

October 4, 2008

DIOCESE BEGINS PROCESS TO RECALL BISHOP ROBERT DUNCAN

The Standing Committee of The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh today took action to recall Bishop Robert Duncan to his position as diocesan bishop. Bishop Duncan was involuntarily removed from the post by The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops on September 18. While the diocese remained in The Episcopal Church, it submitted to the decision. Now that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is part of the Province of The Southern Cone, it is free to invite Bishop Duncan back into leadership.

The move came minutes after the close of the 143rd Diocesan Convention. After a short meeting, the Standing Committee officially announced the diocese's plans to elect a bishop on November 7. The election will take place during a special convention of the diocese. It is expected that Bishop Duncan will be the only candidate on the ballot.

"This is a great day for the diocese. Bishop Duncan has served the Lord and this diocese faithfully and well through one of the most significant periods of our diocesan history. We look forward to welcoming him back to his episcopal office," said the Rev. David Wilson, president of the diocese's standing committee. Fr. Wilson also announced that the Standing Committee had agreed to ask Bishop Duncan to function in the diocese between now and November 7.

Archbishop Gregory Venables has appointed Bishop Duncan to be the Southern Cone's "commissary," or representative, in the diocese. In this role, Bishop Duncan will be able to visit parishes and offer episcopal ministry such as confirmation on behalf of the Standing Committee while it continues to serve as the Ecclesiastical Authority until the completion of the election on November 7," explained Fr. Wilson.

"I am deeply grateful for the possibility of serving as both the seventh and eighth bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. We have been through much together over the last years, but I am convinced a new day is dawning for all of us," said Bishop Robert Duncan.

Posted by Tim Morgan at October 4, 2008 | Comments (15)

UPDATE:

Friday, 19 September 2008

The Anglican Province of the Southern Cone has accepted Pittsburgh's deposed Episcopal Bishop Robert Duncan into episcopal ministry. This is a widely anticipated move and represents further evidence that Anglicanism, as a global religious entity, is now amid its greatest historical crisis.

The following statement was released today by Archbishop Gregory Venables, of the Province of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, of the Province of the West Indies, and Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, of the Province of Kenya:

"In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen. We the undersigned are grieved at the violation of catholic order in the declaration of deposition of The Right Rev. Robert Duncan by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church and consider it to be invalid. Legitimate actions of catholic order must rise from Biblical catholic faith. Actions such as this continue to alienate countless Christian people not only within, but beyond the limits of the Communion. We continue to recognize the fidelity and validity of Bishop Duncan's orders, role, and ministry. Without reservation, we continue in full sacramental communion with him as an Anglican bishop. We thank God that by the vote of the Provincial Synod he has been given membership in the House of Bishops of the Southern Cone. Our fellowship and shared ministry with him is not disrupted."

The next steps may be the Episcopal Church moving to take control of diocesan assets. This could end up in court as early as next week, but not be fully resolved for some years to come.

This afternoon, Episcopal Presiding Bishop K. Jefferts Schori will hold a press conference. Stand by for further updates late today.

* * *
UPDATE:

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, 6:40 p.m

Episcopal House of Bishops deposes of conservative leader, Bishop Duncan

Here's a statement from Bishop Duncan:

"I offer my deepest thanks to the company of saints all around the globe who have sustained me, my wife and all who are dear to me in these days." It is a very sad day for The Episcopal Church. It is also a sad day for me, a faithful son of that church. Nevertheless it is also a hopeful day, hopeful because of the unstoppable Reformation that is overtaking the Christian Church in the West. It is also a hopeful day for me personally as I am unanimously welcomed into the House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, an act applauded by Anglican archbishops, bishops, clergy and people all around the world. The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will move forward under its new Ecclesiastical Authority, its Standing Committee. That body will carry the diocese through to our realignment vote on October 4. With the success of that vote, it will be possible that we be joined together again as bishop and people. I offer my deepest thanks to the company of saints all around the globe who have sustained me, my wife and all who are dear to me in these days.

Robert Duncan

On October 4, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will vote for the second time on plans to leave the Episcopal Church and join another part of the Anglican Communion.

Click here for details.

From the official church news agency, there is this word:

The House of Bishops is meeting in special session in Salt Lake City, Utah (Diocese of Utah) September 17 ? 19, 2008. Today, the House of Bishops by a vote of 88 yes, 35 no, 4 abstentions consented to the removal from the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, by authorizing the Presiding Bishop to "depose" Bishop Duncan. The House of Bishops voted after lengthy deliberations, reflections and discussions in both the morning and afternoon business sessions. This followed an open discussion session on Wednesday evening. Throughout the discussions, the gathering was quiet, prayerful and respectful as the bishops listened to one another. There was a great appreciation for the beliefs and viewpoints of the bishops from all perspectives. Ample time was provided for all bishops to speak. It was clear that the bishops were aware of the weightiness of their decision. The vote to depose was not based on speculation about what might occur at Pittsburgh's upcoming diocesan convention. Rather, it was based on the evidence of Bishop Duncan's record of actions and statements, and was the culmination of a process that began in 2007. The evidence that was presented pursuant to Title IV, Canon 9 of the Canons of The Episcopal Church, which provides that "an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline, or Worship of this Church" constitutes "Abandonment of the Communion of This Church." By the action of a majority of the House of Bishops, it was agreed that Bishop Duncan was actively attempting to remove the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh from the Episcopal Church in violation of the Constitutions and Canons of the Diocese and the Episcopal Church. The majority concluded that Bishop Duncan's actions constituted a renunciation of the Discipline of the Episcopal Church. Evidence of abandonment of communion was presented to a Church body known as the Title IV Review Committee from clergy and laity of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Presiding Bishop in November 2007. On December 17, 2007 the Title IV Review Committee presented its report to the Presiding Bishop. As a member of the House of Bishops, Bishop Duncan was expected to attend this HOB meeting and had the opportunity to address the assertion that he had abandoned the communion. However, he chose not to do so. This daily account was prepared by bishops who cast their votes on different sides. Their personal comments are noted here. Those available for media interviews are noted. Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina is available for phone interviews. "This is one of the most somber, sober experiences I've had in the House of Bishops. It is a time for all of us to be praying for each other - especially for Bishop Duncan and the Episcopalians of the Diocese of Pittsburgh." Bishop Peter Lee of Virginia is available for phone interviews. Bishop Gary Lillibridge of West Texas "As difficult as this decision is for me and many others in our Church, it is important to realize that the decision in the House today was not based on the theological convictions of Bishop Duncan, but rather on the evidence presented regarding statements and actions concerning moves to take the Diocese of Pittsburgh out of the Episcopal Church.". Bishop James Mathes of San Diego "Today's decision was difficult and emotional but a necessary action to care for the order of the Church, the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and the collegiality of the House of Bishops." Bishop Porter Taylor of Western North Carolina "Our decisions today were very difficult and came out of our deep love for our Church, a commitment to honor our ordination vows, and a desire to strengthen the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh."

* * *

Certainly, one of the biggest concerns is whether TEC, the Episcopal Church, is knowingly violating its own canons (church laws) in purging Bishop Duncan under the allegation of "abandonment of communion."

To conservatives, this kind of charge is yet another tragic twist of fate for Bible-believing, Bible-following Christians in the Episcopal/Anglican church. When you start tossing the orthodox over the side because they are orthodox, the rules have changed.

Here's what one commenter said:

On Friday [Sept. 12] the Presiding Bishop notified the House of Bishops that she would seek the deposition of Bishop Duncan next week. This announcement was contrary to other public statements by her office and the published agenda of the upcoming meeting. Any bishops wishing to speak against this unprecedented use of summary procedures against a sitting bishop of the church were given five days notice. She also served notice that she intends to run roughshod over the canons in seeking to depose Bishop Duncan and that only a two-thirds vote of those present and voting will deter her. It will take two-thirds of the bishops present to overrule her gross misreading of the canons, but only a simple majority to remove without presentment or trial a diocesan bishop who even today is fulfilling his responsibilities as the bishop of Pittsburgh.

Click here for the entire article in PDF.

There's going to be a press conference later today about Bishop Duncan. Stand by for updates.

Posted by Tim Morgan at September 18, 2008 | Comments (8)

The Times of London has published online leaked copies of private correspondence, dating from 2000, between then Bishop of Wales Rowan Williams and an evangelical therapist, regarding the perspective of Williams on homosexual relationships and orthodox Christianity.

Granted, the views of Williams, now Archbishop of Canterbury, are pretty well established. But the significance of these letters reveal how Williams came to hold these views, which in part were based on his interaction with gays in the church.

The bottom line for me is that the letters illuminate why Williams has been unable to provide the kind of leadership that would resolve these issues over human sexuality once and for all.

He's attempted to support the traditional teaching of the church, but earlier came to the personal conviction that in some instances homosexuals may have relationships that are wholesome and marriage-like. Rarely, have his views been stated so plainly.

Meanwhile, two additional update for consideration:

1. Soul Force founders marry in California at Episcopal church. Click here.

2. Archbishop Greg Venables, tooth-paste, and Humpty Dumpty. View Anglican TV interview here.

Posted by Tim Morgan at August 8, 2008 | Comments (7)

Canterbury at the end of the Lambeth conference has become the land of many statements and restatements. But as predicted, there was no definitive action.

In summary, here are some of the things that did and did not happen:

1. Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson did not gain official entrance to Lambeth. But he was frequently on site at the University of Kent, to the joy of some and the disgust of others.

2. Lambeth's 600 plus bishops (no official count or list has been released) did not approve an Anglican Convenant. Much discussion was held and more meetings on the covenant are expected lasting into 2009.

3. The Anglican Communion did avoid a formal split or schism. Yet even Rowan Williams admits the communion is still at 'gravel peril.'

4. Lambeth-attending conservative bishops and primates did voice much criticism of liberals and revisionist theology. But as yet the rhetoric of conservatives has not resulted in all revisionists clearly agreeing to bans on same-sex unions and gay ordinations.

The word stalemate still seems to fit this situation.

According to the Press Association (UK):

The Archbishop of Canterbury has called on North American churches to abide by agreements not to consecrate gay bishops or carry out blessings on same-sex couples. On the final day of the Lambeth Conference, Dr Rowan Williams put forward the idea of a "Covenanted future" involving a "global church of inter-dependent communities". The once-a-decade meeting of worldwide bishops has been dominated by the issue of gay clergy and same sex unions, which has threatened to tear the Church apart. Disharmony has seen 200 bishops - a quarter of those invited - stage a boycott. Some Anglican churches in North America have carried out blessings for same sex couples, in contravention of agreements not to do so, or moratoria. "If the North American churches don't accept the need for moratoria then to say the least we are no further forward," Dr Williams said. "The idea of a Covenant which includes as many of them as possible becomes more fragile and that means that as a Communion we continue to be in grave peril." He said it was often assumed that the blessing of same sex marriages or the ordination of gay bishops was simply a human rights issue. "That's an assumption I can't accept because I think the issue about what conditions a church lays down for a blessing have to be shaped by its own thinking and its own praying."

Click here for the sermon text for the final Lambeth service at Canterbury Cathdral. This seems more significant for what Rowan Williams doesn't say. He seems to place an unusually high value on the fact of conversation, not the results of conversation, debate, and dialog.

The Indaba process resulted in a lengthy reflections statement. Click here for the final Aug. 3 text.

Reporter Steve Waring (Living Church) indicates that once again many important conversations will be taken up months from now. Something sure to frustrate conservatives, liberals, and rank and file church-goers.

Continue for:

1. Steve Waring's dispatch.
2. Statement from Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori
3. Additional comments from conservative Bishop of Egypt Mouneer Anis.

The final "Lambeth Indaba" reflections document suggests that "a season of gracious restraint" may be the best way to resolve disagreement over the scope and duration of a moratorium on the consecration of partnered homosexual persons as bishop, the celebration of public rites of same-sex blessings and cross-border incursions by overseas bishops. The document was released Aug. 3, the final day of the 20-day gathering of Anglican bishops.

"The moratoria can be taken as a sign of the bishops' affection, trust and goodwill towards the Archbishop of Canterbury and one another," the 42-page reflection paper suggests. "The moratoria will be difficult to uphold, although there is a desire to do so from all quarters. There are questions to be clarified in relation to how long the moratoria are intended to serve."

The section of the reflections document titled "The Windsor Process" also notes clear majority support for creation of a "Pastoral Forum" to resolve serious disputes.

"Many felt strongly that the forum could operate in a province only with the consent of that province and in particular with the consent of the primate or the appropriate body," the document states. "It is essential that this should be properly funded and resourced if it has any chance of being productive. There was some support for an alternative suggestion: to appoint in any dispute, a pastoral visitor, working with a professional arbitrator and to create in the Communion a ?pool' of such visitors."

Questions as to the nature and length of a proposed moratorium and the proposal to establish a pastoral forum will be referred to the Windsor Continuation Group. Last February, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced appointment of a six-member group which includes Bishop Gary Lillibridge of West Texas. The Windsor Continuation Group will prepare a document for consideration by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), which meets next May in Jamaica.

Steve Waring

* * *
Lambeth 2008

Many bishops came to this gathering in fear and trembling, expecting either a distasteful encounter between those of vastly different opinions, or the cold shoulder from those who disagree. The overwhelming reality has been just the opposite. We have prayed, cried, learned, and laughed together, and discovered something deeper about the body of Christ. We know more of the deeply faithful ministry of those in vastly differing contexts, and we have heard repeatedly of the life and death matters confronting vast swaths of the Communion: hunger, disease, lack of education and employment, climate change, war and violence. We have remembered that together we may be the largest network on the planet ? able to respond to those life and death issues if we tend to the links, connections, and bonds between us. We have not resolved the differences among us, but have seen the deep need to maintain relationships, even in the face of significant disagreement and discomfort. The Anglican Communion is suffering the birth pangs of something new, which none of us can yet fully appreciate or understand, yet we know that the Spirit continues to work in our midst. At the same time patience is being urged from many quarters, that all may more fully know the leading of the Spirit. God is faithful. May we be faithful as well.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

* * *

From comments to the Lambeth news media from Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt:

I was greatly encouraged by the truthful and realistic assessment made by The Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) about the situation of the Communion. Their recommendation of retrospective moratoria on the blessing of same sex unions, the ordination of active gay and lesbian people and upon interventions across boundaries are indeed the only way forward to mend the torn fabric of the Communion. Their proposal of "A pastoral Forum" if fully implemented, could protect the orthodox within TEC. These recommendations will help to stop further splits and will put an end to interventions. The big question is: will the Episcopal Church in North Armerica (TEC) accept these recommendations? Will TEC recognise the importance of mutual submission?

This is a way ahead that could prevent future crises. It can enhance our interdependence in essentials while also preserving our appropriate administrative autonomy and local identities. Some TEC bishops resist the idea of the covenant as they see it as punitive and limiting of their sense of control. They think that it will restrict them from responding to the needs of their culture which they feel should have priority. But sadly, it must be asked, if they are not willing to abide by the mind of the church why do they say the Communion is important to them?

If TEC and Canada do not accept the Covenant recommend?ations they will leave the wider Communion with the one option that was recommended by the Windsor Report and the Dar es Salam Primates' Meeting. This was for them to withdraw from internationalAnglican Councils and bodies. This will create a safe distance for them to consider their priorities, while also allowing the wider communion to move forward with its shared priorities and mission and to clear away the mess created by the current crisis.

Posted by Tim Morgan at August 3, 2008 | Comments (17)

UPDATE: Friday, Aug. 1, 9:30 a.m. BST

Here's the link to the op-ed published in The Times of London

Here's the sound bite:

"St Francis of Assisi said: "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary use words." We believe that our absence at this Lambeth Conference is the only way that our voice will be heard. For more than ten years we have been speaking and have not been heard. So maybe our absence will speak louder than our words."

* * *
Thursday, July 31, 2008, 4:30 pm BST

HENRY LUKE OROMBI, Archbishop and primate of Uganda, will have a commentary piece published in The Times of London, which will post online at 9 p.m. BST (British Summer Time).

Times religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill leaked word of this piece on her blog this afternoon. Here's what she wrote:

...in tomorrow's Times, the Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, will accuse the Arcbishop of Canterbury of a betrayal at the very deepest level. He will argue that even the Pope is elected by his peers, but Dr Williams in his office is little better than a remnant of colonialism. 'The spiritual leadership of a global communion of independent and autonomous Provinces should not be reduced to one man appointed by a secular government,' he says. Nor is the absence of Uganda, Nigeria and other Global South churches a sign that they want to leave the Communion. Far from it. It is a sign of how much they care that it endures. Read it all from when it goes online at 2100 BST and in the paper tomorrow, it is strong stuff!

This op-ed, if it holds up to be as strongly worded as Ruth suggests, opens up an additional set of questions, beyond biblical authority, human sexuality, or border crossings:

Should England retain the Church of England as its established church? Could the Anglican Communion itself play a deciding role in selecting the archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as 'first among equals' in the communion?

Lambeth is about to enter its Final Three days and events here on the grounds of the University of Kent and events off-campus seem to be spinning beyond the control of any one person or committee.

As expected, the Lambeth Reflections document has begun to take shape. And, now in its third draft, it is already huge. 18 pages. And, drafters have yet to address these areas:

* Gender and power
* The Scriptures
* Sexuality and Listening
* The Convenant
* The Windsor Process
* Leading in God's mission
* Conclusion

Just this afternoon, there were three press conferences nearly back to back, including one by Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman. See below for additional updates:

In the last three days, Lambeth has seen several important developments. Here are some of the more important ones:

Wednesday, July 30, unofficial press conference with Bishop Peter Beckwith from Springfield, IL, a well-known conservative.

Click here for Anglican TV's full unedited video of this outdoor press event. And, click here for an unofficial transcript.

Several comments about Bishop Beckwith's remarks:

1. CT asked, "Who speaks for conservatives here at Lambeth?" This seems like a crucial issue since Lambeth has evangelicals like the measles. They are everywhere, but don't seem to be making much strategic difference. Granted much of Lambeth is as clear as mud, so time may prove me wrong.

Whatever one thinks of GAFCON it has added another layer of complexity on conservatives, who are already working their way through women's ordination and related historical difference between evangelicals and Anglo-catholics.

2. Beckwith's comments at times were deeply personal. He admitted that around the time of General Convention 2003 he was convicted that he had put the Episcopal Church ahead of his commitment to Jesus Christ; he confessed this as "idolatrous" and has since then worked to overcome that.

Thursday, July 31.

On Wednesday, the theme of the day at Lambeth was: Power and Abuse. New York suffragan Bishop Catherine Roskam dropped quite a bombshell with these words:

"We have 700 men here [at Lambeth]. Do you think any of them beat their wives? Chances are they do. The most devout Christians beat their wives... many of our bishops come from places where it is culturally acceptable to beat your wife. In that regard, it makes the conversation quite difficult."

These comments were published in Lambeth Witness, a publication associated with the Inclusive Church Network, GLBT advocacy group. It is published daily and available in print on campus.

As news of this near libelous accusation filtered across the Lambeth conference, John Sentamu, archbishop of York, today (Thurs.) issued a public demand for Bishop Roskam to produce evidence proving her point.

This has set the news media here on a great quest. In the past 12 hours, I have lost track of the number of Lambeth bishops who have been asked by a journo: "Do you beat your wife?"

It was only a matter of time. Here's a parody interview with an anonymous wife-beating bishop.

I include one choice question + answer:

Q: Does it trouble you at all that wife-beating is contrary to the tradition of Christian faith and order, the teaching and practice of centuries of Anglicanism, the explicit statements of previous Lambeth meetings, and the consensus of the majority of the Anglican Communion?

A: Not at all. The spirit is clearly doing a "new thing" in helping us value and celebrate wife-beating. The Church has always been called to push the boundaries... so we need to leave behind the comfortable but dated assumptions and practices of the benightened pre-modern past in order to explore the new places to which God is calling us today. Our church is, in that tradition of radical liminality, encountering God by blazing a new way for others in the Communion to follow.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 31, 2008 | Comments (4)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

ROWAN WILLIAMS, the Archbishop of Canterbury, addressing about 650 bishops at the Lambeth Conference this evening, issued a strong call for "the traditional believer" and the "not-so-traditional believer" to "speak life to each other."

Continue reading for the full text.

Update, 9 p.m.: According to one bishop who unexpectedly popped into the Lambeth press room after dinner, the delivery of the archbishop's address was announced this morning. It was not listed on the official program. There was no applause, just silence, he said, following the address.

This bishop from India told CT, "I can see how the archbishop is sincerely, emotionally involved. I can appreciate his struggle. The absence of some bishops has caused him pain, and it comes out again and again when he speaks. As head and guardian of the family, he is keen to get the family back together.

"He is making a very sincere attempt to tell the members of the communion that we have to be generous, and as I understood it, sacrifice. To keep the family together, everyone has to take a step forward, which means you need to sacrifice something. I need to identify what I need to sacrifice to keep my family together."

According to another unconfirmed report, TEC bishops are again meeting in a provincial session.

Second Presidential Address to the Lambeth Conference 2008

29 July 2008

?What is Lambeth '08 going to say?' is the question looming larger all the time as this final week unfolds. But before trying out any thoughts on that, I want to touch on the prior question, a question that could be expressed as ?Where is Lambeth '08 going to speak from?'. I believe if we can answer that adequately, we shall have laid some firm foundations for whatever content there will be.

And the answer, I hope, is that we speak from the centre. I don't mean speaking from the middle point between two extremes - that just creates another sort of political alignment. I mean that we should try to speak from the heart of our identity as Anglicans; and ultimately from that deepest centre which is our awareness of living in and as the Body of Christ.

We are here at all, surely, because we believe there is an Anglican identity and that it's worth investing our time and energy in it. I hope that some of the experience of this Conference will have reinforced that sense. And I hope too that we all acknowledge that the only responsible and Christian way of going on engaging with those who aren't here is by speaking from that centre in Jesus Christ where we all see our lives held and focused.

And, as I suggested in my opening address, speaking from the centre requires habits and practices and disciplines that make some demands upon everyone - not because something alien is being imposed, but because we know we shall only keep ourselves focused on the centre by attention and respect for each other - checking the natural instinct on all sides to cling to one dimension of the truth revealed. I spoke about council and covenant as the shape of the way forward as I see it. And by this I meant, first, that we needed a bit more of a structure in our international affairs to be able to give clear guidance on what would and would not be a grave and lasting divisive course of action by a local church. While at the moment the focus of this sort of question is sexual ethics, it could just as well be pressure for a new baptismal formula or the abandonment of formal reference to the Nicene Creed in a local church's formulations; it could be a degree of variance in sacramental practice - about the elements of the Eucharist or lay presidency; it could be the regular incorporation into liturgy of non-Scriptural or even non-Christian material.

Some of these questions have a pretty clear answer, but others are open for a little more discussion; and it seems obvious that a body which commands real confidence and whose authority is recognised could help us greatly. But the key points are confidence and authority. If we do develop such a capacity in our structures, we need as a Communion to agree what sort of weight its decisions will have; hence, again, the desirability of a covenantal agreement.

Some have expressed unhappiness about the ?legalism' implied in a covenant. But we should be clear that good law is about guaranteeing consistence and fairness in a community; and also that in a community like the Anglican family, it can only work when there is free acceptance. Properly understood, a covenant is an expression of mutual generosity - indeed, ?generous love', to borrow the title of the excellent document on Inter-Faith issues which was discussed yesterday. And we might recall that powerful formulation from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks - ?Covenant is the redemption of solitude'.

Mutual generosity : part of what this means is finding out what the other person or group really means and really needs. The process of this last ten days has been designed to help us to find out something of this - so that when we do address divisive issues, we have created enough of a community for an intelligent generosity to be born. It is by no means a full agreement, but it will, I hope, have strengthened the sense that we have at least a common language, born out of the conviction that Jesus Christ remains the one unique centre.

And within that conviction, what has been heard? I want now to engage in what might be a rather presumptuous exercise - and certainly feels like a risky one. I want to imagine what people on different sides of our most painful current debate hope others have heard or are beginning to hear in our time together. I want to imagine what the main messages would be, within an atmosphere of patience and charity, from those in our Communion who hold to a clear and traditional doctrinal and moral conviction, and also from those who, starting from the same centre, find fewer problems or none with some recent innovations. Although these voices are inevitably rooted in the experience of the developing world and of North America, the division runs through many other provinces internally as well.

So first : what might the traditional believer hope others have heard? ?What we seek to do in our context is faithfully to pass on what you passed on to us - Holy Scripture, apostolic ministry, sacramental discipline. But what are we to think when all these things seem to be questioned and even overturned? We want to be pastorally caring to all, to be "inclusive" as you like to say. We want to welcome everyone. Yet the gospel and the faith you passed on to us tell us that some kinds of behaviour and relationship are not blessed by God. Our love and our welcome are unreal if we don't truthfully let others know what has shaped and directed our lives - so along with welcome, we must still challenge people to change their ways. We don't see why welcoming the gay or lesbian person with love must mean blessing what they do in the Church's name or accepting them for ordination whatever their lifestyle. We seek to love them - and, all right, we don't always make a good job of it : but we can't just say that there is nothing to challenge. Isn't it like the dilemma of the early Church - welcoming soldiers, yet seeking to get them to lay down their arms?

?But please remember also that - while you may say that what you do needn't affect us - your decisions make a vast difference to us. In this world of instant communication, our neighbours know what you do, and they see us as sharing the responsibility. Imagine what that means where those neighbours are passionately traditional Christians - and what it means for our own members, who will be drawn to leave us for a "safer", more orthodox church. Imagine what it means when those neighbours are non-Christians, delighted to find a stick to beat us with. Imagine what it is to be known as the ?gay church' in a context where that spells real contempt and danger.

?Don't misunderstand us. We're not looking for safety and comfort. Some of us know quite a lot about carrying the cross. But when that cross is laid on us by fellow-Christians, it's quite a lot harder to bear. Don't be too surprised if some of us want to be at a distance from you - or if we want to support minorities in your midst who seem to us to be suffering.

?But we are here. We've taken a risk in coming, because many who think like us feel we've betrayed them just by meeting you. But we value our Communion, we want to understand you and we want you to understand us. Can you find some way of being generous that helps us believe you care about us and about the common language and belief of the Church? Can you - in plain words - step back and let us think and pray about these things without giving us the impression that the debate is over and we've lost and that doesn't matter to you?'

And then : what might the not so traditional believer hope has been heard?

?What we seek to do in our context is to bring Jesus alive in the minds and hearts of the people of our culture. Trying to speak the language of the culture and relate honestly to where people really are doesn't have to be a betrayal of Scripture and tradition. We know we're pushing the boundaries - but don't some Christians always have to do that? Doesn't the Bible itself suggest that?

?We are often hurt, angry and bewildered at the way many others in the Communion see us and treat us these days - as if we were spiritual lepers or traitors to every aspect of Christian belief. We know that no-one is the best judge in their own case, but we see in our church life at least some marks of the Spirit's gifts. And part of that is acknowledging the gifts we've seen in gay and lesbian believers. They will certainly be likely to feel that the restraint you ask for is a betrayal. Please try to see why this is such a dilemma for many of us. You may not see it, but they're still at risk in our society, still vulnerable to murderous violence. And we have to say to some of you that we long for you to speak up for your gay and lesbian neighbours in situations where they are subject to appalling discrimination. There have been Lambeth Resolutions about that too, remember.

?A lot of the time, we feel we're being made scapegoats. Other provinces have acute moral and disciplinary problems, or else they more or less successfully refuse to admit the realities in their midst. But those of us who have faced the complex issues around gay relationships in what we feel to be an open and prayerful way are stigmatised and demonised.

?Not all of us, of course, supported or took part in the actions that have caused so much trouble. Some of us remain strongly opposed, many of us want to find ways of strengthening our bonds with you. But even those who don't stand with the majority on innovations will often feel that the life of a whole church, a life that is varied and complex but often deeply and creatively faithful to Christ and the Scriptures, is being wrongly and unjustly seen by you and some of your friends.

?We want to be generous, and we are hurt that some throw back in our faces both the experience and the resources we long to share. Can you try and see us as fellow-believers struggling to proclaim the same Christ, and to be patient with us?'

Two sets of feelings and perceptions, two appeals for generosity. For the first speaker, the cost of generosity may be accusation of compromise : you've been bought, you've been deceived by airy talk into tolerating unscriptural and unfaithful policies. For the second speaker, the cost of generosity may be accusations of sacrificing the needs of an oppressed group for the sake of a false or delusional unity, giving up a precious Anglican principle for the sake of a dangerous centralisation. But there is the challenge. If both were able to hear and to respond generously, perhaps we could have something more like a conversation of equals - even something more like a Church.

At Dar-es-Salaam, the primates tried to find a way of inviting different groups to take a step forward simultaneously towards each other. It didn't happen, and each group was content to blame the other. But the last 18 months don't suggest that this was a good outcome. Can this Conference now put the same kind of challenge? To the innovator, can we say, ?Don't isolate yourself; don't create facts on the ground that make the invitation to debate ring a bit hollow'? Can we say to the traditionalist, ?Don't invest everything in a church of pure and likeminded souls; try to understand the pastoral and human and theological issues that are urgent for those you are opposing, even if you think them deeply wrong'?

I think we perhaps can, if and only if we are captured by the vision of the true Centre, the heart of God out of which flows the impulse of an eternal generosity which creates and heals and promises. It is this generosity which sustains our mission and service in Our Lord's name. And it is this we are called to show to each other.

At the moment, we seem often to be threatening death to each other, not offering life. What some see as confused or reckless innovation in some provinces is felt as a body-blow to the integrity of mission and a matter of literal physical risk to Christians. The reaction to this is in turn felt as an annihilating judgement on a whole local church, undermining its legitimacy and pouring scorn on its witness. We need to speak life to each other; and that means change. I've made no secret of what I think that change should be - a Covenant that recognizes the need to grow towards each other (and also recognizes that not all may choose that way). I find it hard at present to see another way forward that would avoid further disintegration. But whatever your views on this, at least ask the question : ?Having heard the other person, the other group, as fully and fairly as I can, what generous initiative can I take to break through into a new and transformed relation of communion in Christ?'

+Rowan Cantuar

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 29, 2008 | Comments (10)

MOUNEER ANIS,Bishop of Egypt and primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, was scheduled to meet today Monday, July 28, with leading bishops at the Lambeth Conference.

A leading conservative, Anis released an open letter on the web. Here's one important comment:

The Lambeth Conference has been a time of great fellowship and strength; it has also been a time of disunity and conflict. Everything is going fairly well, but I do not believe that there is hope of a solution from this Lambeth conference. However I hope that we would be able to come up with a road map for a final solution of the current crisis.

Back in January, when I was in Cairo, I interviewed Bishop Anis. See below for an edited transcript of his views on outreach to gays, the crisis in Anglicanism, and how the proposed Anglican convenant might help resolve their differences.

Interview with Mouneer H. Anis, Episcopal bishop of Egypt and primate of the Anglican Province of the Jerusalem and the Middle East (including North Africa).

(Cairo, January 2008. Edited transcript.)

What's your greatest worry concerning Anglicanism?

I am very concerned about the unity among the conservatives and the evangelicals within the Communion. The Communion is in a crisis, and there are many impaired relationships.

We have made ourselves clear, our theological stand very clear many, many, many times. We announced our rejection of the new revisionists way within the Anglican Communion in many occasions and conferences. This time should not be a time for conferences only, but it should be a time when we actually take action. I personally feel that the issue of homosexuality is just a superficial symptom of a very, very deep illness in the core of the Communion.

Is this an illness in Anglicanism or the church on the whole?
The actual problem is crossing [theological] boundaries of the Communion. The Anglican way is Scripture, the authority of the Scripture, and the interpretation of the majority, or the accepted interpretations of the Scripture by the majority, not just one church within the family.

There is an element of interdependence of each church members of this Anglican Communion family. We need to affirm this. We are a communion. We are not congregationalists. We are not a federation. We are a communion. So it tears us more than any other structure.

It's hard for American evangelicals to understand what you mean by a global Communion. What does this mean to you?

The Communion is one family of several member churches, and we are tied together. There are instruments of unity within our Communion. The Primates meeting is one of the instruments of unity. There are other things that bring us together and unite us together as a body of Christ.

Although we are a communion and we are a body, we recognize other churches and see in them as part of the wider body of Christ. So we don't think of our self as the only church of Christ, but we are part of the church of Christ.

With this concept in mind that we are one body, we are one communion even if we are separated geographically, but we are one communion. There is a lot we know about each other. There is communication, direct communication all the time. Today I have communication from the East, as east as Singapore, to the west as Latin America. It's all in my desk, and that is a great experience, a wonderful thing.

Now, two families of this communion, Canada and America, by going beyond the boundaries of our Anglican way, have created severe disunity. Yes, we celebrate our diversity. But we always aware and we should be aware that this diversity is not unlimited. It is a limited diversity.

Some groups will have a different interpretation. As we interpret the Scripture we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit does not work in individual way. He guides the whole church.

It's not an issue of homosexuality. It is now the issue of Christology. Is Christ divine? Is he the Son of God? Is he our Savior? Is he the only Way or just a way? Is he the Son of God or just a prophet? All these fundamentals are now at stake in several parts in North America. That is a most serious thing.

Many lefty Anglican revisionists use the language of human rights to support their interpretation of the Bible. What is your objection to this approach?

Every human is free to do what he wants as long as he would not break the law of the country where he live or where she live. If we look at these three things - others, self, and laws of the government, should we also say a human can do everything as long as he or she do not break the law of God?

Sin destroys a person because it's breaking God's natural law in creation. I am a medical doctor. I can see anatomical complementarity. Each cell makes sense to me in the human body. We cannot just ignore this beautiful, natural architecture and engineering and go a different way. That is God's law.

Human rights is something that is not imposed by a small group of people on the rest of the world. Human rights is something recognized by all humanity. You are free to dress. You are free to speak. You are free to do your work. You are free to worship. These are things recognized by the whole world.

You cannot just bring a group of people, say that's a human right, and impose it on the rest of the world. If we said practicing homosexuality is a human right see, how much this will endanger the structure of the society, the natural family, and marriage structure. I cannot call this a human right.

About homophobia, unfortunately this is something always used by revisionists against conservative. Conservatives are not homophobic. I'm not homophobic. If I have gay and lesbian coming to me now, I will welcome them. I will love them the same way I will love a heterosexual. I will pastor to them the same way I will pastor to heterosexual. I recognize that they are human like me.

I recognize that Jesus loves them as he loves me. I recognize that Jesus died for them as he died for me. So from this I will deal with them, I will talk with them. But this does not mean that if I give pastoral care to them is to agree with all what they do.

Suppose I want to do pastoral care for a heterosexual man who has an affair. Should I say to him that's okay? It's okay to have an affair outside your marriage? That is not pastoral care. Pastoral care contain encouragement, contain prayer, contain rebuke, contain admonition.

You cannot call me homophobic at all because I am not homophobic

Should non-celibate gays be in church leadership?

Loving practicing homosexuals, gay and lesbian, and caring for them and pastorally caring for them is one thing, and taking them and putting them in church leadership is another thing.

You cannot get someone who breaks the law and take him and elect him as a President of the United States. It's not injustice, actually, to say, "No, I cannot appoint gay and lesbian in the leadership." That's not injustice. That is according to the law and the regulation and the guidance we receive from the Scripture that we should be clear about who will take the position.

So you believe that this includes any position, ordained or church leadership?

Yes. Any leadership. The Bible is very clear that the church should have a say about the life of the person who is going to be ordained, even a deacon. The secular society is putting pressures that [the church] has accepted. But Paul is saying very clearly that we should not conform by the world, and the actual fact, we should transform the world.

What's happening now is in the church in North America and some parts of the West [wishes] to be relevant to the world. They are allowing the values of the world to become the values of the church, which should be the other way around.

We are not called to be relevant to the world; we are called to be distinct from the world. We are called to be light and we are called to be salt. This is helpful to the world. It hurts. When you shine the light, the light hurts the darkness. That is the church. It should be light, and the light bring love, bring peace, but sometimes it brings admonition.

Are you in favor of creating an Anglican Convenant?

I think the covenant is a very important tool to affirm our interdependence. The liberals want to reduce the covenant. Some "Why a covenant? It's enough for baptismal vows. If we are baptized that's enough."

Not any more.

What is it that's going to keep the conservatives together because there are so many divisions and factions emerging?

A well-planned conference with a well-planned outcome can bring the conservatives together. If Lambeth Conference does not come out with the idea of the covenant or if many people did not sign the covenant, we as conservatives should sign the covenant together. Then we would be a covenant group, and we can start to think positively about how we can go about the mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Enough is enough. Our energy was drained in these issues of sexuality and all these things. It is a time now to move together to build our churches to bring the gospel to the unreached places, to communicate the love of Jesus to the societies where we live, and not to drain our energy, because that is what the devil want.

We really want to come together. In a way, we are the true Anglican Communion. So we need to strengthen the ties with each other by signing the covenant with each other and thinking what's our mission for the ten years to come.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 28, 2008 | Comments (17)

Less than 1 week after the official opening of the Lambeth conference in the UK, the conservative Common Cause Partnership has issued a press release, declaring their joint intention to request that leading Anglican primates recognize their 1,300 congregations as the new North American Province.

Granted, this was a widely anticipated move. But this effort puts the fat in the fire on a day when Lambeth attendees are having tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace following their very public march through official London for adoption of the Millennium Development Goals to fight global poverty and improve the standard of living for the world's 3 billion poor people.

Here's the full press release below.

July 24, 2008

COMMON CAUSE PARTNERSHIP WELCOMES JERUSALEM DECLARATION

The Common Cause Partnership leaders issued a statement today welcoming the Jerusalem Declaration and the statement on the Global Anglican Future and pledging to move forward with the work of Anglican unity in North America.

"We, as the Bishops and elected leaders of the Common Cause Partnership are deeply grateful for the Jerusalem Declaration. It describes a hopeful, global Anglican future, rooted in scripture and the authentic Anglican way of faith and practice. We joyfully welcome the words of the GAFCON statement that it is now time 'for the federation currently known as the Common Cause Partnership to be recognized by the Primates Council.'

"The intention of the Executive Committee is to petition the Primates Council for recognition as the North American Province of GAFCON on the basis of the Common Cause Partnership Articles, Theological Statement, and Covenant Declaration, and to ask that their Moderator be seated in the Primate's Council.

"We accept the call to build the Common Cause Partnership into a truly unified body of Anglicans. We are committed to that call. Over the past months, we have worked together, increasing the number of partners and authorizing committees and task groups for Mission,
Education, Governance, Prayer Book & Liturgy, the Episcopate, and Ecumenical Relations. The Executive Committee is meeting regularly to carry forward the particulars of this call. The CCP Council will meet December 1-3, 2008."

The Common Cause Partnership links together nine Anglican jurisdictions and organizations in North America.

Together, the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the
Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas, Forward in Faith North America and the Reformed Episcopal Church represent
more the 1,300 Anglican parishes in the United States and Canada.

The Common Cause Partnership Executive Committee is: The Rt. Rev'd Robert Duncan, Moderator; The Venerable Charlie Masters, General Secretary; Mrs. Patience Oruh, Treasurer; The Rt. Rev'd Keith Ackerman, Forward in Faith North America; The Rt. Rev'd David Anderson, American
Anglican Council; The Rt. Rev'd Donald Harvey, Anglican Network in Canada; The Rt. Rev'd Paul Hewett, Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas; The Rt. Rev'd Martyn Minns, Convocation of Anglicans in North America; The Rt. Rev'd Chuck Murphy, Anglican Mission in the Americas; The Rt. Rev'd Leonard Riches, Reformed Episcopal Church; The Rt. Rev'd Bill Atwood, Anglican Church of Kenya and The Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey, Church of the Province of Uganda.

Here's my admittedly instant analysis:

1. It suggests that conservative Anglicans are pressing their agenda forward, while the rest of the Anglican Communion is spinning its wheels in fruitless 'indaba' meetings.

2. It illuminates a strategy that GAFCON primates plan to address this issue of the legitimacy of a new North American Province by placing the new Primates Council as the emerging new center of Anglicanism.

Thus, the new global Anglicanism transcends recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There will no longer be a single answer to this question: Who is Anglican?

3. My follow up point is that if this new Province gains recognition and credibility, Canterbury-based Anglicanism becomes severely weakened in almost every way. It becomes a photo-op site of pilgrimage, not the hub of a worldwide communion.

4. What's the metaphor? Well, this seems too convenient perhaps, but the Indymac Bank take-over crosses my mind.

Just as federal regulators have taken over the failed Indymac Bank, one of the largest bank failures in American history, conservatives perhaps aspire to running the Anglican Communion by cutting it into two pieces the "good bank" with good assets and the "bad bank" with bad/non-performing assets.

And, you can just guess what happens to the bad bank.

PS The British press is following the money or lack thereof at Lambeth. Some are reporting that the conference is 1 million GBP or more in the red.

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 24, 2008 | Comments (9)

The careful choregraphy of Lambeth, set out for the Anglican Communion's 600 plus bishops in attendance, is not going according to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' original plan. One of the first to step out of line and off script is Daniel Deng Bul, the newly elected archbishop of Sudan.

From Juba, the capital of the south Sudan, Bul and his fellow Christians have known brutal conflict for decades. While the violence is declining in the South, the Darfur region in western Sudan, of course, is where genocide is a daily reality.

Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul

The growth and spread of the Episcopal Church of Sudan is miracle to behold in light of the national bloody conflict. Sudan's bishops decided to attend Lambeth, unlike their conservative colleagues in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, among others.

Yesterday, the Sudanese bishops issued the following joint statement:

In view of the present tensions and divisions within the Anglican Communion, and out of deep concern for the unity of the Church, we consider it important to express clearly the position of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) concerning human sexuality.

We believe that God created humankind in his own image; male and female he created them for the continuation of humankind on earth. Women and men were created as God??Ts agents and stewards on earth. We believe that human sexuality is God??Ts gift to human beings which is rightly ordered only when expressed within the life-long commitment of marriage between one man and one woman. We require all those in the ministry of the Church to live according to this standard and cannot accept church leaders whose practice is contrary to this.

We reject homosexual practice as contrary to biblical teaching and can accept no place for it within ECS. We strongly oppose developments within the Anglican Church in the USA and Canada in consecrating a practicing homosexual as bishop and in approving a rite for the blessing of same-sex relationships. This has not only caused deep divisions within the Anglican Communion but it has seriously harmed the Church??Ts witness in Africa and elsewhere, opening the church to ridicule and damaging its credibility in a multi-religious environment.

The unity of the Anglican Communion is of profound significance to us as an expression of our unity within the Body of Christ. It is not something we can treat lightly or allow to be fractured easily. Our unity expresses the essential truth of the Gospel that in Christ we are united across different tribes, cultures and nationalities. We have come to attend the Lambeth Conference, despite the decision of others to stay away, to appeal to the whole Anglican Communion to uphold our unity and to take the necessary steps to safeguard the precious unity of the Church.

Out of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we appeal to the Anglican Church in the USA and Canada, to demonstrate real commitment to the requests arising from the Windsor process. In particular:

* To refrain from ordaining practicing homosexuals as bishops or priests
* To refrain from approving rites of blessing for same-sex relationships
* To cease court actions with immediate effect;
* To comply with Resolution 1:10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference
* To respect the authority of the Bible.

We believe that such steps are essential for bridging the divisions which have opened up within the Communion.

We affirm our commitment to uphold the four instruments of communion of the Anglican Communion: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates??T Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council; and call upon all Provinces of the Communion to respect these for the sake of the unity and well-being of the Church.

We appeal to this Lambeth Conference to rescue the Anglican Communion from being divided. We pray that God will heal us from the spirit of division. We pray for God??Ts strength and wisdom so that we might be built up in unity as the Body of Christ.
The Most Revd Dr Daniel Deng Bul
Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Bishop of Juba

Later on, the archbishop showed up in the press room to answer questions. But it was unscheduled and unofficial. Here's one report that gives one conservative's take on his time with the news media:

We have just had a briefing with the Archbishop of the Sudan, the Most Reverend Dr. Daniel Deng Bul. He informed the press room this morning that he would come and speak with us, since the Anglican Communion News Bureau running this conference, would not schedule a time for him to address the press. The archbishop is young ? I would guess that he is in his 40's. He is very articulate and has an earned Ph.D.

"Let the Anglican world be united and be a normal, respected Christian body. We have not punished the American church yet. We are asking them to repent. I am talking about the institutional church in America, no specific bishops. I am here to speak within the House of Bishops. I cannot be silent on this issue; I must speak to the House for the reality I know with my people. I should not hesitate to be here since I have been an Anglican since I was a child.

When asked what would happen to the Communion if Robinson did not resign, the archbishop continued, "I cannot predict what will happen if he will not resign."

Ruth Gledhill of the Times of London asked the archbishop who would pay for this conference, reportedly 2.6 million pounds in debt at this minute, and not able to pay for this by the parishes in the Church of England, if the American church was not invited. He replied very gently, "Issues of faith cannot be mixed with materialism."

The archbishop, known as an expert in the field of reconciliation said, "I am here talking to my brothers and sisters in America. We have experienced offense by their actions. I am not trying to offend them in return but tell them that I love them. We have had a painful experience and they must ask for forgiveness so we can go on together.

"If there is a cultural problem in America, it should be kept in America and not allowed to come into the Anglican world. I am not saying the Americans should all be excluded, but keep Gene Robinson away and we will find a way to help them. (Imagine the American Episcopal Church actually acknowledging that they need the help of the Sudan!)

"This issue of homosexuality in the Anglican Communion has a very serious effect in my country. We are called ?infidels' by the Moslems. That means that they will do whatever they can against us to keep us from damaging the people of our country. They challenge our people to convert to Islam and leave the infidel Anglican Church. When our people refuse, sometimes they are killed. These people are very evil and mutilate and harm our people. I am begging the Communion on this issue so no more of my people will be killed.

"My people have been suffering for 21 years of war. Their only hope is in the Church. It is the center of life of my people. No matter what problem we have, no material goods, no health supplies or medicine; no jobs or income; no availability of food. The inflation rate makes our money almost worthless and we have done this for 21 years. The Church is the center of our life together.

"The culture does not change the Bible; the Bible changes the culture. Cultures that do not approve of the Bible are left out of the Church's life; people who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches. The American church is saying that God made a mistake. He made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam.

"We will not talk to Gene Robinson or listen to him or his testimony. He has to confess, receive forgiveness and leave. Then we will talk. You cannot bring the listening to gay people to our Communion. People who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches, not invited in to tell us why they don't believe.... The Authority of the Bible is always the same. You cannot pull a line out or add a line to it. That brings you a curse. We are saying no. You are wrong.

"I have just come from a meeting of the African and Global South bishops who are here. There were almost 200 bishops there. They support the statement my Church made yesterday. That's 17 provinces."

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 23, 2008 | Comments (17)

This blog post has been moved. For the article, please see "Crackup of Anglican Communion at Hand, Evangelical Bishops Say."

Continue for the press release from GAFCON primates:

GAFCON responds to the Archbishop of Canterbury:

The Global Anglican Future Conference gathered leaders from around the Anglican Communion for pilgrimage, prayer and serious theological reflection. We are grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for engaging with the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. We wish to respond to some of his concerns.

On faith and false teaching. We warmly welcome the Archbishop's affirmation of the Jerusalem Statement as positive and encouraging and in particular that it would be shared by the vast majority of Anglicans. We are however concerned that he should think we assume that all those outside GAFCON are proclaiming another gospel. In no way do we believe that we are the only ones to hold a correct interpretation of scripture according to its plain meaning. We believe we are holding true to the faith once delivered to the saints as it has been received in the Anglican tradition. Many are contending for and proclaiming the orthodox faith throughout the Anglican Communion. Their efforts are, however, undermined by those who are clearly pursuing a false gospel. We are not claiming to be a sinless church. Our concern is with false teaching which justifies sin in the name of Christianity. These are not merely matters of different perspectives and emphases. They have led to unbiblical practice in faith and morals, resulting in impaired and broken communion. We long for all orthodox Anglicans to join in resisting this development.

On the uniqueness of Christ. We are equally concerned to hear that 'the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God' is 'not in dispute' in the Anglican Communion. Leading bishops in The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, and even the Church of England have denied the need to evangelise among people of other faiths, promoted and attended syncretistic events and, in some cases, refused to call Jesus Lord and Saviour.

On legitimacy. In the current disorder in the Communion, GAFCON came together as a gathering of lay leaders, clergy and bishops from over 25 countries on the basis of their confession of the common historic Christian faith. They formed a Council in obedience to the word of God to defend the faith and the faithful who are at risk in some Anglican dioceses and congregations.

GAFCON, where the governing structures of many provinces were present, affirmed such a Council of the GAFCON movement as its body to authenticate and recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith.

In their primates and other bishops, the assembly saw a visible connection to the catholic and apostolic Church and the evangelical and catholic faith which many have received from the Church of England and the historic see of Canterbury. It is this faith which we seek to affirm.

On authority. As the Virginia Report notes, in the Anglican tradition, authority is not concentrated in a single centre, but rather across a number of persons and bodies. This Council is a first step towards bringing greater order to the Communion, both for the sake of bringing long overdue discipline and as a reforming initiative for our institutions.

Whilst we respect territoriality, it cannot be absolute. For missionary and pastoral reasons there have long been overlapping jurisdictions in Anglicanism itself – historically in South Africa, New Zealand, the Gulf and Europe. In situations of false teaching, moreover, it has sometimes been necessary for other bishops to intervene to uphold apostolic faith and order.

On discipline. Finally, with regard to the Archbishop's concern about people who have been disciplined in one jurisdiction and have been accepted in another, we are clear that any such cases have been investigated thoroughly and openly with the fullest possible transparency. Bishops and parishes have been given oversight only after the overseeing bishops have been fully satisfied of no moral impediments to their action.

We enclose a response to the St Andrew's Draft Covenant. (See separate post).

We assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of our respect as the occupier of an historic see which has been used by God to the benefit of his church and continue to pray for him to be given wisdom and discernment.

Signed

The Most Rev Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria
The Most Rev Justice Akrofi, Primate of West Africa
The Most Rev Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of Rwanda
The Most Rev Valentine Mokiwa, Primate of Tanzania
The Most Rev Benjamin Nzmibi, Primate of Kenya
The Most Rev Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda
The Most Rev Gregory Venables, Primate of The Southern Cone

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 19, 2008 | Comments (4)

Leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion (numbering up to 70 million) were anxiously awaiting today's vote in York on the ordination of women bishops.

Read the BBC report here

A large number of traditionalists left the 26 million-member Church of England back in 1994 after the church's ruling synod approved the ordination of women to the priesthood. The other shoe has now dropped with the synod's approval of women bishops.

In recent days, there have been persistent reports than hundreds of Anglican/COE clergy were prepared to bolt from their parishes and presumably migrate to Roman Catholicism. That may still happen. It all depends on the level of accommodation that the synod offers.

Of course, these events are a precursor to the once per decade Lambeth Conference, which opens in Canterbury on the campus of the University of Kent next week.

Many Anglican women leaders may press for limited accommodation since they believe this kind of action is discriminatory against their ministry and creates a de facto two-tier system for clergy.

The UK Press Association reports:

The synod members voted to approve work on a national statutory code to accommodate those within the Church who object to women bishops.

The synod rejected compromise proposals for new "super bishops" to cater for objectors - and also their preferred option of creating new dioceses.

The decision to go ahead with work on the code came after more than six hours of debate by the General Synod which saw extraordinary scenes, with one bishop in tears as he spoke of being "ashamed" of the Church of England.

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover, who is in favour of women bishops said: "I have to say, Synod, for the first time in my life, I feel ashamed.

"We have talked for hours about wanting to give an honourable place to those who disagree.

"We have been given opportunities for both views to flourish. We have turned down every, almost every realistic opportunity for those who are opposed to flourish."

Since the format at the Lambeth event will be geared toward conversation, not debate, amendment, and passage of resolutions, it is also murky whether women's ordination will be subject to significant discussion at all. Conservatives are not in unity of women's ordination. But I can't find a single truly conservative woman bishop in the entire Communion. Can you?

Posted by Tim Morgan at July 7, 2008 | Comments (13)

Monday, June 30, 11 a.m.

An brief update on the GAFCON statement and declaration:

Many GAFCON pilgrims are headed home and I met two of them at Ben Gurion airport disappointed that their efforts to include an explicit affirmation of the prolife cause was left off the statement and declaration. In reality, relatively few changes were made to the GAFCON declaration as the rank and file members fed comments to the drafting committee. Efforts to get prolife language were unsuccessful. But Anglican prolife leaders will try again.

Watch for an update on this later today.

Sunday, June 29, 11 a.m

I'm writing as GAFCON pilgrims celebrate their closing Holy Communion. About one hour ago, the GAFCON leader, Archbishop Orombi, read aloud the four page GAFCON statement. The primates who were present publicly signed the document, including: Akinola, Kolini, Nzimbi, Orombi, and Venables. There is space for Primates Akrofi, Mokiwa to sign. They were unable to attend the Sunday signing ceremony.

Go to: www.anglicantv.org later today for video on demand.

After the signing, there was a standing ovation and about 25 minutes of spontaneous singing and African traditional dancing. It was a stunning visual feast. Later, Archbishop Venables will deliver the closing address.

Heads up: Those doubtful that GAFCON is birthing a movement should check out the London event this coming week. On July 1, All Souls Langham Place in London will be hosting a one-day event, reportedly to be attended by 750 Anglican clergy. Archbishops Orombi, Venables, and Jensen are the headliners.

All Souls, where John Stott served as rector for year upon year, is ground zero for evangelical Anglicanism. Since this event in London will occur about two weeks before Lambeth, it means (to me at least) that evangelicals will be game-day ready when the once per decade Lambeth event opens in mid-July on the campus of the University of Kent, in Canterbury. (But ready for what, who knows?)

In the mean time back in the USA, The Episcopal Church has taken another body blow by losing another court round over ownership of church property in Viriginia; and TEC convicted the Episcopal bishop of Penn. for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a teen-age girl back in the 1970s. Conservatives are happy to see this conviction, but the case has been stalled for years.

Continue reading an earlier dispatch about late night missteps in releasing the GACON statement:

Dispatch: Saturday, July 28

GAFCON Missteps Out of Starting Gate
Embargo breached, GAFCON statement posted hours early on website.

Late Saturday night, near midnight in Jerusalem, the GAFCON press office released a PDF version of the conference statement. It was embargoed until Sunday 8 a.m. in the UK and 10 a.m. in Jeusalem. But within a few minutes, the embargo had been broken, apparently by a so-called "honest mistake."

View the GAFCON Statement here.

Be sure to read the online comments if you are as curious as I was on how this happened.

Well, that was not the only misstep. Less than an hour after the document was released, the leadership team discovered that one final (though small) copy change that a committee of 20 had agreed to had not been included. So GAFCON press officers re-relased it with the corrected language and then they allowed media to question two top (non-Primate) committee members in a background session that lasted until 1 a.m. local time.

Now there's an online fight over cyberspace bragging rights over breaking the embargo! One blog poster says, "Shame on you [embargo breakers] for ruining the final day of the conference."

It's Sunday morning in Jerusalem. Today, there will be a mid-morning worship service, including Holy Communion. Archbishop Venables from Argentina will be preaching. There will be some kind of signing ceremony, followed by lunch and a 2 p.m. local time press conference.

Watch this space for updates later Sunday, June 29.

Posted by Tim Morgan at June 28, 2008 | Comments (2)

A Civil War-era law that lets Virginia churches keep their property when leaving a denomination where a "division" has occurred is constitutional, a county judge ruled Friday, June 27, siding with 11 former Episcopal parishes.

Fairfax County Judge Randy I. Bellows' ruling on the 1867 law stops short of awarding the property to the parishes, but it hands them a major legal win.

"It's a resounding victory and very broad," said Steffen Johnson, lead counsel for several of the congregations. "There are just a few loose ends to tie up."

The ruling could encourage the dozens of Episcopal parishes in similar court battles across the U.S., and shake the confidence of mainline Protestant denominations that fear losing churches and people to breakaway groups.

An October trial is scheduled to decide the remaining legal issues, which concern church deeds and property that predate the 1867 law.

The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia argued that the law infringes on their First Amendment rights to practice religion without government interference.

The diocese signaled that it may appeal the ruling, saying Friday it would "explore fully every option available to restore constitutional and legal protections for all churches in Virginia."

The 1867 law allows churches that are part of a denomination in "division" to keep their property when they decide which side to join.

In a 49-page ruling, Bellows wrote, "While it is true that (the law) requires the court to make factual findings involving religious entities, each of those findings are secular in nature."

Bellows ruled in April that a "division of the first magnitude" has arisen in the worldwide Anglican Communion and its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church.

Angered over the consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, the breakaway churches - including several large, historic parishes - have joined the more conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Episcopal leaders hold that local church property is held in trust for the diocese and the denomination. People may leave, they say, but the steeple stays.

The diocese of Virginia called the ruling "regrettable" and said it "reaches beyond the Episcopal Church to all hierarchical churches in the Commonwealth."

Seven Protestant denominations, some of which are experiencing similar controversies, and several regional church bodies, filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the Episcopal Church's interpretation of the law.

Posted by Susan Wunderink at June 27, 2008 | Comments (3)

Some 1100 Anglicans from around the world are meeting this week at the Renaissance hotel in West Jerusalem in hopes of steering the Anglican Communion back to the center of Christian Orthodoxy.

But this conference, now entering its fifth day, is in many respects becoming more difficult to understand and thus easier to misinterpret.

If I were writing purely a critique of the mainstream media coverage, my central criticism would be that US and UK media outlets keep driving the political side of the story (Will there or won't there be a schism?). But they are by and large missing the faith side of the story.

It's easy to do. The folks attending the worship events of GAFCON are telling me that these are high water marks in their own spiritual development. Most worship events are well attended and the plenary sessions are standing room only.

I am told the worship service on Wednesday evening at Ophel Gardens, along the southern steps of the Temple, was a stunning display of contemporary Christian worship in an ancient context. Most media skipped that event (myself included) due to scheduling conflicts.

But the media are not the only ones who are misunderstanding GAFCON. Among conservatives, no surprise, I am coming across three different kinds of Anglicans here who often don't understand each other very well. Let me describe them this way:

* The separationists. These individuals wish to create a new Anglican Communion that is global, not centered in Canterbury.

* The reformers. These folks are not yet ready to give up on the existing Anglican Communion and have a movement strategy for redeeming and restoring the Communion.

* The new paradigm. This is the trickiest one to understand. Under a new paradigm, Anglicanism becomes a global network, locally distinctive, church or community-based, and centered on the biblical mission of evangelism and discipleship.

One new reality of GAFCON is that the discussions here across the Anglican food chain from the Primates to the small groups of lay and parish clergy have moved beyond "The American Problem," which is The Episcopal Church, its bitterly hostile actions against conservatives, and the advent of homosexual clergy and same-sex unions. Bishop Bob Duncan, the American conservative leader from Pittsburgh, isn't even here.

Last night, scholar Lamin Sanneh, Palestinian Christian Salim Munayer, and Messianic pastor Evan Thomas pointed GAFCON Anglicans toward a future that was global, reconciling, and biblical. Years from now, we might find that the only English element left in 21st century Anglicanism is the English language itself.

In my mind, the questions of the hour before the committee drafting a GAFCON statement are these:

What will the drafting committee emphasize? Will they lay the groundwork for a new communion? Will they map out a process of Anglican Communion reform? Or, will they envision a new kind of Anglicanism that is post-colonial, not nationalistic, but conciliar, global, and networked?

Tomorrow, GAFCON small groups are due to evaluate the statement in draft form.

Posted by Tim Morgan at June 26, 2008 | Comments (9)

I'm in transit to Israel to cover the Global Anglican Futures event in Jerusalem this week. But there has been great anticipation of Sunday's opening address of Primate Archbishop of All Nigeria Peter Akinola. Akinola is, according to imprecise media reports, the force behind talk of schism in the global Anglican Communion.

But any plain reading of his remarks, which the GAFCON press office released today, indicate that he and other consevatives have a reformist, not a separatist, agenda.

Here are some highlights from Archbishop Akinola's remarks:

People of the living God, welcome to Jerusalem. Welcome to GAFCON. One of the marks of apostolic ministry is signs, wonders and miracles. There are many in today’s Church, who would lay claim to apostolic authority without holding on to apostolic faith nor do they manifest any of the marks of the apostles. In GAFCON, I have seen signs and wonders. That we are able to gather here this week is a miracle for which we must give thanks to God.

Why are we here? What have we come to do?

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) holding here in the holy land this week has understandably elicited both commendation and contempt in varying measures from all who claim a stake in shaping the future identity or in destroying the traditional identity of the global Anglican Communion.

Those who failed to admit that by the unilateral actions they took in defiance of the Communion have literally torn the very fabric of our common life at it deepest level since 2003, are grumbling that we are here to break the Communion.

Similarly, those who fail, for whatever reason to come to terms with the painful reality that the Communion is in a state of brokenness and lacked the ability to secure a genuine reconciliation, but simply carried on the work of the Communion in a manner that is business as usual are not happy with us.

And of course there are those who argue that while there may be some justification for GAFCON; why not call it after Lambeth 2008.

But thanks be to God that there are millions of people around the world including members of other denominations and those of other faiths who not only share our concerns but have chosen to partner with us and are praying for us.

For those of us gathered here in the Name of the Lord, and on behalf of the over 35 million faithful Anglicans we represent GAFCON is a continuation of that quiet but consistent initiative, a godly instrument appointed to reshape, reform, renew and reclaim a true Anglican Biblical orthodox Christianity that is firmly anchored in historic faith and ancient formularies.

Be that as it may, we must note that we cannot understand our present circumstance without locating it within the context of the controversies of the past decade. Every responsible historian knows that his task is predicated on the treasury of past events – rightly interpreted, as the compass for the present and guide for the future. For this reason, GAFCON takes its bearings from the tides of varied opinions and equivocations that have characterised our Communion in the last few years and exposed our once robust reputation as children of the Reformation to scorn. We were well-known for our stand on Scripture as the foundation stone of our tradition and reason.

The underlying objective of GAFCON necessarily compels a deep and honest reflection on the theological and ecclesiological inconsistencies of the past decade at the highest and most sacred levels of our Communion. While not contesting the right to personal opinions and attitudes to this new situation, we must disabuse our minds of the unworthy views about GAFCON being a monster on the horizon, or even a strange breed of Anglicanism devoid of antecedent factors.

Whichever way you look at it, the Communion is deeply in trouble. This is not only because of the actions of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada but also because the hitherto honoured Instruments of Communion, in recent years have, by design become instruments of disunity, putting the Communion in an unprecedented brokenness and turmoil.

My back of the envelope analysis is that both the conservatives and the revisionists are placing the blame on each other for the sorry state of the Anglican Communion. At the moment, the bottom line is the schism just isn't on the agenda for the left or right. There is, however, a struggle for the soul of Anglicanism in this post-colonial, pro-nationalist era.

Posted by Tim Morgan at June 22, 2008 | Comments (19)

Prominent theologian and Christianity Today senior editor J. I. Packer has made no secret of his break with the Anglican Church of Canada's Diocese of New Westminster. More than five years ago, he wrote a Christianity Today article explaining why he left the diocese.

The story has developed a bit since then. Earlier this month, his Vancouver church, the largest Anglican congregation in Canada, voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada to join the Province of the Southern Cone, which is based in Argentina.

Now New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham has sent Packer and seven other clergy members a "notice of presumption of abandonment of the exercise of ministry." He says he wants them to declare "whether they have left the ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada, and if they are seeking admission into another religious body outside Canada."

Seems like Packer and the others have been awfully clear on that point.

The news that Ingham may suspend Packer is getting a lot of buzz in the Anglican blog world. As always on these Anglican news bits, see TitusOneNine and Stand Firm, though the lead on this story came from the Canadian site LambethConference.net.

Frankly, this story isn't terribly newsworthy in the traditional sense. It's predictable, and any suspension would be irrelevant. Packer will continue his ministry just as he has been doing since he left the diocese.

But as Nicholas Knisely notes on the left-leaning Episcopal Cafe (the official blog of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Washington, D.C.), Packer's name will give the story attention it might otherwise not have received.

[While] Packer's teaching and writing is not commonly encountered the Episcopal Church, it is widely known and respected by Evangelicals in the Anglican Communion. The possible suspension of Packer may create a bit of a problem for both the Archbishop of Canada and the Archbishop of Canterbury given the reaction that could be expected from many parts of the Communion.

It also has potential to make non-Anglican evangelicals worldwide more interested in the Anglican crisis. If you're one of those who has been skipping the coverage until now, start with Packer's story. More CT coverage is available here.

Posted by Ted Olsen at February 29, 2008 | Comments (18)

Events in the global Anglican Communion are going from bad to worse. On Feb. 12, an official governing body of the Anglican Province of Uganda announced that they will not be attending the once-per-decade Lambeth gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world. (Nigeria and Rwanda have also indicated they will not attend. Kenya will decide in April.)

Ugandan Anglicans place the blame at the feet of revisionist and "unrepentant" American Episcopal Bishops and a compromised, ineffective Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, saying:

This decision has been made to protest the invitations extended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams, to TEC Bishops whose stand and unrepentant actions created the current crisis of identity and authority in the Anglican Communion.

Look here for the full statement released late on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

Meanwhile, in the western suburbs of Chicago, I attended a Wednesday lunch meeting with a senior American Anglican leader who said in essence that the time may soon come for orthodox Anglicans to create some kind of new global structure because of repeated failures of ABC Williams to hold "revisionists" accountable for proceeding with gay ordinations and same-sex rites and for advocating a host of other non-orthodox revisionist teachings.

This leader who spoke at an invitation-only event anticipates creation of a new Anglican Province in North America that orthdox Anglican leaders would recognize. These leaders would then create some kind of new global entity.

Recent hopes that the Anglican Covenant would provide a means to hold revisionists accountable, he said, have been diminished severely because the redraft of the covenant, released in the last 10 days. "Everyone can sign it," he said. Which is a problem since conservatives viewed the drafting of an Anglican Covenant as an acceptable means to create a coherent orthodox majority within the global Anglican Communion anchored around orthodox/reformed theology.

Of course, there has been much speculation for months, if not years, about creation of a new global Anglican body. Now there is more than speculation among conservative Anglicans. They are beginning to strategize what it would look like to have global Anglicanism apart from Canterbury. It seems like those conservatives who have pursued the "inside strategy" of working within TEC and exisiting Anglican procedures (such as the Windsor process) are now reconsidering their strategy.

Finally, the statement from Uganda indicates that conservative Anglicans increasingly see the June event GAFCON, currently slated for Jerusalem, as the focal point for conservative action prior to the Lambeth gathering, starting in mid-July.

Posted by Tim Morgan at February 13, 2008 | Comments (8)

Religion coverage in The Atlantic is typically well done. The magazine's coverage of the neutering of religion from The Golden Compass was interesting for the way it treated both Hollywood and the anti-religious themes of the book on which the movie was based. Though the magazine retains the secular, above the fray, attitude toward faith of its New England founding, it also put Philip Jenkin's article on the New Christendom on the cover in October, 2002, when his book describing the phenomenal growth of non-Western Christianity debuted.

So, the magazine's March cover story (not yet online) on the literal battle between Christianity and Islam in Nigeria is equally well done, despite some mistakes.

Eliza Griswold - daughter of the former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church - writes from the town of Yelwa, where an attack that killed Christians in church in 2004 brought on a more gruesome response against Muslims killing hundreds. Yelwa is in Nigeria's Middle Belt, which, Griswold writes,

marks the fault line between Christianity and Islam not only in Nigeria, but across the entire continent. A satellite image from Google Earth shows the Middle Belt as a gray-green strip between the equator and the 10th parallel, dividing the fawn-colored dry land from the vibrant sub-Saharan jungle canopy. It also separates most of the continents 67 million Muslims to the north from 417 million Christians to the south.

Because of the 20th century explosion of Christianity in Africa, by the year 2050, Griswold writes, the demographic and geographic center of Christianity will be in northern Nigeria, where the country's Muslims live. This fact makes any tensions in the country religious ones. With 140 million people, oil revenues that never seem to help the people (half of whom live on less than a dollar a day) thanks to government corruption, and a changing regional climate that has wiped out many traditional livelihoods, the country has plenty of tensions.

"Every crisis is automatically interpreted as a religious crisis," an Anglican archbishop says. "But we all know that, scratch the surface and it's got nothing to do with religion. It's power."

Power, in this democracy (despite massive corruption) is a numbers game. Christians and Muslims compete for numbers - converts. And to do that, they not only use intimidation (Griswold quotes Archbishop Peter Akinola saying that Muslims do not have a monopoly on violence), Christians and Muslims appeal to want what Nigerians need most - prosperity.

Pentecostalism has brought along American prosperity theology. (Griswold doesn't seem able to separate Pentecostalism from prosperity theology.) And, in the competition for souls, Nigeria's Muslims have come up with an Islamic approach to making people wealthy.

Griswold suggests that, while violence between Christians and Muslims is still a threat, this sort of competition - non-violent pursuit of winning hearts and minds - is growing.

Hopefully she's right. The stories of murder, rape, and intimidation (all justified by either side's scripture) are horrifying. Yet, Griswold doesn't offer much to hang that hope on other than the story of an imam and a pastor who gave up leading militias to work together for peace. It's inspiring, but she gives little evidence of their effectiveness. And Griswold, despite her father's Christian leadership, doesn't seem to fully understand the Christianity she's reporting on, much less Islam. For example, she says Pentecostals "share an experience of the Holy Spirit, or the numinous, that offers the gift of salvation and success in everyday life." (italics are mine. At least she didn't spell it like Rob Bell.) And Muslims have yet to show that they can treat minorities as equals, instead of "protected" classes or worse.

Still, the article, and it's companions by Alan Wolfe (on how religiosity really is decreasing with modernization) and Walter Russell Mead (on American evangelical political moderation) are worth reading.

Posted by Rob Moll at February 10, 2008 | Comments (2)

This morning, Dec. 26, conservative Anglicans announced they will gather in Jerusalem (see press statement below) about 6 weeks before the historic Lambeth conference in the UK. Lambeth will start in mid-July and end in early August 2008.

Many conservative bishops will boycott Lambeth due to the fallout over The Episcopal Church's actions supportive of GLBT clergy and couples, TEC's rejection of global accountability, and its re-interpretation of core scriptural teachings.

TEC's ambiguous response to the Windsor Report and its refusals to follow the guidance of Anglican primates meeting in Tanzania in early 2007 to end gay ordinations, same-sex blessings, and property litigation against conservative parishes have undermined Anglican unity worldwide.

The 2003 consecration of a homosexual Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire has been the flashpoint.

In recent weeks, there has been speculation about whether Anglican conservatives will put together a rival Lambeth-like event. Many conservative Anglican bishops expect to opt out of the once-per-decade-event in Canterbury, but had hopes of gathering for a global consultation.

Conservative firebrand David Virtue of Virtue Online observed back in June 07:

The concept of a parallel Lambeth Conference was first raised by the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, Archbishop and Primate of Nigeria, as well as head of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA)....

In mid-December, Virtue noted:

Now the idea has again emerged with a news report out of London, by Jonathan Petre of the Telegraph, that Conservative Anglican leaders are secretly planning a meeting next summer for the hundreds of bishops expected to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by boycotting the Lambeth Conference.

The unprecedented event will be widely seen as an "alternative Lambeth", further damaging Dr. Rowan Williams's hopes of averting a formal schism over homosexuals, wrote Petre.

Aides of the Archbishop said that any such gathering, which is due to be held just before the official conference, would be perceived as a symbol of division and would send out a "negative" message. Indeed, it would.

These events in June, July, and August pose a three-fold test as I see it:

1. It will test the strength and coherence of an emerging conservative majority within global Anglicanism.

2. It will test the resolve of the Anglican left-wing's agenda to steer the global church toward affirmation of homosexuality as normative human sexual expression.

3. It will test the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury in its ability to provide a viable way forward for a deeply divided church.

Here's the edited version of the press release:

GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE CONFERENCE IN HOLY LAND

ANNOUNCED BY ORTHODOX PRIMATES

Orthodox Primates with other leading bishops from across the globe are to invite fellow Bishops, senior clergy and laity from every province of the Anglican Communion to a unique eight-day event, to be known as the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2008.

The event, which was agreed at a meeting of Primates in Nairobi last week, will be in the form of a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church's faith. The Holy Land is the planned venue. From 15-22 June 2008, Anglicans from both the Evangelical and Anglo-catholic wings of the church will make pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where Christ was born, ministered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven, sent his Holy Spirit, and where the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out, to strengthen them for what they believe will be difficult days ahead.

At the meeting were Archbishops Peter Akinola (Nigeria), Henry Orombi (Uganda), Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), Benjamin Nzimbi (Kenya), Donald Mtetemela (Tanzania), Peter Jensen (Sydney), Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria); Bishop Don Harvey (Canada), Bishop Bill Atwood (Kenya) representing Archbishop Greg Venables (Southern Cone) , Bishop Bob Duncan (Anglican Communion Network), Bishop

Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America ), Canon Dr Vinay Samuel (India and England) and Canon Dr Chris Sugden (England). Bishops Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester, England), Bishop Wallace Benn (Lewes, England) were consulted by telephone. These leaders represent over 30 million of the 55 million active Anglicans in the world.

Southern Cone Primate Gregory Venables said: "While there are many calls for shared mission, it clearly must rise from common shared faith. Our pastoral responsibility to the people that we lead is now to provide the opportunity to come together around the central and unchanging tenets of the central and unchanging historic Anglican faith. Rather than being subject to the continued chaos and compromise that have dramatically impeded Anglican mission, GAFCON will seek to clarify God's call at this time and build a network of cooperation for Global mission."

The gathering set in motion a Global Anglican Future Conference: A Gospel of Power and Transformation. The vision, according to Archbishop Nzimbi is to inform and inspire invited leaders "to seek transformation in our own lives and help impact communities and societies through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ". Bishops and their wives, clergy and laity, including the next generation of young leaders will attend GAFCON.

The GAFCON website is www.gafcon.org.

Canon Chris Sugden added: "While this conference is not a specific challenge to the Lambeth Conference, it will provide opportunities for fellowship and care for those who have decided not to attend Lambeth. There was no other place to meet at this critical time for the future of the Church than in the Holy Land ."

Frequently asked Questions

1. Who is sponsoring the Conference?
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is being called by those who took part in the Nairobi Consultation:

Archbishops Peter Akinola (Nigeria), Henry Orombi (Uganda), Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), Benjamin Nzimbi (Kenya), Donald Mtetemela (Tanzania), Archbishop Peter Jensen (Sydney) Archbishop Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria). Bishop Don Harvey (Canada) and Bishop Bill Atwood (Kenya) who also represented Archbishop Greg Venables (Southern Cone). Bishop Bob Duncan (Anglican Communion Network and Common Cause USA.), Bishop Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), Canon Dr Vinay Samuel (India and England), Canon Dr Chris Sugden (England)
Bishop Michael Nazir Ali (Rochester, England) and Bishop Wallace Benn (Lewes, England) were consulted and also form part of the Leadership Team.

These bishops and their colleagues represent over 30 million Anglicans out of the 55 million active Anglicans. ( Nigeria 18m , Uganda 8m Kenya 2.5m Rwanda 1 m Tanzania 1.3 m plus Southern Cone, US, Sydney, England). The notional total of the Communion is 77m. The active membership is nearer 55 m, since of the 26m notional members in CofE 3.7m attend at Christmas Services)

2. Whom do you expect to come?
We will be inviting bishops and their wives, senior clergy, church planters, and lay people including the next generation of young leaders. We aim to make it a Global Anglican Conference with its eye on the future and future leadership.

3. Is this a Global South Initiative?
Not quite. Many of the Primates at the Nairobi Consultation are in the Global South, but it also included Anglican leaders from parts of the world beyond the geographic Global South.

4. Why a pilgrimage?
We are looking to the future of the Global Anglican Communion, which is itself a pilgrimage.

Those who want to hold on to the Biblical and Historical faith need to come together to renew their faith and develop a fresh vision for our common mission. The way we have chosen to do this is to undertake a pilgrimage to a land whose heritage we all share, the land where Jesus Christ was born, ministered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven and sent his Holy Spirit, and where the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out. We believe this will strengthen us for the difficult days ahead.

The conference will outline the mission imperatives for the next 25 years for orthodox Anglicans. It is important therefore to reconnect with our roots in the biblical story.

5. Is not Israel/Palestine a controversial venue?
Israel/Palestine has been a place of conflict for decades. That should not keep us from making pilgrimage to a land that is our common heritage. We want to bring fellowship and bear testimony to the Christian communities in Israel/Palestine. Those of us from Africa are no strangers to the pressure that Christian communities are put under from other religious groups and communities.

6. Why call it in June?
The pilgrimage is to strengthen bishops at a crucial time in the life of the Anglican Communion. Many bishops will not be able to accept the invitation to the Lambeth Conference as their consciences will not allow it. Some will attend both gatherings. The purpose of the consultation is to strengthen them all spiritually.

7. Is it not really an alternative to the Lambeth Conference?
No. It is not at the same time or in the same region as the Lambeth Conference. So there will be some who will attend both conferences and thus be able to consult with the Archbishop of Canterbury and others there.

As Archbishop Gregory Venables has said: "While there are many calls for shared mission, it clearly must rise from common shared faith. Our pastoral responsibility to the people we lead is now to provide the opportunity to come together around the central and unchanging tenets of the central and unchanging historic Anglican faith. Rather than being subject to the continued chaos and compromise that have dramatically impeded Anglican mission, GAFCON will seek to clarify God's call at this time and build a network of cooperation for Global mission."

GAFCON is a call to vision and action for mission based firmly on the "faith once delivered to the saints" and revealed in Scripture, to reform the church and transform persons, communities and societies through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. African Bishops had this focus at their Lagos 2004 conference. The Episcopal church's agenda has recently overshadowed it. We now need to develop this gospel agenda for all like-minded in the communion.

It is to outline the mission imperatives for the next 25 years and how to begin to respond to them.

It is a pilgrimage to the places of the Biblical story to renew our faith and commitment. It is to envision the Global Anglican Future.

The Lambeth Conference has a different agenda.

8. Is this all over a gay bishop?
No. GAFCON is about churches being grouped by what they have in common. We're for growth, we're for being passionate about the truth. We want to look to the future. That's what the conference is about - Global Anglican Future.

9. Aren't you splitting the church?
No. Communion depends on having something in common. Churches in the Global South are growing. They're passionate about the truth and their faith. We are building on this strength.

As the Anglican Communion develops, some of the old bonds are loosening, and some new bonds are being formed. That's a good thing. These bonds involve churches which are growing, and which have something distinctive to say to the world. GAFCON is enthusiastic about mission. Its focus is the future.

Posted by Tim Morgan at December 26, 2007 | Comments (5)