The Anglican
Communion is a world-wide fellowship of autonomous Provinces (mainly in the
former British Empire) which claim to identify with the theology and practice
of the Anglican expression of the Christian faith.
Every ten years, the archbishops and bishops of the Anglican Communion gather
in the United Kingdom for the Lambeth Conference convened by the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
Appalled by the theological liberalism dominating the Anglican Provinces of
the Western world (particularly the US and Canada), at the 1998 Lambeth Conference
the orthodox, bible-believing bishops of the two-thirds world (assisted by
the then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey) tabled Lambeth Resolution 1.10 on
human sexuality.
It was passed by an overwhelming majority and stated the biblical and historic
position of the Church that sexual love is to be celebrated exclusively
within heterosexual marriage.
In 2003 the Anglican Church in the United States (then known as The Episcopal
Church of the United States of America, now known simply as The Episcopal Church
- TEC) consecrated a practising homosexual, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New
Hampshire. He is a formerly married man who divorced his wife (whilst still
in holy orders) to pursue a homosexual life-style. He currently lives with
a homosexual partner.
Supporters of Lambeth 1.10, including the Archbishops of Sydney, Nigeria, Kenya,
Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and the Southern Cone (South America), whose growing
Provinces represent many more practising Anglicans than the declining Provinces
of the West, called for all those bishops involved in the consecration of Gene
Robinson to be excluded from the Lambeth Conference in July-August 2008. The
Archbishop of Canterbury agreed not to invite Mr Robinson but invited many
of the bishops who consecrated him.
As a result, the orthodox Archbishops acted to organise a conference prior
to Lambeth in June in Jerusalem called the Global Anglican Future Conference
(GAFCON). No bishops from Sydney, Nigeria, and Uganda are attending Lambeth;
the CofE bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, has also refused - the Archbishop
of the Southern Cone, Greg Venables, is attending both. Around 280 bishops
attended GAFCON, around 650 are due to attend Lambeth.
What's all this got to do with us in Oughtibridge?
We are a parish church which is part of the Church of England which is part
of the Anglican Communion.
It is now clear that there are two distinct religions in the Anglican Communion
and in the Church of England. These religions use many of the same words -
God, Christ, Baptism, Holy Communion, Holy Scripture, salvation etc - but mean
very different things by them.
One religion stands for reinvention - the Church needs to change its
beliefs and values to fit in with the prevailing culture. Western society is
increasingly regarding homosexual practice as morally on a par with heterosexuality,
therefore the Church must too.
The other religion stands for revelation - God has revealed his will
for his Church in Holy Scripture and the Church is called to be faithful to
what God says rather than what the culture says.
Ironically, in the Western world, it is the orthodox churches standing for
revelation that have got people and finance, whereas the liberal churches standing
for reinvention are emptying and going bankrupt.
My prayer is that we as the Parish Church will stand for revelation not reinvention
and proclaim the unchanging Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, using all legitimate
contemporary means at our disposal, to our community and parish.
Every blessing in Christ's service,
Julian Mann
Vicar