Conservative members of the Anglican Communion who oppose the U.S. Episcopal Church and its liberal attitude to issues like homosexuality are planning to hold their own meeting on the future of the worldwide Communion.
The meeting is scheduled for July 15-22, 2008, just before the Lambeth Conference which gathers Anglican leaders worldwide every 10 years.
Both liberals and conservatives within the Communion have threatened to boycott the Lambeth meeting over who was invited and who was not. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams recently affirmed that he did not change his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a conservative U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to lead Episcopalians who disaffiliated from The Episcopal Church. He also said his decision not to extend an invitation to openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire still stands.
The consecration of Robinson in 2003 had heightened controversy in the Anglican Communion. The move has brought the Anglican Communion close to schism.
Since then, and under pressure from traditional Anglican provinces who oppose homosexuality as a sin, The Episcopal Church has pledged to “exercise restraint” in its pro-gay stance.
Many conservatives, however, are still not satisfied, saying that The Episcopal Church has yet to show true repentance.
Orthodox Anglican leaders, representing over 30 million Anglicans in the Communion, have organized the Global Anglican Future Conference in an effort to affirm traditional 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," said Southern Cone Primate Gregory Venables.
Participants of the orthodox meeting said that it designed to take the place of the Lambeth Conference.
"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," said Canon Chris Sugden.
Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney Diocese said the orthodox conference's aim "is to draw Biblical Anglican Christians together for urgent consultation."
"[I]t is a meeting which accepts the current reality of a Communion in disarray over fundamental issues of the gospel and biblical authority," he added. "It therefore seeks to plan for a future in which Anglican Christians world-wide will increasingly be pressured to depart from the biblical norms of behavior and belief."
Meanwhile, Williams has warned those who have threatened not to attend the Lambeth Conference.
"I have said that the refusal to meet can be a refusal of the cross - and so of the Resurrection," he said. "We are being asked to see our handling of conflict and potential division as part of our maturing both as pastors and as disciples. I do not think this is either an incidental matter or an evasion of more basic questions."
GAFCON is set to take place at the Holy Land as orthodox Anglicans try to go back to the roots of Christian faith, which conservatives contend liberals have departed from.
Christian Post reporter Lillian Kwon contributed to this report.
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Comments
Secondly, marriage is a religious ceremony — but Christianity has no monopoly on it! If anti-homosexual denominations refuse to allow gays to marry in their churches, fine...I certainly won't complain about that. But who are you to say that Unitarians, for example, shouldn't be allowed to marry gay couples because it conflicts with YOUR faith? There are many different faiths and not all of them agree with your same-sex marriage taboo.
maranatha, you say that gay couples live together with impunity, which is hardly the same thing as equality. I'm talking about things like hospital visitation rights, and getting the same tax breaks that heterosexual couples are granted. Not special privileges.
Citizen, you are mistaken. There was a major denominational schism in American Baptist churches throughout the '80s and '90s which was about the authority of God's Word. I think you already know the answer to your rhetorical question and just want to cast aspersions on Bible-believing Christians.
merkin, there is no compelling reason to re-define marriage. Homosexuals have lived together for years with impunity and can continue to do so. "Marriage" is defined as a union of men and women in many countries on virtually every continent around the world, regardless of religion or lack of same.
didymus, your comment to Citizen was insulting, demeaning, and extremely inaccurate. I'm sure you know that conservatives don't support slavery at all. To agree with God's Word about morality has nothing to do with that at all. Shame on you.
Citizen,
I don’t think it wise for you to recommend to conservative folks who post here to read the “antebellum pro-slavery sermons”, for they might actually start supporting slavery if they did read them.
ladyjubilee: Go back and read the antebellum pro-slavery sermons. The ministers who preached them thought they were doing "god's will" too.
ladyjubilee says, "None of the groups who refuse to condone sin are threatening war. Rather, they are holding firm to the view that CHURCHES should call people to do what God says to do and not do what God says not to do" -- emphasis mine
Of course churches should be allowed to preach anything they want. I'll even defend Fred Phelps's right to preach out-and-out hatred. However, we live in a secular, cosmopolitan, nation that was founded on the libertarian idea of freedom. We should all be free to do as we please so long as in exercising our freedom we don't infringe on the freedom of our neighbors. It seems that the conservative Christian community has forgotten all that, and is only too eager to legislate its faith so that we would all be subject to it. (i.e. denying gay couples equal rights — there is such a thing as a secular civil union, you know.)
The very nature of sin involves consent, whether it is in the bedroom, home, work or where ever. Sin involves the consent to choose our own will over the will of God---involves not only what God says not to do, and failing to do what God says to do.
None of the groups who refuse to condone sin are threatening war. Rather, they are holding firm to the view that churches should call people to do what God says to do and not do what God says not to do---and that when someone does something God says "don't do" they should be called to repent and when they don't do something God says "do" they should be called to repent. While this may seem radical, Citizen, it is following in the tradition of the church's founder. BTW, His name was Jesus.
The last time there was a multiple denomination schism in American churches, it was over slavery. So far, the Episcopalian Church is taking just a few steps down this road, and it remains to see whether other denominations will as well, but this is disquieting. Are reactionaries planning to start a new civil war over what consenting adults do in their bedrooms?