FAIRFAX, Va. – As breakaway Anglicans prepare to introduce a draft constitution for their new conservative province in North America on Wednesday, many within the global church body are debating whether a separate structure is the best way to deal with the current divisions.
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(Photo: The Christian Post)Congregants at Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., sing on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008, as the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns leads from the front. -
(Photo: The Christian Post)The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns (second from left), missionary bishop of Convocation of Anglicans in North America, prays for a congregant at Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008.
For many orthodox Anglicans, it is.
Returning to Truro Church in Fairfax to preach this past Sunday was former rector, or senior pastor, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns who has been leading some 80 breakaway congregations in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) as missionary bishop.
It has been nearly two years since several prominent congregations in Virginia voted to sever ties with The Episcopal Church, which conservatives say has departed from Christian orthodoxy as well as Anglican tradition. Membership at Truro Church has not been affected much by the disaffiliation and services on Sunday showed the congregation's mission has not been deterred as 16 persons were confirmed for membership.
As such breakaway congregations move forward and like-minded Anglicans are uniting efforts, Minns acknowledged to the hundreds of congregants that the new North American province is forming "far more quickly" than he had expected.
Expediting the establishment of the new body include the votes of now four regional dioceses to leave The Episcopal Church and this past summer's conference in Jerusalem where conservative bishops, many from the Global South, told those in North America to get organized and "get on with it," as Minns noted.
With that, the new structure, which is seen as a rival body to The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism – and the Anglican Church of Canada, has drawn criticism, with some saying it will be a cause for more division in the already splintering global Anglican Communion.
But Minns argues that the creation of the new province is in efforts to overcome division – division that's already there, he told The Christian Post.
"Division has been there since 2003 (when The Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop). There is a division in the [Anglican] Communion," Minns said. "We're trying to find a way to overcome that and become less divided."
The Very Rev. Robert S. Munday, a priest within The Episcopal Church who has friends in breakaway groups, says the best way to preserve unity "is to allow the American church to divide (which is happening anyway, whether anyone likes it or not) and to recognize two North American provinces," according to his blog. Otherwise, the Communion will be lost, he says.
There are several different breakaway and conservative Anglican groups, representing 100,000 Anglicans, that are coming together to comprise the new province, which may be officially established in the middle of next year.
Although the body is primarily seen as an orthodox alternative to the current national churches in North America, Minns stressed there is still diversity.
"I think what we’re saying is that there’s a theological heart to what we’re doing but there’s a variety there," he explained. "There’s a common set of theological assumptions that unite us but we’re not all jumping out of the same box."
Within The Episcopal Church, however, the diversity was too broad.
"Some pushed the envelope too far and so as a reaction some said we can’t go that far; we need to come out and at least have some definition to what we believe," the CANA bishop said. Continue >>
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My dear St John, I think you and the Episcopal church are fighting a losing battle, you need to return to the faith once delivered to the saints and quit supporting homosexualism. Have a blessed day and rest in the grace of God.
St. John's,
You miss this point. It isn't that these brothers and sisters don't want to stay; it's that they can't stay when the Episopal Church has taken such offense at the clear teachings of scripture on marriage and homosexuality. It isn't that they don't love people. It's that they love Jesus and His church more. It isn't that they enjoy rebellion; it is that they are called to abide by scripture.
sj, you see the thing is this resolution came after the conservative resurgence was in place in the SBC, so doing the right thing comes with believing that the Bible in its original autographs is the God-breathed, inerrant, plenary Word of God, literally God's Word which states that God's design for marriage is one man and one woman united as one in the sight of God for life and also says that sexual intimacy is reserved for the marriage bed of one man and one woman united as one in the sight of God for life through matrimony and your denomination's view of homosexuality and same-sex marriage totally violate God's design in both areas and these churches that are leaving see that and will no longer be a part of that.
or maybe this 'new' so-called Anglican Province will 150 years later admit the error of their ways, like the Southern Baptists, who did indeed split supporting slavery as biblical mandated.
believer,
Ouch.
sj, as usual close but no cigar, yes slavery was a major reason for the original split, but at the SBC Annual Meeting in I believe 2005 a resolution was overwhelming approved saying that we as a Convention were wrong with regards to our view of slavery as well as other racial biases and we are repenting of this as well as asking the forgiveness of the Afro-American community in these matters. Maybe that's what your denomination needs to do with regards to its radical disregard for God's teaching in His Word?
believer, those Baptists who you declared "opted to go with God" separated from their northern brethren because of the northern Baptists' opposition to slavery. Those Southern Baptists based that support for slavery upon the indisputable evidence of the Bible, a position that they have never repudiated!
Yes, it's sad that we have so many denominations (of which the Catholics are part of). The Pentacosts aren't the Church. Neither are the Baptists. Nor the Prebyterians. Nor the Catholics.
The true Church of God will comprise Children from every denomination. They will be full of the glory and power of God. They will not bow to man's traditions and false doctrines, but they will walk in the light of God's Truth. They will not compromise. They will walk the highway of Holiness, and will glorify their God. He will call them His Children, and they will say "The Lord is our God."
sj, that's because Southern Baptists opted to go with God as opposed to go with the world as the ABC and the denominations you mentioned to include the Episcopaleans have and now those who wish to remain true to the Word of God are leaving your denomination as well.
wbmoore, a very real schism occurred in America's churches after the Civil War. The Baptists and Methodists actually split in two, and though the Methodists are now United, the Southern Baptists have never been able to reunited with their northern counterpart. Moreover, the Methodists formed a separate denomination for their black members, originally called the Colored Methodist Church, (C.M.E.), now the Christian Methodist Church. All over Biblical interpretation about slavery! Homosexuality, like women's ordination, is just a bump in the road in comparison.
believe me, its not wishful thinking, its a fear I think is beginning to come true. I pray all Christians can come together in unity of faith based on the truth of Scripture - now THAT is wishful thinking.
wbmoore, that's wishful thinking on your part, for it certainly doesn't look like that is happening, despite all the press headlines. The numbers of dissenters is less than women's ordination twenty years ago!
Th liberals in the anglican community will force a schism even larger than the one in the episcopal church.
How sad, but these efforts are probably going to fail to be significant as were earlier schisms by the Reformed Episcopal Church in the 19th century, or the anti-women's groups in the 80's. Failing to abide by the Windsor Report will be their death knell as an Anglican organization, like their continued crossing of diocesan boundaries. And failing to acknowledge at least two of the four Instruments of the Unity, viz. Lambeth and the Archbishop of Canterbury, will also conflict with their claims of being the 'true' Anglican Church, even if the Nigerians and other conservatives support join them. We are an international church in the end, and Anglican Consultative Council, Lambeth, and the ABC will overrule any Primates' meeting.