Conservative Episcopalians Urged to Split from ECUSA

An international panel of Anglican archbishops challenged a gathering of conservative Anglicans in the United States to split from the rest of the U.S. Episcopal Church. ''Yes, we will stand with you as long as you remain faithful, biblical,

An international panel of Anglican archbishops challenged a gathering of conservative Anglicans in the United States to split from the rest of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

"Yes, we will stand with you as long as you remain faithful, biblical, evangelical and orthodox," said Bishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung, who represents South East Asia, according to the Associated Press.

The panel addressed the first official conference of conservative groups within the ECUSA that disagree with the direction of the larger church. Organized by the Anglican Communion Network and supported by all the major reformed Anglican groups in North America, the “Hope and a Future” visibly unites those who wish to remain Anglican but not a member of the more liberal ECUSA.

The network is headed by Pittsburgh’s Episcopal Bishop Robert W. Duncan, who helped formed the group after his colleagues in the ECUSA consecrated an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. Other points of conflict include the Canadian Anglican Church’s nod and the ECUSA’s tacit approval to blessing same sex “marriages.”

Duncan, like most conservatives, views the division over sexuality as merely the tip of a more deeply submerged problem.

"These departures are a symptom of a deeper problem, which is the diminution of the authority of Holy Scripture," Duncan said as he opened the conference on Thursday.

Conservative Anglicans around the world agree with the view and the same day urged their counterparts to choose their allegiance.

"Many of you have one leg in ECUSA and one leg in the network. You must let us know exactly where you stand — are you ECUSA or are you network?" Nigeria’s Archbishop Peter Akinola said, prompting a loud standing ovation.

In the past, Akinola led conservatives in the 77-million communion (the majority of whom disagree with the gay bishop’s ordination) in severing ties to the ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Most Anglican churches in Africa currently refuse missionaries from their North American counterparts, and the two churches are banned from partaking in an international consultative body of the worldwide communion.

According to liberals in the ECUSA, Akinola’s comments to conservatives in the U.S. could be read as yet another “invitation to leave” behind the American church.

"My preference is that we all stand together and work out our differences and in some cases accept our differences," said Lionel Deimel, president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh.

However, most conservatives fear the rift is too deep to cross. They say the ECUSA is teaching a “new gospel” that counters historic Christianity.

"Anglicanism is really now in a state of flux,” said Archbishop Drexel W. Gomez of the West Indies. “We are being forced into this by people who are teaching something new and something totally different.

"I put the blame squarely on their shoulders."

The Hope and a Future Conference being held in Pittsburgh closes today.