Source: Christianity Today
January 14, 2016
This week's special summit of the global leaders of the Anglican Communion was widely expected to result in a schism, or at least a walkout by conservatives.
Instead, it was one of the worldwide denomination's liberal provinces—The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States—which received censure: suspension from Anglican committees and decision-making for three years.
Now the debate is over how significant the "partial victory" for conservatives is, with some wanting more.
Meeting in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral in England, the majority of the communion's 38 primates voted today to suspend TEC for voting last summer to allow its clergy to perform same-sex marriages.
“The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching,” read the primates' statement, which was released early after it was leaked to the media today [full text below].
“Such actions further impair our communion and create a deeper mistrust between us,” the statement read. “This results in significant distance between us and places huge strains on the functioning of the Instruments of Communion and the ways in which we express our historic and ongoing relationships.”
TEC will no longer be able to represent the Anglican Communion at ecumenical or interfaith gatherings, be appointed or elected to internal standing committees, or take part in decisions relating to doctrine or polity.
“Unlike the recommendations of the Windsor Report, which called for the ‘voluntary withdrawal’ of the Episcopal Church from the life of the Communion, today’s vote directs the archbishop to discipline the American church,” wrote George Conger, who broke the story at Anglican Ink.
The vote passed by a two-thirds margin, Conger wrote.
Church of England spokesperson Arun Arora tweeted at Conger, “Acting within the love&grace of Jesus Not about sanctions but consequences in context of unanimous commitment to walk together.”
The primary group of Anglican conservatives, GAFCON, praised the decision but said sanctions should have gone further [full text below].
"However, this action must not be seen as an end, but as a beginning," wrote GAFCON leaders Eliud Wabukala and Peter Jensen. They are concerned that the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) was not censured along with TEC, and wrote, "Since the beginning of the crisis in the Communion brought about by the actions of both TEC and the ACoC, the Anglican instruments of unity have been unable to guard biblical truth and restore godly order. There must therefore be doubt about the effectiveness of the sanctions that have been agreed."
The three-year suspension is meant to “respect the polity of [TEC]” and to give them time to repent and realign themselves with the 85-million-member Anglican Communion, Conger wrote. TEC has about 1.8 million members.
The decision came one day after the Ugandan archbishop, Stanley Ntgali, walked outof the meetings after his proposal to ask the US and Canadian provinces to voluntarily withdraw “until they repented of their decisions that have torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level” was disregarded.
“They would not agree to this request nor did it appear that the Archbishop of Canterbury and his facilitators would ensure that this matter be substantively addressed in a timely manner,” he wrote. “It seemed that I was being manipulated into participating in a long meeting with [TEC] and [ACoC] without the necessary discipline being upheld.”
Other church leaders from Africa, Asia, and South America also threatened yesterday to leave the meetings if Canadian and American provinces weren’t disciplined for their acceptance of same-sex marriage, Anglican Ink reported. But Canadian archbishop Fred Hiltz said his province had not officially accepted same-sex marriage, and that the issue would come up at the next General Synod.
"This agreement acknowledges the significant distance that remains but confirms [our] unanimous commitment to walk together," stated the primates, noting it also "demonstrates the commitment of all the Primates to continue the life of the Communion with neither victor nor vanquished."
Click here to read the Primates 2016 statement, and the GAFCON response, in full.
