- Resistance Is Futile!
Posted on 09/17/2005 5:42:52 PM PDT by hiho hiho
THE Anglican Church in Nigeria has deleted all reference to Canterbury, the “mother” church of the Anglican Communion, from its constitution.
This rejection of Canterbury is the latest action in the Anglican Communion’s dispute over homosexuals and is the closest the Church has come to a formal split. Relegating the Archbishop of Canterbury to the margins threatens the perilous peace achieved by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. His personal sympathies are liberal, but he has consistently taken the orthodox side in an attempt to maintain unity.
The move comes weeks before the “global south” conservative Anglican leaders meet in Alexandria, Egypt, to discuss their continuing programme of opposition to gay rights. Some sources say that this meeting could mark the start of the formal process of schism, with a new Anglican communion being founded to represent orthodox Anglicans.
Communion with Canterbury is regarded as one of the defining characteristics of Anglicanism. The Nigerian Primate, Dr Peter Akinola, has previously said that it is not necessary to go through Canterbury to get to Christ. According to a statement posted on the Anglican Church of Nigeria website, it has now decided to make this official and has “redefined” its relationship with all other Anglican Churches.
Any references to “communion with the See of Canterbury” have been deleted from the constitution. Instead, the Nigerian Church is defining itself as in communion with Churches, dioceses and provinces that uphold the “historic faith, doctrine, sacrament and discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”. This will certainly rule out the pro-gay Churches of the US and Canada. It will probably also exclude the Church of England.
The Nigerian Church is one of the biggest and is the fastest growing in the communion. It is strictly evangelical and does not ordain women. Dr Akinola recently started a missionary campaign to double the 17.5 million members by 2007 with the aim of making Anglican Christianity the country’s leading religion within a few years.
But his ambitions extend beyond the borders of Africa. Further changes in the constitution allow Nigerian missionaries for the first time to create Anglican “chaplaincies” outside Nigeria.
The newly formed Convocation of Anglican Nigerians in Americas will now work on setting up a network of Anglican chaplaincies across the US to give “refuge” to conservative evangelicals unhappy with the consecration of Gene Robinson, who is gay, as Bishop of New Hampshire, and other liberal developments.
Dr Williams’s office was not available for comment last night.
One US insider said that the response was not one of despair but of relief. He said: “This is the most serious development so far, but the reaction here is straightforward. It is one of relief. The one thing that defines us is being in communion with the See of Canterbury. There is nothing else.
“We are not a confessional church. We are relieved because we cannot have the threat of a breach being held over us forever. It is as if the divorce has come through.”
Canon John Rees, a leading canon lawyer and provincial registrar for the Canterbury Province, played down the significance. Although Nigeria is the first to delete deliberately the mother church, Canon Rees said several other of the 38 provinces already made no direct reference to Canterbury in their constitutions.
He said: “I do not see a difficulty. It does not seem to me to change the legal position at all. There is nothing in what they have done that suggests to me that a clergyman from Nigeria would no longer be able to come and function in the Church of England in the same way that they might have done the day before yesterday. And this is an example of what communion means.”
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Good for them. I look forward to Nigerian missionaries coming to the US, Canada and anywhere else they are feel called to go to spread the truth.
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Homosexual Agenda Ping.
(Hmmm - I just pinged this out, or so I thought, and it disappeared. Well, here it is again.)
Good for the Nigerian Anglicans. May their numbers increase, and I look forward to Nigerian missionaries coming to the US, Canada, and Europe to spread the word.
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????
ping
"One US insider said that the response was not one of despair but of relief. He said: “This is the most serious development so far, but the reaction here is straightforward. It is one of relief. The one thing that defines us is being in communion with the See of Canterbury. There is nothing else."
And so the schism quietly begins... It will leave the Church of England, ECUSA, and Anglican Church of Canada together, and everyone else on the side of true Anglicanism. If the ECUSA insider wants to rejoice at being part of the See of Canterbury, that's false comfort and false doctrine. The rest of the worldwide Anglican Church will rather be in communion with Jesus Christ, Lord of Lord and King of Kings.
Mattthew 7
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Hey - what's with the double pings. :-)
I seriously hope no one believes that they have to "go through" anything (other than repentance and acceptance of salvation) anyways. I wonder with some of these "Christian churches" do they even use the Bible anymore. Since when did the Bible go out of style?
Not a surprising development, really. Not everybody wants to go to apostasy-land...
It's been 15 months since I left the ACC, and it's been good. I'm an 8th generation Anglican, and I never thought I would leave the national Anglican church. I still miss my own congregation members, and I visit them at fund-raising events, but I'm glad I left them. They are very good people, nearly all over 80, and part of the conservative remnant within the national church. They were forced into taking on a liberal priest for 2 years because there were no conservative priests available in this liberal diocese. The bishop is a liberal and they are all wary of him. My mother, who stayed in that congregation, stayed away from church when the bishop visited. That's a huge snub on her part because she's usually the first in line to greet bishops.
The congregation is wary of the priest too. They told him they wouldn't allow homosexual marriages or blessings, but they know that he would perform them, if allowed to. Sounds like they won't be renewing his contract after two years. But will there be a conservative priest available for them then? Probably not. Several priests in the diocese took early retirement and joined alternative anglican organizations.
The roof is leaking. The congregation worries about the cost of repairs to the church building that is over 100 years old. With a high number of 60 at service every Sunday, fears that the diocese will close the church are very strong. The liberal diocese is short of money. Its fund-raising campaign is a failure. It had to sell several church buildings to get money. There was huge criticism about this but it really didn't have an option. The national church is dying, and this diocese is in deep trouble.
This pattern is repeated in Anglican dioceses in Canada, US, and UK. Where heresy breeds, God is pruning the churches.
This Nigerian church seems like they have it right. No wonder they are the fastest growing church.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
Once upon a time, to be sure, but that "defining characteristic" got rather fuzzy some time ago. Unless yours is the One True Definition...
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