Posted on 02/09/2007 5:44:05 PM PST by sionnsar
ANGLICAN COMMUNION) HELD AT AT ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, DENDO ROAD, SOKOTO ON WEDNESDAY 7TH, FEBRUARY, 2007
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) met in a one day General Synod session on Wednesday 7th, February, 2007 at St. Paul's Church, Dendo Road, Sokoto in the Diocese of Sokoto with the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, his Grace the Most Reverend Peter J. Akinola, DD. CON presiding.
The Synod after a prayerful and exhaustive deliberation on matters affecting the church and the society issued the following communiqué.
Gratitude
The Synod is happy with the observable peace, tolerance and mutual co-existence of people of various faith traditions in Sokoto State. This is no doubt the result of outstanding leadership qualities of both the State Governor and the Sultanate. Worthy of special mention is the warm hospitality of both the government and people of Sokoto State towards the successful hosting of this Synod. It is our prayer that God will bless them more abundantly.
The forthcoming primates' meeting
The Synod is pleased to hear that the Primate of All Nigeria would be taking part in the meeting of primates of the Anglican Communion that will hold in Dar es Salaam, February 14th - 20th, 2007. While commending him, the Primate, for his principled stand on the thorny issues plaguing the Communion for some time the Synod is prayerfully looking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this particular meeting to the end that Biblical authority will be upheld. The Synod, while still working towards the unity of the Anglican Communion, strongly believes that such unity must be rooted in Biblical orthodoxy.
The 2008 Lambeth Conference
The Synod reaffirms its earlier resolutions on the 2008 Lambeth Conference and stands firmly on the recommendations of the document, "The Road to Lambeth," as a condition for our participation in this gathering.
Our brethren in CANA
The Synod welcomed the report from the Bishop of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) and the increasing number of congregations and clergy who are now part of this important missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). We welcome them as full and constituent members of our Anglican Communion family. We rejoice in their faithful witness during these turbulent times. We are saddened to hear that the profound division in the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia has now led to the unholy situation where an Episcopal Bishop has initiated costly legal action against churches whose only offence is seeking to remain true to the "faith once for all delivered to the saints." We assure them that we stand with them and will continue to uphold them with our prayers.
The Road to Lambeth can be found here, and states, in part:
The churches in Africa, while grateful for the overall judgement of the Windsor Report, felt that it often did not go far enough in spelling out the needed steps of repentance and return. In various responses to the Windsor Report, member churches made the following points:
* That full repentance in word and action is called for by those who have violated God's holy will in Scripture;
* That this repentance would include the resignation or removal from office of Gene Robinson and the passage of legislation which would bar any similar ordinations of priests and consecrations of bishops;
* That this repentance would include a reaffirmation of the biblical standard of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman and the exclusion of all other configurations as a violation of that standard;
* That responses from our provinces to requests for alternative oversight from churches in North America are of an emergency order and not to be compared to the full and blatant violations of biblical morality by the churches of North America.
We in CAPA want to say clearly and unequivocally to the rest of the Communion: the time has come for the North American churches to repent or depart. We in the Global South have always made repentance the starting point for any reconciliation and resumption of fellowship in the Communion. We shall not accept cleverly worded excuses but rather a clear acknowledgement by these churches that they have erred and "intend to lead a new life" in the Communion (2 Corinthians 4:2). Along with this open statement of repentance must come "fruits befitting repentance" (Luke 3:8). They must reverse their policies and prune their personnel.
END
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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