Our beloved country Egypt is going through a critical time which requires all of us to be united, working together in order to achieve “freedom, democracy and social equality” which are at the heart of the Youth Revolution of 25 January 2011. Without achieving these goals, the Revolution will have been mere words. Therefore, with strong hands, hopeful hearts and with patience, we all need to work each in our own field, until Egypt becomes a developed democratic country. Only then will Egypt regain its pioneering place in the Middle East, a position it has held over the centuries.

We are pleased with the decision of the Minister of Interior to reinstate the motto of the police: “Police in the service of the People.” We hope and trust that the police will make their motto a reality, actively providing a real service to citizens, not just monitoring them. On the other hand, we as citizens need to rebuild our trust in the police, start a new page, and work together for the sake of our beloved country Egypt.

We appreciate the role of the High Council of the Egyptian Army in achieving the dreams of our great nation, that Egypt would become a secular and democratic country in which all of its citizens enjoy their rights which will be guaranteed by the new Constitution.

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer H. Anis
Bishop of the Episcopal / Anglican Diocese of Egypt
with North Africa and the Horn of Africa
President Bishop of the Episcopal / Anglican
Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East

Many Christian leaders believe that the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group banned in Egypt, will grow in political power with Mubarak’s ouster. The brotherhood maintains strong support among some Egyptians. Religious-freedom analysts believe the leaders of the brotherhood, famous for the slogan “Islam is the solution,” could very well usher in repression of all minority religious groups. Christians are Egypt’s largest minority, representing 6 to 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people. About 90 percent of all Christians in Egypt are Orthodox.

But while most Egyptian Muslims are Sunni, like the brotherhood, they are not as fundamentalist as it is. One Coptic Orthodox businessman based in Cairo told CT that he was surprised that Christians’ property was not targeted during the growing protests. “I thought that the first thing to be attacked [by protestors] would be the churches,” he said.

“It wasn’t like that. In the neighborhood of my parents, there are many mosques and churches. No single mosque has announced anything against us Christians. Very soon, a big change will happen. Egypt has been like someone sleeping. Now, wake up! Do something better.”

Read it all.

Few realize that after the Islamic Revolution, from the late 1970s through the 1980s, Iran’s Anglicans were the most severely persecuted Christians. Iranian Anglicans worshiped in Farsi, which angered Islamists wanting to portray Christianity as a Western, imperialist religion. More important, many Anglicans were converts from Islam.

The first post-revolution martyr was an Anglican priest, the Rev. Arastoo Sayyah. Islamists cut the throat of this Muslim convert in his office in Shiraz, southwest Iran, on Feb. 19, 1979, and confiscated the property of the church he led.

In October of the same year, the Rt. Rev. Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, also a Muslim convert, and his wife, Margaret, survived an assassination attempt in their bedroom. Dehqani-Tafti was the first Persian Anglican bishop.

Read it all.

You can find the audio link here. The interview starts about one minute into the programme and focuses in particular on the Muslim Brotherhood (it last about five minutes).

Our concern was that extremist groups would take advantage of the demonstrations to push for violence. We thank God that this did not happen. It seems that the majority of the youth who are demonstrating are aware of this possibility. Many of them started to see this possible risk. The youth who were interviewed by the television yesterday mentioned that all what they need is democracy. Many groups this morning are demonstrating in support of President Mubarak, the new government, and peaceful transfer of authority at the end of the Presidents term.

Egypt is a very important country in the whole of the Middle East, and whatever happens in Egypt affects the rest of the countries. I was amazed at how the President of Yemen, this morning, announced that he will not seek re-election and will not promote his son to be the next president. We pray that we can set a good example to the surrounding countries.

We appreciate your prayers for:

Our churches and institutions, so that we can fix our eyes on God who is in control. May what is happening help us to draw nearer to God and to know that the time is short.
The end of demonstrations, especially in view of the changes that President Mubarak announced. This will bring Egypt back to normal and the curfew will be ended.
The new government, in order to achieve the desired targets in serving the people, especially the Minister of Interior who is now trying to re-build the trust with the people of Egypt.
People to find their needs of food and health care.
Wisdom for the youth, in order not to allow the extremists to stir them up.
The families who lost their loved ones in the violence, and those who are injured.
Our beloved Egypt to recover this turmoil.

Read it all.

See also:
1. Video and Transcript of Archbishop Anis’ talk at Mere Anglicanism
2. Video and Transcript of Q & A with Archbishop Anis

Via email:

The Christ Church community in Jerusalem is relieved at the capture of those who are alleged to have killed Kristine Luken and injured Kay Wilson. Today’s arraignment doesn’t end our grief, nor does it bring healing. We look for that consolation in God’s presence amongst us and in the hope of the resurrection. This tragedy will not discourage us as we seek to live out the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and support all those working towards a society which upholds justice and mercy. We will continue to remember and honor Kristine, our colleague and friend, and remain in prayer for the Luken family in their bereavement. With friends and family around the world we will support Kay Wilson as she struggles towards recovery. We are grateful to those from the communities here in Israel and abroad who have expressed their care and concern for our community during this tragic time.

David Pileggi, Rector
Christ Church Jerusalem

You may read more on this here and there.

ARCHBISHOP MOUNEER ANIS RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS
[Transcript starts 34 mins and 17 seconds into video]

Moderator: At this time I think we can open up the floor so that other people have an opportunity to ask some questions ”“ Bishop Dickson

Q: Very quickly ”“ I think most of us here agree with the vast majority of what has been said here today. There is one thing that Archbishop Anis said that sticks with me and I felt this has been the focus we should have, and that’s with the phrase ”˜we need a joint commitment to read and interpret together’. My question is: What then? What then as a Communion do we do? We don’t just come together and have conferences like we have been doing at Lambeth. When do we do something to support the truth that we’re proclaiming? And I would like to raise the question: If this is not indeed the time to call for a general council within the Anglican Communion? And I suggest that the strength of that could be found in the African church. Now I would just appreciate your reaction to that.

Moderator: I would love to respond to that but I have no power and no authority to do such a thing, but Archbishop Anis you do, so would you like to respond?

Archbishop Anis: I agree that it is time now to take the lead. The Church in Africa and the Global South, not only them, but also the orthodox Anglicans from around the world need to take the lead.
In the last 10 years or so we have been reactive and spent a lot of time in reacting to what The Episcopal Church is doing and the wrong things that are happening in the Anglican Communion. I think we need now to take the lead, and we really look at the gathering of the bishops and the Primates of the Global South, with those bishops from dioceses that are orthodox in the West, as a Conciliar body. So that is, is going to happen, and that is happening now. This is a Conciliar body. We need to be like a faithful remnant that keeps the Word, that keeps the centrality and the authority of the Word in the middle of the Anglican Communion. We don’t have to bother much now with what is going on around us. We have to move forward and do things.

And I have said that several times before, that the orthodox church in Egypt was a small, oppressed, displaced church at the time when the Arians took over and became powerful; and in 625 AD the Arians disappeared, and don’t ask me why they disappeared, they disappeared. Even the Coptic Orthodox don’t know how they disappeared. But the faithful remnant are the ones who are strong now; ready to pay the price for their faith and taking a great lead in the Middle East. So we have to. I agree with you.

Q: I agree that we need a reformation of the great ministry of preaching the Word both in season and out of season, but we are also desperately in need of a ministry of presence. I was one of those who was privileged to enjoy the conference in Jerusalem, one of the great highlights of my life – to see bishops, archbishops, clergy, laity from all over the world in the first five minutes of the conference be drawn into the Spirit, and to be singing in the Spirit, together ”“ many of whom had never spoken in tongues or sung in the Spirit before, and weren’t even sure what it was that was happening. But there was such joy in that time together. The thing that made Lambeth 2008 so hard was that that presence was curiously absent and I could not help but wonder how much Lambeth 2008 would have been enriched by the presence of those who were in Jerusalem ”“ how the presence of our current House of Bishops in The Episcopal Church could be enriched by a vital, determined and unapologetic presence of orthodox bishops. Since the early days of Episcopalians United and the many other groups that have formed, we as orthodox have remained reactionary and our reactionism has made us determined to withdraw our presence, rather than to advance the presence of the Kingdom and to advance the proclamation of the Word. It has not served the Gospel well, I don’t believe. How can we determine to be present and the same time have fellowship one with another that strengthens and encourages us, and at the same time holds the rest of the church accountable?

Archbishop Anis: In Lambeth 2008, I attended Lambeth 2008; I didn’t believe in withdrawal. But unfortunately I was faced by the fact that meetings like this are manipulated, orchestrated ”“ orchestrated in a way that nothing happens. And I felt now that it’s a waste of time when you go to a place where the results and the outcome is already decided; and there is no consultation in order to ”˜own’ the agenda of a meeting like this, it’s cooked! – pre-cooked thing! And it is very sad, very sad, that this is happening.

But once things are done differently, I would like to assure you, you will find us right at the heart of any of the meetings even if there are people who have different views, have revisionist agendas, we are not afraid of these people, as long as the process is fair, honest, and it is not like a hidden agenda kind of thing. If there is this honesty of the process, then no one can fear to speak the truth in the presence of others.

That is why as the Secretary now of the Global South, Honorary Secretary, I want to respond to those people who say that about 10 Primates are not attending the coming Primates Meeting; they are saying they are boycotting. That is far from the truth. We are not boycotting at all the meeting. We did ask that the recommendations of the previous meetings should be followed through otherwise our meeting would be meaningless. We decided things, we recommended things, and now, time to have decisions. And we got this invitation to sit in two separate rooms, which is a joke! It’s a joke to sit in two separate rooms. And we wanted to ”“ there was not enough consultation, in order to feel that we ”˜owned’ this meeting to go to ”“ but yes, I agree one hundred percent, and that is behind our attendance to 2008. Some other people were aware of the process much better than us and they didn’t come to Lambeth.

[Our thanks to Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV and a faithful T19 reader who provided this for us–KSH].

Also available Video and Transcript of Archbishop Anis’ talk at Mere Anglicanism to which he refers

Among the Christian communities in the Holy Land marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is the Episcopal or Anglican diocese of Jerusalem, which includes parishes in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, as well as Israel and Palestine. Based at the Cathedral Church of St George close to the old city of Jerusalem, the diocese supports many institutions including schools, hospitals, clinics, vocational training programmes and centres for the disabled and elderly. Palestinian Bishop Suheil Dawani heads this Anglican diocese and he spoke with Philippa Hitchen about his ministry, as well as his perspective on vital ecumenical and interfaith relations…

Listen to it all (just under 10 1/2 minutes).

DR. MOUNEER ANIS: ”˜RECOVERING THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION’

Bishop Lawrence:
Well I am jealous for his time so I will be very brief. Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop of the Diocese of Egypt in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, was called by God from being a physician of the body to being a physician of the soul. And if there is any one that has his finger on the pulse of the Anglican Communion better than Archbishop Mouneer Anis I do not know him. Thank God he also has his stethoscope on the heart of the Anglican Communion. I just hope he finds the medicine of eternity soon that he can administer to it, but he will minister a healing balm to us today because God has gifted him as a physician of the soul for those of us who profess and call ourselves Christians and God has grafted into this thing we call Anglicanism. So I am not going to take any more of his time. Archbishop Mouneer:

[Applause]
Archbishop Mouneer Anis:
Thank you Bishop Mark for your welcome and your warm welcome here for me and Nancy. We enjoyed the time with you when you came and visited us and led the retreat for the clergy in the desert of Egypt and we enjoyed also Allison talking to the wives of the clergy. And for those who don’t know, the Diocese of South Carolina and the Diocese of Egypt are companion dioceses, so it is a special joy to be here in South Carolina.

I know some of you asked many questions about the bombings in Alexandria, and I want to tell you that this is the second year it happened. The first year it happened on the 6th of January 2010 as people were [Coptic Orthodox] coming out of their Christmas Eve service on the 6th, and a man killed eight of them by gun. And this year they were in the New Year’s Eve, just 20 minutes in 2011, and as they were coming out of the church, this bombing took place. It shaked the nation, not only the Christians, but also the very moderate Muslims as well, were very much shaken, because this is not something we are used to. We are used to being a very peaceful country. People can go round without any fear. But the threats that come to the church – that bombing like this is going to happen – is actually disturbing many Christians. And we ”“ I want to tell you that something good may come out of this. Many moderate Muslims condemned this attack, and they started to see the rights of the Christians and speak about the rights of the Christians. So I want you to pray that something good will come out of this.

Along the history, Egypt is famous for this shedding of blood; especially the church. In fact the church in Egypt was founded on the blood of the Martyrs. The first one of them is St. Mark himself, whose blood baptized the city of Alexandria. So pray for us, and we are not afraid. We are ready to die, for the sake of Christ, in Egypt and pray that something good will come out for the church and out of this.

When I thought of this topic ”˜Recovering the Word of God for the Anglican Communion’, I felt that I should talk about the following areas. So four areas I would like to talk about:
1. The importance of the Word of God as we see it in the Bible;
2 The importance of the Word of God as affirmed by the early Anglican Reformers in the 39 Articles and Lambeth Resolutions;
3. Where we have fallen as Anglicans; and
4. How we recover the importance of the word of God for the Anglican Communion today.

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD AS WE SEE IT IN THE BIBLE

The writer of the letter of Hebrews, when describing the word of God, he wrote these words:

“For the word of God is alive, active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” [Hebrews 4:12]

Note here that the Word of God is described as ”˜living’, ”˜active’, ”˜sharp’, ”˜it penetrates’ and ”˜it judges’.

It is living means that it continues to speak to us every day, at every age, and in every situation. It continued to speak, it is alive, it is a living word.

It is ”˜active’ and this means that it works in us, it transforms us, exactly like the yeast working in dough which causes growth. So the word of God grows growth of the church.

It is a sharp double-edged sword ”“ it is similar to the sword that comes out of the mouth of God in the Book of Revelation, you know the Book of Revelation puts this image of God with a sword coming out of his mouth. It is like this because it is the Word of God. This means that it does not change and it is decisive and honest. In Egypt we have a saying that describes the word of a person who keeps his or her word as a sword. So we say “This man – his word is like a sword.” It means he does not, or she does not, change his or her word – keeps it – he cannot say lies ”“ he speaks the truth all the time. And that is perhaps the idea about describing the Word of God as a sharp double-edged sword.

”˜It penetrates’ means that it can reach to the deepest and most hidden part of our soul and spirit.

”˜It judges’ and discerns the thoughts of our hearts. It helps us to discern, if the thoughts of our hearts are Godly or not. Jesus in the parable of the farmer sowing the seeds described the Word of God as seeds which when accepted by the good hearts brings forth fruits of eternal life. Indeed the Word of God helps us to know Jesus and his plan for our salvation.

There is an Egyptian prostitute in the 5th Century, who converted and became a hermit. Her name is Mary. She said these words: “When I think from what evils the Lord has freed me, I am nourished by incorruptible food and cover my shoulders with the hope of my salvation. I feed upon and I cover myself with the Word of God which contains all things.”

Also the Book of Acts tells us that whenever the Word of God was preached the church grew. So, it is written like this in Chapter 6:

“So the Word of God spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” [Acts 6:7]

Therefore I hope and pray that this paper would encourage all the faithful within the Anglican Communion to give the Word of God the most important place in teaching, preaching, worship, and theological studies.

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD AS AFFIRMED BY THE EARLY ANGLICAN REFORMERS IN THE 39 ARTICLES AND THE LAMBETH RESOLUTIONS

Now I would like to speak about the importance of the Word of God as affirmed by the Early Anglican Reformers. We all know that the Church of England, the historical mother church of the Anglican Communion played a key role in the Reformation. This role focused on making the Word of God available in languages of the people. John Wycliffe, the morning star of Reformation started the movement of translating the Scriptures into English, the language of the people, two hundred years before Martin Luther led the Reformation. It was the recovering and understanding of the Scriptures that opened the eyes of the Reformers to see what was wrong in the practices of the church. Today the Scriptures are available in many languages and millions of copies are printed every year.

However, we need to recover its centrality and authority within our Anglican Communion in order to see what is wrong in the life and practice of the church and how we can correct it. One may ask: ”˜Are we under God’s authority or the authority of the Scriptures?’ Of course we are under God’s authority; that is why we take his words as authoritative commandments which guide our lives and reveal him and his mind to us.

My brothers and sisters, we need another Reformation within the Anglican Communion. Isaiah wrote these words:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.” [Isaiah 60:1-2]

I read these words and hear them as if they are for our Communion today.

When we look at our history, we find that the Word of God was at the heart of the Anglican Reformation. The authority of the Word was put higher than any other human authority, such as the Popes. Reformers like Thomas Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley and William Tyndale were ready to be burned at the stake in order not to go against the Word of God. Cranmer in particular was so keen for ordinary people to read the Bible. For this reason the first and the second book of Common Prayer were very much Bible-centered. He also encouraged the people to read the Bible as he wrote these words:

“Here may all manner of persons, men, women, young, old, learned, unlearned, rich, poor, priests, laymen, lords, ladies, officers, tenants and mean men, virgins, wives, widows, lawyers, merchants, artificers, husbandmen and all manner of persons of what estate or condition soever they be, may in this book learn all things that they ought to believe, what they ought to do, and what they should not do, as well concerning Almighty God as also concerning themselves and all others.”

Richard Hooker came to affirm that the Scriptures contain everything necessary for salvation. He also stated that Christ is the focus of the Bible message. In Hooker’s teaching, Scripture comes first, reason comes second, and the voice of the church, the tradition comes third. In other words, people need to examine human reason and traditions of the church in the light of the Word of God.

This understanding helps the Church to make its message and mission relevant to the time and culture in which she lives, while remaining faithful to the Biblical truth. This faithfulness to the Biblical truth led the Anglican Communion to make its motto: ”˜The truth shall make you free’. What a great motto. We are set free when we know Jesus through the Word of God. However, Jesus puts a condition for receiving and enjoying this freedom. He said:

“If you abide in my Word, then you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free.” [John 8:31-32]

So it is not just a motto on the air, it is something linked with abiding with the Word of God and knowing him as our saviour. I want to come back to this point later, but here I want to affirm that the source of this truth is the Word of God.

As we read the 39 Articles of Religion we see that Scripture is quoted to affirm what Anglicans believe. Practices that are not supported by Scripture are rejected. For example Article Six states:

“Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not be required of any man.”

Some who seem to want to reform the Anglican Communion by accommodating it to culture have neglected this Article by proposing that something be required in addition to Scripture, namely the submission to supposedly popular norms of modern culture, especially regarding sexuality. But see the Article itself, it says “whatsoever” ”“ it is not read ”˜therein’ ”“ it is “whatsoever” in the Scripture. If it is not written in the Scripture, it cannot be accepted as a norm; is not to be imposed on the Anglican faithful.

Article Twenty says this:

“The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.”

So the church has the authority to interpret, but the church does not have the authority to change the Word or to interpret in a way that is different from the Word of God.

When we look at Lambeth Resolutions, we find many references to the vital importance of the Word of God in forming us as Anglicans. At this point I will share with you some of these Resolutions.

Lambeth Conference 1888, Resolution 11.1 ”“ “The Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as “containing all things necessary to salvation” and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.”

Lambeth Conference 1920: Resolution 9 and Article VI – “We believe that the visible unity of the Church will be found to involve the Whole-hearted acceptance of the Holy Scriptures as the record of God’s revelation of himself to man and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith”.

Reading this resolution in particular one would say that is the very reason we are not united in the Anglican Communion because we are different; our position is different in regard to the Word of God.

Lambeth Conference 1930: Resolution 3 says this: “We affirm the supreme and unshaken authority of the Holy Scriptures as presenting the truth concerning God and the spiritual life in its historical setting and in its progressive revelation both throughout the Old Testament and in the New”

Lambeth Conference 1958 Resolution 3 “This conference affirms that Jesus Christ lives in his Church through the Holy Spirit according to his promise and that the Church is therefore both guardian and interpreter..”

And it is speaking about ”˜the’ Church, it means that the whole church of Christ, not only the Anglicans. In fact, it is the Anglicans, the Roman Catholics and the others, – “The Church” ”“ “The Body of Christ”

“..is therefore both guardian and interpreter of Holy Scripture; nevertheless the Church may teach nothing as ”˜necessary for eternal salvation’ but what may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures.”

The interpreter, the whole Church, does not place herself above the Scriptures. The Scriptures interpret us, rather than we interpret the Scriptures. We are never above the Scriptures, we interpret, we are the servants ”“ who interpret, who read together, who interpret together.

Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution III.5.b. “In agreement with the Lambeth Quadrilateral and in solidarity with the Lambeth Conference of 1888 affirm that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation and are for us the rule and ultimate standard of faith and practice.”

I am so glad that 1998 affirmed 1888 – the same thing.

The Lambeth Conference 2008 – did not make any resolutions. [laughter, lots of laughter] but recorded a summary of the bishops’ discussion in what was called ”˜Indaba’ ”“ and NO ONE knows what is the meaning of Indaba [lots of laughter] except Africans, [laughter] like me [laughter]. Indaba means to listen to two sides and make a decision, not just listen and listen and listen and listen [laughter]. This means that what is recorded does not have the same moral authority like the other Lambeth Conferences Resolutions.

Lambeth Conference 2008 Section G in the Summary, [pg. 134], in this summary, we read this: “God’s Living Word, incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth and revealed in Holy Scripture, challenges and transforms us in ways that can be full of joy and at other times quite unsettling, even as our context influences our interpretation of Holy Scripture. We affirm that the Scripture also addresses our contexts with both judgment and consolation, with conviction and with grace. The Word of God has always held a primary and cherished place in the churches of the Anglican Communion. So shall it always be”

The Anglican Covenant includes many sections worth mentioning here, especially Section 1.2.2: “to uphold and proclaim a pattern of Christian theological and moral reasoning and discipline that is rooted in and answerable to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the catholic tradition.”

In regard to the interpretation of the Scriptures and the authority of the Church, the Lambeth Conference 1978 Resolution 11 says this: “The Conference advises member churches not to take action regarding issues which are of concern to the whole Anglican Communion without consultation with a Lambeth Conference or with the Episcopate through the Primates’ committee and requests the Primates to initiate a study of the nature of authority within the Anglican Communion”

Lambeth Conference 1998 Res III.6.b states this: “That the Primates’ Meeting under the presidency of Archbishop of Canterbury includes among its responsibilities positive encouragement to mission, intervention in cases of exceptional emergency which are incapable of internal resolution within Provinces and giving of guidelines on the limits of Anglican diversity in submission to the sovereign authority of Holy Scripture and in loyalty to our Anglican tradition and formularies”.

3. WHERE WE HAVE FALLEN AS ANGLICANS

This means my brothers and sisters that within the Anglican Communion we already have what we may call, we may call, a Conciliar body which is the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops and Primates. This body represents all the faithful within the Communion and is capable by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in consultation with ecumenical partners to express the mind of the Communion regarding the interpretation of controversial issues.

Unfortunately, the Lambeth Conference resolutions are not binding. In other words the Lambeth Conference as well as the Primates Meeting does not have the executive authority of a Conciliar Council. It sounds from all I mentioned – all these Resolutions and Articles – that the Anglican Communion is a very Biblical Communion founded on the Word of God, formed by it, and our practices are examined by it. It also gives the impression that we are committed to read and interpret the Scripture together as Communion and with our sister churches in order to define the limits of Anglican diversity in submission to the sovereign authority of the Holy Scriptures. But the question is: ”˜Are we really doing this?’ I honestly think that we are far from it. In fact if we followed what we and our predecessors decided since 1888 we would not be an impaired and dysfunctional Communion today.

4. HOW DO WE RECOVER THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION TODAY?

How can we recover from this state of dysfunction? How do we recover the Word of God as our ultimate standard of faith? How can new Anglican generations grow in a healthy, strong, united and effective Communion?

We find the answer in Christ’s Word to the church of Ephesus:

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and I will remove the lampstand out of this place except if you repent.” [Revelation 2:5-8]

So Repent is repeated twice here. So we as an Anglican Communion need to do three things:
[1] Remember from where we have fallen, and
[2] we need to Repent; and
[3] we need to do things we did at first when the Anglican or the Church of England started at the time of Thomas Cranmer.

[1] Remember from where we have fallen
First we need to know from where we have fallen. We have fallen when some of the churches of the Communion lost confidence in the Word of God and its authority. This leads to neglecting the study of the Bible and the Biblical teaching which further leads to Biblical illiteracy. This Biblical illiteracy produced a generation of clergy and laity in those churches who do not believe in the essentials of faith, like: the virgin birth, divinity of Christ, crucifixion, the resurrection, salvation by faith, and eternal life, as defined in the three creeds: the Apostles creed, the Nicene creed and the Athanasian creed.

For some, the Bible became an ancient book of wisdom, like other ancient religious books. The Scripture become like a hermeneutical supermarket [laughter] where you pick what you like and leave out what you don’t like. The motto which I mentioned at the beginning ”˜The truth shall make you free’ became meaningless, because Jesus Christ became a truth among many truths, not ”˜THE TRUTH’. Revelation ends with a harsh judgment on those who add or those who take away from the Word of God.

We have also fallen when we lost the Conciliar concept that characterized the early church and the early days of the Anglican Communion. The individualistic and hedonistic spirit of our world today has penetrated the Communion deeply. This encouraged some churches to interpret the Scriptures without listening to and consulting with the other churches within the Communion. The interpretations that are produced by Lambeth Conferences have only a moral authority and are not binding.

In fact the trace of Conciliar concept that was there in the Lambeth Conferences of bishops and Primates was diluted and almost completely lost at Lambeth 2008.

The absence of conciliarity and the individualistic interpretation of the Scriptures led the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to take decisions in the light of what is prevalent and accepted in the culture; not in the light of the teaching of the Scriptures and what is accepted by the rest of the Communion. In other words these provinces allowed their cultures to influence the interpretation of the Scripture instead of allowing the Scripture to address the culture. In other words the contemporary cultural norms are given more authority than the Scripture.

In order to be fair, I must be self-critical too. Some churches in the Global South, especially in my continent of Africa, also suffer from shallowness of Biblical knowledge; not because of lack of confidence in the Scriptures, like in the West, nor in the intentional neglect of it, but because some of these fast-growing churches in Africa do not have the resources to equip enough clergy and Bible teachers in order to meet the needs of the church growth. Moreover there is more focus on praise and worship rather than the teaching of the Scriptures. This has made Africa vulnerable to the emerging heretical sects like the ”˜prosperity gospel’, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism. It is also worth mentioning that the Bible is not as yet available in some tribal languages even within my own diocese.

[2] We need to Repent
Secondly, having said all this, we can clearly say that the need of repentance is absolutely crucial. Consider the great need of resources in Africa and the huge amount of money spent in lawsuits between churches in the United States. Indeed we need to repent.

[3] We need to do things we did at first
How do we recover the Word of God for our Anglican Communion today? After we repent, we need to do the things we did at first when the Anglican Communion started.

We need to regain the trust in the Scripture, as it contains everything necessary for salvation. In order to have this trust back, we have to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit that inspired the people of God to write the Scripture in the first place. We also need to prayerfully read, study and make every effort to live out God’s Word.

It is important to start Biblical literacy programs, and I want to say this is very, very important. It is important to start Biblical literacy programs for all ages in every province. Let us start with our children in Sunday Schools. The new generations widely use computers and the Internet in education, communication and entertainment and therefore and therefore it is necessary to develop computerized programs and curricula that can help the young people to learn the Word of God in a way that is interesting to them.

The use of drama as a way of teaching the Bible is very effective in areas where computer technology is not available or where illiteracy is a problem. When Temple Gardiner came to Egypt in 1800 and he found that there are many people who are illiterate – he wanted to teach them the Bible. He started to think, and write plays and drama to dramatize the Bible and that was a very important tool at that time.

We need to use the gifts of our laity and train them as Bible teachers so that they may teach others. It is worth mentioning that the Diocese of Singapore already started a few months ago a very ambitious program to teach lay people to teach the Bible.

We also need to support the existing Biblically-sound theological schools and establish new ones in order to equip orthodox church leaders.

It is also important to translate the Bible in order to make it available to the tribes which do not have the Bible in their own language.

The Anglican Communion needs to give the Lambeth Conference and the Primates’ Meeting a Conciliar authority in matters of faith and order, including the area of interpretation of the Scriptures. The principle of: ”˜What affects all, should be decided by all’ is crucial to avoid further crisis.

The Windsor Report, Section B, speaks about Authority of Scripture. It says this:

“The current crisis which constitutes a call to the whole Anglican Communion to re-evaluate the ways in which we have read, heard, studied and digested the Scripture. We can no longer be content to drop random texts into arguments, imagining that the point is thereby proved, or indeed to sweep away sections of the New Testament as irrelevant to today’s world, imagining that problems are thereby solved. We need mature study, wise and prayerful discussion and a joint commitment to hearing and obeying God as he speaks in Scripture, to discovering more of the Jesus Christ to whom all authority is committed and to being open to the fresh wind of the Spirit who inspired Scripture in the first place. If our present difficulties force us to read and learn together from Scripture in new ways, they will not have been without profit.”

My brothers and sisters, I am aware that during the current crisis within the Anglican Communion it will be extremely difficult to develop a joint effort across the Communion in order to carry out these suggestions to read and interpret together – because there is no trust, at all! What is happening caused no trust. And already provinces are taking actions and going away completely from the norm of the Anglican tradition. So it is very difficult to do this.

We have to first sort out the crisis in order to regain the trust between the churches of the Communion and its Instruments. However, the Global South and other orthodox dioceses all over the world should start today if we want to rescue and revive our beloved Communion.

Finally, I would like to remind myself, and you, with the words of the Apostle Paul to the Apostle Timothy his disciple:

“What you heard from me keep as a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you ”“ guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” [2 Timothy 1:13-14]

Thank you so much.
[Applause]

[Our thanks to a faithful T19 reader who provided this for us–KSH].
Video here thanks to Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV
See also: Q & A with Archbishop Mouneer Anis – Video and Transcript here

Important update: You may now find a full transcript of the talk here.

See also: Q & A with Archbishop Mouneer Anis – Video and Transcript here

(By Cheri Wetzel).

This year the bomb happened in the New Year’s Eve service 2011, as they were coming out of the church this bombing took place. It shook the nation, as well as the moderate Muslims as well. We are not used to this. We are a peaceful nation and this happening is upsetting many Christians. Something good may come out of this. Many moderate Muslims condemned this and speak of the right of the Christians to be there and worship. I want you to pray that the Church will continue to speak in love. The Church in Egypt was founded on the blood of the martyrs. Pray for us. We are not afraid and are ready to die for the sake of Jesus Christ in Egypt.

I want to talk to you about the Word of God for the Anglican Communion. There are four areas:

1) the importance of the Word of God as we see it in the Bible
2) The importance of the Word of God as affirmed by the early Anglican reformers, the Thirty Nine articles and Lambeth Resolutions
3) Where we have fallen
4) How we recover the importance of the Word of God for our Anglican Communion today.

Read it all.

You may find the agenda here; we appreciate your prayers.

Please note the William Mckeachie piece on the Conference here also. It begins as follows:

Mere Anglicanism is all about witnessing to the God who, amidst all the ups and downs of church history, has called us — whether as laity or clergy, whether as Episcopalians or members of some other Anglican entity, whether locally or globally — to renew our witness to the One who gave us the Gospel and who across the centuries has providentially provided for the Anglican Way of faithfulness to that Gospel….

An American staff member with the CMJ UK, the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people, has been murdered while on vacation in Israel.

Kristine Luken (44) an administrator with the CMJ in Nottingham was hiking in a forest southwest of Jerusalem on Dec 18 with fellow CJM staffer, Kay Wilson, a British-born Israeli, when they were approached by two Arab men asking for water. The men attacked the two women, stabbing each repeatedly. Ms. Wilson feigned death and survived the attack, but Ms. Luken bled to death.

“They came to kill,” Ms. Wilson said, telling the Israeli media that one of the attackers ripped a Star of David from around her neck and stabbed her where in the place where the star had lain.

Read it all.

The Anglican Bishop of Egypt has said all Anglican/Episcopal churches in the country are having to strengthen their security measures following the New Year’s Eve bombing that killed 19 and injured more than 90.

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis*, one of several religious leaders to speak out against the bombing at the al-Qiddissin Coptic Orthodox Church, said he was cooperating with a request from the Egyptian Security services.

“We express our deep sadness and mourn the loss of life after the New Year’s bombing at a Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria,” he said in a statement. “We also express our condolences to His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and to the families and friends of the victims of this terrible and inhuman attack.

Read it all.

A few days after a brutal knife attack outside Jerusalem left U.S. tourist Kristine Luken dead and British-born Israeli Kay Wilson severely injured, members of an Anglican church in Jerusalem, to which both women had ties, is trying to return to some sense of normalcy.

Last Thursday, the day before Christmas Eve, over 100 people gathered at Christ Church, an Anglican church in the capital’s Old City, for a memorial service in honor of Luken, an American evangelical Christian who frequently visited Israel and used to worship with the community. The next evening, the congregants gathered for Christmas Eve service as they do every year, surrounded by the usual throngs of curious Israeli-born onlookers, but made no mention of the attack that briefly thrust Israel’s Anglican and Jewish-messianic communities into a media whirlwind.

Read it all.

When Anglicans worship, we affirm our faith by saying the Creed together. As we come to the point when we say, “we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church,” we remember that we are part of the one Church of Christ since it was started on the day of Pentecost and before all the divisions that have taken place over the centuries. It also reminds us of our responsibilities to strive for unity, in order to fulfill the desire of Jesus’ heart: “that they may be one” (cf. John 17).

This also reminds us of our failure to take seriously our responsibility towards the unity of the Church of Christ. We not only have failed, but many of the reformed and evangelical churches have contributed in widening the gap between them and the traditional churches.

This “widening of the gap” happened as a result of rejecting many ideas and practices, simply because they belonged to the traditional churches. The main focus of our reformed churches was directed towards the study of the Scriptures, mission and evangelism….

Read it all.

From here:

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Cor 15:58

The savage attack on December 18, 2010 in the Jerusalem forest where Kristine Luken was killed and Kay Wilson seriously wounded, has shocked family, friends and the community of Christ Church Jerusalem.

Kristine, a US citizen, worked for CMJ (Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People) in Nottingham UK and was a frequent visitor to Jerusalem. She had an infectious love for God and a great admiration and love for the Jewish people and the Holy Land. Recently, she studied Jewish history and the Holocaust on a CMJ sponsored tour of Poland.

Kay Wilson is the main educator for Shoresh Study Tours, a ministry of Christ Church Jerusalem, specializing in teaching the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. She is a well-loved guide and a gifted communicator as many Shoresh participants will attest. She is also an accomplished jazz pianist and artist. We ask that you join us in prayer for Kay’s ongoing recovery. We will be organizing practical help for Kay as her needs become apparent.

On Thursday December 23rd at 4 p.m. we will hold a memorial service for Kristine at Christ Church in the Old City. We are creating a memorial for Kristine in the Christ Church Heritage Center, a ministry she loved. (Donations gratefully received). We also ask for prayer for Kristine’s family.

In life Kristine was a faithful follower of Jesus and gave herself fully to the work of her Lord. In the midst of grief and great sorrow, we know Kristine’s life and work were not in vain and we take comfort in the promise of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

This is the topic for the 2011 Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston, South Carolina in January.

Consider coming and make plans now.

When the Anglican Communion started to unravel in 2007, following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s unexplained decision to invite the American bishops to Lambeth 2008, even before the deadline for their compliance with certain restraints imposed by the primates, and the subsequent attempt to pretend that the ‘deadline’ was nothing of the kind, Bishop Mouneer [Anis] stood out as someone who was not prepared to break with the central organs of the Communion.

Unlike many other primates from the developing world, he continued to believe that the processes envisaged by the Windsor Report (2004) and the proposed Anglican Covenant, sponsored by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the answer to the Communion’s incoherence as an ecclesial body, were good and necessary solutions to the church’s problems. Accused of being naive by some of those who went on to form the FCA, Bishop Mouneer stuck by Rowan Williams and became one of his strongest backers. His public statements are full of praise for him and often quote him at some length, a degree of devotion which must make him virtually unique in the Anglican world.

Alas, Bishop Mouneer’s reward for this extraordinary loyalty has been meagre. At one point he specifically asked the ACC to hold back on a statement it was going to issue because he was on a pastoral visit elsewhere in the Middle East and would not have time to consider it until his return to Cairo. He was ignored, and the ACC went ahead without him, making only the shortest of apologies when it realised that it had caused offence. Dr. Williams, who seems to have all the time in the world for Ms Schori, never rushed off to Cairo or showed any public concern for Bishop Mouneer’s position. He could not ignore the bishop’s resignation of course, but his official statement was perfunctory in the extreme and betrayed no sign of any sympathy for the reasons which compelled him to leave.

Bishop Mouneer could easily have camouflaged his resignation in the way that people often do. He could have pleaded the burdens of office or the dangers of stress and ill health. He might even have said that it was time for someone else to take his place, and pretended that he was stepping down in order to give others a chance. He did none of those things.

Instead, he told the truth….

Read it all.

The “vicar of Baghdad” has told a Hampshire congregation about the horrifying challenges facing his mission of Christianity in Iraq.

Andrew White, the Anglican Chaplain to the Iraqi capital, told fellow Christians at Southampton’s Highfield Church of the terrorism and violence that blights the lives of ordinary citizens and the church where he preaches.

During a series of addresses he said the number of Christian followers in the country has dwindled to around 200,000, from more than a million before the 2003 invasion.

Read it all.

The National Executive Council of Episcopal Peace Fellowship has issued a statement in support of economic sanctions and divestment strategies that it believes “can inspire a more useful dialog and negotiation towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

But Bishop John Bryson Chane of Washington, a member of EPF since 1969, told ENS May 12 that such a strategy is “flawed and dangerously unhelpful at this particular time in history” and would “further hurt the critical development of the economy of Palestine and increase the marginalization of the Palestinian people.”

As an independent association of Episcopalians committed to nonviolence, EPF’s position does not represent the official policy of the Episcopal Church, which supports “corporate engagement” and “positive investment” practices when dealing with companies in which it owns assets and shares.

Read it all.

(Please note: this is from a blog reader and is based with thanks on the Anglican TV video which may be found at this link or below. This is not an approved transcript and while transcribed carefully any errors it contains are this person’s own–KSH).

Global South Structures

Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini was very kind to give me the chance to speak first. I am very grateful to you.

This morning’s bible study, the very rich study that was given to us by Archbishop John Chew reminded me of a story, a story which happened in Egypt, and particularly it happened in Alexandria. It happened in the third century. There was a gifted preacher and intelligent priest and his name was Arius. And Arius had many followers, and he wanted to reconcile the Christian faith, and the essentials of faith with the Greek philosophy, so that the Greek philosophers who were living in Alexandria would actually accept the idea of the triune God. But by doing this he made Christ less divine. And because of this there was a division in the church in Alexandria. There were faithful people, and there were heretics. And the faithful people were getting less, and smaller and smaller. But they fought persistently and without ceasing. And the heretics started to increase and increase, and they got the support of the Emperor; one after another, until the Arians became a bigger church.

And the church fathers of the orthodox church, they fought, they stood for the truth, but they also felt that they should spend their time in a more productive way. They took the manuscripts and they went to the desert and they started to disciple many young people, who became later on the leaders of the orthodox church of Egypt and Alexandria. If you asked me: where are the Arians today? I would say, not one, there are no Arians in Egypt. They all died out. By 600 [ad] there were no Arians in Egypt. It is only the faithful, who keep the faith who started to grow, and started to disciple many leaders. And from these, the church fathers came, starting from Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, St Athanasius of Alexandria, St Clement, St Cyril. They all were defenders of faith, but they all were discipled by the desert fathers.
And this story tells us something of the bible study we got today. There are people who [were] hard-hearted, their hearts became very hard. The more they listened to the truth, they get very hard, and they get very difficult, and they grow! Amazingly they grow!

But this is not the end of the story. The end of the story is a light that comes; the truth overcomes, and the Gospel to be proclaimed. Today the Arians disappeared and the Coptic Orthodox church in Egypt is growing very fast in the Middle East and in all the world.

And we thank God for this story because it tells us something as Anglicans. While we stand firm for the truth and speak up, we should not waste our time just reacting, but we should spend our time bringing the Good News to the world: spend our time in discipling and baptizing people for Christ. It’s a good story that the two bible studies actually can tell us today.

There is another thing. I am telling you these stories because we had very heavy meals after Archbishop John [Chew] said this wonderful study about about the covenant, and these stories may be ”˜light’ and can help us. This is a holy Korban, or a holy bread that is used in the Orthodox Church; and also we use it in the Anglican Church in Egypt, in all our churches. We don’t use wafers, we use this. But there is a beautiful scene. If you attended the Coptic Orthodox mass, at the beginning of the mass, the celebrant, whether a priest, or a bishop or the Pope himself, and I attended the mass with His Holiness Pope Shenouda several times, when at the beginning of the mass they brought the basket, and in this basket: about ten, twelve of these holy Korban, holy bread. And it is a very exciting, interesting moment when the Pope or the priest or the bishop who is celebrating the Eucharist, takes one after another and looks at it, looks at it very well and leaves it, and takes another one and leaves it and takes another one until he gets the perfectly rounded holy bread, a bread without a fault. And in a way he is telling the story of the selection of the Passover lamb who was sinless and faultless. And even they call it the lamb, the lamb holy bread and it is a symbol of Christ. And you know that Jesus is our lamb, is the lamb of God. And when he broke the bread at the last supper he said: ”˜this is my body’, so he himself, the Passover lamb, the faultless, the sinless, who died for us. He was perfect.

But also St Paul told the church to be the body of Christ, so we are the body of Christ. But the problem here is that we are not perfect. But we are called to be perfect, like our Father who is perfect. I think we are on a journey to be perfect, and the only thing that guarantees our perfection is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as a church.

So what I am going to introduce you to today is not perfect, the structure is not perfect. We will continue to make it perfect. The church is not perfect, but we are on a journey to be perfect, because our Father is perfect.

Archbishop Kolini after I speak, will have his own remarks about the structures, but what I would like to talk about are four points:
– the history of the Global South;
– today’s context and challenges;
– and why do we need a structure; and
– a proposed Global South Structure.

The History:
The Global South ”“ I know some of the people here do not know the history, although in the book which is a very important book that Archbishop John [Chew] can raise it up, like this, so that you would know ”“ it’s all the history in this book, and it is very important.

It started in 1987, in Brisbane in Australia when the ACC meeting thought that it would be very important for the South provinces to meet together, and that happened. The first meeting was in Limuru in Kenya in 1994. And in Limuru they put two questions in front of them. The first question is: ”˜how can we be Anglican, while also true to our cultural contexts in the South?’ And the second question: ”˜how can we be more effectively used for God’s mission in the world in the power of the Holy Spirit?’ And part of the Communiqué says this, in Limuru Kenya in 1994:

“the church exists for the sake of God’s mission. God invites us to be His church, people who experience God’s salvation, and bear witness to God’s love, mercy, compassion, justice, peace and forgiveness for all people revealed finally and fully in Jesus Christ.”

Then the next Global South meeting or second Encounter was in Kuala Lumpur, and in Kuala Lumpur they made a statement about human sexuality. And I just quoted some of this statement. It says:

“Scripture bears witness to God’s will regarding human sexuality which is to be expressed only within the life-long union of a man and a woman in holy matrimony.”

The other thing in Kuala Lumpur is:

“The holy scriptures are clear in teaching that all sexual promiscuity is sin. We are convinced that this includes: homosexual practices between men or women as well as heterosexual relationships outside marriage.”

These were two important things from the communiqué of Kuala Lumpur.

The next year after Kuala Lumpur, in the Lambeth Conference 1998, I was not there, but many of the colleagues were there. The Global South bishops’ influence was crucial in the production of Resolution 1:10. Almost 88% of the bishops in the Lambeth Conference 1998 voted for Lambeth 1:10.

In Cairo in 2000, we didn’t know each other, Archbishop Akinola and Archbishop John [Chew], he was the bishop of Singapore then. We didn’t meet each other, we didn’t know each other, but we corresponded with each other and we decided to meet in Cairo in December 2000 and in Oxford in 2002, actually not 2001, we had another meeting where Archbishop Yong Ping Chong joined us in this meeting and we started to plan for the Third Encounter.

The Third Encounter happened at the Red Sea, Egypt, 2005, and we took some very important decisions in this Third Encounter. We reached a common understanding of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. This was a theme of the Encounter. We had a strong warning in regard to the Anglican Communion crisis; produced a big warning about this. And then we decided to make a track for self-reliance where my brother Keith Chua was actually in charge of this.

And then developing a Global South Catechism and the diocese of Singapore helped with others in developing this book and I think if you want to get a copy, perhaps get in touch with Archbishop John Chew and he will give you a copy of this Global South Catechism. And we were committed to advancing Christ’s mission.

Today’s Context and Challenges:
The first challenge is progressive revisions of the faith by TEC and Canada, and other provinces in the following way:
The first is: the ordination and consecration of clergy and bishops in active homosexual relations; blessings of same-sex unions in churches; denying the uniqueness of Christ – rejecting the authority of the Scripture.

And also the second challenge is the ecclesial deficit which was described by the Windsor Continuation Group, the ecclesial deficit. And I think Archbishop John Chew was part of this Windsor Continuation Group. They described the situation within the Anglican Communion as an ecclesial deficit. And this deficit is because the undermining the authority of the Primates and Lambeth Conference bishops – no follow through for the recommendations of the Windsor Report, the Primates Meetings – i.e. failure to take any disciplinary decision against the Episcopal Church and Canada ”“ the broken and impaired communion between provinces.

There are other challenges that we are facing, which is the strained ecumenical relations. Some of the churches, the ecumenical partners, stopped the dialogue with the Anglican Communion. An example of this is the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church. They all put on hold the dialogue with the Anglican Communion ”“ strained ecumenical relations.

There was no support given from the official Instruments of Communion to the faithful within the Episcopal Church ”“ the groups like the Communion Partners, and also of the ACNA, the Anglican Church in North America. The litigations, and the depositions of bishops, and the threats that comes from TEC, all the time, the Episcopal Church. And the strained relation between some orthodox Anglicans as a result. Also there was some tension between the orthodox Anglicans themselves.

That is the context and these are the challenges in front of us which we need to consider as we consider the structure.

Now I want to answer the question:

Why do we need a Structure?
We need a structure to enhance and sustain Christ’s mission which is entrusted to us by Him; to further activate the partnership in the Gospel; and guarantee our interdependence as provinces within the Global South, not only provinces, but also dioceses.

To compensate for the current ecclesial deficit, the ecclesial deficit resulting from the undermining of the authority of the bishops and the Primates, who at their consecration made vows in front of God to guard the faith, this was completely undermined. We have to compensate for this through our structure, and hold together and support the faithful within the Anglican Communion, and to avoid further division.

We need a structure to face the challenges together of course. We need a structure not to create another communion as we consider ourselves The Anglican Communion. The others have departed the faith. Not us, so we are the faithful Anglican Communion. By a structure we are not creating a new Anglican Communion, because we are the Anglican Communion.

We need a structure not to compete with the current dysfunctional structure of the Anglican Communion, but to move forward away from the distraction of the current crisis. As I told you in the first story, the fathers went to the desert, not just to sit in stillness, but they were preparing, studying, writing, discipling new leaders for the church, and I think we need to do this, as well; not just to be reactive and to be distracted by this crisis.

[A proposed Global South Structure]
Now this is the simple, very simple structure. The Primates’ Council, or primates’ meeting if we would like to call it like this. And coming out of this primates’ council is the General Assembly, like our general assembly now. And from the General Assembly there are two tracks. [(referring to slides presumably)I am sorry they are not”¦ it will be in the paper you will take after this session]:
Mission and evangelism track and economic empowerment track. [I am sorry that it is not appearing here yet but beside mission and evangelism, there is economic empowerment]. The Steering Committee felt that it is very important to put the Theological Commission directly under the Primates’ Meeting, because the Theological Commission and theological education is so important in shaping the future leaders of the Global South Movement and they need to be accountable all the time to the Primates. And in between meetings, of the Primates’ Meeting and the General Assembly, the Standing Committee, which is the steering committee, we call it, would be there, which is composed of Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and we added here Communications Officer, because communication is very very important.

Now the functions of the Primates’ Council are:
– discussing and deciding on matters of faith and order. Remember discussing, and DECIDING on matters of faith and order.
– Giving guidelines on the limit of the Anglican diversity in submission of the authority of the Scriptures.
– Appointing, and this is very important for the structure, appointing an ad hoc design group to work on a Global South Constitution.
– Oversight of the Global South Movement in accordance with its stated aims and principles of faith. This involves accepting new member churches and dioceses, and also taking necessary disciplinary actions.
– Calling the General Assembly to meet every three to five years.
– Discernment of consensus behind proposals from the General Assembly and initiation of projects.
– Taking the initiative in restoring unity among us, but also unity in the church world-wide, like starting dialogue with our ecumenical partners.
– Creation of working groups formed in accordance with the developing vision of the Global South Movement ”“ the Primates’ Council can form new groups.
– Promotion of regional bishops’ councils, like CAPA. The Global South would like to promote CAPA.
– And regional initiatives [for] mission.

Functions of the Standing Committee:
– Act on behalf of the Primates’ Council between its meetings and in harmony with its decisions.
– Follow up of matters decided by the Primates’ Council

The function of the General Assembly is to:
– bring together the vision, the concerns and the intervals [?] of all participants under God seeking a common vision.
– Support the Primates’ Council in formation of working groups.
– Receive for approval the reports of the Secretary, Treasurer and working groups.
– Elect an agreed number of representation from among their members to serve on the Primates’ Council.

I want to end by saying two things:

The movement to go further, and go further – we must have a financial commitment. Meetings like this cost quite a lot of money, and provinces need to subscribe and give an annual subscription that can be accumulated so that meetings like this would be funded – the resources, the financial resources.

Archbishop Peter Akinola, from the Third Encounter, after Kuala Lumpur – he said we must OWN the Global South Movement. The first two encounters were supported financially completely by the Anglican Communion Office. But we as the Global South, we said, we must own the movement. For this reason the Third Encounter, and this Encounter, is completely funded by the Global South. So we need to be financially committed to support the meetings and this commitment.

The other thing I want to say: that we need to focus! If we distributed our efforts, and divided again, this will hinder the progress and the moving forwards of the Global South. We have to really focus.

It is easy in this world to divide into groups, but it is difficult, but Paul is saying to us in his Letter to the Ephesians that we have to strive to keep the unity. So we have to strive, and make every effort to keep the unity within the Global South.

Thank you very much for your listening, and I would like to invite Archbishop Kolini to come.

[Applause]

Why do we need structures?

-To enhance and sustain Christ’s mission.

-To further active partnership in the Gospel and guarantee our interdependence in the Communion

-To compensate for the undermining of bishops and primates who have made proper vows and have determined those vows will not be violated . To our sorrow, they are still deposed.

Let me say this clearly. We do not need another Communion. WE are the Communion. Others may wish to form a new communion. That is not our desire. We are not to compete with the current dysfunctional structure of the Anglican Communion, but find a way forward at the current time. It is time to stop reacting and get on with the important job of Christ’s mission that we have been given.

Read it all.

I am aware that several heads of churches in Jerusalem have tried to intervene as concerned leaders between Bishop Riah and the Diocese of Jerusalem, but sadly all such amicable attempts have ended in failure. The Diocese of Jerusalem believes that the only way forward is to wait for the court’s judgment.

This dispute is breaking the heart of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East and has been exceptionally painful to all. We would love to see this conflict ended. I do know that Bishop Suheil and the Diocese of Jerusalem, too, would love to see this ended. I understand that the Diocese of Jerusalem’s Standing Committee is insisting that Bishop Riah has the obligation to return Funds kept in his possession that rightly belong to the Diocese and the return of such funds is a condition to settling this most unfortunate matter. If Bishop Riah does not think that the claims of the Diocese of Jerusalem in regards to these funds are true, he should present the evidence of this.

May I request from all of you to pray that this dispute would come to an end.

Makes the heart sad–read it all.

An Anglican Church pastor and his wife were assaulted by Security agents in Luxor on March 18, 2010, in order to evacuate them by force from their home and demolish Church property. Out of the nearly 3000 sq. meters of buildings attached to the Church, only the 400 sq. meter prayer hall was left standing.

Pastor Mahrous Karam of the Anglican Church in Luxor, 721 km from Cairo, said that the Church was still in negotiations with the Luxor authorities the day before regarding a replacement for the community center building which lies within the Church’s compound, and was told the authorities were still considering their options. Early next morning, a 500-man force of Central Security and State Security blocked all roads leading to the Church compound, forced their way in and broke into the pastor’s residence, dragging the family out by force.

In an effort to save the buildings from demolition, the Pastor sat on the fence of the Church compound, to prevent the demolition work, but was beaten and dragged away, reported Katiba Tibia News.

Read it all.

The Anglican Communion should reshuffle its executive leadership, said a conservative archbishop who has resigned from the body citing its failure to challenge liberal developments in two Western national churches.

He pointed out that Western churches have been smothering opposition to their acceptance of homosexuality from churches they are financially supporting by threatening to withdraw that aid.

“The current ACC and SCAC (the executive body of the Anglican Communion) should resign,” said The Most Reverend Dr Mouneer H Anis, who leads the physically largest and most diverse Anglican province.

He said: “It is incomprehensible to think of dioceses (an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop) or provinces (mostly national or regional churches but also city or subnational churches) that have not committed themselves to covenantal relationship to participate in the decision making processes that affect the life of those dioceses or provinces that have adopted and signed the Covenant. A new Anglican Consultative Council and SCAC, or at the very least an ad hoc Standing Committee, must be formed.”

Read it all.

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis, who has resigned his position on the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, told The Living Church that discussions at the committee’s meeting in December 2009 are what prompted his resignation from the committee.

“I had been in communication before the meeting that I needed to discuss the participation of the Episcopal Church on the standing committee. I found some resistance to this,” said Bishop Mouneer, who is Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Read it all.

Read it all.

(ACNS) The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today expressed his regret at the decision of the Most Revd Dr Mouneer Anis, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, to resign from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion:

“Bishop Mouneer has made an important contribution to the work of the Standing Committee, for which I am deeply grateful. I regret his decision to stand down but will continue to welcome his active engagement with the life of the Communion and the challenges we face together.”