What constitutes Christian love amid the sweaty delights of sex? Organized religion always takes an interest in sex, usually so it can tidy people’s sexual lives into some easily-managed pattern. The Vatican’s traditional emphasis is that God commands humans to procreate. Good sex has the potential to produce children; bad sex is everything else. Bad sex includes heterosexual acts involving contraceptives; masturbation; gay sex acts of all sorts. The equation of sex and procreation remained convincing for centuries because contraceptive devices were expensive, unreliable and even more comic in appearance than they are now. Now, however, readily available contraception has transformed the way in which human beings use and experience sex. Sex has always been fun: contraception has shown that the fun can be detached from the possibility of having children. The Christian tradition is now faced with the reality that pleasure and procreation are two separate purposes of sexuality, and many parts of the Christian Church, especially the Vatican, are baffled and angry.

How can Christianity cope? A first step would be to recognize that its traditional views on sexual intercourse were filched from non-Christian sources. Christianity is a complex system with two main strands: Jewish and Greek. Of the two, the Greek has made the running for nearly two thousand years. Even though Jesus was a Galilean Jew and probably had little contact with Greeks, the enthusiasts who wrote up his life and discussed his ideas took Christianity far from its Jewish roots. Most of their potential audience had a Greek cultural background, and in trying to make Greeks understand the message, Christianity absorbed the culture which it was trying to capture.

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Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

To the end that [my] glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

–Psalm 30:11-12 (KJV)

Thanks be unto thee, O Christ, because thou hast broken for us the bonds of sin and brought us into fellowship with the Father.

Thanks be unto thee, O Christ, because thou hast overcome death and opened to us the gates of eternal life.

Thanks be unto thee, O Christ, because where two or three are gathered together in thy Name there art thou in the midst of them.

Thanks be unto thee, O Christ, because thou ever livest to make intercession for us.

For these and all other benefits of thy mighty resurrection, thanks be unto thee O Christ.

Abp. Peter Jensen, Sydney. I want to begin with a special thanks to our host, Archbishop John Chew. Our thanks for your graciousness in inviting us. The Trumpet Sounds of the Global South have been one of the most significant elements in the Communion in the last 20 years. I trust this trumpet sound will be the same.

Remarkable moments for me came in my fellowship group. People from all over the world. To share with brothers and sisters in depth from their own life story. It was extraordinary . We were talking about covenant, quietly, gently, in a Global South way when one person mentioned the fact that whereas most people feel a covenant is a pretty significant and sacred thing, when dealing with people of the West, you are not sure that they mean what they say. We are so infected by postmodernism that our word cannot be trusted. It is true and creates a tension that lies between us, usually unspoken. We who have been infected by this need to repent. The beating heart of the Global South is that you say exactly what you mean.

I see something else about you that you take for granted. This conference was unremorsefully Scriptural. Every talk, every presentation, came straight out of scripture and expound the scriptures for us. The commitment of the Global South to Scripture is no platitude. That is a striking thing. You take it for granted. You keep saying to the West, “You have to live under the Scriptures.” I’m not sure they even know what that means.

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Anglican leaders in the Global South have been encouraged to reconsider their relationships with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada “until it becomes clear that there is genuine repentance.”

“Some of our Provinces are already in a state of broken and impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their continued refusal to honor the many requests made of them … have brought discredit to our witness,” said some 130 Anglicans from 20 provinces at the conclusion of the Fourth Global South to South Encounter in Singapore.

They condemned the two western bodies for their continued “defiance” of Scripture and the rest of the global Anglican Communion with their pro-gay actions.

Specifically, the Global South leaders pointed to the upcoming consecration of the Rev. Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, in Los Angeles. Despite calls by Anglican leaders worldwide to practice gracious restraint in regards to the ordination of partnered gays, Glasspool was confirmed to become the second openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church. Her ordination is scheduled for May.

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Enthusiastic applause greeted Sara Hurwitz when she stepped to the podium last month to address a gathering of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance in New York. Two months earlier, Ms. Hurwitz’s mentor, Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, had given her the title of “rabba,” or female rabbi, making her the most visible woman to join the Orthodox clergy. “The community is inspired, electrified and supportive of women functioning in rabbinic roles,” Rabba Hurwitz told the audience. That support, however, is far from universal.

In February the Agudath Israel of America, an ultra-Orthodox organization, blasted Rabba Hurwitz’s title as a “radical and dangerous departure from Jewish tradition” that “must be condemned in the strongest terms.” Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz warned, “We cannot allow someone whose guide is 20th century feminism . . . to hijack and attempt to redefine Orthodoxy.”

Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), a centrist group of Orthodox rabbis, told me, “A woman cannot be ordained as a rabbi or serve in the role of a rabbi based on our tradition.” Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, a vice president of the RCA, went further, likening the idea of female clergy to “pagan ideologies.”

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There are two short talks one by Robert Duncan and the second by John Howe.

The Churches of the Global South are not beggars, cannot be bought, and do not want any patronising handouts from the West, the Arch­bishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, told 150 delegates to the Fourth Global Anglican South to South Encounter (GSE4) in Singapore on Monday.

In the opening address, the Arch­bishop emphasised the “absolute necessity for economic empower­ment in the Global South”, and warned against “the treachery of another gospel which is afraid of and denies the deity of Christ”.

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Archbishop John Chew Hiang Chea has been elected head of the majority Global South Anglican bloc.

The announcement was made yesterday by outgoing Vice-Chairman Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda.

Archbishop Chew, who heads the 100,000-member Province of South East Asia, will succeed retired Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola of Nigeria.

Previously Honorary General Secretary of the Anglican Global South, he was elected at the Primates’ Meeting on Wednesday night. His new official title is: Chairman of the Global South Primates Steering Committee (GSPSC).

“We covet your prayers together as a team,” said the Singaporean archbishop.

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Every other Saturday, Melvin Bledsoe makes a two-hour drive from Memphis to visit the son he still calls by his given name.

For an hour at the Pulaski County Detention Facility in Arkansas, Bledsoe speaks through a vent in the glass that separates him from his youngest child. He reminisces about high school graduation, their father-son trip to South Beach, Tenn.

“Remember that?” his father coaxes.

Bledsoe studies the face of this dark-haired, brown-eyed 24-year-old in blue prison scrubs and sometimes catches a glimpse of the happy-go-lucky Carlos he raised. Other times, it’s Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Muslim convert charged in a shooting at a Little Rock Army recruiting center last summer that killed one soldier and injured another.

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“Shelter dogs aren’t broken. They’ve simply experienced more life. If they were human, we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write. The ones dealt a bad hand and responded with courage. Do not pity a shelter dog. Adopt one.”

Elizabeth and I caught this one by accident on a TIVOed show–what a fantastic ad–KSH.

At the moment, the state of religion coverage is somewhere between “evolving” and “on life support.” Cutbacks in top-40 newsrooms — organizations that once had the resources to support a variety of specialty reporters — have sent many veteran scribes into early retirement.

More than a dozen print newsrooms have reduced or eliminated their religion-news jobs in the past three years. However, the amount of religion news remained surprisingly steady in 2009, at 0.8 percent, compared with 1.0 percent in 2008, according to a study by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

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The Catholic bishops have refused on principle to be drawn into party politics during the general election campaign.

But the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham, broke ranks to accuse the Lib Dems of seeking to destroy the partnership between the state and the churches in the provision of education.

“Catholics should give it very serious consideration before they vote Liberal Democrat,” said Bishop McMahon, the chairman of the Department for Education of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

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“The study hardly seems mine anymore, now that it has received so much attention and been described in so many different ways,” Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School, writes in “The Art of Choosing.” “From the various versions people have heard and passed on,” she adds, “a refrain has emerged: More is less. That is, more choice leads to less satisfaction or fulfillment or happiness….”

A congenial writer, Iyengar is less hard-edged and ideological than Schwartz and less glib than Malcolm Gladwell, who she says encouraged her to write this book. “The Art of Choosing” should appeal to fans of both writers. It’s full of the experimental results that make for good cocktail party chatter, but it offers fewer explicit lessons. Iyengar favors exploration over conclusions. “Isn’t this interesting?” she asks, rather than “Isn’t this awful?” or “Isn’t this useful?”

Take a mundane question: Do you choose to brush your teeth in the morning? Or do you just do it? Can a habit or custom be a choice? When Iyengar asked Japanese and American college students in Kyoto to record all the choices they made in a day, the Americans included things like brushing their teeth and hitting the snooze button. The Japanese didn’t consider those actions to be choices. The two groups lived similar lives. But they defined them differently.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged patience and forbearance upon Church leaders attending the Fourth Global South to South Encounter in Singapore, asking them not to take any hasty decisions over the future of the Anglican Communion.

However, the reception accorded to Dr Rowan Williams’ pleas for restraint from the leaders of the evangelical wing of the Communion was muted, with no applause or outward show of appreciation from the delegates at the close of his address. For most of those present, his words were too little, too late.

Delegates tell The Church of England Newspaper that Dr Williams has exhausted his political and personal capital with the overseas Church in the wake of successive disappointments in his leadership over the past few years. While the Global South continues to honour the office, Dr Williams’ stock has reached a nadir with many of those present.

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The French government will defy official advice and put forward a draft law next month to ban the burka, or full-body veil, from all public places.

Despite warnings that such a law would be open to constitutional challenge, President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted yesterday that a ban on the burka, and its Arab equivalent the niqab, was needed to protect the “dignity of women”.

The debate on the law, to be completed by July, will scramble the normal political boundaries between right and left. It will also divide France’s 4,000,000 to 5,000,000-strong muslim community.

Although the full-length veil is worn by only 2,000 women in France, its gradually increasing presence is seen by politicians on both the right and left as an affront to the official republican values of liberty and equality. Other politicians, on both right and left, say that a law is unnecessary, probably unconstitutional and likely to embitter race relations.

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During our plenary sessions, bible studies and small group discussions we were called back to a fresh vision of God, of the Church and of Christian leadership. We saw God in His stunning holiness and absolute sovereignty through Isaiah’s vision (Is 6: 1-13), and correspondingly saw our own ingrained sinfulness and utter foolishness in trusting man rather than God alone. We caught a “ big” vision of the Church from her role as ”˜servant of the Lord’ (Is 42: 1-9) to bring God’s justice or ”˜right order of living’ to the nations of the world. This established the absolute necessity and priority for the Church to disciple her members under the authority of the inspired Scriptures so that they may transform their societies and reach the nations with the Gospel. The fresh call upon the Church’s leadership, from the Servant of the Lord’s costly obedience (Is 50: 4-9), is to be courageous and fully confident of the Lord’s sustaining grace and final vindication….

…we continue to grieve over the life of The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada and all those churches that have rejected the Way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture. The recent action of TEC in the election and intended consecration of Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, as a bishop in Los Angeles, has demonstrated, yet again, a total disregard for the mind of the Communion. These churches continue in their defiance as they set themselves on a course that contradicts the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures on matters so fundamental that they affect the very salvation of those involved. Such actions violate the integrity of the Gospel, the Communion and our Christian witness to the rest of the world. In the face of this we dare not remain silent and must respond with appropriate action.

For many generations Anglicans have lived together with a shared understanding of our common faith; indeed among our great gifts has been the Book of Common Prayer that has provided a foundation for our common life. In recent years the peace of our Communion has been deeply wounded by those who continue to claim the name Anglican but who pursue an agenda of their own desire in opposition to historic norms of faith, teaching and practice. This has led to a number of developments including the GAFCON meeting that took place in Jerusalem in June 2008….

Global South leaders have been in the forefront of the development of the ”˜Anglican Covenant’ that seeks to articulate the essential elements of our faith together with means by which we might exercise meaningful and loving discipline for those who depart from the ”˜faith once for all delivered to the saints.’ We are currently reviewing the proposed Covenant to find ways to strengthen it in order for it to fulfill its purpose. For example, we believe that all those who adopt the Covenant must be in compliance with Lambeth 1.10. Meanwhile we recognize that the Primates Meeting, being responsible for Faith and Order, should be the body to oversee the Covenant in its implementation, not the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion.

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O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually!

–Psalm 105:1-4

O Blessed Lord, who didst promise thy disciples that through thy Easter victory their sorrow should be turned to joy, and their joy no man should take from them: Grant us, we pray thee, so to know thee in the power of thy resurrection, that we may be partakers of that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory; for thy holy name’s sake.

As Rep. Randy Forbes sees it, the decision by a Wisconsin federal judge that the law creating a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional is little more than one person’s opinion.

Millions of Americans, Forbes said, think otherwise.

“That’s not what the Constitution says,” the Virginia Republican declared Wednesday (April 21), surrounded by other members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus. “That’s what one unelected judge says the Constitution says.”

On Thursday (April 22), the Justice Department said it would appeal the decision, capping a week of political uproar from conservatives after Judge Barbara Crabb of Madison, Wis., issued her April 15 ruling.

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In discussing the papers we propose these questions may help us focus in areas resulting in specific action following this conference. We look forward to the outcome of your deliberations.

Q1–Is it true that within the Church of the Global South there is potential for the economic empowerment to be realised?

Q2–What types of partnerships would you like to have with other Provinces or Diocese within the Church in the Global South and the North?

Q3–Is capacity building necessary in the Church of the Global South, further, in your own context what areas needs capacity building, where do you think we should go from here in order to achieve economic empowerment?

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Check it out.

The reflecting and meditating has largely been done; day 4 of the 4th Anglican Global South-to-South Encounter was a time for action.

The day opened with the African delegates leading the Holy Communion Service, with Archbishop Ian Ernest in his homily urging the Global South participants to take up the challenge of the calling while being sensitive to God’s way. Bishop Rennis Ponniah followed with a bible study on Isaiah 50:4-9, calling for a fresh vision of leadership ”“ a leadership that flows from intimate communion, that expresses costly obedience, and which reflects holy confidence. He encouraged us that such leaders, though facing great shame, can overcome because of our God who vindicates us.

Before the start of the final plenary session, Elder Fu Xianwei, Chairman of the TSPM of China Christian Church, gave his farewell greetings to the Global South delegates. He noted a commonality of experience between the China Christian Church and the Anglican Global South. Elder Fu expressed his hope for future chances to work together with the Global South and invited all present to visit the Church in China. Before he left, Elder Fu presented two gifts ”“ one to the Global South and one to the Diocese of Singapore….

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(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]

Bishop Philip Poole is hoping that churches in the diocese will be able to repeat the success of Back to Church Sunday, which saw about 2,600 people accepting an invitation to come to church last September.

“We know with confidence that over 320 people who accepted the invitation to come to church have stayed,” wrote Bishop Poole in a letter to clergy in January. “People throughout the diocese gained a sense of excitement in this initiative and more than 70 per cent of our churches participated.”

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President Obama challenged some of the nation’s most influential bankers on Thursday to call off their “battalions of financial industry lobbyists” and embrace a new regulatory structure meant to avert another economic crisis.

Speaking in the bankers’ backyard, at the Cooper Union in Manhattan, Mr. Obama castigated the “failure of responsibility” by Wall Street that led to the financial crisis of 2008 and pressed his case for what he called “a common-sense, reasonable, non-ideological” system of tighter regulation to prevent any recurrence.

“That may make for a good sound bite, but it’s not factually accurate,” Mr. Obama said. “It is not true. In fact, the system as it stands is what led to a series of massive, costly taxpayer bailouts. And it’s only with reform that we can we avoid a similar outcome in the future. In other words, a vote for reform is a vote to put a stop to taxpayer-funded bailouts. That’s the truth. End of story.”

He said scrupulous business leaders had no reason to resist his regulation plan. “The only people who ought to fear the kind of oversight and transparency that we’re proposing are those whose conduct will fail this scrutiny,” he said.

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Though it has been struggling with an internal crisis, the worldwide Anglican Communion is still attracting positive attention.

Casting sights on possible ecumenical partnerships with the Communion are the registered Protestant Church in China and Coptic Orthodox Church.

This is mainly due to the rise of the Anglican Global South.

Representatives of both church bodies were invited to the fourth Anglican Global South summit held this week in Singapore.

The church leaders have expressed an interest in deepening their relationship with the Anglican Communion.

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