The Anglican Communion has nearly eighty-five million members spread around the globe. Until the mid-twentieth century, these were concentrated among the Anglo-American immigrant churches associated with the British Empire. But by the 1960s, this concentration began a dramatic shift towards Africa and, more recently, Southeast Asia. Derived from the steady and sacrificial work of missionaries in the century before, and then the even more remarkable work of indigenous evangelization and church-building, Anglican membership exploded in places like Nigeria, East Africa, and Singapore (which is a leader in missionary work in Asia today). Such demographic change brings with it inevitable cultural confrontations within the Communion.

But theological differences are even more decisive. Of the four Christian commitments that David Bebbington famously identified with Evangelicalism—biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism—all but the last seem to have disappeared from Western Anglicanism. But the first three are the heartbeat of the rest of the Communion.

Recent struggles over sexuality are but expressions of this deeper theological imbalance, where Scripture, divine sacrifice, and transformed discipleship are at stake. The moral significance of all this, however, is just coming into view, as the Anglican Communion has almost reached its existential crossroads. After thirteen years of turmoil, I’d give it another two for the verdict. One set of opposing choices member churches have before them—same-sex marriage or support for the punitive imprisonment of gays—demonstrates how the extremes have now brazenly unveiled themselves. The coming year will lay the groundwork for how these choices are made. Given the extreme directions in which things have moved, some Anglicans like me are uncertain what future for faithful witness remains. It is there, I am sure, but what will it be? Perhaps other ­Christians can help us here; certainly they can provide warnings.

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‘Of the 4 #Christian commitments that D Bebbington famously identified w Evangelicalism-biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism,+activism-all but the last seem 2 hav disapprd frm Wstrn #Anglicanism. But the 1st 3 R the heartbt of the rest of the Communion’ https://t.co/8anPNsOLmi

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 5, 2019

The American public holds negative views of social-media giants like Facebook and Twitter, with sizable majorities saying these sites do more to divide the country than unite it and spread falsehoods rather than news, according to results from the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

What’s more, six in 10 Americans say they don’t trust Facebook at all to protect their personal information, the poll finds.

But the public also believes that technology in general has more benefits than drawbacks on the economy, and respondents are split about whether the federal government should break up the largest tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.

“Social media — and Facebook, in particular — have some serious issues in this poll,” said Micah Roberts, a pollster at the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted this survey with the Democratic firm Hart Research Associates.

“If America was giving social media a Yelp review, a majority would give it zero stars,” Roberts added.

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“Social media — and Facebook, in particular — have some serious issues in this poll. If America was giving social media a Yelp review, a majority would give it zero stars.” https://t.co/DuHs1D57ug

— Samuel Scott (@samueljscott) April 6, 2019

The book emphasizes biblical reconciliation, which it describes as “the removal of tensions between parties and the restoration of loving relationship.” Perkins, who has dedicated his life to reconciliation work, sees his latest book as a manifesto of sorts.

“The problem of reconciliation in our country and in our churches is much too big to be wrestled to the ground by plans that begin in the minds of men,” Perkins writes. “This is a God-sized problem. It is one that only the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can heal.”

While there is still much work to be done, Perkins has seen signs of unity in the American church, especially in the past 15 years or so. He has been encouraged by the inclusive attitudes and determination of young people and by congregations successfully starting new multi-ethnic and multicultural churches.

“I praise God for that,” Perkins said.

He pointed to a successful Memphis church as an example, saying that its congregation also has gotten involved in trying to heal some of the city’s wounds, too.

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The Church of England’s National Safeguarding Steering Group (NSSG) has rejected an independent review’s recommendation to centralise safeguarding nationally and strip diocesan bishops of oversight of diocesan safeguarding advisers.

The suggestion that safeguarding be made a solely national responsibility came from a new report by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), which has recently audited each dioceses’s safeguarding procedures.

Its report, published on Thursday, is broadly positive. Its diocesan audits concluded that there had been a “major improvement in the safeguarding resources, national policies and training courses” since 2015, which was clearly trickling down to the dioceses.

But the report also describes how the work of diocesan safeguarding advisers (DSAs) is managed by diocesan bishops and their staff “without any requirement to have safeguarding knowledge and expertise”.

This lack of a “command and control structure” from the national Church means that inconsistencies in the way parishes and dioceses deal with child abuse are inevitable, the SCIE concludes.

But the NSSG has decided against employing diocesan safeguarding advisers nationally. A senior C of E official said that cultural change was the priority, and, therefore, each bishop had to maintain control over diocesan safeguarding and remain personally invested in the work.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has honoured 27 people, including peacemakers, nuns, academics and gardeners in the 2019 Lambeth Awards. Archbishop Justin launched the non-academic awards in 2016, and each year presentations have been made to “people who have made an extraordinary contribution to the Church and wider society”, Lambeth Palace said in a statement. This year’s recipients included Bishop Graham Kings, who was award the Cross of St Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion. His award recognised “his outstanding work in mission and theology for the global South.”

Bishop Graham “has long experience of working in the Anglican Communion, a passion that began early in his career when he spent seven years working as a Mission Partner for the Church Mission Society in Kabare in Kenya”, the citation for his award reads. “On his return to the UK, Bishop Graham was appointed as the first ever Lecturer in Mission Studies at the Cambridge Theological Federation. He then went on to found and direct the Henry Martyn Centre for the Study of Mission and World Christianity. Following stints in more domestic dioceses, including Area Bishop of Sherborne and a Canon and Prebendary of Sarum [Salisbury] Cathedral, Bishop Graham returned to his love of the Anglican Communion, being appointed Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion.

“The purpose of this innovative project was to raise up new ‘Doctors of the Church’ in the global South to write, network, publish and engage with theologians in the global North, to renew the worldwide Church and to influence wider society.

“Bishop Graham worked tirelessly to achieve this, organising conferences around the world (in Egypt, India, Fiji, Jerusalem and Brazil), arranging regular seminars in Durham and London and creating a website with a wealth of papers and resources.

“After making a unique contribution to the Anglican Communion, Bishop Graham stepped back from the project in 2007 as it merged into a new phase of its development.”

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Peacemakers, nuns, academics and gardeners are amongst 27 people honoured by Archbishop Justin Welby in the 2019 Lambeth Awards.#AnglicanNews #Anglican #Anglicans #Ecumenical #Interfaithhttps://t.co/mQB9IgQUCH

— Anglican Communion News Service (@AnglicanNews) April 5, 2019

Harriet Starr Cannon was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 7, 1823. Both of Harriet’s parents died of yellow fever when she was 17 months old; she was left with her elder sister and closest friend Catherine Ann, then three years old. An aunt welcomed the two orphaned sisters into her home in Bridgeport, Connecticut — making for seven children in one house in this then-bustling mercantile center on Long Island Sound. As a young girl Harriet lost her sight in one eye in an accident, but all accounts point to a happy childhood despite many significant early setbacks. One relative described her as fond of dancing, “a great society girl and not at all religious.”

The decision to consecrate her life completely to God came in the wake of a personal tragedy. Catherine Ann Cannon married in 1851 and moved to California, intending for Harriet to join her when she had established a home on the West Coast with her husband. A telegram brought the news in 1855, just as Harriet was preparing to leave for the West, that Catherine had died. The event changed the direction of her life completely; later, she wrote: “You know, she was my all — neither father, mother, or brother. We were two, but were one — but if God had left her with me, I should not have been here.”

In New York City in 1856, the 32-year-old Harriet was received into the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, a parochial association of “evangelical sisters” who worked under the direction of William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877) as nurses at his newly built St. Luke’s Hospital. Harriet thrived in her earliest medical and religious work among the poor. By 1863, however, conflicts with Muhlenberg’s collaborator and friend Anne Ayres, who was in immediate charge of the sisterhood’s activities, led to the withdrawal of four sisters and the essential dissolution of the order. (The last Sister of the Holy Communion died in 1940.)

Harriet was one of the four who left.

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Gracious God, who didst call Harriet Starr Cannon and her companions to revive the monastic vocation in the Episcopal Church and to dedicate their lives to thee: Grant that we, after their example, may ever surrender ourselves to the revelation of thy holy will; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Today in @iamepiscopalian calendar we remember Harriet Starr Cannon (d. 1896), religious https://t.co/9j6Pwt7Fa0 #GreatCloudOfWitnesses pic.twitter.com/kEk8gHiGF2

— TrinityColumbusOH (@TrinityCapSq) May 7, 2018

O God, who by the example of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ hast taught us the greatness of true humility, and dost call us to watch with him in his passion: Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says the Lord.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when men shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

–Jeremiah 23:1-8