“The Church of England Evangelical Council has met and considered the responses of The Episcopal Church (TEC) to the questions asked of it from the Primates”² Meeting in Tanzania. We wish to report back to the Anglican Evangelical churches we represent the results of our consultation.
We are committed to the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
We believe TEC”²s response does not meet the requests of the Primates from Dar es Salaam, not merely for clarification but for repentance and turning back from their clear intention to affirm same-sex blessings and the consecration of practising homosexuals to the episcopate. They have continued to widen a gap of their own making. As a result the fabric of the Communion is torn almost beyond repair.
We support attempts to draw the Communion back together around a covenant, but in the light of TEC”²s response this covenant may not hold. TEC has shown by its pronouncements and its practice to have placed itself outside the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic Creeds.
We support the intentions of the Common Cause Council and those bishops invited to give pastoral care for congregations in the United States.
We support those Bishops who have said that under the present arrangements they cannot attend the Lambeth Conference. We invite those English dioceses who are twinned with dioceses and provinces overseas to consult with their companion dioceses about whether to attend the Lambeth Conference. We prayerfully counsel Church of England bishops to consider whether in the light of TEC”²s response they may wish to absent themselves.
Jesus Christ unites people from different races, cultures, economic groups, genders and sexual inclinations into a true inclusivity based on repentance, faith and the gift of the Spirit. This is the true diversity of the transforming gospel. In effect TEC”²s approach to inclusiveness excludes the majority of Anglicans from other provinces who are faithful to Biblical teaching. We affirm as the will of God the biblical teaching that we are called either to heterosexual marriage or celibacy.
We wish to uphold the Primates in our prayers as they receive TEC”²s response and as they work for the health of the Anglican Communion.”
Persons who read what was written in letters large enough for those who run to read and note what it actually says. Finally. In native tongue, too.
I wonder what percentage of the CofE, is represented by the Church of England Evangelical Council.
I admit, I have no clue. Is it a sizeable part of the whole?
As with #1 above, one has to admire the clarity of thought within this statement.
[blockquote] We support the intentions of the Common Cause Council and those bishops invited to give pastoral care for congregations in the United States. [/blockquote]
Roundhouse swing at the jaw: “Take that, HOB. Wattaya got now?”
Re #2: Some estimates are that Evangelicals are about 1/3 of the active membership and growing.
[blockquote] They have continued to widen a gap of their own making. As a result the fabric of the Communion is torn almost beyond repair. [/blockquote]
A concise statement that bears repeating and repeating…
This too:
[blockquote] TEC has shown by its pronouncements and its practice to have placed itself outside the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic Creeds. [/blockquote]
Anyway we in the U.S. can sign on to the CofE’s Evangelical Council’s response document? Hoping the AAC takes similar action and very, very soon!
“We support the intentions of the Common Cause Council and those bishops invited to give pastoral care for congregations in the United States.”
These words are really encouraging because those who wish to proclaim the Word of God as revealed in Scripture and to observe the Rites of the Anglican Communion as presented in the Book of Common Prayer are not very well organized and this might bring more Christians into the fold in order to do His work.
This is a very important document coming from representatives of a third (the only third that’s actually alive) of the C of E. Unlike the recent statements of +Winchester, +Rochester, and +Exeter, which could support the idea of bringing TEC to Lambeth but without the bishops who consecrated VGR, this comes out for eliminating TEC altogether, though perhaps inviting Windsor (and CCP?) bishops on a diocese-by-diocese basis.
It also puts additional pressure on +++Rowan to call a Primates’ meeting, since this statement makes it crystal clear that if he makes any unilateral decisions at all, there will be serious blowups in the C of E — basically, he has to be able to say that any decision that was reached was the Communion consensus and he’s just carrying out the conciliarly-determined policy.
The statement I read indicates that they represent a quarter of the CoE – still a sizeable percentage.
1/3 evangelicals (broadly understood) is probably true, possibly even underestimating percentages actually in the pew. Unfortunately (for some of the above comments) they don’t all subscribe to CEEC, which appears to have lurched to the right in recent years and is currently chaired by the same Richard Turnbull who heads, and has gone out of his way to devastate, once-prospering Wycliffe Hall in Oxford. That doesn’t take away from the clarity and perception of this statement, but perhaps compromises the influence it can expect to enjoy. I for one am genuinely sad about that.
‘… lurch to the right’ – I love that, is that a reference to the Addams family?
What do political sound bytes like that actually mean? In what senes has this group ‘lurched to the right’? As for Wycliffe seminary, it has its problems to judge from gossip on the net, but it also has its full complement of students and is quarter full for next year already, so reports of its demise seem a little premature.
I’m told over 60% of ordinands for stipendiary ministry in England are in evangelical seminaries, and Wycliffe has probably the highest number under 30 years of age.
I have good reason to believe that there are many more faithful evangelicals in England who have not officially joined this group. When it comes to taking a stand, they will. But at this point I don’t think they are willing to be official members of this organization. They will, however, speak up for the Truth when called to.
Clarification. “When it comes to taking a stand, they will.” Take a stand, that is, not necessarily join the group.