The first is the need for the Church to grow in numbers, and in spiritual depth. I am in the middle of planning, with my colleagues, a long-term program of evangelization which will involve three or four missions a year across the diocese, covering the entire diocese every five years. In each of those, both bishops will live in the area of work and two years will have been spent in preparation. We are trying to avoid an “up with the rocket down with the stick” approach, and going rather for a steady-state push that does not exhaust people but leads to a cultural change that says it is normal for us to share our faith. So that would be one thing.
Secondly, for that to happen in this area it has got to be clear that the Church is working effectively with those on the edge. The biggest issues we face at the moment are around loan sharking and its consequent evils, and very high youth unemployment. It would be really wonderful to see headlines about the churches’ contribution to facing these social issues. In terms of the local economy we are quite a major employer, and because of our huge number of extremely old buildings (one of our churches has been in continual use since A.D. 640 and many since the 10th or 11th century) we are able to generate significant employment when we can find the funds to do work on our churches.
[blockquote] First, we all need to remember that reconciliation at some point is an obligation, and will be inevitable once we are in heaven. Since all Christians are stuck with each other for eternity it is not a bad idea to learn to love each other before we get to the point of death. [/blockquote]
What if our differences are so fundamental and profound that we cannot recognize the other as Christian?
Of course, I am not talking about refusing to love. What I am talking about is the matter of how we love the other in relation to the reality of the situation. Reconciliation is desirable, but reconciliation under anything but the Gospel would inevitably be a denial of the Gospel and a detriment to both parties. To put it another way, I cannot be reconciled to my “Christian” brother or sister, if they are not in fact Christian, and are not themselves reconciled to God through the Gospel. In that case, the most loving thing I think I could do for them would not be to treat them as something they are not, but to share the Gospel with them.
[blockquote] Secondly, reconciliation is not an event but a long process; like all processes it has to have a starting point. That might be as little as a cup of coffee with someone with whom you immensely disagree with a mutual understanding that you will talk about things you can agree on, or things of faith that are common rather than focusing on what you disagree on. The biggest enemies of reconciliation are indifference and hurry. [/blockquote]
If the differences are over core points of doctrine, then whatever we agree on would be inconsequential. We cannot achieve unity through the agreement of inessentials. Unity can only be a unity of essentials. If our differences go all the way down to the nature of the Gospel and Biblical authority, then isn’t everything else just window dressing?
This seems to me to be quite a claim – and goes some way further than Our Lord himself.
Not very much about the gospel or Christ’s saving work in this, although I suppose he is just responding to the questions asked.
I hope that he has a sound theology, firmly grounded in scripture.
An interesting discussion at BBC-WORLD-radio yesterday. Justyn Terry, dean president of Trinity School for Ministry, is one of the panelists who expresses his hopes for the new archbishop:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio
Sorry, hopefully this link will work:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0104jqm
To the extent that Williams talked reconciliation, in practice it involved excluding the orthodox in the global south and US who offended TEC. If Welby means to practice actual reconciliation, it is he who has a lot of work to do to repair the relationships and damaged trust with the global south primates and the orthodox in the ACNA. I hope and pray he chooses to do so.
He can start by dumping the relationship between the Church of England and The Episcopal Church……and that’s just for starters.