Having served in the American and CofE counterparts in Europe I always find this kind of development a bit odd. How many Episcopalians are there in the Convocation? 1000 in 6-7 churches? The Diocese in Europe (CofE) must have over 65 churches from the Baltic to the Atlantic. What does it mean to speak of a deeper union absent the involvement of the Diocese in Europe?
My thought exactly, Dr. Seitz. Although perhaps the same could be asked of the CoE, and why they are continuing to move closer to the Porvoo churches without reflecting on the divisions this deepens within the Anglican Communion. On the one hand, CoE holds VGR at arms length, on the other, they embrace Scandinavian churches which are arguably more revisionist than TEC, ACoC or NZ.
I hope that Gafcon turns its attention to Europe. I am a little dismayed that it doesn’t appear to have been discussed at this Gafcon II meeting.
Europe is a ripe mission field. Much of it is entirely unevangelised, although there are many Christian ‘echoes’ in their culture. At the same time, there are also many African emigrants there from majority Anglican countries.
As for non-African orthodox Anglicans, I don’t know if there are any figures but I would be most surprised if there weren’t significant pockets of them to be found. Heck, when I was in Istanbul earlier this year I found a brochure for an orthodox Anglican church meeting there. So probably such meetings already exist in Europe.
It is high time that the Gafcon bishops or the Global South Bishops thought about encouraging some sort of mission movement in Europe.
Having served in the American and CofE counterparts in Europe I always find this kind of development a bit odd. How many Episcopalians are there in the Convocation? 1000 in 6-7 churches? The Diocese in Europe (CofE) must have over 65 churches from the Baltic to the Atlantic. What does it mean to speak of a deeper union absent the involvement of the Diocese in Europe?
My thought exactly, Dr. Seitz. Although perhaps the same could be asked of the CoE, and why they are continuing to move closer to the Porvoo churches without reflecting on the divisions this deepens within the Anglican Communion. On the one hand, CoE holds VGR at arms length, on the other, they embrace Scandinavian churches which are arguably more revisionist than TEC, ACoC or NZ.
I hope that Gafcon turns its attention to Europe. I am a little dismayed that it doesn’t appear to have been discussed at this Gafcon II meeting.
Europe is a ripe mission field. Much of it is entirely unevangelised, although there are many Christian ‘echoes’ in their culture. At the same time, there are also many African emigrants there from majority Anglican countries.
As for non-African orthodox Anglicans, I don’t know if there are any figures but I would be most surprised if there weren’t significant pockets of them to be found. Heck, when I was in Istanbul earlier this year I found a brochure for an orthodox Anglican church meeting there. So probably such meetings already exist in Europe.
It is high time that the Gafcon bishops or the Global South Bishops thought about encouraging some sort of mission movement in Europe.