All the bishops attending the conference agreed without dissent to the following resolution:
To affirm and endorse the position of the Primates Council in providing oversight in cases where Provinces and Dioceses compromise biblical faith, including the affirmation of a duly discerned call to ministry. This may involve ordination and consecration if the situation requires.
Those are some very strange comments on Stand Firm. What my church has done is bring in people from multiple traditions, including TEC, but also many others, and gotten them on a new faith journey. I would say the vast majority of people in my congregation had dropped out or, like me, were just going through the motions of organized religion, with no joy or long term purpose. I personally count someone who has quit going to church, and who never really knew the person of Jesus, who now does, as a convert. Not to mention, since TEC is essentailly apostate and no longer a Christian church, what is the probelm with providing a harbor for true believers who have been marginalized by the leaders of TEC?
I forgot to say, some of the SF comments are typically American. Peolpe want a micro-wave church. Put the person in, hit “30 seconds” and get a convert. For the time being, we are in an organizing/reorganizing mode; but with huge cohesion. We will, I believe, all eventually be under one arch bishop, but the divisions that caused the current state of TEC, and the resulting diaspora of the faithful, will not be resolved overnight–or in 30 seconds. It is a process and we are on God’s time. He will return on his schedule. In the meantime I and, many others, are plugging away at spreading the Good News. You’ll never get a convert to Christianity in TEC. So leave there and come and see what we are doing.
David Keller, you and I are in complete agreement. We are being unduly and I must say unfairly, criticized for doing all that we can , it seems, in our efforts to unite people and to help them to know Christ. If we bring disparate groups together to serve a common purpose, then I must ask the critics their real reason/s for the complaints?
David Keller and Cennydd, that sounds correct. I think tjmcmahon on another thread on Stand Firm also expressed it quite well: http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/sf/page/30912/comment-sf/#502481
Starting a new province is an enormous undertaking and ACNA is doing far better at it than I ever expected, just four years down the track.
It might be a good thing if ACNA-ites had their own blog, but that would only work if it had strong and dedicated moderators like the Stand Firm “hive-mind” (a liberal jibe thrown at SF some years ago which I find very funny). The aim of such a blog would be to focus attention on the positive work being done within ACNA, and giving members of ACNA the opportunity to build up and encourage each other.
Re the article above, I think the main implication of the relevant part of the communique is for England. It sounds like AMiE’s activities are going to be ramped up soon.