Meeting in the context of daily prayer and the Eucharist, we have valued the shaping of our discussions by our Bible studies on the Epistle to the Ephesians. We have been emboldened by Christ’s breaking down of the dividing wall (2.14) and the Church’s calling to make known ”˜the wisdom of God in its rich variety’ (3.10). We have been challenged to steadfastness and maturity and to pursuing our calling to build up the body of Christ in love (4.14”“16).
To this end we commend engagement with the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Faith and Order Paper The Church: Towards a Common Vision. The fruit of twenty years of consultation among Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic churches, it offers a high degree of common understanding of the theology of the Church. We welcome this publication overseen by the Revd Canon Dr John Gibaut, Director of Faith and Order for the WCC and himself a member of IASCUFO, and believe it offers a rich resource for the understanding of our common mission as Christians.
Several important notes-
According to the release, all of the representatives from Gafcon provinces were “unable to attend.” This, no doubt, since the ABoC and ACO broke their word, invited TEC membership, which is barred (supposedly) from those commissions that determine the faith and order of the Communion. Also, of course, the entire proceedings were under the control of ACO, so attendance would have been pointless anyway. If the committee were representative of the Communion, Gafcon representatives would be the majority of the commission, and would be able to vote out the people who should not be there anyway.
Wonderful! Plus, I believe, the tractor production targets for the Five Year Plan have once again been exceeded…
The Orthodox Church needs to end its involvement with the WCC, NCC and similar far left groups operating under the ruse of ecumenical dialogue. The participation of some of the various Orthodox jurisdictions is a scandal.