Bishops Robert Duncan and Henry Scriven confirmed today that they will be attending both the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jordan and Jerusalem in June and the Lambeth Conference of Bishops in Kent, England, this July and August.
“After consulting with the people of Pittsburgh and our friends around the globe, we have come to the conclusion that it is necessary for us to be present at both gatherings,” said Bishop Robert Duncan.
The Global Anglican Future Conference is focused on moving forward with the work and witness of the church even as the crisis in the Anglican Communion over discipline and biblical authority continues. It brings together hundreds of bishops who have, as a matter of conscience, decided not to attend the Lambeth Conference, as well as other bishops who believe that global partnerships and the current conflicts necessitate their presence at both meetings. Among those going to Jerusalem and Jordan are many of the strongest supporters of orthodox Anglicans in North America. “We will be among friends, focused squarely on the Gospel, and dealing openly with how we build the missionary relationships, covenantal boundaries and responsible structures for the future of Anglicanism,” said Bishop Duncan.
Bishops Duncan and Scriven will then join some six-hundred bishops and archbishops (about two-thirds of all Anglican bishops) who will be attending the Anglican Communion’s once-a-decade Lambeth Conference of Bishops.
This, together with the news of Greg Venables and of Jack Iker attending the Lambeth Conference, is encouraging,
Yes — it is. It might be the last they can attend but this willbe an important one even if it is to bring closure.
Good for them. Would that more of the orthodox from the rest of the communion would follow their lead.
Saj #2: “… last they can attend …†That sounds very pessimistic. Is KJS going to excommunicate the Queen of England so that she can depose +Henry? Is she going to depose ++Gregory? As much as her understanding about the Church goes, it wouldn’t surprise me if she thinks she could. After all, she has created her own Monroe Doctrine. There will be another ten years before the next Lambeth. God has a whole ten years to prune his Church.
I just have to say how encouraged I am by the responses on this thread. I have been so deeply discouraged by the prevailing attitude on a number of conservative/ultra-traditionalist blogs where orthodox bishops are regularly second-guessed on these questions in very coarse and sarcastic terms that I have reached the point where I can no longer post on those blogs.
Many on those same blogs also seem to believe that they possess special prophetic gifts and they continually use their supposed gifts to tell the rest of us what little good will come of the more conciliar actions of orthodox leaders in the Communion. These erstwhile prophets seem to use the blogs mostly to debate just how worthless these actions will be, and especially how meaningless will be anything that the ABC might do that appears to be in service of traditionalists. I don’t know if they have the capacity to realize that their constant spin begins to form a common perception of reality that ultimately creates a fatalism that is itself self-fulfilling prophecy. I suppose it could be that, in fact, the fatalism is built into certain soteriological schools of thought that have been extremely influential on American soil from the beginning.
What I find so ironic is that these Americans can’t seem to learn from the very African provinces that they identify with so strongly and who share their evangelical orientation. These great orthodox African leaders are not the least bit fatalistic on these questions, and everyday make incredible sacrifices to come to their aid and in doing so, have been trying to hold the Communion together. But when your belief system is so grounded in ideological thinking, I suppose that you will see the support that anyone gives you as confirmation of what you feel,
I have only been an episcopalian/Communion Anglican (traditionalist Anglo-Catholic) for 3 years, but I am beginning to realize that much of the decline of episcopalianism over the last few decades is based in the deeply americanized attitude of many conservatives and traditionalists. It is clear that they believe that they are not really in need of spiritual leaders, only teachers who teach them what already fits comfortably within their systematic theologies and who will act as spiritual representatives for them in the various disputes within the denomination. If you don’t allow your bishops to truly lead, they will ultimately have to become politicians to hold the church together.
ECUSA had already become deeply fragmented over its first 150 years by the failure of most of the evangelically-minded and the very high church-oriented to reach out to or try to learn from each other. There is ample evidence that the failure of orthodox traditionalists and conservatives of various schools to come together and form real and lasting bonds was instrumental in leading many of the orthodox faithful into a more collegial murky middle ground that would ultimately have to become its own faction. As it tried to weave together evangelical biblical individualism and anglo-catholic ritualist aesthetics, it would have to make room for teaching that would plant the seeds of progressivism. If those other blogs are the norm, and orthodox Communion Anglicans in the US are going to continue hold onto their factionalism and individualism, we will never be worthy of our own province. The African and South American jurisdictions that are currently rescuing us will be doing us a favor by keeping us under their authority. I pray they will have the patience to teach us by example for the decades it may take to strip us of our pride.
Well, we shall see. I don’t expect much to change, but I wouldn’t be suprised to see the orthodox Americans sacrificed in order to hold the AC together.
Br. Michael: Please read Psalm 23. It is in the book between Job and Proverbs.
Joe in OC – Much truth in what you say. Tell me what you think of Cardinal Kasper’s question to Anglicanism in a new thread, and also my comment on it. Thx.
7, I have read it. Your point is?
#9: I’m sorry if I lost tract of which general side of the issue you stand on. My point is simple and I’m really not trying to be cute. I personally know some of the players in this drama. I have nothing but immense admiration for their courage. I would like to encourage others to have the same faith. Psalm 23 is the first thing that comes to my mind. “I will fear no evilâ€