The Chairman of the forthcoming South/South Encounter has issued a statement, which can be found on the Nigerian provincial website:
STATEMENT OF SOUTH/SOUTH CHAIRMAN CONCERNING THE 3RD SOUTH/SOUTH ENCOUNTER IN ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
As Anglican delegates from the Dioceses and Provinces of the South-South in the countries of Africa, Asia and South America gather in Egypt for the 3rd Encounter, we noticed a great deal of speculative journalism is in circulation and needs immediate correction.
The South/South Encounter is a gathering of like-minded Anglicans who come together to fellowship, pray, and study the Word of God. We gather to share our experiences, encourage one another and seek ways of deepening our relationship with God and between ourselves. The Encounter is not a business meeting concerned with power, politics and other such mundane things which easily distract from set goals and objectives.
A lot of the misinformation has been due to the figment of imagination of protagonist wishing to introduce alien ideas into our historic faith. Some even go as far as to suggest it is a power tussle affair. This pitiful reasoning is far from our minds as we do not seek such.
It is pertinent to state that we are not concerned with power as being published in the media. Our major concern is the upholding the integrity and sanctity of the Word of God and the resolutions of the Lambeth Conference guiding the integrity of our common historic faith. Any person or Church disregarding or flouting these are the ones to do a rethink about their status within our worldwide Anglican family.
We encourage all delegates to come to Egypt prepared to fellowship in the presence of God.
Every blessing,
The Most Revd. Peter J. Akinola, CON, DD
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria
“Some even go as far as to suggest it is a power tussle affair.”
“Any person or Church disregarding or flouting these are the ones to do a rethink about their status within our worldwide Anglican family.”
Well that’s cleared all that up then!
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Yeah quite. “You’ve all misread me!” and totally fails to answer whether the folks can attend or not, depending on which paragraph you read. Bah.
I think the key language is that it is a “gathering of like-minded Anglicans”. In other words, “if you don’t agree with me, you’re not invited”.
As Anglican delegates from the Dioceses and Provinces of the South-South in the countries of Africa, Asia and South America
Grr. Well, as SOME of them. Have we already forgotten that these people aren’t the “south”, they are the reactionaries, including some from the north, and excluding many from the south?
ARe these all, simply put, lies, or are these people just stupid? Or do they think the rest of us are stupid?
Where are the “Instruments of Unity” in all this mess?
“South/South” is a *regional description* of Anglicanism, that the IofU’s have justified (quite reasonably, IMO).
“Like-mindedness” is an irreducibly *subjective definition* (fraught with power-abuse potential, +PJA’s protests notwithstanding), having *no place in Anglicanism*, that the IofU’s ought strike/disavow/*de-fund* ASAP!
Jimmy, I doubt that these are “lies, simply put,” but they may be the result of some soft-pedaling on the part of ++Akinola, under pressure from the “Network” group in the US. The earlier news stories have, I think, largely succeeded in convincing the broad membership of the Episcopal Church in the US that ++Akinola is about to break with the Church of England, and take a substantial number of the African Churches, a few others, and the US “Network” with him into his new Alexandrian Communion. Of course the broad membership of the Episcopal Church will not follow ++Akinola… Read more »
I have this image in my mind of a board game. We could call it “Ecclesiology”. Each of the provinces of the Anglican Communion would be positioned around the board, and you could buy each one as you landed on it. Build four churches on your diocese, and you can trade them in for a cathedral. If you’re lucky, your opponents will take a chance and get a card that will send them straight to purgatory, do not pass go, do not collect 200 tithes. We could have fun deciding what color each province could be. Perhaps ECUSA could be… Read more »
“I think it’s time we progressives stopped taking the bait, and focused on building up our own conferences, structures, and mission. There’s a bigger world out there. Let Akinola say what he likes. Who cares anymore? And let’s turn our energies to engage that world out there with the deep insights *we* have into the role of the Christian faith in contemporary life.”–Christopher Calderhead
I fully agree! Let’s be about our business as Christians rather than concern ourselves with the likes of Peter Akinola and David Virtue. If the evango-fundies want to split, that’s fine with me.
Charlotte has summarized this in a succinct & correct manner. And her question as to who’s pulling +PJA’s strings is rather key. If it’s the radical, reactionary conservative groups in N. America, then he’s in for a surprise. Once the dust settles, he & the other African bishops will get precious little *real* support for pressing issues in the “Global South” like AIDS, the way multi-national corporations operate in the Third World, debt relief, etc… Issues which are anathema to the radical, ultra-rightwing positions of the IRD (the puppetmaster of the AAC/Network). So I pray that +PJA is pulling his… Read more »
I guess the CofE’s evil twisted ultra right-wing evo-fundie reasserters like me will be the next group to be levered out towards Alexandria (or Abidjan)… Before you nice loving “progressives” convince yourselves that you are justified in not listening to people like me I would at least like to remind you that I am still standing where I was – that you have walked away from me, not the other way round.. And your “progress” has been to deny central tenets of the faith and moral teachings of the church. As Os Guiness said recently “Surrender to the spirit of… Read more »
Dave wrote: “And your “progress” has been to deny central tenets of the faith and moral teachings of the church.”
(sigh) We’ve gone over *this* before, haven’t we ? In your considered OPINION we have done this. The considered opinions of some of your co-religionists have resulted in different conclusions.
So it’s fallacious, as well as highly disrespectful, of you to argue as if you’re right, my side knows it, and we’re disagreeing with you simply to be perverse or evil.
It’s time for a divorce, Dave. Whether it will be amicable or nasty is really up to your “side.”
Dear Simeon, Our faith is a matter of what we believe and how we live. If someone can’t believe in parts of it (eg the Virgin birth, a physical resurrection, Christ being God as man), it is not a matter of my or your *opinion* that they are denying a central tenet of the Christian Faith… it is a matter of *fact* !! Similarly if someone doesn’t accept the basic moral assumptions of Christ and the Apostles etc, s/he is rejecting them. As for the “divorce”; the liberals seem to be the ones *actually* taking nasty actions in ECUSA and… Read more »