Thinking Anglicans

Can someone who understands the intricacies of General Synod help me understand why the Fresh Expressions PMM isn’t on the agenda? It has the most signatures, and it seems as though it could help the church in its present missional work.

Here’s the link to that PMM:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/pmm/#fresh

Thanks.

Scott+

As a Canadian “cradle” Anglican (baptised on All Saints Day at “smokey Tom’s” in Toronto), I find this all rather sad, but we’ve come to a point where I don’t feel anything other than “well OK, we’ll still continue to be Anglicans, in spite of what anyone in England or Uganda or Burundi may think or say or do”. I’ve heard stories of folks who left to join break-away ACNA parishes in Montreal, who have since left the break-aways and returned to diocesan parishes. We’ll soon see whether there really are 100,000 ACNA folks (out of an est. 352,000,000 inhabitants… Read more »

“the CofE is *already* in communion w/ THE Anglican churches in North America: TEC and the AngChCanada?”

Don’t forget the Anglican Church of Mexico. Last I looked, Mexico was also in North America.

The present position of the Church is to comply with the requirements of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. This only requires benefits to be equalised with effect from December 2005, but not retrospectively.

Lorna Ashworth’s Private Member’s Motion: ‘That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.’ Even if passed, the resolution would not achieve anything except to stir things up. It is not up to General Synod to decide whether the Church of England is in communion with ACNA. That is I assume why the resolution only “expresses a desire”. Even if expressed, it would be the desire only of the current members of the General Synod. The lay members of General Synod are elected by a highly indirect process… Read more »

Fr. Ron Smith asks: “Up until now, TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada have always been known to totally represent the ethos and standing of ‘the Anglican Church in North America’. Is Ms Ashworth’s Motion suggesting that these two entities are ‘out of communion’ with the Church of England?” That will, of course, be the next step. Once the C of E is in Communion with ACNA, then any old pretext will be seized upon to break Communion with the US church. Look for that to happen soon. I suppose the same voices here will still be saying “Oh,… Read more »

Should the private member’s ACNA resolution be adopted, the irony is that it is their African sponsors who are likely to be the big losers. Although the leadership of ACNA may have high regard for their African brothers and the “Communion”, I do not believe this regard is shared in the pews. The Africans were only relevant until the goals of ACNA faithful were secured, its theological agenda and a secure relationship with the CofE. Hence, Schofield’s guarantee to San Joaquin that, in joining Southern Cone, its relationship to Canterbury was secure. The “Communion” is not the issue. The issue… Read more »

“Nice to see mission back on the agenda after it was left off last time. I doubt the headline writers will pay it much attention though.” – David Keen, on Sunday – It all depends on what you mean by ‘Mission’, David. If you believe, as many in ACNA, FOCA and the Global South do, that Mission excludes anything that would free people from homophobia and misogyny, then you are right. Except that, to refer to Mission as anything other than the Church helping to proclaim the liberation of Christ in the Gospel, you are seriously wrong. “The Truth shall… Read more »

On the ACNA PMM – there is a way of reading this as a completely inoffensive statement – I desire to be in communion with all who profess and call themselves Christians. The need to express the desire comes from being/feeling out of communion in the first place. There is nothing in the motion which suggests how the expressed desire might be made real, nor any analysis of the reasons why communion is broken or impaired and who might need to do what to bridge the gap. On the other hand, it could be read as a repudiation of TEC… Read more »

While I suspect (as a conservative) that the motion does embody a desire to be out of communion with TEC, I would point out to the latter’s defenders that the Presiding Bishop has been consistent in articulating that “the schismatics” have ceased to be Anglicans (as well as Episcopalians) by virtue of their actions, just as was the case with the Continuing Churches in the 1970s. A significant number of active members of the Church of England (those who’ve joined the Fellowship of Christian Anglicans and others) clearly do not agree and wish to articulate their perception through the democratic… Read more »

Not only are many Christians concerned by the limited amount of religious programming on TV but also by a recent decline in quality (with the departure of Michael Wakelin).Whilst celebrities have a place, more material should be covered by people with a knowledge in this field.That would happen in sport or science. Too often programmmes are superficial or focus on extreme views rather than mainstream. Christianity should be presented as a credible faith for thinking people in touch with today’s world.