So has the separatist movement "passed its peak" and is "now going nowhere" as one commentator observed?...So the leaders of GAFCON are attempting to dress up strategic failure as the dawning of a new phase of their march toward victory, hoping that the media will bite.....It could make the next few years "more of the same," which is unfortunate, although the longer this is prolonged, the fewer Anglicans who will be left that agree with their take on things. In twenty years, not too many folks will still be listening to rhetoric that is so obviously the last gasp of a dying world view.
One notes the way the majority are referred to as the 'separatist movement'
Hmm...not sure I agree...are you saying that - for instance - orthodox evangelicals and orthodox catholics will be associated but not in communion? I believe the biggest obstacle will be bishop's egos and not theology...As ContraMundum noted, the separation has already occurred. There merely is not going to be an alternate worldwide organization paralleling the Anglican Communion.
But that doesn't mean that the "Anglican Communion" will ever again be a Communion. It will not ever again be anything more than a loose association of provinces holding differing theologies--provinces which are not, in fact, in communion with each other.
Hmm...not sure I agree...are you saying that - for instance - orthodox evangelicals and orthodox catholics will be associated but not in communion? I believe the biggest obstacle will be bishop's egos and not theology...
Not my experience at all.The reality is many Anglican churches in the UK are now more closely associated with like minded churches of other ministries and denominations than they are with their own diocese and bishop.
It is not that I disagree with you, Phinehas, and I think your questions above are very good questions. But I am less cynical about all of this, and more hopeful. I'm going to trust in God that the Church will find the answer. It may not be in my lifetime, though, so all I can do is to play my part endeavouring to answer God's call, to be obedient to his will for my life, and to do as I've said before - preach the gospel in word and deed. Oh, and work on dying to self. Trust in the Lord. Love God and love one another. Bind the brokenhearted. Set the captives free. Judge not, lest ye shall be judged.Dear karenfreeinchristman,
Well wouldnt that experience depend on the church and the Bishop?
If Christians can't work out their differences in love within a church or fellowship, how are they going to be able to love people in the world, and how can the church demonstrate loving one another as a sign of being His disciples? On the other hand if the heart and mind of a fellowship are so far apart in the first place, how can there be unity? I think it is to the latter we have come in the Anglican Communion.
Yes or No, depending upon what we'd hope to have it accomplish. If merely discussing issues of mutual concern is worth the meeting, then OK. But if anyone thinks this Lambeth can accomplish anything other than that, he'll be disappointed.This is a good point, Albion. But if it isnt a communion then Lambeth is a waste of time.
What's the quote (from somebody else) that Tom Wright uses to the question "are you optimistic about the future of the Church?": something like "I am neither optimistic nor pesimistic - Jesus Christ is risen".It is not that I disagree with you, Phinehas, and I think your questions above are very good questions. But I am less cynical about all of this, and more hopeful. I'm going to trust in God that the Church will find the answer. It may not be in my lifetime, though, so all I can do is to play my part endeavouring to answer God's call, to be obedient to his will for my life, and to do as I've said before - preach the gospel in word and deed. Oh, and work on dying to self. Trust in the Lord. Love God and love one another. Bind the brokenhearted. Set the captives free. Judge not, lest ye shall be judged.