Anglican Communion

I am heading interstate this week to speak at an EFAC meeting in Brisbane, among other things. I am speaking at EFAC on the state of the Anglican Communion, especially in the light of GAFCON. So this week I have been immersed once again in the international Anglican scene.

Sad developments in North America continue to astound me. The election of a bishop in Northern Michigan is who holds Buddhist ordination and follows both Buddhism and Christianity, being the most recent in a long line of abandonment of the Bible's authority.

It is quite clear to me now that there are distinctly two strands in the Anglican Communion. One which is orthodox, biblical and adheres to the historical bases of our denomination - the bible, creeds, book of common prayer, 39 articles, ordinal. And the other which is syncretistic, post-modern, and wracked by the heresies of the first centuries. We are just going to walk further and further apart.

There seem to also be two ways to deal with this situation. The path of the official denominational leaders is to continue to listen and talk and find our common ground. The other is to state our common ground in doctrine and find out whether we are are one or two.

And all of this raises the interesting question of unity, and where it is found. Are we unified because we are Anglican, or are we unified because of what we believe. I am proud to stand in a tradition of the Anglican church which confesses a particular faith, and to find unity with others who profess that faith as well. Historically in this time, it is well encapsulated in the Jerusalem Declaration to which I gladly give my assent. We live in interesting times.