Anglican Communion
The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – Australia
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- Written by: Richard Condie
The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – Australia
FCA Australia is part of a world-wide fellowship of Anglicans who “confess” the Jerusalem Declaration as a contemporary statement of orthodox Anglican faith. It was born out of the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which was held in Jerusalem in 2008. FCA/GAFCON is a movement within the Anglican communion to continue to reform the Anglican church by the biblical gospel.
FCA has two main aims. The first aim is to promote orthodox Anglican faith and practice. We believe this orthodoxy is summed up in the Jerusalem Declaration, and is also upheld in a plain reading of the Fundamental Declarations of the Constitution of the Anglican Church in Australia. FCA-Australia intend to meet this aim through conferences, papers and lectures where we try and contribute to educating people in this faith. We believe doing this will help heal, reform and revitalise our mission in the world.
Our second aim is to provide fellowship for orthodox Anglicans who find themselves in a minority position in their own Dioceses due to actions of others who depart from orthodox faith and practice.
Read more: The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – Australia
Australian Bishops' Conference 2016
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- Written by: Gary Nelson
A Meeting of Bishops
Gary Nelson comments on the recent national conference of bishops held in South Australia.
Gary Nelson is the Bishop of North West Australia.
What do you call a meeting of Anglican bishops from around Australia?
A talk-fest? A liturgical wake? An episcopal staff retreat? A mitred endurance? Or, …
Each year bishops gather together to discuss issues of mutual concern. In March we were ably hosted by the Bishop of Willochra in the beautiful country town of Clare, South Australia.
On the surface it’s an enjoyable time and I look forward to catching up with fellow bishops. Yet just below the warm greetings and shared informal moments are serious tensions arising from our theological differences. This was prominent in the ‘big’ issue of the meeting that focussed on the Viability and Structures General Synod report. An external facilitator was provided for the discussion, but a curve ball was thrown with a comment about an elephant in the room – that is, the varying theological opinions represented by the bishops present. So we then journeyed down a little detour to discuss the way we might discuss our theological differences!! How this will play out next year remains to be seen.
In ‘essentials’ our theological differences do shape our responses to the Viability and Structures report – we can’t escape this conclusion. Why does growth follow faithful gospel proclamation (Acts 6.7)? Why does vitality seem to be concurrent with church life centred on the trustworthy, ‘God-inspired’ Word (Eph 4.11-16; 2 Tim 4.2)? Isn’t this exactly what we should expect if the gospel is ‘the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Rom 1.16)?
As we ponder the future of our Anglican denomination, what are our options? Perhaps we’ll soon reach the point of no return leading to a split, such as occurred in America, as the honourable way ahead. Or, just maybe, we can charter another route to bridge this increasing gap between those standing on an evangelical view of Scripture, and those who have drifted from a gospel centred biblical approach to faith and ethics.
Personally I am not very optimistic, especially when you consider the aftermath of the Primates’ meeting in Canterbury as evidenced in the approach of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Episcopal Church of America. Last year I visited America, meeting with Archbishop Foley Beach as well as speaking at a number of churches and Trinity School for Ministry. The pain of the split at both personal and congregational level was very evident. Though, encouragingly, what has emerged is an Anglican denomination much clearer on its gospel objectives and committed to holding fast to the teachings of the Bible, particularly in the area of human sexuality – the issue that tipped them over the precipice into the waters of division.
Friends, keep praying that God may have mercy on our Anglican Communion and bring those rejecting his word to repentance, along with a renewed gospel commitment.
Back to the bishops’ meeting in March.
It was so sad to hear of the abuse through the CEBS movement and, at times, the failure of people in authority to take appropriate action. We must learn from our past, working harder at ensuring our children are kept as safe as possible within our church environment. EFAC members should take this responsibility very seriously as it flows out of our evangelical belief and ethical stance.
The Bathurst diocesan financial problems remind us that integrity in money and property matters require careful attention. The Faithfulness in Service document is a helpful guide on basic financial practices to protect people from false accusation and assist us to faithfully administer our stewardship. Continuing vigilance is needed as the bar of community accountability standards is raised and churches come under greater scrutiny.
The bishops’ protocols – what do we do with them? They were designed to be a means of collegial attitude and agreed action in certain areas of mutual episcopal concern. Each year there has been a recommitment to them, but recently they have come into question. This has arisen over the homosexual issue in the Diocese of Gippsland. When the agenda for the meeting first appeared there was no place provided for discussing this very significant and divisive matter. This was changed, but left to near the end. Our differences were highlighted when the possible plebiscite on redefining marriage was discussed. Very few bishops were prepared to give unequivocal support for traditional marriage as the Bible presents, and as our Anglican doctrine still maintains. For me, another indicator of how close we are to the precipice of denominational division.
Other significant matters were briefly reviewed and discussed (eg. church planting). But they remain in the background to the elephant in the room, with its impact on human sexuality and the underlying issue of how we read and understand the Bible. Please pray for the bishops across Australia and their role as leaders of our church.
Gary Nelson
Bishop of North West Australia
A New Bishop of Tasmania
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- Written by: Peter Greenwood
After 13 years at St Jude’s Carlton, as well as Ridley College and leadership in the Diocese of Melbourne, Rev Richard Condie will succeed John Harrower as Bishop of Tasmania. Peter Greenwood shares his perspective on this significant appointment.
Peter Greenwood pastors Inner West Church in Kensington, Vic, which is a plant from St Jude’s Carlton
Over many decades the Diocese of Melbourne has produced many gifted Christian leaders. These men and women have moved through our churches planting gospel seeds, watering them diligently and enjoying the fruit of their labours.
However, there is a cost to having such a wealth of competent leadership. It tends to draw the attention of other parts of the Australian and global church! And not only that, they sometimes our leaders follow the call to help build God’s kingdom in places other than our fair city. And so we rejoice, albeit without a little sadness, to send out one of our own–Rev. Richard Condie.
Canterbury Tale
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
Stephen Hale comments on the meeting of Primates of the Anglican Communion recently concluded in Canterbury.
Stephen Hale is the Chair of EFAC Australia
The Primates of the Anglican Communion met in Canterbury (UK) in mid January, to discuss the future of the Anglican Communion in light of the crisis that has beset us in recent years. The GAFCON and Global South Primates (including Archbishop Foley Beach, the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America) and our Primate, Archbishop Philip Freier, were present at the meeting.
The Church of Uganda
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- Written by: Kanishka Raffel
How would you like to be at a clergy conference of four thousand? Kanishka Raffel brings us a snapshot of his recent visit to Uganda, where he discovered some important spiritual roots of the church in missionaries, martyrs and revival.
Recently I had the great privilege of taking part in the Provincial All Clergy Conference of the Church of Uganda, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and a founding member of the doctrinally orthodox renewal movement, the Global Anglican Future Conference. The conference was presided over by the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev’d Stanley Ntagali and all 35 Diocesan Bishops were in attendance along with no less than 2500 clergy. This was only the third time in the history of the Province that a national clergy conference has taken place, the last having occurred 35 years ago.
The Church of Uganda was established through the pioneering work of two English CMS missionaries in 1877. In 1885 another CMS missionary, James Hannington was consecrated the first Bishop of East Africa but he was murdered at the order of the King of Buganda before taking up his ministry. Bishop Hannington was among the first of 55 Anglican and Roman Catholic martyrs put to death between 1885 and 1887 for refusing to renounce their Christian faith and participate in immoral and idolatrous activity commanded by the King. The sacrificial, gospel-minded zeal of the early CMS missionaries and the bravery and faithfulness of the Uganda Martyrs are much honoured roots of the spiritual life of the Ugandan church.
Fellowship and Assistance
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- Written by: Caitlin Hurley
Caitlin Hurley reflects on the challenge seen at the AFC of supporting fellow Anglicans
under pressure in changing dioceses.
Caitlin is assistant minister at Redfern and Green Square, NSW and Executive Assistant to the General Secretary of GAFCON.
The recent inaugural Anglican Future Conference was an action packed three days. A highlight for me was the Wednesday evening session Standing with the Global Anglican Community. Hosted by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglican (GAFCON) General Secretary, Dr Peter Jensen shared how the Anglican Communion is faring around the globe. The prognosis was that is it not faring very well but that the GAFCON movement was providing a place for those committed to biblical Anglicanism to stand together and have both support and fellowship. A constant refrain from those who shared was that after leaving the their national church either forcibly or willingly their churches grew.
The most challenging portion of this evening was hearing from the New Zealand delegates about the Church in New Zealand. In New Zealand ordained clergy must submit to the authority of General Synod. This effectively means that if General Synod passes a motion the clergy are bound to that motion. Recently Motion 30 was passed by the General Synod. This motion has allowed for the creation of a working party to provide a process for and structure by which the blessings of same-sex relationships can occur within the church. The conference heard three different responses to motion 30 from leaders within the New Zealand church. These responses ranged from a desire to work through the process until it became untenable, to an inability to submit to this motion. As a result this rector lost his license, rectory and church building. How long will it be before evangelical Anglicans in Australia are faced with a similar situation?
This is where the work of GAFCON and FCA (Australia) are immensely important. This movement in its global and local manifestations seeks to uphold the authority of Scripture and the Lordship of Christ. In the Australian context this will be achieved through promoting orthodoxy and providing recognition, fellowship and assistance to those who have been disaffiliated from their diocese because of the unorthodox actions of others. It is true that a movement such as FCA (Australia) in and of itself is not going to bring people to salvation but it can help limit the damage of aggressive secularism and culturally conformed Christianity within the church. By providing support for those committed to biblical orthodoxy, parishes and their parishioners can get on with the work of the Great Commission.
It would be interesting to see the composition of the conference. In particular what was the ratio of clergy to laity? For the Fellowship of Confessing Anglican movement to flourish in both its global and local manifestations it needs to be supported by both clergy and laity. It would also be interesting to see the age demographics. As a movement focusing on the future it would be great to see some more individuals under the age of thirty-five involved. This will involve demonstrating to my generation why a movement such as FCA is important and worth supporting.