Anglican Communion

: Written by: Peter Greenwood; Created: 01 March 2016

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.

Read more: The Church of Uganda

: Written by: Caitlin Hurley; Created: 21 August 2015

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.

: Written by: Ben Underwood; Created: 20 August 2015

In the wash up from the Anglican Future Conference held in Melbourne and jointly hosted by EFAC Australia and The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia, Essentials quizzed conference maestros Stephen Hale and Richard Condie about how the conference went and what it means for the future.

Richard Condie is the Chair of the Anglican Future Conference and Vicar of St Jude’s Carlton, Vic.

Stephen Hale is Chair of EFAC Australia and is the lead minister of the St Hilary’s network in Kew and North Balwyn Vic.

Ess: What were your best hopes and worst fears for the Anglican Future Conference as it began?

SH: I hoped that it would be a significant national gathering that would offer hope and renewed commitment to mission and ministry in and through the Anglican Church. By God’s grace we got there! There was an inherent tension between the twin partners in making the Conference happen. EFAC is an evangelical fellowship while FCA is very new and is a broader group who have a more particular focus. Some people didn’t come because of that tension and others were anxious while there. I think we got the balance right and it was a remarkably unified and positive conference. The joint venture meant we had a genuinely national conference and with the presence of a good group of New Zealanders meant it was transnational.

RC: My best hopes were that a fire might be lit under our denomination to recover a great energy and passion for gospel ministry in our nation. I was reasonably confident that the speakers we had lined up, the topics we intended to cover, and the workshops we had planned, met quite a number of the issues we need to face as a Church. I hoped and prayed that we would be united around the gospel, and take seriously what we need to do to recover and stimulate gospel witness in the world.
My fear was that because GAFCON/FCA is seen by some to be divisive that we might not hear the Spirit’s voice through the conference, because we were worried about a hidden political agenda. I knew there was not a hidden political agenda, but I feared some may have thought that, and would not participate well as a result.

Ess: What were for you the best moments of the conference in the end?

SH: Ashley Null was a surprise and a delight. He opened up very familiar material in surprising and fresh ways. I’ve never really thought of Cranmer’s liturgies in the way that Ashley explained and it has given me a whole new way of approaching liturgy. Related to this was that we decided quite late in the picture to use liturgy in each of the worship sessions. Each seemed very apt and as with all good liturgy it was both participatory as well as a great way of expressing our unity together. The three plenary sessions were excellent and involved a diverse range of input. Kanishka exposed us to some tricky but helpful teaching from 2 Peter and did it in his usual clear and positive way.
As I said at the outset we don’t get together much because we are a large island nation. The best part was meeting new people and renewing connections that go back 30 or 40 years.

RC:When I saw that we had managed to bring together not just evangelical Anglicans, but people from all traditions and “unexpected” places, and that we had managed to get representation from every state and territory and New Zealand, I was really delighted. It said to me that there is a real hunger out there for direction, inspiration and encouragement. Then it was so good when the Bible was taught, and Ashley Null brought us back to our common roots, and we actually grappled with the big issues of culture.

Ess: Was there anything surprising or unexpected that came out of the conference?

SH:The overall unity was exceptional. In the past these sorts of conferences have often ended up in a dust up over something but that didn’t happen.

RC: I was personally bowled over by the strong response to the launch of the FCA. I have been so close to it for so long, and it was wonderful to have so many at the launch and sign up on the night. If you missed out – www.fca-aus.org.au

Ess: The conference was jointly hosted by EFAC and FCA. Where are these organisations overlapping in their aims and where distinct?

SH: EFAC is a fellowship of evangelical Anglican clergy and lay people. It generally is stronger where evangelicals are in a minority and therefore cherish the support and encouragement of gathering with like minded people. Generally EFAC is not involved in direct political action within the denomination yet it may also play a role in offering theological and biblical perspectives on issues of contention.

RC: FCA and EFAC are very close in many respects, in that both spring out of a clear view of the biblical gospel. I guess the aim of FCA is to gather orthodox Anglicans from a wider pool than just among evangelicals. In fact internationally, there may even be a majority of members who identify as “Anglo-catholic” rather than evangelical. FCA is designed to be a “broad tent” to gather people with a common concern for our denomination and its future.

Ess: Is FCA about helping dissaffected people leave Anglicanism?

RC:No, on the contrary, it is about helping them stay within the Anglican Church. One of the sad things that has happened internationally, is that faithful Anglicans who have not shifted in their commitment to Anglican theology and practice have been forced out by theological novelty and moral innovation which is foreign to historic Christian faith. FCA allows these people to continue to identify as Anglican
even when their leaders have wandered away, and allows other faithful Anglicans to remain in fellowship with them. FCA is a fellowship of orthodox Anglicans and reform movement to help heal our denomination.

SH: I think it would be better to ask this the other way around. FCA is committed to helping people to stay and then support them if they, in conscience leave or are pushed out. This is not likely to be simple or straight forward. As we saw from our New Zealand brothers and sisters there were three different responses to their crisis. Some have left and lost titles and buildings, some have stayed but are in dispute and others are staying and without contention. In saying that we have to bear in mind that the New Zealand, US and Canadian churches have a much stronger national basis than we have in Australia where we are a federation of dioceses.

Ess: Where can people catch up on things they may have missed from the conference?

SH: The main papers will be available via EFAC Essentials…

RC: ...and the conference website www.afuture15.org.au has many of the workshop outlines for download, and will soon have links to the videos of the main sessions. Some FCA resources are found at www.fca-aus.org.au/resources/

Ess: Where can people continue the conversation about our Anglican future?

SH: Join an EFAC Branch in your city or state or start one.

RC: I want to encourage a grass roots movement where local Anglicans take the initiative (either under the EFAC or FCA banner, or something else) to consider what they need to do to secure a strong healthy Anglican future in their own location. Wouldn’t it be great if groups of Anglicans in every diocese got to talking and praying about the future, and what changes they needed to make, to ensure it was a positive vital one. Maybe it is the reader of this article who needs to take the initiative. FCA Australia and your local EFAC branch are ready to help. Perhaps we will run some local conferences, or even another national gathering, but it would be much better if we did it ourselves.

Ess: What and whom do you hope that conversation will include?

RC: I would love to see congregations, individuals, parishes and even dioceses, having conversations about recovering confidence in the gospel, confidence in our theological heritage, and confidence in our God to turn our church and nation around. I am praying that bishops, clergy and laity will embrace and develop these themes for themselves.

SH: The conference captured a sense of optimism about the future of the Anglican Church. Hopefully this will filter through and start to shape conversations at a diocesan level and beyond. This sense of optimism and hope is often missing from other gatherings and is absolutely essential if we are going to honestly address our many challenges in terms of ministry and mission.

: Written by: Richard Condie; Created: 10 March 2015

It might not be too far fetched to claim that the Anglican Church in Australia is at a cross-roads. With one third of our Dioceses now declared unviable, and several more teetering on the edge, at the least, we have a serious problem to address. It seems to me that we need to come together to make some positive decisions about our future direction.

One of the glaring omissions in the viability report that was presented to the General Synod last July was the recovery of mission and evangelism as the only real strategy to reverse the trend of decline. There was an assumption that if we got the structures working better, then somehow we would see improvement.

I was recently talking with a ministry colleague of a different tradition. The ministry they were doing was primarily around trying to get people to “come to church”. That was the expressed and assumed goal. When I tried to prod that perhaps helping people come to faith in Jesus might be a more effective goal (and even delivering the desired outcome), I was met with a slightly mystified look, as if I was espousing some arcane idea from a bygone age.

But before I feel too smug, I weep when I see the relatively few people who have made first time professions of faith through our own ministry. If I am brutally honest, the vast majority of people who have become disciples of Jesus at our church have been from overseas, and vastly different cultures from the one in which I have grown up. Praise the Lord for students from Asia, and refugees from the Middle East who are hungry for the gospel, and who want to learn about Jesus!

But to borrow Paul’s phrase in Romans 9, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart … for my kindred” Aussies. Perhaps it has something to do with living in “the most livable city in the world”, but they seem almost immune to the gospel message that we try to hold out to them. While Melbourne claims that moniker, the rest of the country ain’t that bad either. I remember as a Curate in rural northern NSW preaching at a harvest festival on Deuteronomy 8 about the dangers of “forgetting the Lord”. In many ways the fertile valley where we lived was the Aussie equivalent of a “land flowing with milk and honey”, well at least bananas and sugar cane!

So what are we to do? If Australians already live in something they think of as close to heaven, and quite frankly see no need for the God that we speak about, then we need to do some pretty clear thinking if we are going to make any kind of impact, let alone see a future for our denomination.

At one level we need to be concerned more about the progress of the gospel than we are about the viability of Anglicanism. But at the same time, our Anglican heritage and identity is exactly what Australia needs. The English reformation was about transforming the church so that it was able to present the pure word of God to a world that was in the dark. Sound familiar? And the prayer book, was an attempt to put the word of God and the worship of God into a form that was understandable to the masses (pun intended). It was a missionary endeavor, to reach the people in a way that made sense.

We have just sent out a family from our church to work in cross-cultural mission in East Asia. They have spent the better part of the last 10 years learning about the culture and the ministry context into which they are about to step. They will learn the language, they will find appropriate illustrations of gospel truth that will work in their new context, they will think hard about how the gospel challenges the idols and systemic sins of the country in which they work.

We Aussies need to do the same. We need to realize that we are losing ground for the gospel in Australia by our refusal to change. I do assume with the general readership of Essentials that I am preaching to the converted. However even the converted need to keep sharpening their tools.

We recently did an exercise among our leadership team to develop a spiritual profile of the area we are trying to reach – a series of observations about what people believe and how the gospel addresses each of these beliefs. It was a fascinating exercise and we have much more work to do on it. So far we have identified that the typical person in our neighbourhood views themselves as:

Autonomous – valuing freedom to govern their lives.
Secular – valuing the here and now, the material, and rejecting the supernatural .
Consumerist – where their consumerism is focussed on experiences.
Activist – passionate about social and political causes.
Tribal – belonging to groups of like minded individuals.
Culturally diverse – in ethnicity but also subcultures.
Distrusting of institutions – therefore suspicious of the church along with other institutions.
Egalitarian – believing that every individual has value and a say.
Sexually active and libertine – where sexuality is a matter of personal choice.
Highly educated and affluent – most with tertiary qualifications and or well paying jobs (with significant pockets of exception).

Highly engaged with technology – constantly connected through social media and tech devices.
That list might resonate with your context too. But that is a very different kind of person to the one who was being reached by Anglicans in Australia even in the 1980’s when I came to faith. If we don’t adapt, and don’t think how the gospel addresses these changing aspects of our society, and then build an action plan around them, then we will be tossed onto the scrap heap of irrelevance.

We know the Gospel still has something to say. We know that it is the Word of Life for our broken world. We know that it is powerful to transform lives. We know that it answers the deep assumptions and yearnings that are behind many of these observations. But we are going to have to work hard at finding new ways of communicating and engaging with the world and communicating in their language and culture, which I think is a very “Anglican” thing to do. The Anglican Church of the next generation may look very unlike the Anglican church of the last (or even this) generation. But being culturally adaptive, while holding on to the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (Jude 3), is exactly what Anglicans are supposed to be good at.

Enter, The Anglican Future Conference, 2015. My hope and prayer all along has been that this national gathering of Anglicans will grapple seriously with the issues that I have raised. The conference has six strands:

1. Hearing from God’s Word: It is right that we listen to what God wants to say to us as his people. Kanishka Raffel will open up 2 Peter for us with its challenge about the importance of doctrine and the godly life, and its call to action.

2. Recovering our Anglican Identity: As I have said above, the Anglican movement has been a force for gospel good in our world. Recovering what it really means to be Anglican in a theological sense will help us see the relevance and beauty of what our tradition has to offer for mission in the 21st century. Anglican identity is “what we believe”, and Ashley Null (an internationally renowned Anglican scholar) will unpack this for us over our three days together. Our desire is that it will make us confident about our Anglican future.

3. Standing in the Global Anglican Community: We are not alone in dealing with rapidly changing mission environments. In fact the whole Anglican communion is engaged in different ways. From the challenges of Islam, to the rise of secularism, and the changing face of mission, we need to learn from each other. We are bringing the world to Melbourne in March, where we will hear from Anglican brothers and sisters across the globe about what contending for the faith means for them.

4. Understanding our Missionary Context: As we have noted above Australia is on the move. Our plenary session on our missionary context, and the seven workshops that follow, will help us encounter some of these changes, and think how the gospel helps us to engage them. Simon Smart from the Centre for Public Christianity and Julie-Anne Laird from AFES at Melbourne University will help us think like missionaries at home.

5. Encountering Critical Issues for the Church in the West: There are many issues we need to grapple with if we are going to adapt for mission. New ideas and opportunities abound, and a few hurdles must be overcome. A plenary session led by Stephen Hale (Chair of EFAC Australia) with a panel of practitioners will identify the issues, and again 8 different workshops will help us think about how to put this into action.

6. Imagining Our Anglican Future: We have the potential for a strong positive and healthy future. In the plenary session Peter Adam will share some thoughts about what this might look like, and then a panel will respond to him. Contrary to the thoughts of some, this is not about the secession of FCA and EFAC from the Anglican Church of Australia, it is about our positive contribution to its future. Various workshops will help equip us for a strong faithful future.

On the Thursday evening we will launch the Australian branch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, and invite people to become members. We think this fellowship of likeminded orthodox Anglicans will be a necessary alliance as we move forward together.

My hope and prayer is that this conference will be a positive contribution for all Anglicans in Australia. We have a great gospel to proclaim, and much work to be done. Registrations continue to grow and so I’m glad that it looks like we will have a strong group of Anglicans gathered to work out how to move through our cross-roads to a fruitful and exciting future.

Richard Condie
Chair – Anglican Future Conference
Vicar, St Jude’s Carlton.

Anglican Communion

A New Bishop of Tasmania

Canterbury Tale

The Church of Uganda

Fellowship and Assistance

The AFC Debrief

Recovering our Mission