Essentials

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Written by: Stephen Hale

The past few months have been especially important for  the future of the Anglican Church in Australia. On  Saturday 19th July Bishop Dr Mark Short was elected as  the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia. Mark  has been Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn since 2019.  Prior to that he was the National Director of BCA. Mark  is an EFAC Australia Vice President. The last evangelical  Primate was Sir Marcus Loane (Sydney). Prior to 1982 the  most senior Metropolitan became the Primate. After that  they have been elected. Do pray for Mark and Monica as  he assumes this weighty extra responsibility in November  and as he leads the Anglican Church in Australia and  represents the Anglican Church of Australia  internationally. Pray also for the Diocese of Canberra and  Goulburn as they seek to support Mark as he takes up  this new role.

The other exciting news in the past few months has been  the election of Bishop Ric Thorpe as the Archbishop of  Melbourne. Bishop Ric is the Bishop of Islington in the  Diocese of London and has a national role in church  planting and revitalisation in the Church of England.  Bishop Ric is a regular visitor to Australia and will be a  real gift to the Australian church when he starts in late  November. Peter Adam has written a great reflection  piece on this significance of his election.

This edition of Essentials is a bumper edition in  every sense of the word. I had an above average  number of responses to invitations to contribute to  the Winter edition, so we decided to put out an  expanded Winter/Spring edition! You’ll also notice  that we have included two copies in each sleeve.

The focus of this edition is Church Planting. Inside  is a very stimulating interview with Andrew Katay  one of the key Anglican leaders in this area. We  probably all know about Trinity Adelaide and City on  a Hill but most of us don’t know about the  remarkable way both have evolved and expanded in  the past decade or so. We have some lovely stories  from two church planters from Melbourne as well as  a range of other great articles.

BISHOP STEPHEN HALE

EDITOR

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Written by: Stephen Hale

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Written by: Stephen Hale

Statement By The Evangelical Fellowship In The Anglican Communion In Response To The IASCUFO Nairobi Cairo Proposals

(“Renewing The Instruments Of The Anglican Communion”)^[i] EFAC welcomes the opportunity to offer an initial outline response to this important report, thanking its writers for their sincere and prolonged engagement with the broken nature of our Anglican Communion. What follows sets out what we understand to be its central themes, and aspects of it which we welcome and aspects where we have questions and concerns.

It is clear from the document that these proposals have been produced in response to two interconnected problems:

1. The anachronism of colonial era structures for the Anglican Communion when the vast majority of active members are now found in the Global South.

2. The broken and impaired relationships of communion which have arisen due to doctrinal differences, especially to do with biblical anthropology and marriage. These have been in contention for several decades and been the subject of previous reports offering different paths of renewal. They have become more acute since the Bishops and General Synod of the Church of England opened the way for the blessing of same sex relationships in 2023.

The proposals can be summarised as follows:

1. A number of amendments to the classic description of the Anglican Communion adopted by the Lambeth Conference including the deletion of ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’ to be replaced by, inter alia, ‘historic connection with the See of Canterbury’ (76)^[ii].

2. A number of changes to the existing Instruments, notably a rotating presidency of the ACC.

We welcome a number of elements in the report including:

1. The removal of ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’. This description has been used to try and delegitimise the new orthodox Provinces, recognised by both the GSFA and GAFCON, and to imply that any breaking of communion with Canterbury is tantamount to leaving the Communion. The recent decisions of the Church of England have meant that, irrespective of who the next Archbishop of Canterbury is, he or she will not be a person whose leadership can be acknowledged by many members of the Communion as primus inter pares.

2. The recognition of the sad reality that as currently constituted the churches of the Anglican Communion have fallen even further short of the Church’s call to be “one, holy, catholic and apostolic”: no longer having in common that they “uphold and propagate the Catholic and Apostolic faith and order” but simply seeking to do so; and no longer bound to each other “by mutual loyalty” due to recent actions by various provinces, most recently the Church of England. As a result, it is accepted that the churches of the Communion are no longer in full communion with each other but only seeking “the highest degree of communion possible”.

3. The statement that “Solemn calls to unity may sometimes function as an abuse of power, as they seek to enforce a closeness of relationship that would suppress or deny important differences”(45) and the call to those “who call themselves progressive or liberal...to grant graciously the degree of seriousness with which their fellow Anglicans take the matters at hand and concede the consequences of some degree of diminished communion” (48).

4. The acknowledgment that “The Covenantal Structure of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches ... may be viewed ... as a helpful contribution to the discernment of doctrinal and ethical truth within the Communion ... in hopeful service of the unity and faithfulness of the Anglican Communion” (56).

All this makes clear that earlier attempts to reform the Instruments by seeking moratoria, repentance, and renewed covenantal affirmations and commitments have not succeeded. We continue to hope and pray that those whose actions have led to this tragic failure will repent in order that fellowship may be restored and we welcome the work of GSFA and GAFCON to reset the Communion and create structures which can enable full communion to continue between churches and faithful Anglicans based on Catholic and Apostolic faith and order.

Questions and concerns:

In forthcoming months as the report and its proposals are digested, discussed and developed in preparation for the ACC meeting in 2026 we hope attention will be given to various questions and concerns, including for us:

1. An explanation for the absence of any engagement with GAFCON. Engagement with GAFCON will be essential if IASCUFO is fully to engage with the deep differences and divisions within the Anglican Communion.

2. Whether the bold redefinition of the Communion is sufficiently reflected in the practical proposals which are seemingly minimalist and risk being largely symbolic but leaving the underlying power structures of the Communion intact (for example, in the continued parity between all 5 historic regions despite the very different number of worshipping Anglicans in them). We are concerned that more needs to be done, given the unprecedented levels of mistrust and non-participation in the legacy instruments, if the “ecclesial deficit” we face is to be addressed.

3. It would appear that the underlying assumption implied in the theological methodology of IASCUFO’s approach is that, contrary to the Communion’s clear past statements, the teaching of Scripture on matters of human sexuality is unclear and so the areas of disagreement are to be treated as adiaphora and the subject of unending dialogue until the Lord returns (43, 57). Is this what is being claimed?

4. Does the revised definition of the Anglican Communion not significantly water down the historic identity of global Anglicanism and (in contrast to the GSFA Cairo Covenant and GAFCON’s Jerusalem Declaration) fail to offer an ecclesiology clearly under the authority of the Word of God?

5. In particular, in contrast to the Cairo Covenant and earlier attempts to address the Communion’s travails such as The Windsor Report and the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant, there appears to be no place for exercising discipline against teaching judged to be contrary to Scripture. While the recognition of the need for distance or differentiation is welcome, how does a “commitment to making room for each other” not amount to acceptance of “serious doctrinal error and moral jeopardy” (48) within the Anglican Communion?

Conclusion

EFAC Global therefore welcomes the full acknowledgment by IASCUFO of the wounds of division in the Communion and the proposal that the Communion is no longer to be defined by relationship to Canterbury. It is vital, however, that in ongoing reflection on our calling as the Church, the state of the Communion, and the report’s proposals to find a new way forward, that we are not found to come under the Lord’s judgment through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘they have healed the wound of my people lightly’ (8:11).

^[i] https://www.anglicancommunion.org/ecumenism/iascufo/the-nairobi-cairo-proposals.aspx

^[ii] Numbers in parenthesis refer to paragraph numbers in the IASCUFO paper

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Written by: David Mitchell

Modern Genre Theory: An Introduction for Biblical Studies
Andrew Judd
Zondervan Academic 2024
Reviewed By David Mitchell

Judges 19 is one of the most confronting stories in the Old Testament. How are we supposed to read it? Is it something of a cautionary tale about the likely outcome for those who commit adultery? Perhaps, like a modern horror film, its designed specifically to make us squirm and shrink away from it. Or, perhaps, it’s better understood as being a piece of wisdom literature with complex truths about life under the sun being conveyed through the narrative. Or, would we be better understanding it as simply another dot point in the decline of the Jewish nation during the period of the judges as they await a king? Or is it some mix of all of things?

How we read a given passage of scripture depends significantly on what genre we assign it. Hence the battle, say, between the literal six-day creationist and the theistic evolutionist, or between the reader who takes Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31) as speaking about the actual intermediate state and the person who thinks it does not. On all sides of such debates, people can agree on the authority of the Scriptures and yet be at odds as to what the scripture in question is authoritatively teaching.

Read more: Book Review: Modern Genre Theory

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Written by: Stephen Hale

How to not be anxious, in an anxious age?

STEPHEN HALE

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

We’re all familiar with St Paul’s wonderful words in Philippians 4. Yet we all know the challenge of them becoming a reality for us. There is so much to be anxious about. In fact, the statistics on the rise of mental health challenges in a place like Australia are striking. As I understand it these are consistent with the numbers in other western nations.

The Australian Bureau Statistics reports that in 2024 • 1 in 5 adults will experience mental health problems throughout a year

• 1 in 4 adolescents have a mental health illness
• 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys suffer from an anxiety or disorder
• 1 in 7 primary school kids have a mental health illness

  Read more: How to not be anxious, in an anxious age?

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Written by: Andrew Esnouf

Crimes of the Cross: The Anglican Paedophile Network of Newcastle, Its Protectors and the Man Who Fought for Justice
Anne Manne
Black Inc, 2024
Reviewed by Andrew Esnouf

Crimes of the Cross is an important book for Anglicans to read. It is also a difficult book to read. It discusses the horrific and weighty issues of child sexual abuse in Anglican churches, and so it is at times confronting, at times disturbing and at times enraging. It is also conflicting, as many will personally know, or be acquainted with those who know, pivotal people described in this book. So not all Anglicans will be able to read this book, but many should.

It is an important book for Anglicans because a central practice of our faith is to confess our sins and failings. Also central to the Anglican tradition is seeking to love and bless our communities, particularly the young and the vulnerable. If Anglicans are true to our faith, then we must recognise our failures, repent of them, and work to ensure they are never repeated.

Anne Manne has previously reported on stories of abuse revealed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Here, she expands upon that reporting with further research into specific stories of abuse from within the Diocese of Newcastle. Crimes of the Cross follows the story of Steve Smith, whose family were active parishioners in their local church in suburban Newcastle. He was a bright boy, his father was a churchwarden and his mother was a church organist. Mr Smith was abused, repeatedly, by his parish priest George Parker.

The book then largely follows Mr Smith’s journey, tracing the tragic aftermath in the decades since his abuse. Mr Smith’s struggles to find healing and justice are documented. He sought justice through the courts and was failed. He sought truth-telling from the church and encountered church officials either unwilling or unable to admit complicity.

The book culminates in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and its aftermath. The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle was scathingly rebuked, and Mr Smith’s testimony was heard and honoured as a ‘truthful and compelling witness’. This horrific story is not a horror tale of the impact of an individual’s sin. It is a condemnation of multiple system failures within organisations, particularly the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and of the ability of perpetrators to manipulate people and organisations to benefit abusers and their allies. On this Manne is not making baseless assertions, as she maps out the network of power players within the Newcastle Anglican and high society network.

“Team Church” as Manne calls them includes Graeme Lawrence, who was Dean of the cathedral in Newcastle from 1984 until 2008, and Peter Rushton. Both were priests who serially abused children, and both had allegations of their abuse swept under the rug by senior church leadership, including a succession of bishops.

Throughout this weighty book, there are moments of hope and humanity. The love, courage and determination of Mr Smith’s mother when he disclosed his abuse is one such moment. His ability to love and support other abuse survivors is another. Mr Smith’s ability to offer grace to the clergy and church who failed him is truly admirable.

An underlying plot of the book is that progress has been made in institutional cultures, and it beautifully articulates how this progress has been incredibly hard-won, and honours some of those whose sweat and tears contributed to this progress.

Perhaps the most valuable chapter for the church to learn from in this book is not any of the harrowing details of abuse or the malicious deceptions carried out to defend perpetrators or to save face, but rather the penultimate chapter Powerful Perpetrators.

In this chapter, Ms Manne examines the patterns of abuse that manifested in the actions of George Parker, Graeme Lawrence and Peter Rushton, which includes the cultivation of a reputation and image that mimics that of a good vicar, in order to gain access to victims and allies when their abuse is revealed. They impress with their leadership and charismatic authority, they regularly visit the troubled and the vulnerable, and they are well thought of as generous and benignly helpful. These are traits many in parish ministry seek to emulate, which is why churches find themselves hunting grounds for sexual predators.

Crimes of the Cross is a troubling but important book. Anglicans must know both the history of our failures and the patterns abusers use to prey upon the young and vulnerable. This is a painful and difficult book for Anglicans to read, but it is a gift to us. It is a gift we should embrace and give thanks for.

As published in the The Melbourne Anglican.

The Reverend Andrew Esnouf is Parish Minister (Youth) in the parish of St Alban’s and St Augustine’s Merri-Bek.