Global South Singapore Communique: No More Business as Usual

The Communique from the Singapore Global South conference is out. The concluding paragraphs deal forcefully with the present Anglican Communion issues:

16. In contrast, we continue to grieve over the life of The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada and all those churches that have rejected the Way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture. The recent action of TEC in the election and intended consecration of Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, as a bishop in Los Angeles, has demonstrated, yet again, a total disregard for the mind of the Communion. These churches continue in their defiance as they set themselves on a course that contradicts the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures on matters so fundamental that they affect the very salvation of those involved. Such actions violate the integrity of the Gospel, the Communion and our Christian witness to the rest of the world. In the face of this we dare not remain silent and must respond with appropriate action.

17. We uphold the courageous actions taken by Archbishops Mouneer Anis (Jerusalem and the Middle East), Henry Orombi (Uganda) and Ian Ernest (Indian Ocean) and are encouraged by their decision not to participate in meetings of the various Instruments of Communion at which representatives of The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada are present. We understand their actions to be in protest of the failure to correct the ongoing crisis situation.

18. Some of our Provinces are already in a state of broken and impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their continued refusal to honor the many requests [1] made of them by the various meetings of the Primates throughout the Windsor Process have brought discredit to our witness and we urge the Archbishop of Canterbury to implement the recommended actions. In light of the above, this Fourth South-to-South Encounter encourages our various Provinces to reconsider their communion relationships with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada until it becomes clear that there is genuine repentance.

19. We were pleased to welcome two Communion Partner bishops from The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) and acknowledge that with them there are many within TEC who do not accept their church’s innovations. We assure them of our loving and prayerful support. We are grateful that the recently formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a faithful expression of Anglicanism. We welcomed them as partners in the Gospel and our hope is that all provinces will be in full communion with the clergy and people of the ACNA and the Communion Partners.

20. For many generations Anglicans have lived together with a shared understanding of our common faith; indeed among our great gifts has been the Book of Common Prayer that has provided a foundation for our common life. In recent years the peace of our Communion has been deeply wounded by those who continue to claim the name Anglican but who pursue an agenda of their own desire in opposition to historic norms of faith, teaching and practice. This has led to a number of developments including the GAFCON meeting that took place in Jerusalem in June 2008. [2]

21. Global South leaders have been in the forefront of the development of the ‘Anglican Covenant’ that seeks to articulate the essential elements of our faith together with means by which we might exercise meaningful and loving discipline for those who depart from the ‘faith once for all delivered to the saints.’ We are currently reviewing the proposed Covenant to find ways to strengthen it in order for it to fulfill its purpose. For example, we believe that all those who adopt the Covenant must be in compliance with Lambeth 1.10. Meanwhile we recognize that the Primates Meeting, being responsible for Faith and Order, should be the body to oversee the Covenant in its implementation, not the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion.

22. Over the last 20 years we have been distracted by conflicts and controversies that have kept us from effectively fulfilling the Great Commission. While we have been so distracted, Christian heritage, identity and influence has continued to decline in the West. We believe that there is a need to review the entire Anglican Communion structure; especially the Instruments of Communion and the Anglican Communion office; in order to achieve an authentic expression of the current reality of our Anglican Communion.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1,2)


Paragraph 21 is most telling. Past communion agreements have been signed with a wink and a nod. See Frank Griswold’s signing of the Windsor Report. The Global South says that will not do with the Anglican Covenant and insists, for starters, on compliance with Lambeth 1.10 before a province can sign. Since that means no gay bishops or blessing of homosexual relationships, that would rule out The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

The communiqué also says no to Rowan Williams’ practice of anointing stacked committees to further undermine communion agreements. So forget a stacked so-called Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion to oversee the Covenant. Instead, the Primates Meeting is the appropriate and more representative overseer.

Paragraph 22 further targets stacked Anglican Communion structures, particularly the Anglican Communion office. And one doesn’t have to read much between the lines of the communiqué to see that His Grace’s video request for more patience and time and dithering is politely ignored. There is instead a since of urgency finally to get past the too many years of being “distracted by conflicts and controversies that have kept us from effectively fulfilling the Great Commission.”

In short, the communiqué forcefully and in some detail says “No” to what has become business as usual under Rowan Williams.

Archbishop Duncan Presides at GSE4 Holy Communion

I don’t want to read too much into this. But I think it worthy of note that ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan has presided at Holy Communion at the Global South-to-South Encounter meeting in Singapore.

Report: GS Reaction to ++Rowan’s Video Address is . . . Silence.

Rowan Williams via video to Singapore asked for more patience from the Global South. He in effect asked, “Trust me.” For after all, “as I speak to you now, I am in discussion with a number of people around the world about what consequences might follow from [the election and consecration of Mary Glasspool in Los Angeles].”

Wow! The Archbishop of Canterbury is in yet more discussion! We must therefore wait upon him no matter how many years he strings us along!

The reaction of the audience at the Global South conference was much less snarky than mine. However . . .

. . . after Archbishop Rowan Williams' video address to the Global South-to-South Encounter audience was over, there was silence. No one applauded, and glances around the room revealed lots of head-shaking and eye-rolling. According to one of the sources, "it did not go off well."

And that is as it should be when someone who has betrayed trust again and again . . . asks for more trust.

++Okoh on the Gospel and Apostasy

After reading ++Nicholas Okoh’s address on “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” at the Global South meeting, I am glad he is the new Primate of Nigeria.

Two things about the address stand out to me. First, it is very scholarly, packing a lot of meaty teaching into one address.

Second, at the end he calls out those *coughTECcough* who have committed “the treachery of another Gospel which is afraid of and denies the deity of Christ.” His concluding words:

. . . the deity of Christ is increasingly becoming offensive in some quarters in our communion. For others the uniqueness of Christ cannot be taught in our pluralistic society. But pluralism was there, in the first country. The Jewish religion was there, so were the Greek Philosophies and religions, hence it was said that the cross was foolishness to the Greeks, and a stumbling block to the Jews. The creeds, the 39 articles (see 2, 3, 4) and the Holy Scriptures, all uphold the deity and uniqueness of Jesus, the Christ. To deny these fundamentals is to abandon the way; it is apostasy; it is “another gospel”, which is condemned in scripture.

Methinks Dr. Rowan Williams’ desire that this Global South meeting does . . . not much of anything about The Episcopal Church and its enablers just might be disappointed.


Hat tip to Northern Plains Anglicans.

++Ernest Excommunicates TEC and ACC

In a polite but strongly worded letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ian Ernest, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean makes clear he has had enough:

I believe that I have been patient and hopeful that our co-operation and listening, our reasoning and brotherly concern would have brought transformation. However it is now abundantly clear to me and to my people that the Episcopal Church has no intention of honouring any of the commitments it has made whether that be in terms of ‘moratoriums’ or ‘gracious restraint’. It is to my mind hell bent on a course that is in radical disobedience to the counsels of God in Holy Scripture.

He therefore excommunicates, even shuns(!), the apostates:

Consequently, I feel constrained by my conscience to uphold my duty as shepherd of the flock and to forthwith suspend all communication both verbal and sacramental with both the TEC and the ACC – their Primates, bishops and clergy until such time as they reverse their theological innovations, and show a commitment to abide by the decisions of the Lambeth Conference. This suspension of communion would not include those bishops and clergy who have distanced themselves from the direction of the TEC (such as the Communion Partners group).

It is gratifying to see there are still Anglicans who know how to excommunicate. He also makes clear he is no longer interested in business as usual from His Grace:

If over 80% of Anglicans live in the global south, why is this not reflected in communion structures? Further attention needs to be given to the adoption of the Anglican Covenant which would bring the communion back to its true calling. However the matter of credibility of the structures which are meant to oversee the process needs to be addressed.

In other words, stop rigging the Anglican Communion, Your Grace.

I also support Archbishop Henry’s call for a Primates meeting. I also will only attend this meeting on condition that we as Primates be consulted first before the agenda is finalised, and on condition that the Primates of TEC and the ACC are not present.

This letter, along with public letters from ++Anis and ++Orombi when TEC is about to ordain a lesbian “bishop” makes one wonder if the Global South is on the verge of laying down the law to Rowan Williams. The 4th Global South to South Encounter is about to meet in Singapore. Will an important statement come from there?

Strong Words about Rowan from the Global South

After their recent meeting in London, the Global South Steering Committee has issued a statement. Most notable are the strong words about Dr. Rowan Williams’ leadership. By Anglican standards, they are practically calling him out. For starters they clearly criticize his “undifferentiated invitations to the Lambeth Conference (July 2008) of the un-repenting Bishops who have clearly flouted the bonds of trust and 'torn the fabric at the deepest level' of the Communion . . . .”

Then they take on his whitewash, via the Joint Standing Committee, of the Episcopal Church’s defiance, saying it “has further weakened the remaining fragile threads of trust in the Communion and severely affected hope for any genuine resolution.”

They are not optimistic at all about the Anglican Communion:

These have caused various deepening negative assessments and cast further doubts on the state, will and ability, of the Communion to continue as a recognizable living and witnessing expression of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. Consequently, initiatives and challenges have emerged which could lead to further fragmentation and disintegration in the Communion, which is already in the nadir of collegial trust and confidence.

It’s hard to miss the inference that it’s Williams’ leadership especially that has eroded trust and confidence among Communion bishops. They all but say, “Rowan, we don’t trust you.”

They once again criticize Williams for not inviting to Lambeth missionary bishops from the Global South while freely inviting apostates:

. . . we deeply regret that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not consider it appropriate to invite those bishops consecrated by outside Provinces to address pastoral exigencies in USA. The temporal pastoral responses to needs on the ground should not be treated on the same level as the crisis-creating theological and ethical innovation of those involved in the consecration of Gene Robinson. Furthermore, these responses would not have continued if the requirements of the unanimously agreed Communiqué of the Primates’ Meeting at Tanzania of TEC had been adequately complied with.

They leave unsaid that Our Lord of Canterbury himself undercut the Tanzania Communiqué. But given the rest of the Primates' statement, I think that can be read between the lines.

One thing about Anglicanism I don’t like is the propensity to be entirely too polite in addressing sorry bishops and their leadership. So it’s refreshing to see these Primates engage in such straight talk about Rowan Williams’ leadership.

Are the Global South Primates Taking Over?

I’m so chronically tired I’m having trouble putting two coherent thoughts together. Oxford is too close to exhausting me. So do take the following with a grain of salt.

But when I read ++Peter Akinola’s call to the other primates for a primates meeting, regardless of noises from Lambeth that there won’t be one, combined with word that ++Gregory Venables will take under his wing those dioceses that split from the Episcopal Church, I wonder if we’re entering a new phase of the current troubles.

With it being clear that the Archbishop of Canterbury won’t lift a finger to provide for distressed North American Anglicans or to discipline the Episcopal Church, perhaps the core of Global South primates have decided it’s time to take over the reins and lead, bypassing ++Rowan. I think it’s possible (though not likely) that we may be witnessing the reduction of the Archbishop of Canterbury to a figurehead, not unlike the Queen of England. More likely is a hastened split of the Communion.

Whether this tact by the two primates and allies saves the Anglican Communion or hastens its split is to be seen. In either case, I fully support it. When bishops don’t do their duty, and ++Rowan has not and will not, then it’s right for other bishops to do theirs.

I think what is being said in an indirect though firm manner to ++Rowan Williams by ++Akinola and ++Venables is “It’s clear you won’t lead, Rowan. So we will.”

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By the way, I more or less predicted ++Venables would take on breakaway dioceses six months ago. I’m good sometimes.

An Important Photograph from Kenya

I want to focus on Oxford matters. But I can’t let the first photograph from here go without comment.

Here you have most (all?) the major Global South primates with U. S. worthies, most notably Bishop Duncan, together consecrating Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch as bishops of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

This photo makes a strong statement that what we are seeing in orthodox North American Anglicanism is not more balkanization, but a determined effort to bring about a unified orthodox North American Anglican province.

Let us pray this effort succeeds.

Network Meeting: A New Province in the Works?

I’ve been out most of the morning. And I don’t want to jump the gun. But from what I’ve gleaned from the Anglican Communion Network meeting over at Stand Firm, it sure sounds to me that Bishops Duncan and Iker intend to lead orthodox U. S. Anglicans OUT of the Episcopal Church and to form a new province.

Among other interesting statements, Bishop Duncan described the Global South Steering Committee’s view as follows: “The American province is lost. And something will have to replace it.” And the context indicates that is his view as well.

And it sounds like he’s willing to separate from Canterbury as well to go into “new structures.” Duncan: “All of the Western structures of Anglicanism are failing,” including Lambeth and Canterbury.

Also, a number of bishops from the APA and REC are there.

Another Attempt on the Life of the Bishop of Jos

For the second time in 18 months an attempt has been made on the life of Bishop Benjamin Kwashi, the Bishop of Jos, Plateau State in Northern Nigeria.

Early on the morning of Tuesday July 24 at 2.15 a.m. a gang of men, more than five in number bound the two security guards at the gates of his compound and locked up the four domestic staff,

Armed with guns and knives, they then battered through the doors of the house, went upstairs and marched Bishop Ben Kwashi downstairs and outside.

They told Bishop Ben they were going to kill him.

Read the rest here.

Islam is strong in Northern Nigeria not-so-by-the-way.

Folks, the persecution of our Nigerian brethren is very real. Yet they are standing for the truth without wavering. We need to be praying for them and supporting them.


Hat tip to titusonenine.

BREAKING: A Statement from the Global South Steering Committee

The Global South Steering Committee has just issued an important statement. The following stands out.

5. We have also been pained to hear of the continuing and growing resort to civil litigation by The Episcopal Church against congregations and individuals which wish to remain Anglican but are unable to do so within TEC. This is in defiance of the urgent plea agreed to by all of the Primates in the Dar es Salaam Communiqué. This approach to use power and coercion to resolve our current dispute is both enormously costly and doomed to failure and again, we urge the immediate suspension of all such activities and a return to biblical practices of prayer, reconciliation and mediation.

6. Because of the categorical rejection of the unanimously agreed Pastoral Scheme and the urgent needs of the growing number of congregations now linked to various Provinces in the Global South, we have had no choice but to provide additional episcopal oversight from the concerned Provinces. We believe that failure to do so would have resulted in many individuals and congregations lost to the Anglican Communion. The rejection of the proposed Pastoral Scheme has also had a profound impact on those dioceses that had requested alternative primatial oversight. We are aware that they are exploring various ways in which they can maintain their Anglican identity apart from The Episcopal Church. We are encouraged by this and also that they are working together within the Common Cause Partnership to avoid unnecessary fragmentation. We recognize that this is a temporary measure and look forward to the time when it is either no longer necessary or they are all part of a new ecclesiastical structure in the USA.

7. We are aware of the anticipated visit by the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC to the September meeting of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church USA. Sadly we are convinced that this decision, made jointly by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chair of the ACC, undermines the integrity of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué. We believe that the Primates Meeting, which initiated the request to the TEC House of Bishops, must make any determination as to the adequacy of their response. We strongly urge the scheduling of a Primates’ Meeting for this purpose at the earliest possible moment.

Much can be said. But note that they are not shy about standing up to the Archbishop of Canterbury, noting that he’s undermining the decisions of the Primates Meetings, and insisting he stop so doing.

Accordingly, they are calling for a Primates Meeting to respond to The Episcopal Church’s defiance of Dar es Salaam. I think it’s safe to say they don’t trust Canterbury to respond for them.


MORE: These are strong words about Lambeth:

9. We are concerned for the future of our Communion as a truly global fellowship and our witness before the world as a respected ecclesial family within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In regards to the proposed Lambeth Conference in 2008, we are concerned that the publicly stated expectations for participation have changed its character and function. It is now difficult to see it either as an instrument of unity or communion. At a time when the world needs a vision of reconciliation and unity, our failure to restore the ‘torn fabric’ of our Communion threatens to show the world a contrary example.

10. We remain committed to the convictions expressed in the CAPA report “The Road to Lambeth” and urge immediate reconsideration of the current Lambeth plans. It is impossible for us to see how, without discipline in the Communion and without the reconciliation that we urge, we can participate in the proposed conference; to be present but unable to participate in sacramental fellowship would all the more painfully demonstrate our brokenness. The polarization surrounding the Lambeth meeting has been exacerbated because we are also unable to take part in an event from which a number of our own bishops have been arbitrarily excluded while those whose actions have precipitated our current crisis are included.


Hat tip to Stand Firm.

++Orombi in First Things

My favorite journal, First Things, has scored quite a coup with “What is Anglicanism?” from the Archbishop of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi.

So much can be said about this excellent article. I’ll confine my comments to excerpts I find particularly interesting in light of the current Anglican troubles.

Right up front he makes a bold statement:

But however we come to understand the current crisis in Anglicanism, this much is apparent: The younger churches of Anglican Christianity will shape what it means to be Anglican. The long season of British hegemony is over.

He then rightly asserts, “Scripture must be reasserted as the central authority in our communion.” And he eloquently recites some of the history of how important scripture is to the Ugandan church. Then he makes another bold statement:

From Thomas Cranmer to Richard Hooker, from the Thirty-Nine Articles and the 1662 Ordinal to the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the authority of Holy Scripture has always held a central and foundational role in Anglican identity. This is true for the Anglican church in Uganda; and, if it is not true for the entire Anglican Communion, then that communion will cease to be an authentic expression of the Church of Jesus Christ.

This is not an archbishop who will stay in communion with Canterbury at all costs. And this TEC “new thing” crap has got to go:

The insistence from some Anglican circles (mostly in the Western world) on esoteric interpretations of Scripture borders on incipient Gnosticism that has no place in historic or global Anglicanism.

And he’s not going to “meet” forever if the decisions of those meetings are continually undermined.

The resolutions of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops have always had a moral authority among the communion’s autonomous but interdependent provinces, yet some of those resolutions are now flagrantly defied and even mocked.

We primates have worked hard in recent years to find consensus even in our present situation of broken or impaired communion. Through the grace of God, our communiqués have been consensus statements, unanimously agreed upon, and they are evidence of our commitment as primates to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Yet some provinces have not taken our communiqués seriously, and the primates, as an instrument of communion, have been scorned.

And he’s right. The arrogance of the Episcopal Church and even of the Archbishop of Canterbury in undermining the Primates Meetings has gone beyond what is tolerable. Speaking of meetings whose resolutions are ignored, you can forget about Lambeth.

In December 2006, the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda unanimously adopted “The Road to Lambeth,” a statement drafted for a council of African provinces. Among other things, it stated, “We will definitely not attend any Lambeth Conference to which the violators of the Lambeth Resolution [1.10] are also invited as participants or observers.” Accordingly, if the present invitations to the Lambeth Conference stand, I do not expect the Ugandan bishops to attend.

But then he makes an important clarification (The emphasis is mine.):

It is important that this decision not be misunderstood as withdrawing from the instruments of communion. On the contrary, our decision reflects the critical importance of the Lambeth Conference: Its value as an instrument of communion is greatly diminished when the persistent violators of its resolutions are invited. . . . An instrument of communion must also be an instrument of discipline in order to effectively facilitate meaningful communion among its autonomous provinces.

Consider this with ++Akinola’s recent statement in the Times interview:

So we are not breaking away from anybody. We remain Anglicans. We are Anglican church. We will die Anglicans. We aint going nowhere, as Americans would say. We aint going nowhere. But to gather as Anglicans with all these people, we must get it right.

These two clarifications make me think the schism won’t be as immediate or as certain as people think. As ++Orombi states earlier, the Global South Primates recognize that the future is with their churches more than with the heterodox Western Anglican churches. So they haven’t given up on the Anglican Communion altogether. Don’t expect a split with trumpets blowing next year.

Now, they won’t put up with business as usual. And they will continue to foster an evolving working together of orthodox Anglicans. But they aren’t burning their bridges. They are leaving the door open to continue in or to return to the Anglican Communion in the future should it decide to “get it right.” And with time and demographics -- and God -- on the side of the orthodox, they may well have the power one day to make the Anglican Communion “get it right.”

And ++Orombi’s and ++Akinola’s statements indicate they and those who come after them will be both more dogged and more patient about that than most people expect.


Hat tip to Titusonenine.

The Times Interviews ++Akinola

Details of an interesting interview of Primate Peter Akinola by Ruth Gledhill of the Times may be found here and here. Reading both would definitely be worth your time.

Two things stand out to me. First, Gledhill states that in the Nigerian church ++Akinola “is almost a liberal. Those longing for his retirement, thinking that suddenly every African Primate will be sharing communion again with our bishops in the West, should be careful what they pray for.”

Second, ++Akinola says he’s not interested in leading a breakaway church. In ++Akinola’s words:

Look, that has never been on my mind. This is something the media are making. You see we have the scripture. We have our traditions. We have our Lambeth Conference resolution. We have the Primates communique. We have not broken the law. It is your churches breaking the law. You are the ones breaking rules not we. You are the ones who are doing what we said should not be done, with impunity. You are the ones breaking the law. We are saying you cannot sweep it under the carpet. You can't. Maybe in the past, but not any more. We have aged. We have aged. That is the point So we are not breaking away from anybody. We remain Anglicans. We are Anglian church. We will die Anglicans. We aint going nowhere, as Americans would say. We aint going nowhere. But to gather as Anglicans with all these people, we must get it right.

That’s an interesting statement. And it’s difficult to make portents from it. But I suggest that perhaps there won’t be a new communion formed with trumpets blowing. Instead, an evolving ad hoc working together of orthodox Anglicans may be more likely. We’ll see.

Clarity from Rwanda

The Rwandan House of Bishops issued a remarkable communiqué about Lambeth this week. It is so clear and straightforward, it’s almost un-Anglican.

Along with an earlier statement from the Church of Nigeria, it shows that ++Rowan’s ill-advised decision to invite all the Episcopal Church’s bishops to Lambeth save one while not inviting many orthodox Anglican bishops will have dire consequences for the Anglican Communion (unless he drastically changes the invitation list, which I don’t expect).

Rwanda takes a hard line on its AMiA bishops not being invited:

The manner in which the invitations to the bishops of Rwanda were issued is divisive as some of our bishops were not invited. The bishops that provide oversight to the Anglican Mission (AMiA) are not "Anglican Mission bishops," but rather bishops of the Province of Rwanda given the responsibility to lead Rwanda’s missionary outreach to North America. We are a united body and will not participate in a conference which would divide our number.

This is similar to the Primate of Nigeria’s statement that “The withholding of invitation to a Nigerian bishop, elected and consecrated by other Nigerian bishops, will be viewed as withholding of invitation to the entire House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria.”

The Rwandan bishops then take the Archbishop of Canterbury to task in language I can’t recall coming from any province’s official statement before.

The leadership of Canterbury has ignored and constantly taken lightly the resolutions from the primates’ meetings and the statement in the "Road to Lambeth" document prepared for, and accepted by, CAPA which agreed that the crisis of faith in the Anglican Communion needed to be resolved before Lambeth 2008.

And Rwanda is right. ++Rowan at least came close to sabotaging the Panel of Reference even though a Primates Meeting declared it “a matter of urgency.” He pushed a report whitewashing TEC’s defiance of Windsor/Dromantine on the last Primates Meeting. Now he has invited TEC’s bishops in spite of their escalated defiance of the Primates.

Rwanda then says something even I’ve been hesitant to say.

From his actions and decision to invite TEC, a province which is violating holy orders, biblical teaching and the tradition of the church, and his decision not to invite the bishops of AMiA and CANA, the Archbishop of Canterbury has shown that he has now taken sides.

That’s a bold conclusion. And I would not have said that only a few months ago. But in light of how ++Rowan has conducted himself, it now seems to me wishful thinking to conclude anything else. Yes, if ++Rowan had his way, he’d keep everybody on board. But keeping the heretics and apostates on board certainly now seems more important to him than keeping the orthodox. Rwanda is probably right.

Again, this is a remarkable statement to be coming from an Anglican province.

You know where this statement is heading:

Therefore, in view of the above, in good conscience, the bishops of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda have resolved not to attend the Lambeth Conference 2008 unless the previously stipulated requirement of repentance on the part of the TEC and other like-minded Provinces is met, and invitations are extended to our entire House of Bishops.

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Now, I’ve gone back and forth in my mind on whether the best course for the orthodox Global South and allies is (1.) not go to Lambeth in light of ++Rowan’s invitations or (2.) go to Lambeth, pull off a coup, take Lambeth out of ++Rowan’s control and expel the Episcopal Church.

I think 2. might be worth a try but there is a big problem with that. ++Rowan and company can chose to downplay or even ignore Lambeth if the Global South is successful in taking it over. After all, large portions of the communion, especially the two North American provinces, have ignored Lambeth ’98.

And ++Rowan all but ignored Windsor and the Primates in issuing his invitations for Lambeth ’08. And the Episcopal Church is notorious for crying “Polity!” or ignoring polity depending on what suits their aims.

That’s a big problem with Anglican polity. Provinces and even the Archbishop of Canterbury can, in practice, pick and choose what parts of polity to abide by or ignore without consequences. Or at least it seems that way.

It honestly makes me wonder if the Anglican Communion is worth fighting for anymore. And, as one who once hoped to be in the Anglican Communion, I say that with great sadness.

I do hope with many that this is not drawn out any longer. If the Anglican Communion is to be a viable orthodox church, then expel the Episcopal Church, and let’s get on with it. If there is going to be a split, then let’s get on with that and build a new orthodox Anglican body.

Either way, I, like the bishops of Rwanda, have had it with an Archbishop of Canterbury who strings along the orthodox and appears, however obscurely, to have no intention of effectively dealing with apostasy.