ACNA Update: Increasing Identity Conflict and the “Dear Gay Anglicans” Letter

Conflict over Critical Theory and related identity issues is escalating in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

On the one hand, the woke cabal in ACNA has gotten more bold.  One prominent example is the Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN) naming Johana-Marie Williams as Interim Director.  She happens to be the Southern Gothic Womanist blogger.  The goal of her blog is two-fold:

1. To show how who Jesus is answers womanist, posthumanist, and afro-pessimist ontological concerns.

2. To show how a deeper commitment to Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the Church can (and should) legitimately lead to a deeper commitment to fighting the capitalist-imperialist-racist-hetero-patriarchy.

Got it.  Now it should be said it is unclear what relationship AMEN retains with ACNA.  I believe AMEN was once a provincial initiative, but that may no longer be the case.  Nonetheless, this appointment has gotten some attention in ACNA as Kevin and George note in their latest Anglican Unscripted (648, about 9 minutes in).

Not getting quite as much attention, but it should, is that The Table Indy, a C4SO (Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others) congregation of course, is giving up Whiteness for Lent.  Their “Lent focus on Racism and Repentance” began with an online Workshop on “Re-imagining Life Together Beyond Whiteness.”

The discussion at the Facebook announcement was interesting, including this:

Whiteness? Why does the color of my skin assume I have some supremacy or that I have wronged others. Sound like a rather blanket racist comment.

To which one of The Table’s Priests, Matt Tebbe, replied:

You misunderstand whiteness... It’s racist to refuse to acknowledge or learn about whiteness. 

You are free to learn by watching the workshop if you wish.

But by far the biggest battle lately is over “Gay Anglicans,” namely whether it is appropriate for Christians with same-sex desires or temptations to identify as Gay Christians.  And that battle sure got interesting the past two days (to the point where I had to rewrite this).

Earlier the ACNA College of Bishops put forth an excellent and sensitive pastoral statement even if it seems written by a college of bishops.  But it did not take long for there to be pushback.  Bishop Todd Hunter of C4SO, of course, issued guidance that some took as undermining the College of Bishops.  And then came a “Dear Gay Anglicans” open letter, which most definitely does undermine the College of Bishops’ statement. (Anglican Unscripted 648 also discusses this while the matter was still ongoing about 19 minutes in.)

The response was swift. I know of at least two ACNA bishops who told their clergy not to sign the DGA letter.  Stand Firm issued a good open letter in response. I was aware of more efforts in the works as well.

But swift actions by two bishops put a quick end to the DGA letter. Archbishop Foley Beach issued a remarkably frank letter:

While [the DGA letter] says they are not undermining our Pastoral Statement, they actually are. Replacing “gay Christian” with “gay Anglican” is pretty much in your face. My immediate reaction to the letter was that it was pretty benign and wasn’t going to change anything about what we teach. 

However, it has already had international ramifications. I have had to deal with two provinces already (actually now three as of a few minutes ago) — and this is just the first day…. 

In the province, the expected hard rhetoric is coming from both sides in reaction to this. I find our lack of charity in the province a serious blind spot we need to address. Many of our bishops, and rightly so, feel this is an attempt to undermine our roles as guardians of the Faith and teachers of the doctrine of the Church. Some individuals have expressed that we are now TEC 2.0. Some think this is going to break the ACNA apart — one quote I received tonight: “If I had to guess what might fracture the ACNA I would’ve said women’s ordination. I never would have thought it would be homosexuality. We gave up everything to take a clear stand on this. It is disheartening to have it being taken away.”  I could go on, but you get the point. 

This is serious enough, however, that I am writing this at 1:15 am.

I don’t think he was happy.  Do read the rest.

Then the Interim Bishop of Pittsburgh Martyn Minns asked the DGA ringleader Pieter Valk to take the Dear Gay Anglicans letter down, which he did.  A few are very unhappy about that.  But more, including me, rejoice that we in ACNA actually do have bishops who have spines and know how to use them. 

So this episode had a somewhat happy ending.  But it suffices to say that conflict over Critical Theory, identity, and related issues continues and is increasing in ACNA.  And frankly it needs to increase. The routine of the woke cabal pushing and pushing while the rest of us are “collegial” will no longer do.  That is a road to becoming The Episcopal Church.  As St. Paul wrote:

For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. (I Cor. 11: 18, 19)

We need our bishops and other leaders to come down every bit as hard on Critical Theory and its progeny as they just did on the “Dear Gay Anglicans Letter.”  But I may say more about that another time.

That Word “Justice”

Being a writer as well as a student of Anglicanism and history, I can be obsessed with words and bothered by the misuse of them.  So bear with me as I rant a bit about the use of the word “justice” in the Anglican Church in North America.

Note that I am leaving aside for now the use of the term “social justice.” Trust me that I have issues with that term! But at this time, the use of the word “justice” alone and unclarified in ACNA bothers and perplexes me more for reasons you shall see.

What prompts this complaint is a statement from a new bishop in ACNA (I won’t name him at this time because I want to give him a chance and because the problem is bigger than he.): 

I strongly desire to build and equip congregations of His Word and His Spirit, expressed in relational evangelism and justice, distinguished by generosity and compassion.

That sounds great, but what the hay does he mean by “justice” here? Does he mean that vergers will set upon the unjust? That would certainly make services more interesting!  Or has his diocese been licensed by the state to carry out justice through church courts and church prisons? (Don’t laugh.  Such existed in olden days.)

Perhaps he intends for his diocese to work for justice rather than to execute it.  Well, I sure would like to see more justice! So perhaps he intends to work for justice against illegals who break into our country and take advantage of our welfare system and social services that us citizens pay for.  Perhaps he intends to strive for justice against criminal illegals who endanger us all.  Or maybe he wants justice in another area dear to me – justice against those who through the IRS, through control of social media or through street violence ala Antifa have attacked our freedom of speech.  Yes, I want more justice like that!

But somehow I do not think that is what the bishop intended by “justice”.

Now I’ve heard another ACNA bishop use that term “justice” in similar fashion. Maybe that would give a clue.  Who was it?  Oh yes, Todd Hunter, Bishop of the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO).  In the first minute of the video “We Are C4SO” about three years ago, he states that C4SO seeks to “take Jesus and his announcement of the kingdom seriously” and to “demonstrate it in deeds of benevolence, justice, healing….”

Those who have followed ACNA for some time now know what “justice” means from Hunter. The C4SO diocese has been a hotbed of pushing a Left/Lib social justice agenda in ACNA.  It often seems that just about any push for “social justice” in ACNA has C4SO people involved.

Such use of the word “justice” without the qualifier “social” when the agenda really is “social justice” is profoundly dishonest. In this context, the already vague term “justice” conceals more than it reveals.  And such a use, an abuse really, is manipulative.  After all, who would be so awful as to oppose “justice”? Only bad mean people oppose justice, and you are not one of them, are you? 

Now is the aforementioned new bishop using/abusing “justice” in this manner?  I hope not and pray he demonstrates not and that he instead shepherds his diocese well. And, as I’ve already said, I don’t want to pick on him.  I wish him the best.

But let’s stop abusing this word in ACNA. To say a mission of the church is “justice” at the very least conceals more than it reveals, especially in today’s context.  If part of ACNA’s mission really is “social justice” then let’s just say it so that us mean bad people in ACNA can make a more informed decision about whether to stay or not. If only certain ACNA dioceses or entities have a supposed calling to “social justice” then they should clearly and without obfuscation let us know that, so us meanies can call them to repent or else.

As for me, I have already fled deceptively worded false gospels.  I have no intention of putting up with another.

About Bishop Todd Hunter (and 1 Timothy 5:22)

There has been concern expressed online and elsewhere about the appropriateness of Todd Hunter speaking at the upcoming ACNA Provincial Assembly in the aftermath of AMiA’s fall out with Rwanda. (+Hunter is (or was) an AMiA bishop.)

Well, problem solved.

Bishop Todd Hunter of the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) has been received by the Anglican Church in North America and will serve as an assistant bishop in the office of the primate, the Most Rev. Robert Duncan.

And I agree with Matt Kennedy that it is good to see him, at his initiative, reconciled with Rwanda.

Bishop Hunter also stated that he had asked for and had received forgiveness from the Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje for “my part in actions, attitudes or communications that were hurtful to him or to my brother bishops in Rwanda.”

So he, Bishop Duncan, and others involved are to be commended for getting this matter resolved and that well before the Provincial Assembly.

However (“Uh, oh,” my readers are saying.), I think we should not let pass without comment a significant reason Todd Hunter got into this mess in the first place.  The following gives a clue about that:

When I walked across the dance floor and was introduced to Anglicanism three years ago I was told repeatedly that we were all working toward one, unified, missional, kingdom-oriented, Spirit-enabled Anglican church in North America. I took that vision into my heart and have pondered it since,” [Bishop Hunter] said.

So he was an Anglican for only three years before being made an Anglican bishop?  Not exactly.  He was made bishop back in 2009.  Look at his own statement back in 2009 between his election and consecration as bishop in the AMiA:

It is big shocker because in the past I would have never thought of myself as an Anglican. While I admired and respected Robert Webber from a distance, I was not one of those people on the Canterbury Trail. I’ve often said over the last six months that this has all come out of the blue for me.

It is not clear exactly what “six months” refers to.  But “three years ago” is 2009. So, by his own admission, he was Anglican for less than a year before being elected an Anglican bishop. (By the way, I remember overhearing talk of this at the Bedford Provincial Assembly.)  That is indeed “out of the blue.”  Read more of his 2009 statement and the comments there to get a flavor of that.

Paul commanded Timothy to “lay hands hastily on no man.” (1Tim. 5:22) It is safe to say that making a new Anglican an Anglican bishop is hasty.

And it put Hunter in a difficult position.  Certainly, to be a bishop of a church and tradition of which one is just getting to know is not an easy position to be in.  That goes double for Anglicanism, in which jurisdictions can be slightly labyrinthine.  This all compounded the difficulty of dealing with the mess when Chuck Murphy went rogue.

Again, +Hunter is to be commended for setting matters aright.  And he may turn out to be an outstanding bishop.  It is clear Archbishop Duncan is among those who have high hopes for him.  God is gracious and often causes undertakings that did not start well to become great blessings and end well.  Even some of the church fathers were made bishops very quickly.  And if anyone is to be criticized, it is those who laid hands on Todd Hunter more than Mr. Hunter himself. 

But Paul did not give the above commandment to Timothy for nothing.  And the awkwardness in which +Hunter found himself in recent months illustrates part of St. Paul’s wisdom.

Christianity Today Interview with Todd Hunter

I was among those at the ACNA Provincial Assembly who looked slightly askance at Todd Hunter so quickly being made a bishop of the AMiA.

But I thought he gave a good talk at the assembly. And I think he shows forth a lot of wisdom in an interview by Christianity Today. He is particularly perceptive on the subject of what effective evangelism looks like.

Read and think upon the interview here.