Anglican Mainstream

By Cherie Wetzel, Anglicans United & Latimer Press

It has been a full 12 hours since my last report. Our group sharing the dorm’s third floor had an early dinner so we could all watch the BBC2’s showing of a special documentary that was made of the GAFCON conference. Since we were at Gafcon, it was an item of great interest (read: people even shut off their cell phones). Chris Sugden, Anglican Mainstream UK, had seen the video prior to its final edit.

It seems that a few months prior to that momentous conference, Chris was approached by the BBC, who had been trying to get in touch with Dr. Peter Akinola for months, without success. If Chris would assist, they would interview Abp. Peter, the other leaders of GAFCON and film portions of that conference to be included in the video.

A film crew flew to Nigeria, filmed Abp. Peter consecrating new bishops, filmed Bp. Ben Kwashi in Jos, flew to the US and filmed Martyn Minns at Truro and the Rev. John Yates at the Falls Church. They filmed some folks from the Falls Church who are bitterly disappointed in the outcome of that vote and now worship as Falls Church Episcopal at the local Presbyterian Church.

They also interviewed Bp. John Chane of the diocese of Washington, DC at the National Cathedral. His remarks were the same released last week condemning everyone who organized and participated in GAFCON.

The video from Jerusalem was stunning! It began with the Monday worship at the top of the Mount of Olives and the descent to the Garden of Gethsemane. Several of the worship scenes from the hotel were included, along with the organizing bishops and archbishops on the Via Dolorosa, culminating at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Each of these men gave their reason for being involved and stated clearly why they felt the time required a restatement of the foundations of our faith, based on the Lordship of Jesus Christ and him crucified, the authority of the Bible over all life situations and the great hope for orthodoxy in the world.

The last several minutes of the video were filmed at the final morning Eucharist and the reading of the statement. It was a time of great joy and that was accurately reflected as the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll read the statement and then Abp. Peter lead the singing and dancing that followed.

I knew everyone interviewed in the video. I know their talents and idiosyncrasies. Each is a vital and dynamic personality and they were authentically themselves on tape. This means that their behavior and strong statements may be judged harshly. I felt that the video was pretty well balanced and made the case that behaviors in other provinces of the Anglican Communion (read: the USA and Canada) had pushed the envelope until a strong comeback was required.

Although Abp. Peter Akinola was initially labeled as the man possibly responsible for splitting the Anglican Communion, the video ended with a statement that he might be right. Although the conference did not declare a split in the Communion, the issue and the fault lines are deep enough there may be no other remedy, especially if the Episcopal Church USA and Anglican Church of Canada pursue their agenda of the full inclusion of homosexuals in all orders of ministry and same-sex marriage.

As the video ended, Chris Sugden, David Virtue and I jumped into a car and headed up the hill to the university. Press was admitted to the plenary session (yes! Inside the big blue tent) to hear Brian McLaren, an American from Maryland who is an expert in evangelism and has written 10 books about it. He was specifically invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak three times at this conference. He talks about the emerging church, which I did not detect as syncretism of an emerging “Unitarian” type of church. His opening line was “I love Jesus Christ and have come to break open our models for Evangelism. We must proclaim the way of Jesus Christ. You are leaders in this church and this is one of your primary jobs, not being drained by the complex demands of institutional maintenance. You must speak on behalf of those who are not in your churches, people Jesus described as harassed and helpless; those without a shepherd.”

“Evangelism is disciple formation. Nothing else is worthy of that trust beyond Christ. You are here to save the church from division, implosion and exhaustion.”

Pretty good start, right? I did not doubt his commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But I must admit that it was a very “slick” presentation, a graphically rich Power Point that showed his points on three large screens behind him. The weakness with the presentation was in naming particular countries, continents and cultures as pre-modern, modern and post-modern. The ‘tsunami’ of change that accompanies a culture going from pre-modern to modern, for example, could lead one to believe that the amazing numbers of conversions in Africa are not authentic; they are superficial and concentrate on how to go to heaven, not how to live on earth. Couple this with the increase in Aids/HIV that we have seen in this “newly Christianized” continent and you may have substantive proof of this shallow discipleship. This information alone may give the Americans more reason to dismiss the Africans and their requests to this conference.

McLaren has two additional sessions today and tomorrow for those who want more specific information on how to go about being evangelists in their local contexts.

We learned at Press Briefing this morning that the conference would not confirm the attendance of any person. They won’t even confirm the numbers of bishops here or the spouses. I have tried to find my bishop, the Rt. Rev. James Stanton, and they will not tell me where he is staying. Today I requested a media interview with him to try and find him. Lets just say that the press is not impressed with the attitude and level of candidness given by the Anglican Communion press office.

The release of the Sudanese statement yesterday in opposition to the promotion of homosexuality and refusal to abide by the Bible has caused a ripple in this pressroom. The Archbishop of the Sudan is meeting with press this afternoon in a “non-scheduled” meeting. I will be there! All of this and it is only noon.

Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England

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