Anglican Mainstream

By Mwansa Pintu, CNS

Church organizations are unhappy with the stance taken by the U.S. government to tie foreign aid to the assurance of homosexual rights.

The Zambia Episcopal Conference, the Pentecostal Church's Bishops' Council of Zambia and the Zambia United Christian Action said that it was unwise for the U.S. government to use its money to force other nations to permit "ungodly practices" in their land.

Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries, with some nations enforcing stiff penalties, including imprisonment, for people who engage in homosexual relationships and practices.

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By Christian Addo, Modern Ghana

We were awoken a couple of weeks ago to a fiat issued by UK Prime Minister David Cameron which minced no words in spelling out that African governments recognize gay rights or expect no future aids from the UK government.

This decree, most obviously, was necessitated by an earlier incident in Kenya where gays were arrested by police, publicly ridiculed and kept behind bars for practicing what the Kenyan culture (like all African cultures) considers alien and abominable. The choice between aid and cultural value cannot be any easier to make as African governments hungrily wait on these aids from the West to balance their budgets and to do good their electoral promise if they really intend staying in office for long.

So, for Cameron to link gay rights to aid was a most cleverly-woven web of landmines, even the most calculated step taken will be met with undesirable consequences that could last a whole generation.

To aggravate the state of confusion, we read of a deadly punch by U.S President Barack Obama just last week where he gives voice to what Cameron has said earlier- African States recognize gay rights or cease dreaming of aid from the U.S.

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By Brendan O'Neill, Telegraph

by David Virtue, VOL

Anglican Mission in the Americas will go it alone until new overseas oversight is formed
Three overseas archbishops stand with AMIA

 The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), the first group of Episcopalians to leave The Episcopal Church over a crisis of faith and leadership more than a decade ago, has withdrawn from the Anglican Province of Rwanda following a breakdown in talks between Rwanda and the Anglican Mission, which was exploring the possibility of reorganizing as a Missionary Society and no longer simply as a Personal Prelature.

The chairman of the Anglican Mission, the Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy, III announced yesterday that he and seven of his fellow Anglican Mission bishops, along with retired Bishop John Rodgers, have resigned from the Anglican Province of Rwanda due to a strong difference in opinion about the future structure and identity of the Anglican Mission. You can read the letter of resignation here.

Bishop Murphy had been seated as a Primatial vicar in the Rwandan House of Bishops on an equal footing with Rwanda's House of Bishops.

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We have recently been made aware that a number of unfounded rumors and false assertions regarding the relationship between the Anglican Mission and Rwanda have begun to swirl in various circles and on the Internet. We are releasing this statement together to urge you not to be misled or distracted by those who would sow destructive seeds of discord through innuendo and commentary, for we know that this is the work and design of the Enemy.

The work and the relationship between the AMiA and the Province of Rwanda remains solid and cherished, as we discuss and explore together the future shape of our life and our work in the mission from the Lord which we share on two continents. As always, we ask for your prayers and support as we continue to seek the best way forward together in growing the Lord’s Kingdom on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje
Archbishop and Primate
Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda

The Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy, III
Primatial Vicar and Chairman
The Anglican Mission in the Americas

By David Virtue, VOL

The news was released with fanfare from London. "Church leaders have welcomed a decision to appoint a Communications Officer in Africa to help Anglicans there better share with the world their stories of life and ministry. The move is an important next step in improving communications between Anglican Communion Churches and in ensuring Anglicans everywhere to hear about the successes and challenges of fulfilling God's mission in differing contexts."

The communications officer will be hired from Africa and located in the Nairobi offices of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA).

The question that must be asked is why are orthodox Global South African leaders allowing, indeed welcoming, this communications post on African soil at a time when these same leaders are saying they have broken communion with the Instruments of Unity including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council?

What on earth are CAPA bishops doing letting these people through the communications door when they raised a storm of protest about The Episcopal Church funding the CAPA summit in August 2010, which led to the money being sent back. See story here.

Why are they giving The Episcopal Church's false prophets a platform in Kenyan Archbishop Eliud Wabukala's backyard when just last week he told REFORM leaders in England, "We are building a truly global fellowship" and that "growing confusion and disorder haunts Anglican Communion."

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By David Virtue, Virtueonline

"The Anglican Communion's Instruments of Unity have become dysfunctional and no longer have the ecclesial and moral authority to hold the Communion together" — Global South Primates

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams is losing the fight to keep the Anglican Communion together.

His forays to Africa (Kenya and Congo), following the disastrous Dublin Primates gathering which saw a third of his archbishops (mostly African) refusing to show up, reveal a communion in tatters with his ability to hold it all together now permanently impaired. On a recent trip to Kenya he was accepted as primus inter pares, but not as the leader of the Anglican Communion, a mild slap in the face.

His more recent foray to Zimbabwe proved only a partial success. Dr. Williams was able to paint President Mugabe and Bishop Kunonga as part of the evil empire of homophobia, but he took some serious hits when he was painted as a man who could not make up his mind about what he thought about homosexuality and therefore betrayed the Communion. British Anglican columnist Charles Raven noted Williams' strategic abilities and suggested that his confrontation with Mugabe "looks like an exercise in Lambeth Palace's African 'realpolitik' which orthodox Anglicans ignore at their peril."

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Church Times

THE Archbishop of Canterbury flew out to Africa on Wednesday evening to begin a week-long pastoral visit to the Church of the Province of Central Africa. He has requested a meeting with the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, on Monday, when he visits the country.

The 48 hours that Dr Williams spends in Zimbabwe will be the most sensitive. It is thought likely that, if the meeting with President Mugabe goes ahead, the deposed Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, will be in attendance.

Dr Williams will wish to protest at the expulsion of Anglican congregations from their churches by Kunonga. Last month, Kunonga supporters evicted carers from an orphanage that is run by an Anglican mission loyal to mainstream Anglicans and the Bishop of Harare, the Rt Revd Chad Gandiya (News, 16 September). It was the latest event in a series of evictions of clergy, after a High Court ruling last month gave Kunonga custody of church property (News, 19 August).

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From New Zimbabwe

REBEL Anglican cleric Nolbert Kunonga claims the Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting Zimbabwe in October to “lobby for homosexuality” and “represent neo-colonialism”.

Kunonga, who was banished by the main Anglican Province of Central Africa and the worldwide Anglican Church in 2007, charged that Archbishop Rowan Williams was a “civil servant on a mission”.

“The Anglican Church is a political organisation when it is in England,” said Kunonga, who denied he was a Zanu PF “puppet”.

He added: “Rowan William was appointed by the Queen and the Prime Minister and he is a civil servant of Britain. In a political and economic environment, the civil servant represents and symbolises with his State.

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By George Conger, CEN

Global South Anglican – 14 Sep 2011

1. At the kind invitation of His Excellency Mr. Wang Zuoan, Minister for the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) of the People’s Republic of China, following his visit to some African provinces earlier this year, we, the Primates of the Global South of the Anglican Communion, visited China from 30 August to 10 September 2011. It is with regret that a few other Primates were unable to be with us due to urgent matters that require their attention.

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Telegraph editorial

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is right to expose himself to risk by visiting Zimbabwe, where many Christians practise their faith in fear, and meeting its President, Robert Mugabe.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Anglican Communion. That is not an enviable position to hold: the doctrinal splits in worldwide Anglicanism have become so bitter that Dr Rowan Williams has spent much of his time in office caught in the crossfire between liberal and evangelical lobbies, acting more as a harassed chairman than any sort of leader. This week, however, Lambeth Palace announced that Dr Williams plans to display leadership in a practical and brave way. He will travel to Zimbabwe next month to show solidarity with Anglicans caught up in the vicious factional disputes associated with Robert Mugabe’s violent regime.

Dr Williams has also requested a meeting with Mr Mugabe, which promises to be an awkward occasion. The Zimbabwean president already commands the loyalty of several discredited Anglican and Catholic bishops in his country – a situation that should be a source of shame for both Churches. The encounter requires a mixture of plain speaking and diplomacy; the Archbishop must resist the temptation to waffle. And he should be aware that Mr Mugabe – nominally a Roman Catholic – is a master of the dictator’s art of turning visits by well-meaning dignitaries into publicity stunts, and especially good at exploiting the naivety of Left-wing clergymen.

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By Brian Hungwe, BBC News

By George Conger, CEN

Homosexual relations are a sin, the Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Central Africa said last week, releasing a statement clarifying the province’s stand on the issue dividing the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Albert Chama also said that his church’s continued interaction with those portions of the Anglican Communion that have sought to normalize same-sex relations should not be construed to mean the Central African church had endorsed the innovation.

Homosexuality has been a divisive political and ecclesial issue in Central Africa. The former bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga has charged the province with being ‘soft’ on homosexuality, and has used the controversies within the Anglican Communion to his advantage in the property disputes with the province. In neighboring Zambia and Malawi, western NGO’s and overseas governments have also pressed for the reform of sodomy laws criminalizing “unnatural vice.”

However, the pressure to reform Central African criminal and civil codes to bring it in lie with modern European sensibilities has been heavy handed at times, and has caused a backlash by church and government leaders resentful of the encroachment upon their national sovereignties.

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By tmatt, Get Religion

If generic New York Times readers know anything at all about Anglican bishops in Africa, surely they know that most of them are quite conservative on matters of faith and practice. For example, they are opposed to homosexual activity of any kind — a position that is very common on a continent in which their growing churches often directly clash with conservative Islam.

says Nigerian archbishop, Ben Kwashi on his UK visit

LEADERSHIP was the prevailing theme of six television sermons delivered in London this week (5.4.2011) by the anglican archbishop of Jos, in Northern Nigeria. On his way to speak at the New Word Alive event in Pwllheli, Wales, he stopped off in central London where the film crew of Vivid Broadcast were waiting for him.

The archbishop is the latest of some 30 international evangelical preachers from different denominations who have agreed to be filmed in ‘The Sermon’ – an on-going programme of short biblical addresses – featured at present on an accessible dedicated website (www.thesermon.co.uk) and eventually geared for transmission on international TV stations. The series has a natural affinity with the popular international TV and home group programmes, Open Home Open Bible and Book by Book. To date some 200 sermons have been filmed

Speaking with animated conviction from the New Testament letter to Titus, Ben Kwashi repeatedly reminded his unseen audience of the adversities that can be unleashed upon faithful adherence to the Gospel – as illustrated in the Crete of Titus’ day, or in parts of Africa today. “God is looking for a Titus in bad places!” And the greatest need today? “Teaching, more than any other gift, is what is needed in the world,” said the archbishop.

By George Conger, CEN

Evangelical leaders in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa have called upon the church’s Synod of Bishops to clarify their ambiguous statements on human sexuality.

On March 17, the Fellowship of Confession Anglicans (FCA) in South Africa published an open letter on the internet, making a “plea for clarity on the position and teaching of our faith” in light of bishops’ February pastoral letter.

At the close of their Feb 7-12 meeting in Natal, the Southern African bishops deferred taking action on adopting guidelines for the blessing of same-sex unions, citing legal difficulties and theological divisions within their ranks.

A draft document entitled “Pastoral Guidelines in Response to Civil Unions” was reviewed by the bishops at their Sept 2010 meeting and distributed to the dioceses. The February 2011 meeting, however, stated the bishops were not able to approve the document. “It is difficult to give blanket guidelines [on same-sex blessings] because the position is starkly at variance in the legal systems of the seven countries where we work.”

“We continue to work on creating guidelines in several areas of difficulty raised by the issue of civil unions,” the bishops said—which are legal in South Africa, but illegal in the six other nations in the province.

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There have been various interests and concerns expressed about the absence of some Global South Primates at the forthcoming Dublin Primates’ Meeting.

Where these Primates are concerned, arriving at such decision was not a sudden or knee-jerk reaction. Both before, and more so after, The Episcopal Church has once again proceeded, against widespread appeals and warnings across the Anglican Communion, not least from the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, to consecrate an openly lesbian Mary Glasspool as bishop. The concerned group of Global South Primates had communicated very clearly with the Archbishop of Canterbury, especially those who were present at the All African Bishops’ Conference (Entebbe, Uganda Aug 2010), in a private conversation with him. They have indicated that it would be extremely difficult – and in fact, quite pointless – for them to be present at the planned Primates’ Meeting 2011.

Unless and until there is unequivocal commitment to honour the agreed basis of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 and implement the decisions of previous Primates’ Meetings (2005, 2007, 2009) expressed in the respective Communiqués, especially that of Dar es Salem 2007, it will only lead to further erosion of the credibility of the Primates’ Meeting and accentuate our failure to honour the work already done by them.

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By Ed Beavan, Church Times

At the end of last year, it was announced that ten Primates from the Global South intended to boycott the meeting, in protest at the inclusion of the US Primate after rows over gay bishops and same-sex blessings (News, 26 November).

The Church Times understands that this number might have risen to 14 out of the possible 37 Primates eligible to attend. (There is one vacancy.) The general secretary of the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), Canon Kenneth Kearon, believes, however, that those who stay away, “in protest after developments in the Episcopal Church” in the United States, will number “less than ten”. There might be other absentees because of health or visa issues, he said.

He admitted, however, that numbers would be unknown until the meeting began on Tuesday. “Given that most Primates make their own travel arrangements, and that plans can change at the last minute, it is impossible for anyone to say for certain how many Primates will travel to Dublin for the meeting.”

The ten Primates in the original boycott are understood to be those of Jerusalem & the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia, the Southern Cone, Rwanda, West Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya. A Global South spokesman suggested that another four were likely to stay away. One of these, the Primate of Sudan, has other matters demanding his attention in the wake of his country’s referendum.

The Global South Primates say they are disillusioned with the Archbishop of Canter­bury’s unwillingness to take dis­ciplinary action against the US Church, despite recommendations made at previous Primates’ Meetings. They feel that dialogue has been used as a means to delay a solution to the current crisis in the Communion. Nor do they trust the “Instruments of Communion”, notably the ACO and the Archbishop of Canterbury, to implement any recommen­dations that are made in Dublin. And they object that there has been a lack of consulta­tion, especially over the agenda, in the run-up to the Dublin meeting.

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