Anglican Mainstream

From Virtueonline By David W. Virtue in Oxford  4/18/2008

When the Rt. Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala, from Bungoma in Western Kenya, was asked why he was going to GAFCON, but
not to the Lambeth Conference in July, he told a congregation of Kenyans in his diocese that you don’t go to a place where men marry men.

"For us it is not just a theological issue, it is a practical issue. We don’t go to a meeting where men marry each other. That is not the way of God. It is not the way of the Lord or Scripture. This is the Sensus Fidelium. It is what the people of God believe, accept, and reject."

The bishop said it was a "hard agonizing decision to make choosing not to go to Lambeth. The question then was what do we do? It became clear to us that we had to go to GAFCON.

"GAFCON was never conceived as an alternative to Lambeth. We cannot go there (Lambeth) so what is the alternative then? We need to recover accountability in the church. We need to re-establish confidence in the church. While we believe dialogue has ended over sexuality issues not all the orthodox believe that dialogue with Lambeth has ended. Many believe it has ended and we are among them. Some orthodox want to continue to talk and dialogue. We are in a period of discernment for the orthodox, but we cannot do that by going to Lambeth, it would compromise us.

"Does it mean we are starting our own church? The answer is that we are going there to seek God’s will."

Some like Southeast Asia Archbishop John Chew want to discern that by attending Lambeth, but not all feel as he does.

In a wide-ranging interview with VOL, the Canadian educated bishop said the press gave a false perception that the church did not respond to the political crisis in Kenya recently. "Local preachers and those operating at the national level did something in our various stations and positions in the country until other civil society groups came in and acted. Kenya is predominantly Christian are there were many influences behind the scenes. When you say pray, everybody prays. We had a day of prayer in the churches at both the village and national level and as a result the violence was very minimal."

The bishop, who earned his Ph.D. at Wycliffe College, Toronto, is chairman of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, a coalition of 29 protestant churches and para-church institutions.

His description of the crisis follows:

"Immediately the political conflict seemed irresolvable and violence broke out. Church leaders responded quickly to find ways to stop the escalation of the conflict - conflict between two strong political men both of which had done strong campaigning and were sure they were going to win. None of the parties convincingly won so there were doubts. Each claimed to have won the elections. The Electoral Commission declared the government side as the winning party, the other side refuted that.

"Supporters of the government opposition became violent and protested. The police and army moved in on the government side. Spontaneously around the country people began leaving their houses. Later it transpired that it was a tribal with people targeting certain communities. It was a Muslim/Christian religious situation."

The bishop said that out of a population of 30 million in Kenya, 7 million are Anglicans, 8 million are Catholics and 15 million are made up of Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Methodists, Independent and Africa Inland Mission churches. A quarter of the population is Muslim.

"When the clashes began all the religious groups came together and Archbishop Desmond Tutu was brought in by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC). Also included was the Interreligious Leaders forum. There were also leaders from the Muslim community, the Council of Churches which I chair, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church of Kenya represented by Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.

"As a result, violence was kept to a minimum. Between 500 and 1000 died. There was no expectation that violence would erupt and so when it started most of the churches felt the situation needed intervention at all levels. Things happened spontaneously. We began to address the problem immediately."

"The religious groups all acted unpredictably. Kenya is a peaceful nation. Parliament is reform minded. But in this instance the politicians let the country down.

"When the fracas began, during the counting of the elections by electoral commission, we needed a religious person to come and pray. At the time we asked Archbishop Nzimbi, but he could not come to the counting hall in Nairobi. We waited and then chaos erupted. For the first two days it was not possible to go out.

"We mobilized ourselves. People began to pray and we contained the situation. We then followed up with national prayer. My archbishop led the mediations. A prayer session followed with the president and opposition. Both leaders are Christians. The president is Catholic and the opposition leader is Anglican.

"We had prayers at the Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi. We held one service for the nation. We picked up groups from different provinces. We brought leaders together from East and West to sit down and pray together. We prayed for the displaced people in camps where some 300,000 live. We prayed for an end to the violence. In all, between 500 and 1000 died, relatively small compared to what happened in Rwanda. But even then the violence was unexpected. At no time were tourists targeted or attacked."

VOL: Have the sexual wars in the Anglican Church hurt the Church in Kenya?

Bishop Wabukala: It has had no impact on us. The Church has stated its position. It is apostate behavior and has no place in the life of our province. Our response is that it is unscriptural and that is what the entire country knows and affirms. It has not affected our witness. It has strengthened us because of our position. The church is highly respected in the country by all the leaders because of our stand on this issue.

We view homosexuality as not compatible with what the Bible teaches, nor is it supported by traditional African life. It is something we in Kenya find abhorrent and it is not for us to debate in the country. The truth is we did not even have a debate until it was raised by the wider Anglican Communion. We have only responded. It is not on our agenda.

VOL: What is the status of the Anglican Church in Kenya?

Bishop Wabukala: The Anglican Church is respected and loved and it is growing. The Archbishop recently consecrated three missionary bishops. We are expanding into areas not reached before, those areas uninhabited by Christians especially in the Northeast area. We are going in with a holistic approach to people with the gospel that includes economic development, education and social transformation. We have depots of development in every diocese. We have a Board of Mission, a board of development, and a finance board. We have mission and social services.

VOL: Allow me to touch on a sensitive topic - corruption in the African church. If the Achilles heel of Western Anglicanism is pansexuality, the African Achilles heel is financial corruption. Is this true with regard to Kenya?

Bishop Wabukala: Corruption is a big problem in the country. Steps are being taken by the government to set up boards to handle corruption. We have an anti corruption steering committee to stigmatize corruption, to show it as an evil that has no place in our society. We have two significant bodies to handle this evil; it is dangerous for the nation.

VOL: What about the church?

Bishop Wabukala: It can be found in civil society groups, churches and institutions. Yes, it is in the churches, but when we find it, we address it and deal with it quickly. It is not allowed to fester and destroy us.

VOL: Does the Anglican Province take money from The Episcopal Church?

Bishop: Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi is very clear. He will not take money from The Episcopal Church. However, individual bishops have their own discretion. My diocese is partnered in mission with churches in the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of England.

VOL: What is the goal of your province?

Bishop: Our goal is to reach the entire nation with a holistic gospel which informs all of life. We are not primarily focusing on numbers, but the entire nation. My diocese, the Diocese of Bumgoma, has 200,000 to 300,000 persons in one diocese, which is made up of 50 parishes. We have 300 churches (10 churches equals’ one parish). A small parish has 5 churches.

VOL: Is your archbishop concerned about the poor?

Bishop Wabukala: Archbishop Nzimbi is excellent in the area of development. He will leave a good legacy when he retires, which he must do at 65. The Anglican Church is very well respected. All dioceses are involved with evangelism and development. We are growing as God gives the increase and we remain faithful to the Great Commission.

END
 

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.