Nourishing Unity? NEAC 2008
by
copublished, with permission, from The Church Times,
Unity amongst Evangelicals in the Church of England is urgently needed at this crucial moment in the Anglican Communion. We are committed to the teaching of the Communion on sexuality and opposed to the developments in
Unity should be organic, not imposed; founded on the long standing ‘basis of belief’ of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), not on controversial new declarations; and fully cognisant of the variety of perspectives of the three streams within our tradition – conservative, open and charismatic – not a uniformity of one or two streams only.
As the National Evangelical Anglican Congress (NEAC) opened in
Tomorrow,
Usually, NEAC meets every 10 years or so over a period of days: 1967 (Keele); 1977 (
Nevertheless, my hopes are fourfold. First, that we may be united in the good news and in our Anglican calling. Second, that people from all three streams will attend and be consulted. Third, that ordained women will be called to contribute to the discussion after the panel – there are, sadly, no ordained women speakers. Fourth, that no vote will be taken officially to back the Jerusalem Declaration and join the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) based in
The first published schedule for the day was criticised in the constituency because the three bishops featured were the three Church of England bishops who did not attend the Lambeth Conference. Wallace Benn (Lewes) was to be the opening speaker, Michael Nazi-Ali (
In the revised agenda,
In the afternoon, as first published, there will be a panel of four speakers on the subject ‘How do we move on from here’. It is made up of
What has happened since NEAC4 in
Anglican Mainstream has pioneered the ‘Federal Conservative’ line, in that it does not accept the warnings in The Windsor Report concerning transprovincial interventions. (See the ‘quadrant’ in my Fulcrum Newsletter for June this year, ‘Reading and Reshaping the Anglican Communion’). With others, it has set up GAFCON, lost faith in the Windsor Process and (with CEEC backing) discouraged Evangelical attendance at the Lambeth Conference. Fulcrum has developed the ‘Communion Conservative’ line, backing the Windsor Process, the Anglican Covenant and encouraging attendance at Lambeth.
In the charismatic stream, Alpha and New Wine networks have continued to grow significantly through their courses, summer conferences and leadership training sessions. They are less inclined to be involved in ecclesial discussions, though are conservative on issues of sexuality.
The passing of the integrative leadership of John Stott is much lamented. Who would be the internationally-known, iconic leaders of these three streams? Conservatives seem to have chosen Peter Jensen, the ‘Archbishop over the Water’ in
Who can bring together for discussion these three streams – eg represented by Reform, Fulcrum and New Wine? This is historically the role of CEEC, but at the moment, for various reasons, that is not happening. Perhaps the Evangelical Bishops’ Group in the House of Bishops, which was not consulted about the date of NEAC 2008, should take the lead in working with CEEC? What is needed is a reform of its constitution, to take into account the development of new groups, leading to elections which are transparent and representation which is authentic. Now that really would be nourishing for unity.
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Canon Dr
For Fulcrum coverage of NEAC 2008, click here.
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings is Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.