This article by the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey first appeared in the April 9, 2013 edition of the AAC’s International Update. Sign up for this free email here.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion (SCAC) met following the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, ++Justin Welby, March 23-26.  This “committee” evolved under the former Archbishop, ++Rowan Williams, as a leadership body within the Anglican Communion. It is dominated by those unwilling to take any action against The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada’s (ACoC) unilateral repudiation of Anglican Communion teaching on marriage, sexuality and holy orders (Lambeth Resolution 1.10, 1998).

As a result of the SCAC’s unwillingness to uphold biblically-based Communion teaching, many committee members who did respect such teaching resigned from the SCAC. The widely publicized resignations of Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and Bishop Azad Marshall of Iran gave testimony to their frustration with SCAC’s passive complicity with The Episcopal Church and Canada’s ACoC.

It is too early to tell whether Archbishop Justin Welby’s leadership will make a difference to the SCAC, but the preliminary reports from the Anglican Communion News service on the recent meeting of the SCAC are not hopeful:

1. “Indaba” paralyzing the Instruments of Communion

The Anglican Communion News service reported:

During the discussion about the handling of resolutions, both Bishop David Chillingworth and Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak raised questions about the role and functions of the Instruments of Communion.  It is these Instruments of Communion (The Primates’ Meeting, Lambeth Conference of Bishops, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Archbishop of Canterbury himself) which are responsible for maintaining the faith, order and unity of the Anglican Communion.  Archbishop Deng Bul Yak of the Sudan said he hoped the Anglican Consultative Council could be more of a forum where issues impacting the global Anglican family could be discussed. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of TEC recommended more space at the beginning of meetings to “listen deeply to one another and figure out what it is we need to indaba about”.

Guess which view will prevail—especially given the large funding to the Anglican Communion by TEC?

2. “Continuing Indaba” growing deeper and wider in the Anglican Communion

As we have reported elsewhere, Indaba is a process within a specific cultural context in Africa where leaders of a village, sharing a common and agreed-upon world view and moral framework, discuss controversial issues and disputes until a resolution can be achieved. Unfortunately, this has been transformed by the staff of the Anglican Communion Office (driven by funding from American Episcopalians), into a process of endless dialogue without any shared Biblical or theological context within which the current crisis regarding Gospel truth may be “resolved.” In fact, Indaba seems to be vehicle for legitimizing any behavior despite the plain reading of the Bible. As the Anglican Communion News service reported:

…the Revd Dr Phil Groves (Indaba Coordinator) said Indaba had been birthed out of disputes, but had now moved on to where people were genuinely considering “the different cultures and different understanding of the scriptures that emerged.”  Dr. Groves stressed that the Indaba model can and should “benefit” all levels of church life and structures—citing as an example a diocese in Southern Africa, where Indaba is gradually becoming integral to the life of the diocese there, with “all voices having an equal say”.

3. Bible in the Life of the Church project—exalting context over the content of the Bible—to be “deeply embedded in the life of the Anglican Communion”:

Although the Bible in the Life of the Church (BILC) project contains many good resources for promoting Bible reading and study, it contains a fatal flaw. This flaw was exposed by the delegates of Nigeria and Kenya to ACC-15 in their letter, “What really happened at ACC-15”. As they reported, one of the key findings of the BILC project is that the “Context” of the person reading or studying the Bible is as important as the content of the Bible. What this means in practice is that the cultural values of people reading the Bible cannot be challenged—even when their reading of the Bible through their own “cultural matrix” results in an interpretation of the Bible that is contrary to its plain meaning. Quoting The Right Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali on the limits of “inculturation,” the Nigerian and Kenyan delegates to ACC-15 rightly observed “We cannot, because of a process of inculturation, produce forms of the Christian faith that are entirely opaque to Christians elsewhere.”  Despite this fatal flaw, the coordinator of the BILC project reported that the project must not be left on the shelf to gather dust, but rather “to really make an impact it needed to be deeply embedded in the life of the Communion.”

One application discussed at ACC-15 was the inclusion of the BILC resources in theological education throughout the Anglican Communion. This would also go hand in hand with the expansion of “Continuing Indaba” at every level of Communion life.  Currently, resources for making that happen are scarce.  As Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Kenneth Kearon highlighted in his address, the major challenge facing the Anglican Communion Office is a lack of funding. Let us pray that resources for those Communion networks and programs that promote a false-gospel remain scarce and that godly men and women will point the Communion’s bureaucracy back to Christ.

4. The goals the Anglican Communion’s Communications department

The report on the Committee’s second day began as follows:

…Director for Communications Jan Butter said the biggest challenges for the Communion included communicating all the good ministry and mission work of churches above the noise of controversial issues, plus enabling Communion members to connect and talk with one another…

Let me say this. I love good news. I love to read and hear of the wonderful ministry that goes on throughout the Anglican Communion. I know that the Body of Christ is at work and want others to know that as well. That being said, to think that the biggest challenges for the Communion include the “noise” of controversial issues is ignorance at best. What the Communion’s Director of Communications calls “noise” is the sound of the Bible being trampled underfoot by culture and secular post-modern agendas. It’s the sound of the fabric of our beloved Communion being torn to shreds. It’s the sound of the vast majority of Anglicans grieving that what our Lord and Savior teaches and commands is being deliberately ignored and undermined by the Church itself.

As with so many other initiatives born from the Anglican Communion Office in London and the SCAC, the goal is to ignore the crisis of Gospel truth in our Communion precipitated by the peddling of false gospels, muffle the “noise” of bible-believing Anglicans and wear them down until they have no will to resist the agenda.

Your Brother in Christ,

Phil+