Mikeuk

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4231023.ece

Anglicans form 'new church' in gay clergy row



Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent


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The Anglican Church faces what is in effect a schism this weekend after the declaration last night of conservative evangelicals to create a “church within a church”. The new body, called the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, will have its own bishops, clergy and theological colleges.
Details of the fellowship were announced in Jerusalem last night at a summit of conservative Anglicans, the Global Anglican Future Conference.

It follows a protracted battle within the church over gay clergy. Many evangelicals were outraged when it was revealed this month that the civil partnership of two gay priests had been blessed in a London church with a traditional wedding liturgy.

The 300 bishops and archbishops in Jerusalem insist they do not want to split from the 80m-strong Anglican communion. This is partly a recognition that a formal schism would involve protracted legal disputes about ownership of churches and other properties.

However, they last night declared their plans for a new “primates council” made up of the senior bishops and archbishops at the Jerusalem meeting. The new fellowship also represents a direct challenge to the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In a statement last night they challenged the role of the archbishop as primus inter pares of the bishops of the Anglican communion. “While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury,” it said.

The new fellowship will return to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 39 articles of religion, train its own priests and insist on more orthodox practices in its churches. Although the instigators claim they are focused on reform from within it is said to represent the worst blow to church unity in the West since the Protestant reformation of the 16th century.

Central to the announcement was a “Jerusalem declaration”, which will form the basis of the new fellowship. In the declaration the archbishops and bishops said: “We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed.” It accused the leaders of the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada of proclaiming a “false gospel”. The fellowship’s first task will be to create a new Anglican body in North America.

Jerusalem was chosen as the location to announce the fellowship because of its precedence over Canterbury in the Christian hierarchy. A fellowship will be seen as a partial victory for Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, who was not at last night’s meeting but who argued for reform from within. Unity, he said, was “a very precious thing”.

Mikeuk

Fantastic news. In the Church at any rate the forces of decency have the liberal-left on the ropes.

It's time to kick the heretics into touch.

The Bear

Just so long as churches and their members stay the right side of the law, and so long as their members don’t try to influence those of us without their silly hang ups, what they do as consenting adults in private is up to them.

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Millennium3

The Anglican church would have not had this problem if they, like many great religions, insisted that their clergy remained celibate.

For_England

Where do you get that idea from? The Church of England functioned well enough for four hundred years before recent cultural changes were allowed to influence it - that is the problem. Jesus never insisted that the clergy be celibate, so why would anyone put that yoke upon them?

Millennium3

You would not get some one like this AB of C running the show - they would have a bit of fire in their belly. When we were an Empire it might have 'functioned well enough' - but that was because they were frightened to defy the Empire.

For_England

What's an empire got to do with how the C of E is run? There are plenty of lefty priests in the RC church. The Church of England ought to take its practices from the Bible, then it wouldn't be in this mess. But forbidding the ministry to married men is not biblical, and certainly hasn't done anything to hinder child abuse.

david H

That is why the Catholic church is run by Homosexuals and women haters and why child abuse became commonplace.

This is great news about the new Anglican grouping and many of us will return now.

rjt

Having been at a service this morning which included catholics, anglicans, baptists, evangelicals and members of the new Testement Church of God, opps forgot the methodists, they were there as well I am sorry that splits like this occur because I have seen how mauch good can be done when people put aside their religous doctrine and work otgether to spread God's message.

However this split was ineviatble and as someone who was baptised an anglican I have to say much of the blame must lie with the weak leadership of Rowan Williams and the sooner he is replaced the better.

New Labour may well want to promote trendy alternative lifestyles it is the duty of the anglican communion to preach the good news of the gospels and to correct error in scripture, the so called liberal element within the anglican movement have much to answer for.

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For_England

my my the NT Church of God has fallen by the wayside if they are now meeting with RCs. In my years among West Indian Pentecostals, such a thing would have been unheard of.