Archbishop Akinola on error and apostasy

This is Dr Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, addressing Gafcon this evening. 'A sizeable part of the Communion is in error and not a few are apostate,' he said, questioning whether the Communion could be rescued from within or without. It was an important rallying call that will set the tone for the rest of the conference. I wrote a story published in the paper, but here are some extracts from the address.

'A conference of this magnitude would normally require several years of extensive planning, consultations and fund raising. We had barely five months to put this conference together. The Lord raised men and women who gladly and willingly offered their time, skill and money to make it happen.'' The figures he gave were £2.5 million for the total cost of Gafcon, with $1.3 million raised in three weeks in Nigeria alone, of which $900,000 was given to him in a cheque from one person. Nigeria has even managed to pay for its bishops from the US to attend.

Earlier, Bishop Suheil Dawani, who had pleaded with the organisers not to hold the conference in his diocese, preached at the Anglican Cathedral of St George's on the importance of Lambeth, and how pilgrims were always welcome in the Holy Land. For more on that, see Gafcon's own site. (This pic by Matthew Davies, the rest by me.)

He continued:

'The Global Anglican Future Conference holding here in the holy land this week has understandably elicited both commendation and contempt in varying measures from all who claim a stake in shaping the future  identity or in destroying the traditional identity of the global Anglican Communion. Those who failed to admit that by the unilateral actions they took in defiance of the Communion have literally torn the very fabric of our common life at it deepest level since 2003, are grumbling that we are here to break the Communion.'

He referred back to the 'chicken dinners' debate:

'Paradoxically, that which was universally hailed as the triumph of biblical truth was, soon after the Lambeth Conference, lamented by a self-conceited typical American bishop, Jack Spong of Newark (now retired) as a disastrous condescension to stone-age logic. He actually said that the Africans were theologically “animistic and superstitious” and ignorant of scientific advancement. Lest some interpret this as a racial rather than a doctrinal issue, Barbara Harris (a black), Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, even said the African Bishops’ loyalty had been “bought with chicken dinners” by the conservative American Anglican Council. Of course, these slanders were calmly repudiated by noted African voices such as my most worthy predecessor- The Most Rev. Joseph Adetiloye, who said: “We in Africa hold the Bible as our authority for the Christian life. Therefore we will stand by the Word of God. To do otherwise, I’m afraid, would be impossible…”

The West was peddling humanism under the guise of Anglican Christianity, he argued:

'Clearly the bedrock of the revisionist perspective is the humanist, rather than theological approach. This is the crux of the problem: they are going in the opposite direction from what Biblical orthodoxy demands, and with such a mindset, a meeting-point with those who are labelled conservatives – who have chosen to stand where the Bible stands, becomes a very remote possibility.'

Giving the dismal history of the whole sorry business to date, he said: 'Rejecting all entreaties,  Lambeth Palace chose not to be bothered about that which troubles us; decided to stick to its own plans and to erect the walls of 2008 Lambeth Conference on the shaky and unsafe foundations of our brokenness.'

Gafcon is essentially a rescue mission, he said.

'Our beloved Anglican Communion must be rescued from the manipulation of those who have denied the gospel and its power to transform and to save; those who have departed from the scripture and the faith ‘once and for all delivered to the saints’ from those who are proclaiming a new gospel, which really is no gospel at all, {Gal 1.} In the wisdom and strength God supplies we must rescue what is left of the Church from error of the apostates.'

This par was in the text of the speech given to us but he omitted in his delivery the bit about Rowan Williams and Sharia:

'We cannot succumb to this turmoil in our Communion and simply watch helplessly. We have found ourselves in a world in which Anglican leaders hold on to a form of religion but consistently deny its power. We have a situation in which some members of the Anglican family think they are so superior to all others that they are above the law, they can do whatever they please with impunity. As a Communion we have been unable to exercise discipline. In the face of global suspicion of the links of Islam with terrorism, Lambeth Palace is making misleading statements about the Islamic Law, Shari a, to the point that even secular leaders are now calling us to order! We can no longer trust where some of our Communion leaders are taking us.'

At the press conference afterwards, I asked Dr Akinola whether he was under pressure from Islam in  Nigeria because of what was happening in the Communion. Absolutely not, he said. 'If the Church in Nigeria should take any other position that is different from our current position we will close all the churches. But because we have taken this position Muslims and Christians of other churches are fully and firmly  behind us.'

I also took the chance to ask Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen, who is part of the Gafcon leadership team, if he hoped that one day the entire Anglican Communion would adopt lay presidency, or lay administration as he prefers to call it. He said the issue was not comparable to that of homosexuality because the question of administering communion is never addressed in the Bible, while homosexuality is. 'It [lay administration] is a subject we have been talking about in our diocese for 30 years,' he said. But he was aware there was 'considerable disagreement' about it around the Communion, and to date his diocese had held back from engaging with it formally.

Anglican TV is running live webcasts throughout the conference.

 

Comments

[Robert Ian Williams]

The secret of the "orthodox" at Gafcon is the following, " All orthodox are equal, bit sme are more orthodox than others."

Sydney abominate the ordination of women priests, which they see as theological liberalism. However Uganda, Rwanda and kenya are all provinces that have pionered women priests.

So some of the orthodox grit their teeth for the time being.

Others at GAFCON belive in the Mass ( also abominated by Jensen) and worship the consecrated Communion elements...however this is ignored for the time..as are the Anglo-catholics gritting their teeth about Sydney lay presidency and grape juice communions!!!!

And of course their GAFCON Booklet, " The WAY, the truth and the life " has nothing to say on Christ's controversial teaching on divorce and re-marriage...because the whole of GAFCON is split top to bottom on this,a nd it unndermines their false front that the Bible is self interpretating..

[Chris Gillibrand]

Apostates are by definition not in communion. Fortunately for the opponents of Archbishop Akinola since the Council of Carthage apostasy is a sin which can be remitted in this world. However, an Anglican bishop accusing anyone of apostasy could be construed as a pot calling the kettle black, given the history of the Reformation.

Any Anglican group or diocese adopting lay administration can dream on in their own world about developing ecumenical relations with the Catholic Church.

[alistair]

"Why does Mike Homfray care about this? He has often said he is not a Christian any longer, so this isn't his business. I don't comment on splits within humanists and communists and such like, so why does he keep harping on?"

When the Christian church has the special privileged status in enjoys in the UK, it is everybody's business what it gets up to. This can be easily addressed however by removing the Lords Spiritual from the Upper Chamber, abolishing taxpayer-funded sectarian schools, disestablishing the CofE and removing Prime Ministerial involvement in the appointment of ++Canterbury, etc etc and leaving the State entirely neutral on matters of religion, giving advantage to none and ensuring no disadvantage.

On that point re the PM, I see Orombi has called for this in the Guardian, althought you will only find a statement in its printed edition that Government should butt out of involvement in choosing ++Canterbury - the statement mysteriously disappears in the Guardian online edition, although it does include Orombi's desire to install Nazir-Ali as ++C.

[Dr. Mike Homfray]

Oh, I still take an active interest in all sorts of things I am not part of - such as party politics, for example. What social institutions say and do have effects, so I think it is unwise not to be aware and actively involved. But then, those people who post under false names whilst dropping hints that they know me are hardly those one can respect, are they?

Lucy; you are probably right - but what does that say about either 'side' if really, all they are bothered about is 'the assets'? Just goes to show that the church is just the same as any other institution! I think, though, that these sort of rows certainly do it no favours in the UK where it tends only to be reported on these matters.

[Roger Mortimer]

You're off to a fine start. Am looking forward to following you through the week.

[David Gould]

When Anglican leaders say that the Bible is their only guide do they not realise they undermine Anglicanism itself? Why do they think there a need for Bishops, or indeed creeds and tradition and reason, which go together with scripture to guide the Anglican way!

[Lucy]

"Lambeth Palace is making misleading statements about the Islamic Law, Sharia, to the point that even secular leaders are now calling us to order!"

Oh the shame of it! Even these satanic secularists are telling us what to do!

And Dr Mike Homfray, you should realise that any formal split will inevitably lead to an even bigger punch-up about redistribution of the church's assets, endless litigation and so on. The church also wants to avoid a split as that might lead to it having even less power and influence.

[dave paisley]

I thought the Times would provide a better balance than this.

Softball questions, lack of any critical analysis...

"Akinola's lap dog" might be too kind a description of your reporting to date, Ruth.

[Albion]

Why does Mike Homfray care about this? He has often said he is not a Christian any longer, so this isn't his business. I don't comment on splits within humanists and communists and such like, so why does he keep harping on? Guilt feelings, maybe? Inability to mature? Move on, Mike. Mike should use the years left him and David for whatever makes them happy, and leave us neanderthals to get on with our glee club. Nox perpetua dormienda est - isn't that what you believe?

[Robert Ian Williams]

Note how Akinola like the GAFCON hand book makes no reference to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on marriage and divorce. That is because GAFCON delegates are split on the meaning of Jesus' words and this would explode the other theme of the Conference, the perspicuity of Scripture!

That is why GAFCON only criticises " casual" divorce...casual is the key word..note not divorce per se.

Furthermore there are divorced and re-married bishops at GAFCON.

In essence many at GAFCON are more liberal on dibvorce than Orthodox Judaism!

Ruth can you find out who is at GAFCON..they are very tight mouthed about it. I estimate that nearly 40 per cent of the Bishops are not Anglican Communion bishops.

[David Palmer]

"Clearly the bedrock of the revisionist perspective is the humanist, rather than theological approach. This is the crux of the problem: they are going in the opposite direction from what Biblical orthodoxy demands, and with such a mindset, a meeting-point with those who are labelled conservatives – who have chosen to stand where the Bible stands, becomes a very remote possibility."

This just about sums it all up.

Ruth,

I know there is great fascination over lay presidency, but it is all nonsense, no where more so than in Sydney itself, where a) there are comparatively few Parishes without two or more clergy and b) most Sunday services in Sydney Diocese do not include the celebration of Holy Communion. IMHE, lay presidency was a device associated with combatting the movement for the ordination of women. With that issue now settled (the boundaries have now been clearly defined with the shrinkage of the minorities in both the ordaining women dioceses and non women ordaining dioceses), lay presidency certainly as far as Sydney is concerned, has been quietly laid to rest.

People just need to get over it - there will be no lay presidency and it was a daft idea from the beginning.

Ruth,

What I for one am looking for from you is your assessment of
a) depth of cohesion among attendees.
b) the mood, whether it is hype, vain imaginings or the real thing, ie does the thing have legs?.
c) your impressions of the leaders and just who they are.
d) what likely impact if any on the TEC.
e) what impact if any on Lambeth.
f) what does it mean for the relationship between the Reform/Church Society/Mainstream crowd and official C of E
g) where Gafcon might go.

Cheers

David

[Dr. Nick]

"Why is it that this can't simply be accepted and then those involved can work out a plan which all can agree on - to walk apart officially as well as in reality."

Because that will involve money and property--two things that neither side will surrender without a struggle. Alas.

[Jay]

I find Akinola very dangerous indeed. The more I hear about him, the more I hope that an actual schism will take place. What I would like to see is for the Anglican Communion to expel the Episocopal Church (US) and the Anglican Church of Canada, or at least reduce them to affiliates, and let these two churches (of one of which I am a member) get on with our business. If individual members and congregations of the Episcopal Church (US) and the Anglican Church of Canada want to be led by Akinola or another African bishop, let them. But I am tired of our churches being held hostage by these people, and of "traditionalists" who can't get their way within the denomination playing power trips by manipulating third-world bishops. I am also tired of a considerable amount of the money I contribute to my church being sent to Canterbury and Africa (which obviously doesn't need it). The schism should be welcomed not feared.

[Doug Chaplin]

I'm not sure whether this shows Akinola's unfortunate misunderstanding or wilful misrepresentation of TEC, but Jack Spong was a typical bishop in the sense that, say, Arius was a typical church father.

[jim]

Self conceit is a trait shared by many a bishop including Akinola who has it in spades. However he hasn yet to say anything to refute Spong's view of African theology as being “animistic and superstitious” and ignorant of scientific advancement.
Quite the contrary.

[Dr. Mike Homfray]

It surely must be clear that there is little chance of any sort of agreed solution. There will be some sort of slit - and it will include the CofE.

Why is it that this can't simply be accepted and then those involved can work out a plan which all can agree on - to walk apart officially as well as in reality.

[David Cohen]

How refreshing to hear an Anglican leader speak directly and clearly, without the customary fog masking doubt and uncertainty.

The time has come for the Anglican Communion to listen to those who are standing up as prophets and calling for repentance. Unless there is a change of direction very soon, restoring the authority of the word of God at the heart of the Communion, it will simply dissipate into a poor reflection of the Spirit of the Age.

I hope that Lambeth Palace is listening intently to Gafcon and taking its concerns to heart.

[Jamie MacNab]

The title of the blog quotes Archbishop Akinola as saying, 'You are all apostates'. But the first paragraph quotes him as saying, "not a few [in the Communion] are apostate."

What did he really say?

Ruth writes: headline an abbreviated version done in great haste - you are right I will change it. Ruth