Is The Anglican Church In North America At A Tipping Point?

Women’s Ordination has been a simmering issue in the ACNA since its founding in 2009. ACNA “settled” for what it called “dual integrities” on the issue, so that it welcomes ordained women but does not compel bishops to ordain them. The ACNA agreed that there will be no women bishops. Through the prophet Amos, God underlined this point with logic: “Can two even walk together if they do not agree on the direction”? And we all know that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The issue has stood the test of time for 15 years but has time run out?

The issue has surfaced from time to time over the years, but was never seen or allowed to divide the fledgling denomination. The ACNA has lived uneasily with the issue like circling lions gazing at a wounded zebra.

One blogger summed it up like this: “In ACNA there is a wide diversity of views on women’s ordination. There is one diocese which don’t ordain women at all, some diocese which ordain women to a lay order of deaconess, some which ordain only to the diaconate, some which don’t ordain women to the priesthood but will license them as priests, one diocese which ordain women to the priesthood but doesn’t allow them to serve as rector (or what I assume as head priest), and, finally, some dioceses which ordain women to the priesthood allowing them to serve as rector.”

According to a report published in 2022, a small plurality (10/29) of dioceses is in this last category. However, while only a small plurality of dioceses subscribes to women’s ordination and installed as rector. These dioceses account for 44% of ACNA parishes, 51% of lay membership, and 50% of ACNA attendance.

It is a hot button issue that will test the new leader. It has the power to pull the ACNA apart.

The Venerable Canon Justin Murff Executive Director, Anglican Office for Government & International Affairs and Canon to the Archbishop for Middle East and North African Affairs — (ACNA) penned an OpEd piece for VOL titled, The ACNA Wither Bound arguing that the election of the next Archbishop will determine the future of the entire church. Strong words indeed.

“Make no mistake, there are several elephants in the room that whoever the bishops elect, the next archbishop will require a unique set of skills and enduring fortitude to meet the challenges head on if the ACNA is to survive and meaningfully join the emerging re-formed global Anglican community.”
You can read his full take here: https://virtueonline.org/acna-wither-bound

Some theologians, clergy and laity, see a slippery slope in the ordaining of women and the ultimate acceptance of homosexuality.

But Dr. Bruce Atkinson, a theologically trained psychologist wanted to make a distinction and wrote this; “The issue of Women’s Ordination (WO) is not at all the same as the homosexuality issue where there are absolutely no exceptions in either Old Testament or New Testament that this behavior is an egregious sin that will keep a person out of the Kingdom of God (e.g., 1 Cor 6:9). Besides, even Paul’s strong recommendation about women was not about sin or salvation, it was about church order, such that Paul’s advice in Romans 14 about dealing with secondary matters may apply.” You can read his piece here:
https://virtueonline.org/womens-ordination-and-anglican-church-north-america-acna

The late AMiA Bishop John Rodgers railed against WO which at the time garnered more than 20,000 reads at VOL’s website.

In summary he writes: “The teaching of Scripture and evidence cited from God’s book of creation are both contrary to the innovation of the ordination of women to these offices. In summary, there are compelling reasons to affirm a male priesthood and episcopate. First and last, Scripture does not allow for the ordination of women to these offices as these offices function within Anglicanism. Serious exegesis only serves to substantiate that statement.” You can read his full-on assault here:
https://virtueonline.org/serious-argument-against-ordination-women-priesthood-episcopat

The first ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan lit a fuse on the issue; the second Archbishop Foley Beach managed to keep the fuse from igniting the bomb; it remains to be seen if the new incoming archbishop has both the ability and authority to keep the fuse from ever reaching the bomb.

ANGLICAN IDENTITY

But a deeper issue is at stake; it is our Anglican identity.

Just what and who is an Anglican and how do we define what an Anglican is?

As theologically conservative Anglicans have in recent years sought to cooperate in constructing an orthodox Anglican province in North America, many have referred to the process as a coming together of “three streams.” Usually, they are referring to Catholic, Evangelical (or Protestant) and Pentecostal (or Charismatic) traditions or “tributaries” being channeled into a single “river.” It is difficult to determine exactly where this model originated. Church of South India Bishop Lesslie Newbigin wrote a short book, The Household of God, back in 1953 that referred to these three elements and how their distinctive characteristics complemented each other.

In his inaugural address in 2009, Archbishop Duncan argued strongly for what he called the “Three Streams of Liturgical, Evangelical, and Charismatic faith.” On the surface it sounded irenic, inclusive and biblical, but does it reflect a true understanding of Anglicanism?

One Reformed theologian thinks not. Dean Chuck Collins, Reformed theologian and blogger wrote, that it is obvious to everyone that the ACNA brought extremely diverse groups together under one tent based on our common disgust and grief at what the Episcopal Church has become.

“Early on we declared our commitment to the things that are still listed in our Constitution and Canons: the primacy of Holy Scripture as preserved and understood in the traditional Anglican formularies, but in actual practice the ACNA welcomed just about anyone and any group that needed a lifeboat in an attempt to secure a critical mass for success. Even though we started on paper as a “confessional” church in line with what Anglicans have declared for 500 years, very quickly we took a “conciliar” turn, replacing our Anglican heritage for a dream to plant 1,000 churches in five years.”

This was the road of least resistance, especially compared to wrangling about the differences in theology that separate us. Only a small group asked what ACNA churches believe. At the time it seemed more important to make as many Anglicans as possible in a flurry of activity to generate enthusiasm for mission and evangelism.

Collins points to the conciliar view of Anglican identity, and how this easily fed into different iterations of “three-streams” that Chuck Murphy and the Anglican Mission, all in good faith, had been teaching and promoting for years.

Only one soft-spoken historian in Grove City, PA (Gillis Harp) seemed bothered by this capitulation and noted that three-streams as a model for the church didn’t exist before a 1953 book by Leslie Newbigin. Nevertheless, the ACNA glommed on to “three streams” for dear life, put it on our websites, named churches after this motto, and spoke of it generously as if it had some ancient part in what Anglicans believe. It was convenient, but it is not our history, and it is an unfortunate distraction.

Writes Collins; “Instead of Anglican identity grounded in Holy Scripture as enshrined and supported in the traditional Anglican formularies (interpreted in their original sense!), we have settled for a hodgepodge Anglicanism with no foundation except that one group or another in our history espoused views that we can latch on to today.”

“So many of our Anglican bishops and leaders do not have confidence in Holy Scripture as it is understood, interpreted, and upheld by the Thirty-nine Articles and 1662 Book of Common Prayer (and the two books of Homilies), so they revert to an amorphous concept they call the “Great Tradition.” By this they mean a variety of things – the first millennium teachings of the church and councils – the Vincentian Canon (Christian teaching believed everywhere, always, and by all) – really whatever they want it to mean!

“There’s nothing “Anglican” about this. Nothing! And it betrays everything Cranmer and the English reformers fought for. It betrays the sure foundation of God’s inspired Word (sola Scriptura) what Alister McGrath calls “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea.” It categorically abandons the recognized formularies that have historically defined what it means to be Anglican.

“It gives us creedal certainty about the divinity of Christ and the Trinity, but it opens the door to a smorgasbord of theologies and liturgies to choose from, including the wacky innovations of the 1830s Oxford Movement – and in the end, a church that stands for almost anything and everything. A “conciliar” view of Anglican identity drove the Episcopal Church into obscurity and its ugly nose is the most prominent nose in the tent of the ACNA.”

As we approach the day of reckoning, we might heed the words of Archbishop Foley Beach who has called for a time of fasting and prayer as ACNA chooses its next archbishop. “We welcome intercession for this next transition for the Anglican Church in North America and our place within the global Anglican Communion.” He might well have added a prayer for our Anglican identity.

END

IS THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA AT A TIPPING POINT?

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
May 30, 2024

In less than a month several hundred delegates will descend on the campus of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA to elect a new archbishop. Who they elect could well determine the future of this provincial gathering of orthodox Anglicans.

Behind the scenes there are issues that will push the ACNA in one of several directions. Any one of them could prove calamitous or healing depending on where you stand on the hot button issue of women’s ordination and how we define Anglicanism in the 21st Century.