The Evangelical Tradition. In the end what matters most of all to an evangelical is not a label, nor an epithet. It is not a party ticket; it is not even in the end the Bible and the gospel. It is the honour and glory of Jesus Christ. --- From "What is an Evangelical?" John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
September 4, 2009

In the wake of GC2009 and the slow break-up of The Episcopal Church, the question is what can be done now? The Rev. Todd Wetzel of Anglicans United offers some suggestions:

* Priests need to teach that the parish is the Body of Christ. Departures from a parish don't just signal dissatisfaction; they leave profound wounds in the body.

* Members need to understand that parish membership is not exclusively a matter of personal choice. Decisions related to your participation in the parish have profound spiritual, emotional and physical ramifications - not just for you but those around you.

* Recognize that burying your head in the sand is not a Godly option.

* Conflict is not bad. Learning how to disagree gracefully and graciously is an obligation incumbent on all Christians.

* There are no perfect, living Christians and there are no perfect Churches or parishes. None of us lives sin free.

Despair and condemnation will not improve the situation. You can be proactive. Write the Presiding Bishop a letter and tell her what you think (nicely of course), but ask questions especially such as to what evidence she can show that churches have or will grow following the passage of resolutions D025 and C056. Ask her how Christian is it to litigate against fellow Episcopalians when a number of dioceses (Central Florida and Dallas) have managed to let parishes go without a single legal dollar being spent. Ask her how millions of dollars can be spent on litigation while evangelism has been deep-sixed by General Convention. You might ask if the basis of our faith is not in Jesus Christ as Savior Lord, just who exactly is it in, and what ultimate hope of eternal life there is in her choice.

*****

The week saw yet more twists and turns in the ecclesiastical road. The Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America was born. They elected a Jacksonville priest as their new bishop. The Rt. Rev. Neil Lebhar will lead some 5,000 orthodox Anglicans in North Florida and southern Georgia, mostly drawn from the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

The Rev. Neil Lebhar was elected Saturday by clergy and lay leaders in what will be the 29th diocese of the The Anglican Church in North America (AC-NA). Lebhar said he's eager to lead but also glad the position has a seven-year term limit.

Forty-seven clergy delegates and thirty-nine lay delegates were certified representing twenty churches from Jacksonville to Tallahassee in Florida and from Thomasville to Savannah in Georgia. They met at Advent Christian Village in Dowling Park Florida to take the specific steps necessary to transition from a "Diocese in Formation" to full status as a new diocese in the Anglican Church in North America.

Members of the first Standing Committee are The Rev. David Allert, The Rev. Bob Coon, The Rev. Jim McCaslin, Mr. Bob Ashmead, Mr. Rick Groves, and Ms. Joan Malley. The full story can be read in today's digest.

This follows last week's consecration of the first bishop of Forward in Faith, North America, The Rt. Rev. William Ilgenfritz. All this says is that the gospel will not be stifled, however much The Episcopal Church wants to redefine it in terms not remotely biblical.

*****

The Potemkin DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH has a new bishop. The neighboring suffragan bishop of Southern Ohio, Kenneth L. Price has been nominated to lead the remnant diocese for the next several years until a permanent bishop can be elected. The faux diocese will hold a convention on October 17, a little more than a year after many of the diocese's leaders and members left the Episcopal Church. Price will assume full ecclesiastical authority and responsibility as chief pastor and overseer of diocesan administration and finances, according to a diocesan news release.

*****

CURSILLO has found a new Anglican expression. In Ambridge, PA, a group of Cursillo leaders from the Anglican Church in North American met in Bedford, TX, to form Anglican 4thDay. The name Anglican 4thDay was selected as it best symbolizes the Cursillo experience, which begins with small group interactions and leads to a three-day retreat. The emphasis on Piety, Study, and Action provides pilgrims with a pattern to living a meaningful and robust Christian life. "Though we are changing our name," said Kathleen Adams, one of the original organizers, " we will be continuing the traditions passed down to us in the Cursillo experience." Cursillo (Cursillos en la Cristiandad) was originally founded in the mid-1940's in Majorca, Spain, by Roman Catholic priests and laymen as a method for developing Christian leaders. "We are very pleased," said Ms. Adams," that this evangelical experience will continue in the new Anglican Church in North America." By of the first of 2010, the Anglican 4thDay National Board will be ready to receive applications for affiliation from Anglican Cursillo leadership groups across the Province. *****

FT. WORTH Bishop Jack Iker is calling the diocese to prayer and fasting for a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9. He writes,: "This Wednesday, two motions filed by the Diocese and the Trustees of the Diocesan Corporation will be heard by the 141st District Court in Tarrant County. The first motion challenges the authority of the attorneys who have brought suit against the Diocese and the Trustees of the Diocesan Corporation to prove that they were hired by individuals who had the authority to hire them. The second motion is one brought by the Diocese asking the court for permission to bring into the suit those individuals who hired the attorneys who have brought the suit against us and our trustees. Those individuals claim to hold offices in the Diocese to which they have never been legally elected. On Sunday, September 6, I am asking that prayer be offered in every congregation for the court to rule justly on each motion and that everything that is done during the hearings on these motions by those acting on behalf of the Diocese will honor the Lord."

Must reading on the legal situation in the four dioceses under siege is written by San Joaquin attorney A.S. Haley. His piece in today's digest "815's Day of Reckoning Approaches" will bring you up to speed. He writes: "The Episcopal Church (USA) currently is a party to some sixty lawsuits across the United States. Its litigation budget from 2006-2012 could approach $7 million, or more than $1 million per year -- and that is just the official, published figures. There is another considerable amount going out to prop up its Potemkin dioceses in San Joaquin, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and Quincy.

"Those are the four dioceses which have thus far voted to leave the Church, and each departure has spawned a lawsuit. ECUSA from the beginning has adopted a high-stakes, winner-take-all strategy which depends for its success on its ability to prove in court the proposition that a diocese is not free to withdraw from the voluntary unincorporated association which ECUSA has been since its formation at common law in 1789." It can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/lv3myd

*****

In South Africa the FELLOWSHIP OF CONFESSING ANGLICANS was born. Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream in London writes that seventy Anglican clergy attended a launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (South Africa) at St John's Church in Port Elizabeth this past week. FCA, which grew out of the Gafcon Conference in Jerusalem in 2008, has already seen successful national launches of Anglicans signed up to the "'Jerusalem Declaration"' across the globe, including in London in June 2009. The Port Elizabeth day gathering, called "'Be Faithful"', will, say organizers, "send out a clear message that "the Scriptures exhort us to remain faithful to the faith 'once for all delivered to the saints', to the Lordship of Christ and hence to Apostolic teaching and practice."

FCA (South Africa) leaders stress that FCA is not another organization and is not seeking to create another church. They add, "It is a spiritual movement and fellowship for renewal, reformation and mission - uniquely bringing together those whose key shaping and commitment, but not exclusive identity, has been through the Anglo-Catholic, conservative evangelical, and charismatic expressions of Anglicanism. The FCA movement unites them in one fellowship defined by its centre in the Christian faith as currently expressed in the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement."

What all this says, of course is that a shadow Anglican Communion is slowly but surely being built alongside the old dying Western Anglican Communion that shows no ability to revive itself.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is looking for a two-track solution to deal with the problem recognizing that the Windsor report has failed along with its disciplinary measures and that a Covenant is years away from being ratified. Episcopal Church spokesman Gene Robinson has that declared there are no second- class citizens with gays and lesbians on the second lower track.

Dr. Williams is clearly desperate to hold the whole show together, but it is just as clearly slipping out of his grasp.

In yet another move, seven Communion Partner Episcopal bishops, including Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, Gary Lillibridge of West Texas, Edward Little of Northern Indiana, Bill Love of Albany, Michael Smith of North Dakota, James Stanton of Dallas, and Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, slipped out of the US and dropped into Lambeth palace to talk with the ABC about the two-track option. They told the ABC that they want to remain Episcopalian, but be part of the Anglican Communion at the same time. Is that possible? Nobody is buying the two-track idea, neither orthodox nor revisionists.

If the Church of England Synod (House of Bishops) votes to recognize the Anglican Church in North America (AC-NA), the cat is out of the bag. Williams will have no option but to recognize AC-NA (whatever the Anglican Communion Office thinks) and Mrs. Jefferts Schori will not be a happy camper. It will also raise enormous legal issues over property ownership as well as calling hierarchical issues into question.

*****

Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, this week criticized the Archbishop of Canterbury's suggestion of a possible "two-track" church. "I can't imagine anything that would be more abhorrent to Jesus than a two-tier church. Either we are children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ, or we aren't. There are not preferred children and second-class children. There are just children of God."

Last month Archbishop Dr Rowan Williams spoke of a "two-track" church to deal with divisions over homosexuality within the worldwide Anglican Communion. He said such a move was a possibility as Anglicanism struggles to find a new set of rules to deal with issues such as its teaching on homosexuality.

A "twofold ecclesial reality" would allow for a global Anglican body that shares certain teachings, he said, with local churches relating to this body but in less formal ways.

*****

The Episcopal Church's Ecumenical Officer announces his retirement. The Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting will retire at the end of the year. Epting cited the need for fresh thinking, having served two presiding bishops. According to the Presiding Bishop's office, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Ferguson, associate deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations since 2001, will serve as interim ecumenical officer after Epting's retirement.

*****

We are writing as individuals to disassociate ourselves from certain actions taken at the recently concluded General Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the General Convention of The Episcopal Church (TEC). We believe that by their actions, the ELCA and TEC have abandoned the authority and plain teaching of Holy Scripture; overturned two thousand years of Christian thought and teaching; and sought to conform the church to this world/age instead of discerning the will of God (Romans 12:2).

In response to these actions, we wish to affirm that: Jesus Christ is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6) and that "there is salvation in no one else" (Acts 4:12).

We believe the Holy Scriptures to be God's Word written and to "contain all things necessary for salvation." In addition, we feel that "it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written" (XX - Articles of Religion).

The ideal set forth by God in Holy Scripture for human sexuality is found within the bounds of Holy Matrimony between one man and one woman, or chastity in the single state. And if this be the case, the church cannot bless relationships outside of this standard, and ought not ordain those whose lifestyle does not conform to this standard.

*****

A secret Chinese directive calls for the destruction of six major house churches. The directive was uncovered by China Aid Association (CAA). The secret order calls for the six house churches to be dismantled by the end of August. The churches are large, some with more than 1,000 members. Annee Kahler, a spokesperson for CAA, says the move is seen as the first step by the Chinese government to crack down on house churches in Beijing. She believes it will be tough for Christians to find other houses of worship. "In America, we have a church on every street corner. It's easy to kind of lose sight of the fact that it is a tremendous honor and privilege for many people to have a house of worship," she notes. "This is a big deal. It's not like you can just move down the street to the next house because that house will also be under fire." CAA is encouraging the Chinese government to revoke the secret directive. *****

ANTI-RACISM training is now part of the warp and woof of white Episcopal guilt. Atlanta Bishop J. Neil Alexander has been trying to wipe racism out of his diocese since his first address to the Council eight years ago and he's still trying to fight against it after all these years. Now he's expanded anti-racism training into two parts. Question. If he has not succeeded after all these years with the training, why doesn't he just call out the racist(s) by name and ban them from the church?

*****

Ruth Gledhill of "The London Times" reports that the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, Dr. John Sentamu, has recruited blogger Kerron Cross, an icon of the "delectable left", as his new communications officer. "Watford residents were bemused when top Labour blogger, Kerron Cross resigned as a local councillor, taking a side-swipe at the BNP on his way out. Now Articles of Faith can reveal that he's the new Cross about to be taken up with joy by Sentamu. The outgoing incumbent Arun Arora, off to serve out his curacy at St Mark's Harrogate, tells me that Cross applied for the job after seeing a Sentamu message on Twitter. Cross, 32, who has spent over a decade working in political communications, was fortunate that he was one of Sentamu's Twitter followers. A former vice-chair of the Christian Socialist Movement, he could not resist the lure of what Arun describes as 'the best job in the Church of England.' Cross says: 'I saw that Twitter message from the Archbishop and thought, yes, this would be a dream job, let's give it a go. I suppose God moves in mysterious ways.'"

*****

One might call it the "new ecumenism," an example of solidarity between Christian denominations at its best. The Catholic Archbishop of Washington, D.C. has joined forces with local Christian ministers in the nation's capital to give strong support to a ballot initiative that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman in an effort to stop the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in the District of Columbia.

Bishop Harry Jackson of Beltsville's Hope Christian Church, fellow black Christian pastors, and members of the Stand4Marriage Coalition D.C., submitted a ballot initiative on Monday to preserve the traditional definition of marriage to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) for approval. The initiative declares: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the District of Columbia." Jackson and other black pastors in the federal district have led the charge from the outset against the D.C. City Council's plan to legalize same-sex "marriage" by incremental legislation. Now Catholic Archbishop Donald Wuerl has entered the fray, pledging the active support of the Catholic Church in D.C. to advance the marriage initiative.

The Catholic Archbishop released a letter to the 300 Catholic priests of the Archdiocese emphasizing the importance of marriage and defending against attempts to redefine the institution.

Noticeably absent from this group of illustrious folk is Washington Episcopal Bishop John Chane. He, of course, could not support such an initiative, supporting as he does TEC's pansexual agenda.

*****

In the meantime, the Mid Atlantic ministry of ALPHA is calling people from darkness to light. Pastors and Alpha Coordinators will have an Alpha Team Training on Sunday September 13, 6:00pm-9:30pm at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Malvern, PA, 19355. Please contact Maureen Doran at mfdorancm@yahoo.com or 610-429-4309 with the number of people from your team who will be attending this training session.

*****

FESTIVAL OF FAITH III. St. Paul's, Brockton, MA, will hold a Festival of Faith. Anglican clergy of the Northeast are invited to the dedication of their new Parish Hall, September 26-27. Present for the occasion will be Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and other orthodox bishops including Edward MacBurney, and John Rodgers. For more information call 617-696-5662.

*****

The annual EPISCOPAL EVANGELICAL ASSEMBLY meets again this year at Virginia Theological Seminary Sept. 12. The guest speaker is the Venerable Michael Lawson from England. VOL will report on this event. This group is comprised of evangelicals in The Episcopal Church who believe in staying regardless of the cost and the thousands of evangelicals who are leaving to form new jurisdictions.

*****

A story I posted in last week's VIEWPOINTS about a split in an Anglican congregation in Athens, TX brought on a storm of criticism as being one-sided. I was not, at the time, able to obtain more on the story. It came later. In light of new evidence I am posting a story from the local newspaper on why parish members of St. Stephen's voted to disassociate from the ACA following a move by Bishop Strawn declaring it a mission. I believe this will fill in most of the blanks. http://tinyurl.com/lmfa3k

*****

Among today's commentaries, I would strongly urge you to read at least two which I think brilliantly capture the mood of the communion. "815's Day of Reckoning" by attorney A.S. Haley is must reading as is Charles Raven's, "Tea or Tanks on the Lambeth Palace Lawn". Both men see with a clarity the dilemma we are in. Canon L'Hommedieu's piece on the word "orthodoxy" is not for the faint of heart.

*****

If you haven't checked out VirtueOnline's new GLOBAL ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (GATI), take a moment to go here and read some 27 articles in 42 languages: http://www.globalanglican.org/

We believe the wave of theological education in the future is via the Internet. We are writing and posting the finest stories from the best Anglican theologians in the world led by VOL's very own resident cyber theologian, the Rev. Dr. Robert Sanders. We recommend you tell your friends and let us know how we can serve you. Please feel free to write to Dr. Robert Sanders @ dr.sanders@globalanglican.org

*****

If you would like to make a donation to keep this vital ministry going then please send a tax- deductible gift to:

VIRTUEONLINE
1236 Waterford Rd.,
West Chester, PA 19380

If you would like to make a donation through PAYPAL, you may do so by going to www.virtueonline.org and hitting the PAYPAL link.

We will respond immediately.

Thank you for your support.

In Christ,

David

PS. And then there was this ad spotted by a priest and sent to VOL. Ironically it was on the day The Episcopal Church voted to ignore the Communion: Episcopal Churches - up to 75% Less. Incredible prices. Find episcopal churches & save up to 75% now. www.Best-Price.com