COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue, DD
December 26, 2024
The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith, and Order (IASCUFO) a permanent commission that advises the Anglican Communion on matters of doctrine, liturgy, canon law, and ecumenical relations, recently issued a communique following weeklong pro forma meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier in December.
For the record it should be stated that this is the liberal arm of Anglicanism and is no longer well received by the vast majority of Anglicans who are orthodox in faith and morals.
The key phrase in the communique reads: “As we wrestled with our divisions, we sensed that the Communion may be moving from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution. We may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees. This will involve recognition of the hurt that has been caused, as well as concerted attempts to find healing for past and present wounds, and to rebuild trust.”
They acknowledged the recent release of the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, the result of two years of study and dialogue by the commission.
“We call upon all churches of the Communion to cultivate generosity in the spirit of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, read the communique. Noble sentiments indeed.”
No mention was made of the Jerusalem Declaration which states that GAFCON bishops are out of communion with Western liberal Anglicans in the communion who preach and practice another ‘gospel’ that is no gospel at all.
But clearly the IASCUFO leaders saw an opening with GSFA leaders towards resolving the Communion’s divisions and cited the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals as a way forward.
To put it more simply; GAFCON are the ultra-conservatives, the GSFA are the conservatives and the rest, mainly in the west are liberals or progressives who see and affirm change for change’s sake, mainly in the area of sexuality. The GAFCON Jerusalem Declaration speaks directly to this and repudiates it.
The proposals, which were endorsed by the Communion’s Standing Committee, call for a new description of the Anglican Communion that strikes the phrase “communion with the See of Canterbury”. These proposals also call to elevate a senior primate to serve along with the ABC with responsibility for chairing the other Instruments of Communion."
IASCUFO says it believes the proposals have “potential to help us find a way through our divisions and disagreements within the Communion.” It encourages all of the Communion’s churches to “cultivate generosity in the spirit of the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals.”
This defangs the See of Canterbury which the Church of England might not go along with; but with the CofE in such total chaos at the moment, without a functioning leader it might be a case of striking while the iron is hot.
The CofE is a failing institution, irrelevant to the life of most Brits and increasingly irrelevant to the vast, mostly orthodox, Anglican Communion – 80 percent of whom want nothing to do with the CofE.
IASCUFO added, “Despite our divisions, the Anglican Communion needs to find ways for the contribution of the GSFA to be more fully recognized and received within its wider life and mission. We resolved that IASCUFO should reach out to the leadership of the GSFA to explore the relevance of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals to our most immediate challenges.”
Four of IASCUFO’s 18 members are from churches that have become full members of GSFA by adopting its covenantal structure (Alexandria, Chile, Congo, and South East Asia), including all three of the primates serving on the body. Two more members are from churches that have been associated with GSFA in recent years but have not yet taken up the process of becoming full members (Burundi, Kenya), according to a report in the TLC.
But as the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion states, engagement with GAFCON will be essential if IASCUFO is fully to engage with the deep differences and divisions within the Anglican Communion.
The removal of ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’ has been used to delegitimize the new orthodox Provinces, recognized by both the GSFA and GAFCON, (like the ACNA) and to imply that any breaking of communion with Canterbury is tantamount to leaving the Communion.
The recent decisions of the Church of England have meant that, irrespective of who the next Archbishop of Canterbury is, he or she will not be a person who guarantees that that will happen.
The elephant in the room is still Lambeth Resolution 1:10 which expressly forbids sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage. It further stated that they cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions!
Archbishop Welby, (though almost out the door) is on record saying, “I am the focus of unity and therefore I cannot and will not ever sanction or discipline another Church within the Anglican Communion.” His approach is to let the official teaching of the Anglican Communion as it is stated in Lambeth Resolution 1.10 to stand but allow contrary practice on the ground by not exercising any discipline (including within his own Church of England). In this way, over time, the practice will overcome the teaching, and biblically faithful doctrine will become irrelevant.
At the end of the day the current meeting of the IASCUFO and GSFA might be all smoke and mirrors.
One thing is clear; both GAFCON and the GSFA have demanded that repentance and repudiation of homosexuality and its attendant lifestyle must take place before any rapprochement can take place. And that, it seems, it still a long way off.
END
Insightful article... and quite a rebuke to Justin Welby and the Church of England bishops.
Quote: “[Welby’s] approach is to let the official teaching of the Anglican Communion as it is stated in Lambeth Resolution 1.10 to stand but allow contrary practice on the ground by not exercising any discipline (including within his own Church of England). In this way, over time, the practice will overcome the teaching, and biblically faithful doctrine will become irrelevant.”
Well said. “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked" (Proverbs 25:26). And an unrighteous revisionist is much worse than a polluted fountain… he is absolutely toxic to the Church universal.
In Matthew 10: 34-36…