Kevin Kallsen, George Conger, and Gavin Ashenden talk about Justin Welby’s trip to Kenya and the future King of England and his love of Islam.
Kevin Kallsen, George Conger, and Gavin Ashenden talk about Justin Welby’s trip to Kenya and the future King of England and his love of Islam.
Actually Bishop Mouneer was Bishop in, not of Egypt, and was never Archbishop, he was Presiding Bishop of the Province, elected from the four Diocesans of the Province for a period of 5 years. The Bishop in ( not of, but in) Jerusalem was always whining that his See was the most important and that he should have the title of Archbishop. Unfortunately, in Arabic there is no distinction between Archbishop and Presiding Bishop. Now the Province has decided that the Bishop in Jerusalem can be known as Archbishop all the time, even if he is not Presiding Bishop. If Egypt becomes a Province, that leaves Jerusalem and the Middle East with only three dioceses- Iran (whose former Bishop is now Bishop of Raiwind) with 6 parishes and ageing congregations, Jerusalem ( which includes Jordan and Lebanon) and Cyprus and the Gulf- which has several parishes in Cyprus, Bahrain, UAE, Iraq, Qatar, Oman and another country- all ex-pat congregations who are there only through the goodwill of the rulers. The Diocese of Egypt includes all of North Africa except Casablanca, with Suffragans in Tunisia and the Horn. I don’t know what the impact of the creation of the Province of Egypt will have on the rest of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. It does seem to jeopardise Iran and Cyprus and the Gulf.
Looking forward to the announced Abp. Foley Beach interview. Hope it is informative and short on fluff. Anglican Unscripted is pretty good taking on TEC, C of E, and the likes of Justin Welby. I think ACNA is pretty fragile and can still end up wander dwindling in the wilderness 40+ years like The Continuum. Is the College of Bishops (…and House of Wives) working as intended? Is it a good thing ACNA’s teachings and catechism are based on the new Book of Duncan? What is so onerous of the older prayerbooks? Is the future of ACNA a few large parishes with personality cult pastors? What about the house churches? note: Bob Duncan can be liken to Moses. He got us out of Egypt. I’m hoping Foley Beach is our Joshua and get us to the Promised Land. The focus needs to come back to boots on the ground within ACNA.
I think the supremacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury as head of the Anglican community should be done away with, and be replaced with something like what the Roman Catholics do when choosing a new Pope; except that the role would be time limited. However the incumbent could be chosen again if he be a godly and wise leader and the support was there.
The Church of England appears no longer fit to lead the Anglican community anyway. Making the role open to all may shift the focus away from its current angst ridden, politically correct, LGBT+ approved agenda, to a more Christian one…
Thoughts?
I’m skeptical formal organizational changes are a solution. Those in leadership should do their job and be more than overhead. By definition if no one follows, the person is not a leader. The mission is still salvation through Christ. Often it is better to ignore bad bishops of any stripe.
Yes, formal organisations are created to meet a need but often end up justifying their continued existence, even when the need has been met..
However, the more freedom, the more accountability we can introduce into such structures, the more likely that God the Holy Spirit can influence those involved.
There is a need for feedback loops. Bishops can’t operate well in isolation. New ideas and direction need to be run up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes. I hesitate to say ACNA needs a formal mechanism for laity when I think of TEC’s House of Deputes and the likes of Louie Crew, Bonnie Anderson, Integrity, and such doing their stealth attacks on the church. I don’t have the answer. Something ain’t right as they say.
Well if we consider the earlier days of church history we see that notable learned and pious men sprang into prominence around the ancient world. We need to take the Anglican Church away from its ‘Anglocentricity’ and let the light in.
Quite frankly I am surprised that the Church of England has held on to its position of eminence. It has gradually abandoned its beliefs in the Christian faith and has provided both poor and perverted leadership to the Anglican community.