The Windsor Report 2004


Book Description

The Lambeth Commission, established by the Archbishop of Canterbury, was charged with examining the legal and theological implications flowing from the Episcopal Church's decision to appoint a priest in a committed same sex relationship as a bishop and the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster's authorization of services for same sex unions. It was also charged with examining and making practical suggestions about how the provinces of the Anglican Communion may relate when they feel unable to remain in full communion with one another. The report focuses on reconciliation. The Primates' Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion called the commission's unanimous endorsement of the report "a sign of hope." "If there is a real desire to walk together in our discipleship of Christ," the Primates' Committee said in a statement, "then a course can be plotted to maintain the highest degree of Communion possible, in spite of differences about the way in which Christ's Gospel is to be interpreted in a diverse and troubled world."




Report of the House of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality


Book Description

In July 2011, the House of Bishops commissioned a review group to draw together and reflect upon explorations on human sexuality conducted since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and to offer proposals on how the continuing discussion within the Church of England about these matters might best be shaped. This is the group’s report.




The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion


Book Description

This uniquely comprehensive reference work provides a global account of the history, expansion, diversity, and contemporary issues facing the Anglican Communion, the worldwide body that includes all followers of the Anglican faith. An insightful and wide-ranging treatment of this dynamic global faith, offering unrivalled coverage of its historical development, and the religious and ethical questions affecting the church today Explores every aspect of this vibrant religious community – from analyzing its instruments of Unity, to its central role in interfaith communication Spans the Anglican Communion’s long history through to 21st century debates within the church on such issues as sexual-orientation of clergy, and the pastoral role of women Features a substantial articles on the Church’s 44 provinces, including a brief history of each Brings together a distinguished and international team of contributors, including some of the world’s leading Anglican commentators




What We Shall Become


Book Description

• Edited by a well-known Episcopal leader • Designed to facilitate the church’s dialogue on structure • Presents viewpoints representative of the diversity of the church Structure—throughout the denomination and within local parishes—is the hot-topic conversation of the day. How do we order ourselves for mission? What structure is helpful and what hinders our work? Who holds power and how do they wield it? From the triennial budget based on the Five Marks of Mission, to the decision to relocate the Episcopal Church Center away from its current headquarters in New York City, how the denomination will be structured for the 21st century remains the critically defining question. This edited volume will provide thoughtful resources from a wide range of perspectives, as well as foundational materials on theology, history, and ecclesiology to facilitate the dialogue.




The Future of Orthodox Anglicanism


Book Description

"A fascinating read about a future fraught with challenges and buoyed by hopes." –Michael F. Bird Anglicanism is currently the fastest-growing Christian communion in the world. Evangelicals hungry for connection to the early church's mystery, sacraments, and liturgy are being drawn to this historic Protestant denomination. But what sets today's Anglicanism apart from its own history as well as that of other Christian denominations? Eleven essays by prominent Anglican scholars and leaders representing diverse perspectives from East Africa, North Africa, and North America explore the rich legacy of the Anglican Church—grounding readers in the past in preparation for the future.




Living Communion


Book Description




Out of Africa: The Breakaway Anglican Churches


Book Description

Out of Africa: The Breakaway Anglican Churches tells the remarkable story of the emergence of a new religious movement within the Anglican Communion. The movement, made up of theologically conservative Anglican churches, began in Pawleys Island, South Carolina in January 2000 and, with assistance from the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Africa, has spread throughout the United States and into Canada. Every Episcopalian and Anglican should read Out of Africa: The Breakaway Anglican Churches. Ross Lindsay has done the church a huge favor by telling this compelling story that many of us have lived for over a decade. David Virtue, VIRTUEONLINE In Out of Africa: The Breakaway Anglican Churches, Ross Lindsay tells the story as it happened. I witnessed most of the events that he recounts, and he is spot-on in his recall and his analysis. Rev. Dr. Kevin Francis Donlon, Canon for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Anglican Mission in the Americas Ross Lindsay chronicles well the realignment of Anglicanism that was birthed at All Saints Church in Pawleys Island, South Carolina in 2000. By tracing the movement from inception, he reminds us that our call is to both missiology and ecclesiology. Lindsay describes the current developments as a movement with a mission. The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda (retired) ROSS M. "BUDDY" LINDSAY, III, C.P.A., J.D., L.L.M., Ph.D. is a tax attorney, CPA, and hotelier. He is the author of Building a Church to Last: The Miracle in Pawleys. He earned a Ph.D. in Church Growth from Brunel University and an L.L. M. in Anglican Canon Law from the Center of Law and Religion at Cardiff University Law School. Today he serves as President of Sonship Hospitality, Inc. and Sonship Ministries, Inc. where he coaches church planters and helps entrepreneurs move from empire building to Kingdom building.




Other Voices, Other Worlds


Book Description

Leading Anglican writers from around the world challenge the assumption that the communion is split between a liberal 'north' and an orthodox 'south'. Anglican churches worldwide are sharply divided on homosexuality. The dominant stereotype is that of a "global south" unanimously lined up against homosexuality as immoral and sinful, and of a liberal and decadent global north. The differences between the two sides are seen as fundamental, and irreconcilable. Nothing is further from the truth: homosexual behavior exists across the whole Anglican Communion, whether it is openly celebrated or quietly integrated into local churches and cultures. In this extraordinary book, in development for several years, this is exposed as a myth. Christians throughout Africa, Asia, and the developing world - bishops, priests and religious, academics and lay writers - open up dramatic new perspectives on familiar arguments and debates. Topics include biblical interpretation, sexuality and doctrine, local history, sexuality and personhood, the influence of other faiths, issues of colonialism and post-colonialism, homophobia, and the place of homosexual persons in the church. Other Voices, Other Worlds reveals the rich historical and cross-cultural complexity to same-sex relationships, and injects dramatic new perspectives into a debate that has become stale and predictable.




Receptive Ecumenism As Transformative Ecclesial Learning


Book Description

Receptive Ecumenism asks not what other churches can learn from us, but 'what can we learn and receive with integrity from our ecclesial others?' Since the publication of Receptive Ecumenism and the Call to Catholic Learning: Exploring a Way for Contemporary Ecumenism (OUP, 2008), this fresh ecumenical strategy has been adopted, critiqued, and developed in different Christian traditions, and in local, national, and international settings, including the most recent bilateral dialogue of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III). The thirty-eight chapters in this new volume, by academics, church leaders, and ecumenical practitioners who have adopted and adapted Receptive Ecumenism in various ecclesial and cultural contexts, show how Receptive Ecumenism has grown and matured. Part One demonstrates how Receptive Ecumenism itself is capable of being received with integrity into very different ecclesiologies and ecclesial traditions. In Part Two, this approach to transformative ecumenical learning is applied to some recurrent ecclesial problems, such as the understanding and practice of ministry, revealing new insights and practical opportunities. Part Three examines the potential and challenges for Receptive Ecumenism in different international settings. Part Four draws on scripture, hermeneutics, and pneumatology to offer critical reflection on how Receptive Ecumenism itself implements transformative ecclesial learning. Addressing the 70th Anniversary of the World Council of Churches, Archbishop Justin Welby, said that 'One of the most important of recent ecumenical developments has been the concept of Receptive Ecumenism'. This volume provides an indispensable point of reference for understanding and applying that concept in the life of the Christian churches today.




Unity


Book Description

For years, there has been talk of the importance of unity without a clear theological narrative to underpin this, leading to competing claims of what this unity is for or defined by, and challenges posed to its possibility or desirability as a polity and as a theological idea. This book is a timely theological exploration of the concept of unity in the context of divisions, frictions, frustrations and arguments both within the Church of England, and the wider Anglican Communion. Resisting the urge to merely provide a cut-and-dry definition of unity, author Charlie Bell teases out the theological currents that run in this stream of thought, and ensure that we are refining our thinking, and doing justice to a topic that may appear to contain many opposing and contradictory elements. That unity is a call of Christ to His church is not in doubt – what that unity might look like in the reality of today’s ecclesial and cultural landscape is the question that this book seeks to answer.