FULCRUM WRONG ON AMiE BUT LANDS A PUNCH
A so-called gospel that denies the nature of the sin from which we are redeemed may fill churches (in the Church of England's case it isn't particularly), but it will not save people. Fulcrum is quite wrong to dismiss real spiritual concerns about upholding biblical integrity in our denomination for the sake of gospel proclamation as 'political'.
But Fulcrum has landed a bit of a punch over the secrecy surrounding the identity of the three English clergy ordained in Kenya. The GAFCON news release mentions that they were welcomed at the evangelical ministers' conference in the City of London where AMiE was launched last week but does not give their names.
Surely the point of ordaining them in Anglican orders is to give them wider accreditation beyond the London church planting network in which they are beginning their public ministries. Indeed GAFCON explicitly states that they were ordained for 'ministry in the wider Anglican Communion'.
Even if one accepts the argument that the unusual circumstances surrounding the ordinations of these men necessitated discretion beforehand, in its announcement after the event GAFCON should have given their names and explained why they were ordained in Kenya.
Openness strengthens the case for AMiE; secrecy undermines it.
The Revd Charles Raven's excellent analysis of the theological rationale for AMiE is a must read for any member of the youth group wanting to get on the end of this significant development.
For more from Cranmer's Curate, see:
http://cranmercurate.blogspot.com/2011/07/fulcrum-wrong-on-amie-but-lands-punch.html
The fact that the new Anglican Mission in England has a panel of bishops supported by the GAFCON Primates' Council, representing as it does the biblically orthodox Anglican Communion, is very significant for the spiritual renewal of English Anglicanism.
Fulcrum is therefore wrong to criticise AMiE for conflating what it snidely calls a 'conservative evangelical political agenda' with concerns about mission and church planting.
Guarding the apostolic gospel is essential to mission, as the Apostle Paul taught in 2 Timothy, a letter concerned with ensuring that Christ's mission can proceed without being undermined by false teaching.
Paul exhorts Timothy whom he had put in pastoral charge of the false-teaching-riddled church at Ephesus to
Fulcrum is therefore wrong to criticise AMiE for conflating what it snidely calls a 'conservative evangelical political agenda' with concerns about mission and church planting.
Guarding the apostolic gospel is essential to mission, as the Apostle Paul taught in 2 Timothy, a letter concerned with ensuring that Christ's mission can proceed without being undermined by false teaching.
Paul exhorts Timothy whom he had put in pastoral charge of the false-teaching-riddled church at Ephesus to
follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (1v13-14 -RSV)>.
A so-called gospel that denies the nature of the sin from which we are redeemed may fill churches (in the Church of England's case it isn't particularly), but it will not save people. Fulcrum is quite wrong to dismiss real spiritual concerns about upholding biblical integrity in our denomination for the sake of gospel proclamation as 'political'.
But Fulcrum has landed a bit of a punch over the secrecy surrounding the identity of the three English clergy ordained in Kenya. The GAFCON news release mentions that they were welcomed at the evangelical ministers' conference in the City of London where AMiE was launched last week but does not give their names.
Surely the point of ordaining them in Anglican orders is to give them wider accreditation beyond the London church planting network in which they are beginning their public ministries. Indeed GAFCON explicitly states that they were ordained for 'ministry in the wider Anglican Communion'.
Even if one accepts the argument that the unusual circumstances surrounding the ordinations of these men necessitated discretion beforehand, in its announcement after the event GAFCON should have given their names and explained why they were ordained in Kenya.
Openness strengthens the case for AMiE; secrecy undermines it.
The Revd Charles Raven's excellent analysis of the theological rationale for AMiE is a must read for any member of the youth group wanting to get on the end of this significant development.
For more from Cranmer's Curate, see:
http://cranmercurate.blogspot.com/2011/07/fulcrum-wrong-on-amie-but-lands-punch.html
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