C009 - Anglican Communion: Importance of the Anglican Communion

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ORIGINAL TEXT

Resolution C009

Title: Importance of the Anglican Communion

Topic:

Committee: Special Legislative Committee

House of Initial Action: Bishops

Proposer: Diocese of Newark

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention declare that the Anglican Communion is a precious gift which we treasure, that there is and always has been a wide diversity of disciplines practiced by various parts of the Communion, and we therefore affirm the right and obligation of every province to apply the Gospel and its values to its specific cultural context, and to respect the decisions that other provinces make for their people.

EXPLANATION

One of the core characteristics of the Anglican tradition is that we have always placed a primary value on pastoral care.  This means the constant application of the Gospel to the current contextual reality.  This is one of the reasons that the Anglican Communion has chosen to be autocephalous in structure.  Each national church is independent so that it can determine how best to apply the Gospel to its own specific context.  The spiritual needs of the United States are likely to be somewhat different in specific ways from those in Africa or Asia.  The Communion has always allowed the national churches to make their own decisions about how to minister to their people and to respect each other's obligations to make those decisions.

We see the current crisis as a difference over what is doctrine and what is discipline.  Those who desire the Episcopal Church to revoke its decision regarding The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson see the Episcopal Church as having abandoned the doctrine of the Bible and of the Church.  We who uphold the election of Bishop Robinson see the matter as one of how that unchanged doctrine is applied to our current societal context.  In the heresy trial of The Rt. Rev. Walter Righter in 1991, we formally decided that the formularies for doctrine, i.e. the Creeds, are silent on the matter of human sexuality, and therefore a core doctrine is not at stake.

Much of the debate concerns the role of Scripture in Christian decisions about behavior. This also is a matter not covered by the Creeds.  It is covered in the tradition, but with much variation of approach.  Therefore, much disagreement should be expected and tolerated before breaking communion.

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