Split in ranks feared as next Lambeth Conference approaches
The ordination of women priests and openly gay priests to church offices has created havoc within the ranks of the Church of England, also known throughout the world as the Anglican Communion. Now, as he prepares for the latest Lambeth Conference of Bishops in July 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury faces a revolt. Some 250 bishops—almost a third—have declined invitations to attend.
Instead, many of them have attended another conference in Jerusalem, styling themselves as the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon). The choice of Jerusalem for the conference is symbolic of their desire for the church to return to its Biblical foundations. (The Lambeth conference is called by the Archbishop of Canterbury and is held every 10 years for all Archbishops and Bishops.)
In calling for a return to the Biblical basis for the church, the bishops would like to see the Bible accepted as the Word of God as it was written rather than being reinterpreted to suit current moral trends, the latter approach having led to the controversies of the past few years.
However if Jerusalem provides the basis for the foundation of the church, it should produce a very different communion. Does Gafcon really mean to imply that they intend to reject all of the church councils from Nicea onwards and return to an apostolic form of Christianity that Jerusalem portrays? Would the Archbishop of Canterbury or the equivalent official see himself as an inheritor of the role played by James the Just, the brother of Jesus? Would the church return to its Jewish roots? I think not. The choice of Jerusalem was simply a nice piece of theater!
However, another factor is involved. As noted by Henry Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda, the Jerusalem conference is 4,000 miles from Lambeth—a clear indication of the diametric divergence of views of the Bible that exist within the Anglican Communion.
