How are the orthodox Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference going to react now that the organisers have caved in to politically correct pressure to drop the traditional Christian sexual ethic as the “mind of the Anglican Communion”?
There should be no doubt that this is what the organisers have done in changing the wording of the Lambeth Call on Human Dignity.
Liberals in the Anglican Communion’s Western churches last week created such a furore that they have succeeded in preventing Lambeth Resolution 1.10 – which the 1998 conference passed “rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture” – from being reaffirmed at Lambeth 2022.
The study document circulated last week to the 650 bishops from around the world attending the conference now underway in Canterbury was unequivocal about what “the mind of the Anglican Communion” was on the Christian sexual ethic
“It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same gender marriage is not permissible. Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998) states that the ‘legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions’ cannot be advised.
“It is the mind of the Communion to uphold ‘faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union’ (I.10, 1998). It is also the mind of the Communion that ‘all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation are full members of the Body of Christ’ and to be welcomed, cared for, and treated with respect (I.10, 1998).”
The orthodox archbishops and bishops of the Anglican churches in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are boycotting the conference because they are not prepared to compromise on that issue. Given the politicking at Lambeth 2022 over the Call on Human Dignity, their stand has very arguably been vindicated.
Around 270 orthodox bishops in the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), led by the Archbishop of South Sudan, Justin Badi Arama, are attending Lambeth. What should they do now that Lambeth 1.10 has effectively been ditched?
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist.
Christianity Today.