Inclusive Church recognises that strong bonds exist between the different churches which make up the Anglican Communion.   We are in relationship with one another and we welcome that.   Current discussions about the Covenant are an attempt to formalise the relationships which exist between us.   But we are concerned that the Covenant as proposed is likely to impose a position on some of the member churches which is at odds with historic Anglicanism and lead to continued marginalisation of some of those who come to our churches.   

 

Here is an article by Savi Hensman responding to the draft Covenant published before the Dar Es Salaam meeting of Primates in February 2007:

 

Love and witness in a broken world

Savitri Hensman

The section of the draft Covenant focusing on "Unity of the Communion" proposes that, "where there are matters in serious dispute among churches that cannot be resolved by mutual admonition and counsel", after consulting the other Instruments of Communion the Primates would have authority to "offer guidance and direction". Hence, Primates would be in a position to veto initiatives for ministry and mission in other provinces. This would result not in greater strength and unity but instead weakness and disunity in the Communion.

Anglicans have entered into a common baptismal covenant.  In different times and places 'the laity, as baptized members of the Body of Christ, share in the priestly ministry of the Church and in responsibility for its work,' in the words of the 1958 Lambeth Conference.

'Jesus made friends of his disciples by loving them.  Christian mission is the call to love others the way Jesus did, so that we, and they, can discover the loving friendship of Jesus,' states the report on Communion in Mission received at the 2005 Anglican Consultative Council.  'The heart of the witness of the Church is the day-to-day presence, life and witness of lay Christians in their places of residence, work and the neighbourhoods where they live, or the networks with which they are associated…  The God we proclaim is a God of love and justice.  The world in which we live, however, is characterised by injustice, greed, poverty, terrorism, abuse of power and exclusion.  It is in this broken world that we are called to joyful participation in God's mission of love and justice for all… What we all share is a common vocation sealed by baptism.'

Anglicans together participate in the eucharist, which 'embraces all aspects of life' and 'opens up the vision of the divine rule which has been promised as the final renewal of creation, and is a foretaste of it' (Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, 1982).  'As Jesus went out to publicans and sinners and had table-fellowship with them during his earthly ministry, so Christians are called in the eucharist to be in solidarity with the outcast and to become signs of the love of Christ who lived and sacrificed himself for all.'

In encountering and serving Christ in the least of his brothers and sisters (Matthew 25), sharing the joys and sorrows of neighbours, in word and deed witnessing in concrete situations to God's healing and transforming love, not avoiding difficult questions and recognising their own vulnerability, local Christian communities draw on and contribute to the spiritual and material resources of the universal Church.  Scripture and tradition come alive for clergy and laypersons in new ways, and awareness may grow of the beauty as well as the brokenness of God's diverse creation.

A 1985 Church of England report highlighted the part played by many of those marginalised by society in mission and ministry in the poorest neighbourhoods in towns and cities so that, amidst adversity and struggle, the Church 'is often also intensely alive, proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel more authentically than in many parts of "comfortable Britain”...   The Church is itself a particular kind of community of which the distinguishing features are clearly stated by St Paul.  It is, first, essentially local.  It is constituted by people in a certain town or area, who meet together regularly, bear one another's burdens, suffer one another's pain and participate in a common celebration. Every individual matters, conscientious scruples are respected, each person's gift is given full opportunity to be exercised, so long as it serves the over-riding principle of "building up” the community as a whole. But this local Church should never be inward-looking. It is part of a wider community, a universal Church.'  The need for appropriate pastoral support for homosexual clergy, many of whom serve in the poorest areas, was highlighted, 'not least in their ministry to other homosexuals, who tend to be drawn to the inner cities'.

Some in the global South, from which most of the world's gays and lesbians come, perceive the plight of those facing discrimination as part of a wider pattern of maltreatment and marginalisation of God's children.  According to the Statement of the 1992 Assembly of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, held in Kenya, 'The Third World cry for life is one multi-tonal cry. It reflects the various ways oppression assaults Third World life. It carries the cries of countries protesting economic indenture to IMF and the World Bank…  It carries the cries of refugees, children, displaced people and those afflicted with AIDS, the cries against the discrimination of homosexuals, of those who suffer from economic oppression, women forced into prostitution, victims of drug abuse and the unjust politics of health care. It carries the cries of Blacks against apartheid. It carries the cries of the Dalits against the apartheid of caste oppression. It carries the cries of women against patriarchal dominance and sexual violence… following the Jesus of faith means following one who was dedicated to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and fighting for the liberation of oppressed people… God is present to us in him... To be committed means standing fast until anything which threatens the full humanity of any person is destroyed… Commitment might lead to harassment, marginalization, ecclesiastical sanctions, arrest, torture or even death. To be committed means there is no cost too great when one joins God's mission to make the world a place where life is valued for all of God's creation.'

The Covenant for Communion in Mission, commended by the ACC in 2005 to Anglicans worldwide for study and application, begins with a pledge to 'Recognise Jesus in each other's contexts and lives.'  However, without properly considering and promoting discussion of the points made in this document, the Primates' meeting has pressed ahead with a very different draft Covenant which would fundamentally change the nature of the Anglican Communion.

Many church leaders display great humility and sensitivity to local Christian communities, unlike worldly rulers (Matthew 20.20-28), and do not claim that they alone are teachers (Matthew 23.8-12).  They recognise and respect the passionate commitment which underpins the often costly ministry and mission of ordinary Anglicans, and seek to build on and add to, rather than despise or ignore, what has been learnt through striving to respond to and share God's love in concrete situations.  But the response of certain provinces to the 'listening process' have made it clear that other primates and other bishops wish to instruct rather than convince, and are unwilling to acknowledge that they have might anything to learn from the fruits of scholarship, prayer and experience.  The Covenant proposed by the Primates' meeting would, in effect, give authority to senior clergy (among whom women and youth are hardly represented) to block initiatives for mission and ministry thousands of miles away.  This would affect not only lesbians and gays, their families and friends but also many others who seek to live and proclaim the good news of Christ in their localities.

Leaders have every right to express their views and try to persuade others.  But the exercise of power, rather than participation in dialogue, even if it results in obedience may undermine local capacity to minister and witness.  Other Anglicans may take the view that they are being asked to set aside their baptismal covenant and put faithfulness to the hierarchy above faithfulness to Christ, which they would be unwilling to do.  Such a Covenant would be a cause of disunity.