The Future of Orthodox Anglicanism (eBook)

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An East African Perspective

What Does the Lord Require of Anglicans?

Eliud Wabukala

What is Anglicanism? Its definition is rather elusive. Some say that Anglicanism is a product of incidental factors. It was never planned or strategically intended to be an expression of the Christian faith as we know it today. Instead, the rebellion by royalty in England against papal authority from Rome and the prevailing nationalist tendencies in England at the time combined to help produce what later became known as Anglicanism. These combined to bring about a separate church that from the onset retained strong elements of Catholicism while pushing toward Reformation ideals that were taking root in continental Europe.

This balancing of issues between Catholics and nationalist traditionalists in what became known as the “Elizabethan Settlement” gave rise to the form of Anglicanism that endures in its varied forms today. The form of Christian expression that emerged was broad and sometimes so vague as to be difficult to grasp, but usually felt and experienced as a thoroughly Christian way of life in its ethos, style, and outlook. Anglicans define themselves as those Christians whose worship originates from the Book of Common Prayer and whose intensive reading of Scripture is provided by the Anglican lectionary. The common use of the Prayer Book, which is thoroughly biblical, keeps Anglicans grounded in Scripture. But Anglicanism is also a sacramental way of following Jesus Christ. Because of this emphasis on both Scripture and sacrament, Anglicanism is both Catholic and Protestant in form.

When Anglicanism came to Africa, it took on a particular shape. In most parts of Africa—especially during its early life, as in Kenya—Anglicanism was characterized by a life of humility, faith in Christ and his cross, forgiveness of sin, and the expectation of a life of righteousness. But African Anglicans did not stick to themselves. They joined actively in fellowship with other Christians from other African churches. The East African Revival Movement reinforced this form of Christian expression—Anglicans and other Christians working together to serve their communities.

At first there was little intent to start a new Anglican church in Kenya. When Dr. Johann Krapf and John Rebmann were sent on mission from England to East Africa by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) around 1844, they did not intend to create an Anglican institution as we know it in Kenya today. Their aim was simply to convert people to the lordship of Christ as their Savior. They and others in the CMS encouraged literacy for the purpose of reading and understanding Scripture. They also taught elementary hygiene to combat disease that was prevalent because of a very harsh environment. The CMS strategy was to build schools and hospitals along with missions in order to teach the wholeness of the gospel. The result was a community of Christians whose approach to life was holistic. They downplayed the Anglican origin of the CMS so much that the older generation still refers to itself as CMS and not Anglican.1

Toward the Anglican Future

Some five hundred years after the Protestant Reformation, it is becoming clear that what some have called the “Anglican experiment” is not ending in failure but is on the verge of a new and truly global future in which the original vision of the Reformers can be realized as never before. We have had our problems, especially in the last sixty years. But rather than repudiating or belittling our history, we need to learn from it and set ourselves now to walk humbly with our God into the future that he has planned for us.

We should learn especially from the success of Anglicanism in the Global South, particularly in countries that were once British colonies. Here Anglicans have focused on the biblical tradition and have sought to interpret correctly the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Members of these churches see themselves as recipients of the mission of Jesus Christ to share and teach the gospel as it was handed over by the apostles. Anglicans from these churches were leaders at the Lambeth Conference of 1998, where their unity was demonstrated by the passage of Resolution I.10, on human sexuality.2

Leaders from the Global North have led us down unhelpful paths. The so-called instruments of unity—the archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Primates’ Meetings—have failed to provide unity and focus for effective mission. We all hoped that a solution to our recent crises (debate and division over sexuality) might come from a common Anglican Communion covenant. But this covenant was stillborn at its onset. Its nine-point promulgations were too general and noncommittal. They lacked the power to bring discipline in a fractured Communion. Their weakness lay in the fact that Scripture was overlooked as their source of authority. Yet only from Scripture can we know Jesus, the eternal Word and Lord of the church. To assert instead, as some of the proponents of the covenant did, that we need to recognize Jesus in each other’s context was tantamount to a misinterpretation of the biblical text. For to be faithful to Scripture, our understanding of our context must submit to Scripture for renewal and transformation. Only by this submission will the church grow to become Christlike.

A Reformed Catholicity

But now we have a new and hopeful way forward. We need to realize that our time is not unique. Ours is not the first crisis in the history of Anglicanism or Christianity. Every crisis provides a new opportunity. By the mercy of God, he has given us this historic opportunity to rediscover the distinctive reformed catholicity of our Communion as shaped profoundly by the witness of the sixteenth-century Anglican Reformers. This is the answer to revisionist scriptural interpretations drawn by Anglican leaders in recent decades. We have a catholic heritage in our ancient sacraments and worship. And we are reformed because of our devotion to the word of God.

While we should uphold the hard work of biblical exposition, we can never disregard the plain teaching of the inspired text. It is that text that Archbishop Cranmer was so keen to have available in the English language in every parish church. The translation of the Scriptures into ethnic languages has been fundamental to the cultural transformation that the gospel has brought to Africa and the rest of the world. The division and confusion of past decades in Anglicanism are results of disregarding this plain teaching of the biblical text. Subsequent false teaching by leaders of Anglican Communion institutions has caused grievous divisions and endless debates since Lambeth 1998.

Communion in Mission

The way past those debates is to recognize that the Anglican Communion grew out of a vision for world mission. The first Lambeth Conference (1867) was organized in order to work with new Anglican churches outside of England. Similar outreach needs to be reenacted and reinterpreted in different ages and contexts. We need to remind ourselves that the church exists for mission to the world, so that without mission, the church loses its relevance.

The Anglican Communion in the past has seen itself as a family of churches who find their communion in mission. We need to realign our structures so that they can contribute toward our common goal for mission. In spite of our different contexts, the message of our mission should be the same: Jesus Christ revealed to us in Scripture, instructing us to follow him as our model, both in church as his body and in the community as a family of believers. He calls us to be friends with him and intends that we be brothers and sisters in this family created by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

Mission is based on love. Jesus showed us that true love means we should be prepared to lay down our lives for each other. An Anglican Communion that can reach this level of mission will create structures that serve mission with effectiveness. Instead of taking different paths on essential issues of Scripture, members of the same Anglican family will humble themselves and repent in the face of biblical instructions.

Wisdom from Micah

My best advice is for us Anglicans to follow the exhortation of the prophet Micah. He too was writing at a time of crisis in the history of God’s people. It was during the latter half of the eighth century BC, a time when the people of the northern kingdom of Israel had lost their identity, and the people of the South, Judah, nearly suffered the same fate.

In Micah 6:8, we read:

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

“What does the Lord require of you?” This is the greatest question facing the Communion in this era. The question demands that we have a clear understanding of the situation we are in and be willing to let go of comfortable illusions. It calls us back to what God has said and Micah affirms, that “he has told you, O man, what is good.” It implies that discovering the will of God, what God requires, depends not on our ingenuity or imagination but on what God has already said. He spoke then in words that he speaks...