5 Takeaways from 2016—and their implications for 2017
by Phil Ashey, AAC:
As we approach 2017, what opportunities and challenges will carry over from 2016 for Anglican followers of Jesus Christ? I’d like to suggest that there are five “takeaways” from 2016 that we can reflect upon, five challenges that will shape our mission and ministries for Christ as we move into the New Year:
- Reaffirm the limits of Anglican Diversity
Emboldened by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s failure to uphold the January 2016 Primates’ recommendation for discipline of The Episcopal Church (TEC), Anglican leaders in the largely Western “global north” churches will continue to abandon Biblical, apostolic and catholic doctrine and practice in favor of what is politically and culturally correct. These Churches will stretch to bless whatever the culture blesses in terms of gender identity, sexual orientation and changes to the definition of marriage. This was already the case for TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, and we have seen such changes accelerate in Scotland, Wales and New Zealand.
But as I wrote previously, there are Limits to Anglican Diversity. We find these “guardrails” in the Bible, the creeds, and the doctrinal expressions of the Councils of the Ancient Church. These Christian essentials are what define Anglicans, rather than the Archbishop of Canterbury’s mailing list. I’ve written an essay on this confessional identity of Anglicanism which concludes with this observation:
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