from Anglican Futures
Last week, the Synod of the Anglican Convocation of Europe (ACE), one of the three dioceses of the Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) met in Coventry. The Rt Revd Paul Donison the General Secreary of Gafcon, the Global Anglican Futures Conference which oversees the proto-Province was the main speaker. During his expositions he reminded delegates that even in the most turbulent of times God continues to be working out his sovereign purposes and that his people need not shy away from such times but instead should prepare for them and persist through them.
As, Donison reflected on the first chapter of Acts, he showed how, in the very early days of the Church, God’s people had faced the darkest of dark times and yet had seen God working through it. The ultimate crisis- that of the cross was not the end but was followed by the glories of the resurrection, ascension and, as we remembered on Sunday, Pentecost.
It was in the context of those experiences that the apostles faced another dark day, forced as they were to consider how to manage the replacement of the errant apostle, Judas. It was, in many ways, the last thing with which the nascent Church needed to be confronted but that did not prevent them from grappling with it in a most practical way.
As the ACE Synod met, news trickled through that the Rt Revd Martyn Snow had resigned from his role as Lead Bishop of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process. In a short statement thanking those who had, “given hours of their time to seek an agreed way forward in the Church of England on matters of sexuality, relationships, and marriage,” he admitted that he didn’t think, “such an agreement” could be found under his leadership.