THOUGHTS ON THE JERUSALEM DECLARATION 2: Proposing a Life-and-Death Amendment
by Stephen Noll, Contending Anglican:
In my first essay on “Gafcon and the Church” I argued that the Jerusalem Declaration is establishing an ecclesial identity for the Gafcon movement in the Anglican Communion. The first seven clauses and the final clause lay the biblical and historical framework of the apostolic faith in the Anglican tradition: the Gospel, the Lordship of Jesus, the Bible, the Creeds and Councils, the Anglican Articles of Religion, worship according to the Book of Common Prayer, and the threefold order of ministry according to the Ordinal, and the Second Coming of Christ.
The next clauses 8-13 address those issues of particular urgency in our day: marriage and sexuality; the mission imperative; stewardship of the earth and commitment to justice; and church unity and diversity and its limits (ecumenism and discipline). When our Statement group was considering these issues, we neglected to address one topic: life and death, which is equally rooted in Scripture and under attack in contemporary culture. I do not remember the topic coming up one way or the other. It should have. We just missed it.
I think we should remedy this omission.
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