If you follow religious news at all, chances are you’ve heard about the schisms and doctrinal battles happening in denominations like the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As these church bodies and others like them continue to move in an increasingly liberal direction (theologically speaking), congregations and individual Christians who make their stand on the Word of God often find themselves to be in the minority and, as a result, often become the targets of oppression from their denominations.
Enter an article of mine entitled “Standing Firm: The Cost of Confessing the Word of God” which appears in the most recent issue of The Canadian Lutheran. The article explores some of the difficulties facing Christians who affirm the authority of Scripture, and the sacrifices they often face for doing so. But the article doesn’t focus solely on the negative side of things: it also points out new opportunities for dialogue between denominations who do affirm the authority of Scripture – highlighting, for example, recent dialogue between Lutheran Church – Canada (LCC) & the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) on the one side and the theologically conservative Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) on the other. It also notes the emergence of dialogue between the newly born North American Lutheran Church (NALC) and the LCMS. And it’s not just my thoughts you hear in the article: three major thinkers were kind enough to share their opinions on the subjects in question: the Rev. Dr. James I. Packer (of ACNA), Bishop John Bradosky (of NALC), and Dr. John R. Stephenson (of LCC). Their thoughts are well worth the read, I assure you. Read it for free online here.
Tags: ACNA, Anglican, authority, Bible, ELCA, ELCIC, LCC, LCMS, Lutheran, NALC, Scripture
Divisions in Anglicanism finally resulted yesterday (June 22, 2009) in the creation of a new Province as conservatives ratified the constitution of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Representing 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes across Canada and the United States, the new body stands as a biblically sound alternative to the liberalism sweeping the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Nine provinces in the Worldwide Anglican Communion have sent official representation to the convention (The Southern Cone, Jerusalem and the Middle East, West Africa, Nigeria, Ugana, Kenya, Myanmar, South East Asia, and Rwanda), and church leaders from other denominations are also present, including Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church, Bishop Walter Grundorf of the Anglican Province of America, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, Bishop Kevin Vann of the Roman Catholic Church, and Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS)’s own Rev Dr. Samuel Nafzger.
This announcement is truly grounds for celebration. It’s churches like the ACNA that confessional evangelicals in LCMS and Lutheran Church – Canada (LCC) should be pursuing ecumenical ties with – churches that hold fast to Scripture as the the instrument of grace and the rock of faith. Why we continue to speak pointlessly to groups like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) or its Canadian counterpart completely mystify me. They might be Lutheran in name but are certainly not so in practice. The cornerstone of Lutheran theology is an adherence to Scripture as the final authority in all matters of life and faith. As the Book of Concord states, we must “not let the authority of anyone prevail more than God’s Word,” (The Power and Primacy of the Pope). The ELCA would seem to disagree. If LCMS and LCC want to pursue ecumenical relations with other Christian denominations (and they should), we could do worse than to start with the ACNA.
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Follow the events of the ACNA’s inaugural assembly here.
For up-to-date news about world Anglicanism from a conservative theological perspective visit VirtueOnline.
Tags: ACNA, Anglican, Church of England, concord, confessional, ecumenicalism, ecumenicism, ELCA, ELCIC, evangelical, LCC, LCMS, Lutheran
