‘The Anglican Mission in England [AMIE] stands for the promotion of mission, of biblical church planting and of the selection, training and deployment of ordinands for ministry in the Church of England.’
With these words, the Rev. Paul Perkin, the chair of AMIE’s Steering Committee, welcomed over 140 people to its inaugural event in St. Peter’s-upon-Cornhill, London, on June 22. The next day, Paul and other leaders of AMIE addressed a gathering of leaders on its vision at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, London.
Protecting unity
Mr. Perkin continued: ‘AMIE is promoting mission, but not at the expense of unity with ministers and congregations, the Anglican Communion or other orthodox believers. It is rather about protecting unity with those looking in on the Church of England and assuring them that they can still maintain unity with us. It also enables Anglican ministers to remain within the Church of England, and gives a true basis for unity among evangelicals within the Church of England and across the Anglican Communion in the Jerusalem Statement which is the basis of AMIE’.
AMIE has its roots in the Covenant for the Church of England in December 2006 which followed conversations with the Archbishop of Canterbury about a range of concerns evangelical churches had for their mission and their oversight by bishops in some situations.
Petitioning the Archbishop
Since then there have been regular consultations with evangelical bishops, Anglican archbishops and, most recently, a panel of bishops appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Their stated purpose has been to find a way for oversight for those clergy and congregations which are currently unrecognised by their local bishop or cannot have their ministers ordained by the relevant diocesan bishop because that bishop, who solemnly vows to teach sound doctrine, cannot or will not affirm the orthodox teachings of the Church of England or exercise proper discipline in accord with them. Most recently, a wide range of evangelical Anglicans petitioned the Archbishop of Canterbury for there to be a conservative evangelical ‘flying bishop’ in the same way as there have been such bishops for Anglo-Catholics since 1992. But without success. Of course, with the advent of women bishops, provision of appropriate oversight is back in the melting pot.
4 years of discussions
In June 2008, many of those who have formed AMIE attended the GAFCON Conference in Jerusalem and received significant support from the leaders of the majority of the Anglican Communion who, as recently as May 2011, said: ‘We remain convinced that, from within the Provinces which we represent (Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda Uganda, Southern Cone of Latin America, West Africa, Tanzania, which comprise 40 million of the world’s 55 million churchgoing Anglicans), there are creative ways by which we can support those who have been alienated so that they can remain within the Anglican family’.
Since the four-and-a-half years of discussion yielded no proposals from the Church of England hierarchy and no response to a specific request for assistance from within the Church of England, the Archbishop of the Province of Kenya and chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council has ordained candidates for ministry in the wider Anglican Communion with the support of the GAFCON Primates Council. This demonstrates that, while conservative in doctrine, evangelical Anglicans are broad in culture.
The Archbishop of Kenya has requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to provide these new clergy with a ‘Permission to Officiate’ under the Overseas Clergy Measure. All Anglican Provinces ask the Archbishop for this permission for their clergy to minister when in the Church of England on study leave, secondment to a post, or for any other reason. And, for over a century, many clergy who serve in the Church of England have been first ordained overseas prior to ministry in the Church of England. This all arises out of the Anglican sense of being ‘one church’, so that a bishop in Africa is as much a bishop as a bishop in England.
The Archbishop of Kenya has also requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to delegate the oversight of these new clergy of the Province of Kenya to a panel of English bishops to be exercised on the Archbishop of Kenya’s behalf. These include: Bishop Wallace Benn, the area Bishop of Lewes in the Diocese of Chichester, as chair; Bishop John Ball, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Chelmsford and former suffragan bishop in Tanzania; Bishop Colin Bazley, assistant bishop in the Diocese of Chester, former Bishop of Chile and former Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone; Bishop John Ellison, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Winchester and former Bishop of Paraguay; and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, originally from Pakistan. The panel, therefore, is spread across the country and has wide experience of the Anglican Communion.
Judgment day account
At the inaugural event and service to welcome the clergy from Kenya, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali reminded the congregation that all of us, people, new clergy and bishops, will give account to God at the day of judgment. He said it was regrettable, but necessary, that such a step had to be taken, but ‘in these days of so many temptations, we have to be clear about God’s direction in our lives’.
He continued: ‘This represents a first step and a practical way forward. Only a few will need such oversight at the moment. There may be others if bishops are reluctant to uphold sound doctrine, or are unable to uphold Lambeth 1.10 (which rejects homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, and cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions); or teach that same-sex relations are equivalent to marriage or are in same-sex civil partnerships themselves, and if no provision is made for those who in conscience cannot accept women bishops’.
Determined to remain
In its press release, AMIE, which takes its place alongside the many church societies in the Church of England, states: ‘The AMIE is determined to remain within the Church of England. The desire of those who identify with the society is to have an effective structure which enables them to remain in the Church of England and work as closely as possible with its institutions. Churches or individuals may join or affiliate themselves with the AMIE for a variety of reasons. Some may be churches in impaired communion with their diocesan bishop who require oversight. Others may be in good relations with their bishop but wish to identify with and support others’.
Further information can be found at: http://www.anglicanmissioninengland.org
