‘Summitry’ was a regular part of the Cold War. The USSR and the USA faced each across the Iron Curtain with separate alliances, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Warsaw Pact. Their leaders could not meet as part of one organisation, without recognising the unrecognisable: the West did not recognise the division of Berlin. In 1963 John F. Kennedy proclaimed across the Berlin Wall: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.
But US and Russian Presidents did meet in ‘summits’. And Archbishop Justin Welby has called a summit of Anglican Primates in Canterbury for 11–16 January 2016 in these words:
‘I have suggested to all Primates that we need to consider recent developments but also look afresh at our ways of working as a Communion and especially as Primates, paying proper attention to developments in the past.
‘Our way forward must respect the decisions of Lambeth 1998, and of the various Anglican Consultative Council and Primates’ meetings since then. It must also be a way forward, guided by the absolute imperative for the church to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make disciples and to worship and live in holiness, and recognising that the way in which proclamation happens and the pressures on us vary greatly between Provinces. We each live in a different context.
‘The difference between our societies and cultures, as well as the speed of cultural change in much of the global north, tempts us to divide as Christians: when the command of Scripture, the prayer of Jesus, the tradition of the church and our theological understanding urges unity. A 21st-century Anglican family must have space for deep disagreement, and even mutual criticism, so long as we are faithful to the revelation of Jesus Christ, together.
‘We have no Anglican Pope. Our authority as a church is dispersed, and is ultimately found in Scripture, properly interpreted. In that light I long for us to meet together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to seek to find a way of enabling ourselves to set a course which permits us to focus on serving and loving each other, and above all on the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.’
Game-changer
This summit is a game-changer. Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has accepted the invitation to attend for the first day of the meeting. This means he is recognised as part of the Anglican family, that those African archbishops who consecrated bishops for ACNA can no longer be accused of ‘crossing boundaries’, and The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has lost its sole franchise of the Anglican Church in those territories.
The summit is a new approach. Previous attempts to address the divisions in the Anglican Communion following TEC’s consecration of an active gay bishop were at formal meetings, with third party commissions and reports which were either ignored or not implemented. The summit will gather all contending parties together with mediators to address the challenges they face.
Lambeth 1.10 on marriage and sexuality is clearly not up for debate, but is the framework for the discussion on this issue. At their General Convention in June, TEC rewrote their doctrine of marriage as gender neutral. It has been made clear that changing the church’s doctrine is a more serious red line than endorsing the behaviour of a maverick bishop.
Setting the agenda
The press release indicates that the agenda will be set by common agreement, with all Primates encouraged to send in contributions. It suggests that the agenda will include religiously-motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment and human sexuality. Differing and even contradictory stands on these and other issues such as corruption are held to undermine and compromise the Christian witness of Anglican Provinces as they face challenges and even threats to their existence from both religious and secular extremists and in their relationships with each other.
The Anglican Communion is not an institution but a family. Member churches are in ‘communion’, a spiritual union based on a common faith, experience of God and mission practice.
But the Anglican Communion does not ‘do anything’. Anglican life and practice is set in local communities, congregations and parishes. How should these Christian communities in different parts of the world, with shared histories but some different approaches to foundational issues of faith, relate to each other?
The Cold War ended because the USSR could not afford to keep it going. The West remained firm. The USSR imploded.
We should not assume that TEC will be able continually to go on and on breaching Anglican fellowship, taking legal action against ACNA, and losing members.
