From Anglican Mainstream:
On May 15, Christ Church Virginia Water hosted + Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes and President of the Church of England Evangelical Council. + Wallace spoke on Confessing Anglicans in Global and Local Mission.
....
THE launch in the UK and Ireland of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), an orthodox Anglican movement for mission at global and local level, is to take place on July 6 in London.
The Fellowship is the outworking of last year’s GAFCON conference in Jerusalem, at which 1200 delegates signed up to the Jerusalem Statement. Those attending Gafcon 2008 represented some 40 million Anglicans world-wide, 70% of the total active membership of 55 million.
The launch event, entitled ‘Be Faithful! – Confessing Anglicans in Global and Local Mission’ will be held at Westminster Central Hall from 10.30am-5.30pm. The aim is to encourage and envision Anglicans who are committed to the orthodox teachings of the Anglican Church and who are passionate about global and local mission. It will be the first of regular ‘fellowship’ events both in the UK and across the world.
Perhaps, the Archbishop of Canterbury didn't foresee the launching of FOCA or FCA, as they now call themselves, on his turf, but I surely did. Once the group sets up in England, I wonder if it might occur to them to want their own province.
Speakers at the event in England will include:
Bishops Keith Ackerman, President of Forward in Faith North America
Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes
John Broadhurst, Chairman of Forward in Faith UK
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
Dr Chik Kaw Tan
Archbishop Peter Jensen, secretary of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
PS: 1200 delegates representing 40 million Anglicans and 70% of the active membership seems an unrealistic estimate to me. Of course, I could be wrong.
What a shame: I already have an appointment to watch paint dry.
ReplyDeleteDP, you will be missing a historic moment.
ReplyDeleteSome pretty strange bedfellows there - the head of FiF UK (another nice acronym) and FiF NA on the one side, and Peter Jensen and Wallace Benn, the only English bishop who refuses to wear a mitre, on the other. With dissaffection as the principal common factor, it will have all the stability of a marriage based on mutual alcoholism.
ReplyDeleteAmen, O Rabbit Odd. Why is it that "FiF UK" seems vaguely naughty?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Mimi, you are quite right to be suspicious of those "representative" figures. These are the same leaders who claim there is a great mass of people in the US who don't feel they are "represented" by +KJS; but don't seem to realize there are perhaps just as many in Nigeria who don't feel represented by +PA.
It's almost tempting to go along and heckle. I've never been a skilled heckler though, and I don't know that I'd be doing good to get drawn into the politics at that level; I have other work to do.
ReplyDeleteLapin, yes. One wonders how long they will hang together.
ReplyDeleteTobias, they can't seem to get the names quite right. FOCA, FiFUk. What's next?
Song, you'd be surprised at how little I know about these groups. This is a copy and paste job, but for the numbers which made me suspicious. Just because they say it, doesn't make it true.
As to the spread of these groups in the UK, I take no pleasure in it, but it was bound to happen. What's sauce for the goose....
What will the new acronym be? FOCA-UKI perhaps?
ReplyDeleteFOCA International, Susan? FOC-IT?
ReplyDeleteOn the groups that will be attending this meeting, there is also a potentially deep fault line dividing the UK & N American branches of FiF. The UK one consists only of members of the "national" Anglican/Episcopal churches of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. FiF NA is a rag-bag of churches, mostly out-of-communion and some with questionable orders.
Good thing I went to the bathroom before I read the last couple of comments. It's too easy, isn't it? We should be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteSusan and Lapin, you do realize that you're dragging down this high-toned blog.
Mine only applies to the UK and Ireland, Lapin, and should be spoken with a sort of Sid Caesar fake Italian accent!
ReplyDeleteYeah, well Mimi, I live to find the dirt and point it out! And as my cousin says, "If I can't find it, I make it up."
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Susan!
ReplyDeleteAnd to think it was Tobias who started it all.
Not our beloved Tobias! And him a priest and all!
ReplyDeleteI think TEC should vote to endorse their desire to have their own province in England. ;-) In fact, I think we should offer to recognize two: Anglo-Catholics Holier Than God and Evangelical And Holier Than the Bible. Then they can have ACHTGFOCA and EAHTBFOCA. Then they can have a JSCOHP (Joint Standing Committee of Holy People.)
ReplyDeleteFr. Christian and I are gonna make a ton selling them stationary!
FWIW
jimB
And we can make up numbers. 60% of the Anglicans in England want to be in the TEC province "over there", and it's true just because we say it.
ReplyDeleteOh, ladies and gents, thank you for all the acronym-laughs. My brain was a-buzzing and I needed a guffaw infusion. I can only think of one reason why they don't pick up on what they keep doing with their acronyms: no sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteI agree, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. There are always people in the world that need religion with unbending rules. I recall Jesus had some things to say about that. So we just keep on, keeping on - love God, love your neighbor.
Lynn, I'm laughing again as I read the comments. No sense of humor is spot on. They just don't see the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteI am immediately reminded of the "Butch Cassidy .." line: "Who are all these people?" or something like that.
ReplyDeleteSigh....
SusanKay, "Who ARE these people?" The stress is important.
ReplyDeleteI know. You laugh, or you cry.