On another thread, our Victorian Presbyterian brother David Palmer asked a terrific question.
David Palmer - 28 March 2008 07:08 AM
Dear John, Gordon and others,
<snip>
From the outside looking in it appears that the twin actions of Gafcon and the refusal to attend Lambeth effectively means that a split is occurring which my reading the logic of Philip Jensen’s speech confirms, and presumably the same thing will work its way through “the instruments of unity” for the Australian church.
True or False?
If true then its going to be messy, which has got to be true
I thought it was worth its own thread, so here we have it.
I’ve given it the title “Evangelical Anglican church plants outside diocesan boundaries” because it seems to me that if we are now starting to see the break-up of the Anglican communion, the whole way we have historically thought about who is ‘allowed’ to plant churches and where is up for probably one of the biggest shake-ups since the Reformation; or at least since the British Empire started to expand across the globe.
Could we possibly start seeing evangelical Anglican Nigerian Church plants in Darwin? Ugandan church plants in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne?
Just a double post to copy over my own suggestion from the related thread:
We already have dispensed with the idea of parish boundaries in Sydney. I wonder if the time for discussion of diocesan boundaries is just about upon us. It would be great to see more evangelical Anglican churches planted in a city like Melbourne, and if that meant more liberal and Anglo-catholic Anglican churches being planted in Sydney, I suppose that might be seen as a necessary cost of some greater freedoms for evangelical Christians of whatever denomination to have a freer hand in evangelism.
That’s a church plant within the diocese, and already happens with no difficulty under existing protocols.
I’m more thinking of crossing diocesan boundaries. No, we don’t need Africans to do it for us, but on the other hand, the more the merrier. If the Ugandans wanted to come and church plant in Sydney under a new era of loosened diocesan boundaries, I would be both surprised and delighted.
I’m thinking that just as parish boundaries have tradtionally hampered flexible thinking, and now we’ve gotten rid of them; perhaps the new world post Lambeth ‘08 (or post GAFCON, really) will allow greater flexibility of thinking on a broader scale.
With Moore College and SMBC chockers with students, not to mention other Bible colleges around the place, we should really be looking for more ways of putting graduates into spots in churches, or even starting their own. We’ve already seen some graduates of Moore planting independent churches in places like Bathurst, Wagga, Orange, Central Coast… why not go the extra step and plant independent Anglican churches in similar places? Some people who like to be Anglican don’t necessarily want to go to independent churches (I’m not saying whether that’s good or bad), but would value the opportunity to attend an evangelical Anglican church that was located in their diocese but not necessarily connected to it.
It would be quite marvellous if our bishops returned back from GAFCON fired up to promote initiatives like this.
Or maybe people could just go ahead and plant them, and the bishops could come back to a nice ‘Welcome home from GAFCON’ surprise.
Such a great idea – church planting independent Anglican churches that is.
However it wont be easy.
You may be hit over the head with a baseball bat on occasions.
You may have to contend with false accusations.
You will have problems with insurances.
You may have no money and have to work at a job as well.
You may fail.
But hey – that is mission. And God is gracious to the end.
Just noticed this thread, and a snippet form your original post caught my eye:
Gordon Cheng - 28 March 2008 02:22 PM
… if that meant more liberal and Anglo-catholic Anglican churches being planted in Sydney, I suppose that might be seen as a necessary cost ...
Do you think that any liberal churches, with effectively no gospel to proclaim, are likely to plant churches? (No need to treat this question with any real seriousness. I find he prospect of liberal church plants slightly amusing, is all ...)
Such a great idea – church planting independent Anglican churches that is.
However it wont be easy.
You may be hit over the head with a baseball bat on occasions.
You may have to contend with false accusations.
You will have problems with insurances.
You may have no money and have to work at a job as well.
You may fail.
But hey – that is mission. And God is gracious to the end.
Di
It sure would be painful. But it would be greatly helped, wouldn’t it, if our bishops came back inspired to help the process get under way.
Imagine if Synod were to vote a small starter fund to assist in such efforts. Or Synod could set up a property fund to invest in property outside Sydney for the use of such plants.
That could all happen anyway outside of diocesan processes, of course. But wouldn’t it be great if this had formal backing?
Hmm… assisting Dave Short with church planting in Vancouver, anyone?
Hmm… assisting Dave Short with church planting in Vancouver, anyone?
Hmmm...Canada’s nice. I could be tempted.
I reckon the heat someone might face for planting an evangelical Anglican church in Vancouver might make it a rather less pleasant experience than the travel brochures promise. But I imagine you would have the support of Dave Short and Jim Packer, and what’s more, God’s Spirit working through his word—far more than any human institution could offer.
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The Presidential Address delivered by the Most Rev. Dr. Peter Jensen, Archbishop of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church.
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