John Martin, CMS Head of Communication(Photo: © CMS)One of the thickest books on my shelves is the collection of documents from the Second Vatican Council. Everyone agrees Vatican II changed just about everything in the Catholic Church, not so much for its resolutions but because it engaged an entire generation of Catholics in a prolonged process of study and reflection.
Lambeth 1998 produced over 100 resolutions and most were forgotten before the ink on the official report dried. Lambeth 2008 went another route.
It avoided resolutions altogether - to the intense frustration of bishops used to knock-down-drag-out Parliamentary procedures.
Instead it leaves as its legacy a corpus of documents that invite further study. I’ve read quite a lot of them already courtesy of the Internet, but I’m really looking forward to seeing all the stuff in a single book.
If the recent Anglican crisis has taught us anything it’s that there’s an alarming lack of appreciation out there of our spiritual heritage and what Anglicanism stands for today.
Like the Second Vatican Council did in its time, the documents from Lambeth 2008 will challenge a generation to grapple with what it means to be Anglican today in a way that will challenge and change them.
Five steps forwardDespite absence of resolutions Lambeth managed to come to consensus over five big issues.
Whether the entire consensus will “stick” is another matter. There’s frustration abroad that as yet there are no announcements on how and when these elements will be implemented.
Even in the last few days there’s been a diminution of energy and the media has begun to unpick some of the more fragile seams.
Implementing these five steps would buttress the position of the Anglican centre and those who believe the world would be a worse place if the global Anglican Communion split. These are the five:
- a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex relationships and gay ordination
- a moratorium on orthodox bishops taking over orthodox congregations in other provinces
- a Pastoral Forum to provide a safe haven for such congregations
- agreement to press forward with an 'Anglican Covenant', in which member Churches declare their desire to belong together and their commitment in times of difference not to go separate ways
- re-affirmation of Resolution 1.10 (Lambeth Conference in 1998) declaring “homosexual praxis as contrary to Scripture”
It leaves the Anglican Communion in a position somewhat like the way the European Union works: you aren’t out unless you take a positive decision to leave.
In Europe today, not voting for the recent draft constitution or not adopting the Euro doesn’t disqualify a country from membership of the European Union. It means, however, that those who don’t agree to certain parts of the package might find themselves left behind.
At Lambeth 2008 the centre ground asserted itself. We will see how this principle operates. Some member Churches may by their own actions have put themselves on the fringes.
One step backMission has been marginalized in the context of the Anglican crisis.
The Lambeth consensus may bring it back to a central place. However, there’s a consensus that the Mission and Evangelism section of the final Reflections Document is probably its weakest link.
The word was that the materials on which study of this theme was based were paper-thin. There are many possible reasons. One is that for years the Anglican Communion has lacked a proper Mission and Evangelism Desk. CMS eventually stepped in to help remedy the failing, but there was a huge backlog to catch up.
Another is that for years the Anglican Communion has tended to keep the voluntary societies, who are the real engine rooms of mission and evangelism, at arm’s distance. Something must be done about that.
Lambeth plenaries heard precious little about cutting edge mission: the amazing explosion of indigenous missions all over the world, experiments with new paradigms for church life, the challenge of re-evangelising Europe - once the heartland of Christianity, now in spiritual recession.
Where does this leave CMS? I keep being reminded of a phrase from Professor Andrew Walls. Towering above everything said and done in Canterbury in the summer of 2008 is what Walls termed the “ultimate significance of Jesus of Nazareth.”
That is what gives the CMS community its meaning and purpose.
It is the heart of the gospel we are called to share and the last word against which the claims for Lambeth 2008 will finally be judged.