Breaking News: SC Clergy

Two South Carolina clergy, The Revs Robert Sturdy and Iain Boyd, Trinity Church Myrtle Beach, have written a brilliant paper entitled, Leading for Unity: an Evangelical Expression of the Unity of the Church.  

In this document they examine the current circumstances in which the church, and especially the Diocese of SC, finds itself.  Their work is commendable for a number of reasons:

1. They provide a heretofore lacking framework for the discussion of the serious matters facing this diocese in light of General Convention 09.
2. They ground their work in Scripture and then elucidate their argument by drawing upon church history and our Anglican theological heritage. 
3. They define their terminology with precision.
4. They remind us that we are a Protestant and Evangelical church and help us think through the Reformer’s concepts of apostolic succession, catholicity and unity.  
5. Finally, unlike my own commentary, they do not prescriptively advocate a way forward thereby inviting us into a discussion rather than an argument.

Following is the opening paragraph of their essay:

Over the past few months, because of various events (Gafcon, ACNA, GenCon 09’) the issue of the unity of the church viewed through the lens of an Anglican context has come up with increasing regularity.  In the conversations we have had with fellow priests and even in statements from men and women serving at a very high level of leadership in the diocese we have noted two things.  The first thing we would note is that while the individuals themselves are, for the most part trained theologians and men and women of great theological depth and Biblical faithfulness they have failed to publicly reflect with any great depth on the situations we are now presented with. The second thing we have noticed about the discussion of the unity of the church in an Anglican context is that the evangelical understanding of the unity of the church is poorly represented amongst the highest levels of leadership in the Diocese of S.C.

Nice.  

Other highlights:

The New Testament not only speaks of unity, it also speaks of situations where unity is not possible.  2 John 9-11 shows that where continuance of the apostles teaching fails, unity must fail.

[O]ne can only wonder why the Diocese of South Carolina has failed to meaningfully extend the hand of fellowship to the ACNA.

The Apostles of the New Testament are made one through their common experience and belief of Jesus as God’s Messiah.  Their unity is not centered around any one person (such as Peter), or any one city (such as Jerusalem), or any one ethnic group (such as the Jews).  Rather, what matters most is the fellowship of those called to assemble by God in the name of Jesus the Messiah.

The principle role of the Apostles was not to preserve an institutional succession therefore, but the succession of the Gospel.  Paul clearly shows that institutional unity must suffer if it comes into conflict with the preservation of the Gospel. 

Surprisingly, the 39 Articles are silent in reference to apostolic succession and they only briefly mention ordering the church with bishops, priests, and deacons.

The church (catholic, not local) here is defined as a congregation under the lordship of Jesus.  In other words, the church is united not by its ecclesiastical structure but the proclamation of Jesus.

Justo Gonzalez says, “even after the Elizabethan settlement, Jewel responded to Catholic arguments: ‘Succession, you say, is the chief way for any Christian man to avoid anti-christ.  I grant you, if you mean succession of doctrine!” Jewel seems to be little concerned with any Episcopal succession from the apostles besides that of the faith once delivered.

Thus it can be plainly shown that early in the Anglican Church an ecclesiology was developed, proclaimed, and made official which has fallen out of vogue in many corners of the Anglican world.  It is obvious that for the framers of the Church of England, the church was defined by the faith that was proclaimed.  Not only that, but Christian unity was explicitly linked not to any particular order or office in the church, but rather to the spiritual unity of being united to Christ by faith.

 Read the rest. 

Well done, gentlemen!  Thank you.