Global South Gathering

The group, known as the Global South Anglican Communion, comprises churches in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It represents 75 per cent of the global Anglican Church.

This is the fourth such meeting and the first held in Singapore. The week-long conference, whose theme is ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ: Covenant for the People and Light for the Nations’, ends on Friday.

More than 130 delegates are expected to discuss how the various churches can support one another in missionary work and church-building.

Also on the agenda will be the impact that the consecration of a non-celibate lesbian as bishop next month in The Episcopal Church of the United States will have on the Anglican community, and its response to the Anglican Covenant – a document put together last December that outlines the theological identity of the Anglican Church.

On Friday, a summary of the meetings is expected to be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who leads the 75 million-strong Church.

The Anglican faith is one of the largest Christian denominations in the Protestant Church.

Dr Williams was invited to the meeting but he could not make it, said event organisers. He will, however, be speaking to delegates via a pre-recorded video message (see below).

Here are a few highlights:

Welcome address by Archbishop John Chew, Primate of SE Asia:

We continue that work in this Encounter with its theme of “The Gospel of Jesus Christ—Covenant for the People; Light for the Nations.”In our time together, we will begin each day by gathering in communion with the Lord and one another around the Lord’s Table and His Word before the business of the day. Then there will be the daily Thematic Addresses expounding on the Gospel, the Covenant, the Light for the Nations and explicated by the Plenary Presentations on Global South Structures, Missions and Ministry, and Economic Empowerment through Capacity Building.

Even as we do so, we are keenly aware of the current issues and deepening crisis and challenges facing our Communion. There is no denying that these issues will inevitably be of great concerns in our minds, prayers and conversations. We have the challenge of how we will respond to the Anglican Covenant. It is important that we can share our respective views, even if we differ.

Welcome address by Archbishop Peter Akinola, former Primate of Nigeria:

It is to this charge that I wish to call you. The apostle Paul reminds us that, “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Cor. 14:8) There is a battle going on in our beloved Communion and so there is a desperate need for an authentic and passionate proclamation of the truth of God. People are perishing and we dare not remain silent. We must proclaim the Word that brings life and hope. I pray that we will have the inspiration and courage to do so.

GSE4 Thematic Address by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of Nigeria:

We must reject the so-called “Gospel” which encourages a man or woman to remain and feel good and fulfilled in a state of sin from which he/she should seek gracious escape in Christ. But it must be emphasized that this transformation is not just a matter of personal devotion and piety. It must be made to affect individuals, building families and societies especially fighting corruptions, poverty, despotic and greedy Government, polygamy in Africa as well as serial monogamy elsewhere, some of whom make profession of Faith. It also can help to transform the stay-in-one-place movement attitude of the West to climate change. And not less relevant is transformation to the crushing problem of refugees, hunger, disease and population explosion.
…
The materially wealthy North must not equate their affluent context with the paradise of God. Material wealth is necessary, where it is absent, the work of God will suffer, even the message will be distorted; but wealthy condition and affluent lifestyle do not necessarily amount to peace with God, and attainment of heavenly qualities. The peace we seek must have in it fairness (righteousness) a justice towards Africa and the rest of the South, in view of new post-colonial realities.

Sermon by Archbishop Peter Akinola, former Primate of Nigeria:

We all know that signing the covenant will not stop TEC from pursuing its own agenda. In fact only recently, it elected and confirmed another openly practicing lesbian priest to the episcopate. The Communion is still unable to exercise discipline. We are God’s Covenant to the world, yes, but we are divided. We lack discipline. We lack the courage to call ‘a spade a spade’. Our obedience to God is selective.My sisters and brothers from around the world, I am troubled, I am sad in fact I am confused. If the churches in the Global South sign up, would they then become a new Communion? Wouldn’t that further polarize the church? On the other hand the Churches in the Global South cannot forever continue to merely react to the actions of the Western churches. If TEC for political reasons chooses to sign, and we can’t stop them, but continues to disregard the mind of the Communion on these matters that have caused us so much grief, it will make nonsense of the whole exercise.

Where do we go from here?
Our desire in the Global South is for a genuine healing of the Church. Our desire is for the restoration of sacramental communion among all the churches in the global Anglican family. Much precious time has been spent, or maybe wasted, on this crisis. The real mission of the church, which is to make Christ known to all is suffering and in some cases neglected. We in the Global South cannot continue in this way. Yet, we see no light at the end of the tunnel. Time is God’s precious gift for which we are accountable to God as His stewards. This Encounter must show us the way forward in all of this.

Thematic address 2 by Archbishop John Chew on the nature of covenant from Scripture:

Summarizing the above observations, and to fast forward, it quite clearly show up that the people of God has a “lost vocation” to be “covenant for the people” and “light for the nations”. On the other hand, we see instead so graciously a covenantal (“steadfast love”) commitment and divine vocation to effect renewal, restoration, recalling and re-commission of the “lost” vocation, only now it has to be done in a fundamentally “new” way as the original ‘servant” has totally discredited itself because it is “blind and deaf”. The ‘vocation is now possible only in a much deeper sense where even the people of God, Israel, has to face up to — the fundamental issue of sin and rebellion in rejection of Yahweh and the embrace of new gods/idols of the land

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s video message:  Greg Griffith over at Stand Firm had this report on the ABC’s address: “Independent sources are reporting the same thing: That after Archbishop Rowan Williams’ video address to the Global South-to-South Encounter audience was over, there was silence. No one applauded, and glances around the room revealed lots of head-shaking and eye-rolling. According to one of the sources, ‘it did not go off well.’”

More reports can be found here