VOL's No. 1 story of the year was the revelation that Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury had tried, unsuccessfully, to manipulate the Anglican Communion into accepting homosexuality, but met resistance in the person of Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola. It was all documented in a book by the African Archbishop; Who Blinks First?: Biblical Fidelity Against the Gay Agenda in the Global Anglican Communion. Williams lost. He grossly underestimated the former Nigerian Primate, believing Akinola would blink first over homosexual practice that is racing like an out-of-control virus throughout the Anglican Communion. In the end, it was Williams who blinked and retired eight years before he had to.

VOL's No. 2 story was the ownership of $100 million dollars' worth of church property in Ft. Worth. The courts declared Bishop Ryan Reed and his orthodox followers the true owners after getting a final decision in February, leaving them in place when the United States Supreme Court refused, (without comment), to hear the case. It got downright nasty when exiting Episcopalians stripped some five churches of pews, statues of saints, a crucifix and disassembled the high altar. In fact, they took everything short of the kitchen sink, and tried to keep bank accounts. A court order forced them to return it all. The TEC-affiliated diocese renamed itself the Episcopal Church in North Texas. TEC was forced to pay $4.5 million in legal fees and expenses to the ACNA diocese.

VOL's No. 3 story was the forced exit of Bishop William Love of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany for his refusal to embrace Resolution B012 -- homosexual marriage. Love now serves in the non-geographic ACNA Anglican Diocese of the Living Word. Several parishes left with Love and joined up with the ADLW and the ACNA Anglican Diocese in New England.

VOL's No. 4 story was the uproar at the iconic Washington National Cathedral over an invitation to evangelical pastor Max Lucado, who opposes homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Liberal Dean Randolph Hollerith invited the evangelical author to preach a sermon. This action brought down the wrath of homosexual bishop Gene Robinson, lesbian activist priest Susan Russell, along with a bevy of pansexualists, as well as Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, angry and aggrieved over the decision to invite Lucado. The band of progressives backpaddled faster than a speeding bullet with Dean Randolph Hollerith defending his invitation saying, "Our commitment to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters is unshakable and unchanged but "repairing the breach" starts with listening to people who disagree."

VOL's No. 5 story was the debacle at the once stalwart evangelical Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, which saw a practicing homosexual (his "husband" was present) ordained by a progressive Episcopal bishop, one Glenda S. Curry. After thirty years being at war with the diocese, the cathedral succumbed to a woman bishop's will. Canon R. Craig Smalley, the dean, tried to say he did not know this was happening, but he was caught in a lie when the bishop issued a statement saying it was all out there for everyone to read.

Eighteen years ago, Dean Paul Zahl flew a black flag to protest the ordination of a partnered homosexual as bishop of New Hampshire. The cathedral has been embroiled in a long-standing fight with its bishops, with its most recent dean, Andrew Pearson resigning over unresolved tensions with the Episcopal Church.

VOL's No. 6 story was the defection of Rochester, England, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali to Rome. It was a bitter blow to the Church of England and to GAFCON, where he was a theological advisor. Nazir-Ali should have been the Archbishop of Canterbury but got waylaid by then PM Tony Blair. He should have been picked up to run GAFCON Europe, another failure. What makes this so disastrous is that Nazir-Ali was an evangelical, when those who defect are always Anglo-Catholics. His argument that the CofE had lost its way, is, of course true, but the pain of his loss will be felt for a decade and more.

VOL's No. 7 story is that climate salvation and covid outranks heavenly salvation for the 40 primates of the Anglican Communion. They met online in preparation for the next Lambeth Conference and threw their weight behind climate change and the COVID pandemic as chief talking points before the upcoming August Lambeth summit.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and deepened fault lines between rich and poor in our world. This is powerfully demonstrated in the unequal distribution of vaccines. We are united in calling for greater vaccine equity, based on a spirit not of charity but of recognizing the common good in resolving the current disparity. We call for generosity from those who have towards those who have not and for a greater acknowledgment of the effect of the pandemic on health and education," they wrote.

This fulfills the aspirations and yearnings of Archbishop Justin Welby, who believes climate change is the single biggest issue facing humanity to keep the planet from self-destruction. Climate change also dodges the bullet of having to enforce Resolution 1:10 on human sexuality which has deeply divided the Anglican Communion and brought about the birth of GAFCON.

VOL's No. 8 story is the Church of England's "grand operatic death." Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York said this; "Our vision and strategy is a vision and strategy for growth. It is not about managing decline gracefully. We want the Church of England to grow and even if it doesn't -- then let our death be a grand operatic death, let it be fantastic and let's not crawl in a corner." --

The Church of England wants to go out in a blaze of glory, unlike a Guy Fawkes skyrocket that briefly bursts and then flames out as it hits the Thames River. A grand operatic death is what the Archbishop of York wants. That's what he told the Church of England Synod. They may yet get their wish. The CofE is fast fading into the night as it becomes more woke over homosexuality. It excoriates and isolates its traditional and evangelical wings and hopes that by accommodating to the culture, it will bear spiritual fruit. In a population of 66 million, less than three quarters of a million people attend a local parish. Most of the parishes have aging and dying congregants.

VOL's No. 9 story is the GAFCON primates grappling with the consecration of women bishops in Africa. In what might have been an issue to derail GAFCON, eight Primates, met in All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and declared that, despite a moratorium, a recently consecrated woman bishop in Kenya would not stop the gospel trajectory. "The Jerusalem Declaration affirms that the Bible makes a distinction between salvation issues and other secondary issues."

The Primates acknowledged that while there is disagreement and ongoing discussion on the issues of the ordination of women as deacons or priests, and the consecration of women as bishops, they were agreed that these are not salvation issues. They are not issues that will disrupt their mission: to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations. On the same occasion, the archbishops excoriated Welsh bishops for blessing same-sex marriages. Anglican leaders noted the establishment of an extra-provincial diocese in Australia.

VOL's No. 10 story is the growing schism in the Anglican Communion. Divisions are deepening almost monthly, with increasing fragmentation over homosexual practice. New revelations about the trajectory of the Church of England, the Mother Church, with a 'Living in Love and Faith' "reconciliation" report touting full homosexual acceptance, only ratchets up the anger among Global South primates, solidifying their determination never to compromise with Western pan-Anglican pro-homosexual attitudes and behaviors. Is it time for a new Anglican Communion? Divisions within the Anglican Communion will not go away and are, in fact, irreversible. GAFCON pledged in late 2020 to form a new Diocese for Anglicans who will be forced to leave the Anglican Church of Australia.

OTHER STORIES of note include the death of TEC 's most notorious heretical bishop John Shelby Spong. His 12 Theses trashed orthodoxy, but the HOB never had the courage to bring him up on charges. South African Bishop Desmond Tutu died leaving a legacy of peace and his non-violent overthrow of apartheid. He did come in for criticism from some Jewish leaders who believed his views on Israel and Jews were antisemitic. Several Episcopal dioceses announced mergers and revelations that they faced unknown futures with the decline in attendance. Those dioceses include the Diocese of Vermont, which faces an uncertain future with all metrics of money and attendance down. Wisconsin's three dioceses face an uncertain future. The Diocese of Eau Claire is at a crossroads, with all three Wisconsin dioceses eyeing greater collaboration.

2022 will not bring better news for the Episcopal Church having abandoned the gospel in favor of woke causes and a social gospel that saves no one and nothing. TEC's decline will continue despite talk of "beloved community" by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. TEC's millions of dollars will not save it. Will the ACNA grow and flourish next year? Archbishop Foley Beach is doing a masterful job walking around landmines that several dioceses face, while pressing for greater evangelism and discipleship; so, the trajectory is good for church growth. The "fields are white unto harvest" and he and his bishops know that. GAFCON will slowly replace the Lambeth Conference as Western Anglicanism moves steadily towards extinction. The future of Anglicanism is the Global South, not the dissolute West.

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TEN TRENDS TO WATCH FOR ANGLICANS IN 2022 Prediction is a dangerous business. It can lead to prideful notions that have little to do with reality. American apocalyptic preachers, who believe they can discern the Lord's return by extrapolating texts from the Old Testament and laying them over 21st Century American tribulations, make fools of themselves. They do more harm than good to gullible Christians when their failed prophetic views are exposed. Jesus was clear that He did not know when the end would come, only the Father knew, and He had not revealed it to Him. However, there are definite trends that one can observe based on solid analysis of things past. I have attempted to lay out these trends here: https://virtueonline.org/ten-trends-watch-anglicans-2022

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The Wokeness of the Episcopal House of Bishops. This story focuses on Episcopal bishops who are still engaged in active ministry. Mary Ann Mueller, VOL Special Correspondent says the Episcopal Church has fully embraced the modern idea of diversity, inclusion. It reigns supreme. This woke mindset is fully visible in the current makeup of the House of Bishops. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/wokeness-episcopal-house-bishops

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ARAB ISLAMISTS not Orthodox Jews Pose Biggest Threat to Middle East Christians. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury says otherwise and has once again got it all wrong and may well have to apologize for the umpteenth time.

This time, it is his blast at Israel over allegations that unnamed "radical groups with extremist ideologies" are persecuting Christians, causing untold harm to the faithful, forcing them to flee. If the persecution continues, it will result in Christianity being wiped out in the land of Christ's birth.

It is a charge that has no basis in fact and will only cause continued harm to Christians in the Middle East who experience persecution not from extremist fringe Jewish groups, but from Arab Islamists who want nothing more than to rid the Middle East of any Christian presence.

Welby's latest detonation came in an article written jointly by himself and the Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum, warning about a crisis of Christian survival "in the Holy Land". It appeared in the Sunday Times. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/arab-islamists-not-orthodox-jews-pose-biggest-threat-middle-east-christians

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The Diocese of Albany promoted a false unity as it abandoned biblical marriage with a fly-in Bishop in the person of Carol Gallagher, a woman bishop who will provide what is euphemistically called "supplemental episcopal pastoral support", to allow the full implementation of resolution B012 - homosexual marriage -- thus surrendering to the therapeutic and heretical over sound teaching.

It was inevitable of course, once the diocese had gotten rid of Bishop William Love, the evangelical catholic bishop who refused to go along with TEC's claim that homosexual marriage is now acceptable to God. Love resigned. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/diocese-albany-promotes-false-unity-it-abandons-biblical-marriage-fly-bishop

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IN INDIA an advertisement pushing a GAFCON conference featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned out to be fake. It was distributed by a splinter Anglican group trying to embarrass and capitalize on the global orthodox Anglican movement.

The ad was allegedly instigated by Archbishop and Primate John Sathiyakumar of the Chennai-based Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC), an Anglican jurisdiction not recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference or GAFCON, the Global Anglican Future Conference. The ad is causing acute embarrassment to GAFCON, which has roundly condemned the ad and conference it purports to support. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/india-anglican-ad-pushes-false-claim-gafcon-inspired-conference

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Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 90, died this past week. Tributes being paid to Tutu often begin with words like 'activist', 'campaigner', 'protester', 'fighter' or 'opponent'. They then go on to list the issues and '-isms' he opposed, such as apartheid, racism, sexism, and so forth. They draw attention to how he championed human rights, or the liberation of black and colored South Africans, women, or LGBTQ people.

But not everyone agreed. There were charges of antisemitism and Jew hatred from a number of Jewish writers who did not share the adulatory moment. Tutu was also a passionate advocate on behalf of LGBTQ people, which, while acceptable to Anglicans in Southern Africa is rejected by most African religious leaders. Orthodox (evangelical) African Anglican provinces see it as a violation of tradition and Scripture. Some African nations regard homosexual marriage as illegal and homosexual behavior as a criminal behavior.

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Two highlights of the year in the Anglican Communion were the launching of two new African provinces. The first was the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola (Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola), the second Portuguese-speaking province. The second, and more notable was the formation of the Anglican Province of Alexandria, which united dioceses in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Archbishop Welby was present for the occasion but it is still an open question if they will be a Global South province closer in spirit to GAFCON or the Lambeth conference. Time will tell.

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If you want to know what the world looks like religiously, Pew offers up this. The largest group of Christians is in sub-Saharan Africa at 650 million, followed by Latin America (585 million), Europe (535 million), Asia-Pacific (320 million) and North America (277 million). The future of Christianity does not lie in North America or even the West. One significant statistic is that there are some 120 million Chinese Christians, mostly evangelical in a nominally Communist state. The U.S. claims somewhere between 80 and 100 million evangelicals. Worth thinking about. What it does say is that Christianity is no longer white, it is brown and black, it is female and under 30. This is the Christian world of the future. Get used to it.

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VOL wishes all its readers a Happy and Blessed New Year. Keep the faith, because at the end that is all you have.

David