Nazir-Ali said our understanding of Christian ministry in the Anglican Communion is in jeopardy. "The church is made by both the apostolic teaching and sacraments. Anglicans must not be turned into a preaching tabernacle. The Eucharist is a way whereby we are strengthened spiritually."

"What is it that the church needs so that the apostolic story can be told," he asked. "I think we need effective ways of gathering.

The Pakistani-born bishop said the early Lambeth conferences were purely consultative. "This gathering (of bishops) has to be about common decision making. The text of the covenant was not discussed. Nowhere does it say that the Lambeth Conference cannot teach, yet manifestly that is what has happened. I was notably absent at the last Lambeth Conference, but there was no way there that the bishops could teach the faith of the apostles. It is ludicrous that the bishops could not teach. The Anglican conclusion to the debate over the Covenant is that discipline was necessary and discipline is necessary for the life of the church, and it is not just being negative.

"It is also made by the ministries that God has provided for his church. We do have to ask how the ministries provided by the church have to do with the gospel itself. There is self-organizing power in the gospel.

"There are people who deny apostolic teaching and then deny it has anything to do with discipline. This is wrong."

The bishop said differing ecclesial traditions emphasize different things. "The Roman Catholic Church has exercised the importance of the teaching office. As an Anglican I feel envious. Anglicanism would not be in the mess we are in if we had such a teaching office. The teaching office on its own is a dangerous thing. In the past the teaching office was not faithful to the deposit of faith. Anglicans see Scripture as normative. The challenge ecumenically is the deposit of faith and the effective teaching office making for a healthy and vibrant church.

"On the deposit of the faith it is important for Anglicans to agree that they are a confessing church. We are not a confessional but a confessing church. We confess the faith in our hearts and minds. Many think Anglicanism can believe anything or nothing. If there is going to be a principled engagement we must say that there is something we are willing to confess creedally scripturally and morally.

"We must also be properly conciliar. The councils of the Anglican Communion have not been allowed to be conciliar. We cannot carry on like that. The final draft of the Anglican Covenant demands discipline and it must be exercised.

"Councils must make decisions not recommendations. The problem with the final draft of the covenant is that while it has good theological introduction and preamble it then becomes ridiculous because a standing committee makes recommendations to provinces through the instruments of the communion which they may or may not accept. It may make schism worst. Any province is free to say what they will or will not accept.

"What is our ecclesiology if it is not the Church of the Triune God? It is back to the reassertion of the primacy of autonomy. We can begin with interdependence, but beginning with autonomy will never get us to interdependency. Whatever else we say we must remain focused on the mission of the church."

Nazir Ali blasted the constant ecclesiastical wrangling in the Church. "The result is that Christians are being tortured for their faith. I can give numerous stories. We need to guard against over institutionalizing, this is why Anglicans must be reminded of movements in the church. Sharing Our Ministries Abroad (SOMA) is a good example of renewal in the church."

Nazir Ali praised movements as essential to the life of the church. "The monastic movement should remain a movement and not become an institution." The bishop praised the US Anglican movement, the Anglican Mission in the Americas saying that Anglicans failed to see the strategic importance of AMIA and its emphasis on mission.

"It's important to recover a missionary body. The Fellowship of Continuing Anglicans (FCA) is working to produce a missionary model that protects those who are orthodox in faith. It is not just about pressure ecclesiasticism but equipping people to plant new churches and the need to tell the apostolic story."

During a question and answer period Bishop Nazir Ali drew applause when asked what the alternative to a Confessing Church was. "I am surprised looking at The Episcopal Church. It is a vague new ageism pretending to be historic Christianity. It is a form of godliness but denies the power thereof. It is having a wonderful liturgy but no gospel...having offices but no charisma...those are the frightening alternatives."

Asked how orthodox Anglicans can counteract the homosexual agenda without being made to look like narrow-minded bigots, Nazir-Ali said he had been publicly accused of of having another wife in Pakistan.

"A leader (editorial) in the The London Times recently asked me not to do three things. They asked me not to tell people what to do in their bedrooms; say nothing about the uniqueness of Christ and I should not say that the Christian faith has anything to do with public policy. Of course I refused."

The bishop offered two tactical ways to deal with these issues. "We must continue to campaign over public policy issues. When the government brought civil partnership bills, we in the House of Lord asked if it extended to siblings. We were told it was not about same sex relationships, but when it was defeated we were then told it was about homosexuality and we should not have opposed it.

"We need to strengthen Christian communities. We must give attention to what the Benedictines came to be...a clear Christian community that provided not only a protection but a light to the world. The Church of England must be a distinctive Christian community a life-long commitment even if we lose the big battles. We must strengthen the church for the sake of mission."

Islam

Questioned on the apparent cowardice of the West in not facing the true nature of Islam, the bishop said the West and indeed the world is facing a crisis not seen since the collapse of Marxism. Islam is another comprehensive force. Islamism is a recent product form the 1950s. "We need to learn how to deal with plurality. In the West we are not a good in our way of dealing with Islam. The debate is seen as weakness by the Taliban.

"When Obama spoke on Afghanistan and his short term commitment, the Taliban saw it as weakness, that is, the West does not have a stomach for fight. This is dangerous indeed.

"A common narrative in Britain has gone. It is everyone for himself. What is the British Army for? It is not to protect the weak. The West in dealing with the Taliban ensures safety for the West but it leaves women and children in the Middle East to the barbarity of the Taliban." The bishop noted that he had come from a Sharia Muslim background. Islam is a comprehensive worldview, he said.

On the family, Nazir Ali said the Sharia view of the family is quite different from the Judeo-Christian view. The bishop condemned politicians in democratic countries attempting short-term solutions. "To hold the line against instant terrorism is one thing, but not to have engagement with their worldview and the different of the values of the west is something else."

Bishop Allison noted that Bishop Nazir-Ali is the most respected bishop in the Anglican Communion.

END