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UGANDA: Archbishop Ntagali Says Primates were "Betrayed" in Canterbury
Doctrine of marriage between one man and one woman was a symbolic vote not a substantive vote
Church of Uganda will not participate in April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka
GAFCON Primates Council to meet in Chile to discuss their future in Anglican Communion
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 24, 2016
The Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, blasted the outcome of the recent Primates' meeting in Canterbury, saying that it was like being back in 2003 when they were betrayed by their leaders. "The Primates voted to bring discipline to TEC and, yet, we now see that the leadership of the Anglican Communion does not have the will to follow through. This is another deep betrayal," he wrote in a Lenten letter to his people.
"I excused myself from the Meeting before the Primates voted. My sense of the meeting at the time was that the leadership was not serious about restoring godly order in the Communion. Even after the vote was taken, I confess I was not convinced that it would have any impact on the common life of the Anglican Communion and, therefore, would not restore Biblical faith and godly order in the Anglican Communion.
"Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing. A spirit of defiance against Biblical faith and order has infected the structures and leadership of the Anglican Communion. It is a very sad season in the life of our Anglican Communion.
"The 2008 GAFCON Jerusalem Statement observed that the Instruments of Communion themselves were broken and incapable of doing the needful. Even if the people in those positions of leadership were serious about restoring Biblical faith and order, the way the Provinces of the Anglican Communion relate to one another -- the structures of our fellowship -- are themselves broken. For this reason, GAFCON laid the foundation for a conciliar approach to global communion through the creation of a Primates' Council for oversight and the legitimizing of authentic expressions of Anglicanism around the world.
"The Church of Uganda's Provincial Assembly has resolved that the Church of Uganda will not participate in meetings of the Anglican Communion until godly order is restored, including demonstrating that it is capable of restoring godly order. This has not yet happened. The Church of Uganda, therefore, will not be participating in the upcoming April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka."
The Ugandan Primate said there will be a GAFCON Primates' Council meeting in Chile in April to discuss how to continue advancing the mission of GAFCON as a renewal movement within the Anglican Communion.
"We are not leaving the Anglican Communion; we arethe Anglican Communion. We uphold the Biblical and historic faith of Anglicans and have come together in fellowship with other Provinces and national fellowships that have made the same decision."
Ntagali reiterated that the fabric of the Anglican Communion was still torn, perhaps irreversibly, by the actions of the Episcopal Church in 2003 when it ordained an openly homosexual priest to the episcopacy. He said it was a direct violation of the Bible and violated Resolution 1.10 of Lambeth 1998 which rejected "homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture...and cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions."
"Thirteen years later, the Primates of the Anglican Communion gathered last month in January 2016 in Canterbury to discuss what to do about the fact that not only had TEC torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level in 2003, but they have since changed the definition of marriage to no longer be a lifelong union between one man and one woman. There is a new Presiding Bishop in TEC and a new Archbishop of Canterbury. We were cautiously optimistic that the tear in the fabric of our communion could be repaired and betrayal healed.
"The overwhelming majority of Primates voted that there should be relational consequences for TEC because they are officially promoting false teaching. They should, therefore, not be allowed to represent the Anglican Communion in ecumenical and interfaith dialogues. Likewise, they should not be allowed to vote on matters of doctrine and polity within the Anglican Communion.
"This was an important, symbolic vote because it was a rebuke of TEC. It also enabled the Primates of the Anglican Communion to re-state their commitment to the doctrine of marriage as between one man and one woman.
" 1. "The Presiding Bishop of TEC (The Episcopal Church) stated during the Primates' Meeting that TEC would not change its position on offering "marriage" to same-sex couples, and he has repeated TEC's commitment to a definition of marriage the Bible does not recognize. In other words, the Primates decision will have no impact on TEC. 2. "TEC's delegates to the upcoming April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka have stated that they intend to go to the meeting, participate in the meeting, and vote during the meeting. The Chair of the ACC -- former Malawi Bishop James Tengatenga -- has announced that TEC will be part of the meeting and will vote during the meeting. He stated that the Primates do not have the authority to tell the ACC what to do. Since the ACC is governed by its own Articles of Association, it does not have to follow the resolution of the Primates' Meeting." Ntagali says the Anglican Communion needs a new "constitution" arguing that the "so-called Instruments of Communion" are "broken." "Our GAFCON Fellowship seeks to bring renewal to the Anglican Communion through the Jerusalem Declaration -- keeping the Word of God Incarnate and the Word of God written at the center of our fellowship, upholding the historic Anglican confessions of faith, and using a conciliar model to order our common life." END
