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Global South Bishops will be rocked that American Lesbian Bishop will lead "inclusive" service on eve of Lambeth Conference
By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
March 4, 2020
In a move designed to incense orthodox Anglican bishops from the Global South, Episcopal lesbian bishop Mary Glasspool, along with Rev. Canon Tutu van Furth who came out as a lesbian in 2016, will conduct an "inclusive eucharist" service ahead of the opening of the Lambeth Conference.
Glasspool explained the need for an inclusive service, saying: "It is an honour and a privilege to be a part of this 'inclusive eucharist', in which we say to all people everywhere: 'You are loved by our Loving God and welcome at Christ's table.'
Anti-apartheid activist Tutu van Furth added: "Welcome and hospitality are prized values of the Middle Eastern heritage of our Christian tradition. We want every person who joins us in worship to know to the very fibre of their being that they are welcome."
Global South bishops will see this as a blasphemous act and will have nothing to do with it.
This act will not only embarrass Archbishop Justin Welby, who has been doing his best to persuade Global South bishops who disapprove of sodomy and homosexual marriage to attend the 2020 Lambeth conference, it will also confirm to African Anglicans that to attend such a gathering would violate both Holy Scripture and their consciences.
It will also confirm to the mind of GAFCON chairman Foley Beach that it was right to call together a meeting of GAFCON bishops. The GAFCON bishops, who will number more than 300, will meet in Kigali, Rwanda in June. They will affirm the Gospel and uphold Lambeth resolution 1:10 which strictly forbids homosexual behavior, affirming marriage between a man and a woman.
It will further alienate those Global South bishops who still feel loyal to Canterbury and who have one foot in GAFCON and the other in the Global South, It will seal the deal with them that Justin Welby is no longer in control of his fellow bishops, and that he himself has gone over to the dark side on pansexuality.
Orthodox and progressive bishops have been at each other's throats over LGBTQI issues for two decades with orthodox bishops. They are vowing they will have nothing to do with Welby and his fractious, so called "inclusive" bishops. They say it is "inappropriate" to invite the married spouses of same-sex unions to this year's gathering after Welby issued a ban on those partners from attending.
This act of protest by pansexual campaigners led by two high profile lesbians on the eve of the conference will now totally isolate Welby, an HTB evangelical, from what was once his evangelical Anglican African base and guarantee that there will not be another Lambeth Conference.
The Lambeth Conference is a once-a-decade event in which Anglican bishops from around the world assemble in Canterbury to reaffirm the faith. The last one should have been held in 2018, but was pushed back to 2020 owing to disagreements among the bishops over homosexuality.
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