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Interview with Archbishop James Wong: 'We will never leave the Anglican Communion'
We cannot break bread with bishops who betray the Bible
By David W. Virtue in Canterbury
www.virtueonline.org
July 30, 2022
David Virtue spoke to the Global South leader about what he hopes to achieve at the Lambeth Conference.
VOL: To your knowledge, are there any GAFCON bishops here?:
WONG: No GAFCON bishops are here. (VOL has learned that there is a small group of Kenyan bishops here that were given permission by their Primate, Jackson Ole Safit to attend, though he himself is not here.)
VOL: It seems the orthodox bishops here are having to straddle the fence with one foot in Lambeth and the other foot in the theology and mindset of GAFCON. How do you reconcile that?
WONG: As long as our belief is in a God who is working in this world, we will maintain our stand in the Communion and there will be no breaking away.
Most of the Global South bishops present here will be in Kigali, Rwanda for GAFCON next year.
VOL: What are you asking of Archbishop Justin Welby?
WONG: We are asking him to sign off on a new statement in addition to Resolution 1:10. We are asking him to sign off on saying that the Anglican Communion's Human Dignity Call be withdrawn because of 1:10.
Resolution 1:10 is the official teaching of the Anglican Communion, it is the biblical standard and those who oppose it are putting themselves outside the Communion.
It is not the Anglican Communion pushing us out; they (the liberal and revisionist bishops) are pushing themselves out of the Anglican Communion.
If the Human Dignity Call is now the doctrine of the Anglican Communion, those who are against Resolution 1 10 must have the decency to leave. If not, then we are the ones being pushed out of the Communion; we are not putting ourselves outside of the Anglican Communion.
We are the holy remnant and we will remain faithful. We say we are the faithful and we are 75% of the Anglican world. The Episcopal Church is only 3 percent of the global Anglican Communion world.
VOL: Growing Religious nationalism is an urgent message, with prime ministers like Modi of India pressing the case for a strident Hindu nationalism. What is your take? How do you see this affecting congregations and helping churches and governments to address the issue of religious nationalism?
WONG: We are dealing with the issue of nationalism. We need a solid Christian response to the growing persecution of Christians around the globe. We will have a final report and statement on religious persecution before the conference is over.
VOL: Thank you, Archbishop.
Archbishop James Richard Wong Yin Song, known as James Wong, is a Mauritian-Seychellois Anglican bishop. He is the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Province of the Indian Ocean, and fourth bishop of The Seychelles.
