At the Washington National Cathedral, their "labyrinth coordinator" instructs practitioners to pray to God or the Universe while walking the labyrinth, with Christianity left to a matter of personal taste. --- Wyatt Flicker

For what purpose do you suppose we ministers are sent forth? Is it merely to wear a surplice, and read the services, and preach a certain number of sermons? Is it merely to get a comfortable living, and be in a respectable profession? No! indeed! we are sent forth for other ends than these. We are sent to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. We are sent to persuade men to flee from the wrath to come. We are sent to draw men from the service of the world to the service of God, to awaken the sleeping, to arouse the careless, and by all means to save some. --- J.C. Ryle

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
July 26, 2024

ONE might be forgiven if one sees a breakdown in our national politics and a simultaneous breakdown nationwide in the mainline churches with all sides digging in.

It is hard not to feel depressed at what is going on in America today. Pause for Prozac.

Reuters/Ipsos conducted a two-day poll to see just how U.S. citizens are faring with recent tragic events. It appears they're not doing all too well.

The poll surveyed 1,202 U.S. adults across the nation, as well as 992 registered voters this week. According to the results, 80% of these voters, including both Democrats and Republicans, fear "the country is spiraling out of ... control." Additionally, "Some 84% of voters in the poll said they were concerned that extremists will commit acts of violence after the election," which is set to take place November 5.

The more people talk about unity, the faster it seems to flee away. Churchmen and ecumenists argue strenuously for the war to end in Israel and the Ukraine; and for churches to come together over issues that deeply divide them like homosexual marriage and LGBTQ acceptance, transgender rights and much more. The list of rights grows by the day.

Liberals and revisionists keep using language they hope will keep everyone on the same page. Words like "living with difference," the need for inclusion and diversity; but the cultural divisions just seem to grow and grow.

There is widespread anger at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) talk from ordinary folk who feel left out, marginalized and forgotten. Is it why a certain wannabe president appeals to a base of people who feel left behind.

The same thing is happening in The Episcopal Church. Newly elected Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe gave a closing sermon in which he mentioned the LGBTQ crowd, who probably represent less than 2 percent in the church being

embraced, while those who are uncomfortable embracing a behavior they see as dangerous to life and gospel denying are ignored. The sin of racism is raised up but no one truly knows who these unnamed racists are, especially when you bear in mind that your average Episcopalian is fast approaching 70! With only one per cent of blacks in TEC most churches have never seen a black person in the pews.

Caring for the poor and destitute is hypocritical when you think of the tens of millions of dollars TEC spent litigating for properties which was only partially successful. Was it really worth it?

At the same time The Episcopal Church has continued to shrink, with 'for sale' signs going up across the country, diocesan headquarters being sold, cathedral air space sold off to developers, and the final insult, the merging of whole dioceses to prevent the inevitable collapse of one.

The newly minted TEC Presiding Bishop seems to have understood this in one of his sermons at the church's recent general convention.

He said, when asked about the shrinking Episcopal Church, "So, yes, the church is in decline, in terms of our numbers. Given the hand we're dealt, given the situation as it is, given the state of Christianity, given the demographics of our various regions -- how do we most effectively participate in this mission that we've called ourselves to? I don't know if it's about helping us to decline gracefully, as much as it is to rethink the whole enterprise, particularly the way that we do it."

"Is the church going to be larger or smaller by the time you're done leading the show?

"All trends point to a smaller church, at least in the next decade. I think my particular role is to help us reposition. We think about strategic planning. So we're looking at the external factors that are at play, we're looking at what we're dealing with internally, and we're saying, how do we reposition the organization to best take advantage of that?"

When asked about the future, he said this:
"I think it's going to be leaner. It's going to be smaller, at least in the short term. There's no question about that. The question for me more is, can we get to a level, to a greater level of effectiveness, and can we lay the groundwork in which to grow? But that doesn't happen overnight. We're talking about a multi-decade process here of rethinking, to use an old term, how we prosecute the mission of the church."

The truth is that strategic planning is another way of marketing decline. The deeper truth is that TEC doesn't have decades. Most demographers say that by 2040 TEC as an institution will be gone. A handful of dioceses, some large wealthy churches will remain, but TEC itself will be little more than a sect. The truth is, it is too little too late. There are no new generations coming forward to fill pews.

An Episcopal priest wrote VOL recently about church insurance costs soaring following hurricanes in Florida, at the same time bemoaning that the national church wants its 15 percent pound of parish flesh when realistically it should be ten per cent. Something must give. With soaring costs and declining budgets, part time priests, the end game looks bad. Where will all this be five or ten years from now!

If pews remain empty, and Nones don't return to church, and people generally don't feel the church is relevant to their lives, why bother.

Over the last 25 years over 40 million Americans have left the churches, now officially dechurched, while the Global South is rising with tens of millions hearing and embracing the gospel of Christ. Is it any wonder the Anglican communion is primarily, black, under 30 and female.

All the while the Anglican Church in North America will continue to grow. It is already up 12 percent since the end of Covid and all the signs are good that this growth will continue.

A new archbishop, Steve Wood is committed to old time evangelism and church growth and judging by his own personal success in South Carolina at church planting, all the signs look good that ACNA will surge ahead in the coming years.

It's not necessarily about buildings and budgets. People must believe that the gospel can change their lives for the good; that addictions can be overcome, that one can triumph over sin and evil, that God is good and He loves us in the midst of life's tragedies and darkest moments and that Christ's death can cleanse from all sin. We are not alone in the universe and judging by the number of atheists who are finding faith, there seems to be a bottoming out of unbelief in the West that we have not seen in recent decades.

Jeff Walton of IRD has written an excellent summary of the ACNA congress which you can read here: https://virtueonline.org/moving-forward-worship-god

Writers like C.S. Lewis remain perennially popular. His books still sell in the tens of thousands. Why? Because we cannot escape the Hound of Heaven who chases us down the corridors of time.

One missionary couple I know who are spending their lives in the Middle East and Africa say that renewal are revival are already at hand, even in the US and that a new day is dawning for the church.

They say that Iran is the fastest growing church in the world today, with some 50,000 of the country's 75,000 mosques having closed in recent years with thousands of house churches springing up across the country. And, surprise, surprise Afghanistan is the second fastest church growth nation in the world. Who woulda thunk it. China is leveling off in third place. All the while the west is slowly dying.

God's hand is not shortened by political events and the comings and goings of politicians. One might be forgiven if God has them in derision. Put not your trust in princes said the psalmist, a lesson we might want to remember.

***

And what of the situation in the Church of England and the Living in Love and Faith report that is tormenting evangelicals and Anglo Catholics.

Susie L. of Anglican Futures sums it up well. "The phony War is finally over. General Synod have made their decision. There can no longer be any doubt about the direction of travel. By a large majority in the House of Bishops and by the slimmest of majorities in the Houses of Clergy and Laity, the Church of England has voted to continue its journey away from Scripture -- and therefore, by implication, away from our heavenly King and the establishment of His Kingdom.

The institution is therefore likely to find itself spiritually moribund. This has been proved time and again in recent years by the miserable statistics of continuing decline in congregational numbers, especially among the young, and by the growing numbers of dioceses on the verge of financial collapse.

The crucial question is what the orthodox should do now. They are by no means in a weak position, she writes.

"Many of them have large congregations and healthy finances. They already operate largely independently of their dioceses and could well afford to pay stipends and insurances out of their own resources. The stumbling block is always buildings, upon which many of them, like St. Helen's Bishopsgate and St. Ebbe's Oxford, have already spent vast sums of money to adapt them for outreach and teaching. The assumption is being made, perhaps wrongly, that these buildings would be confiscated by the central Church authorities if the orthodox were to organise themselves with their own bishops and their own confirmations and ordinations and in full communion with GAFCON and the GSFA - in effect a Third Province.

I have written on this here: https://virtueonline.org/church-england-goes-through-sexual-contortions-permit-impermissible

Andrew Goddard has written an article comparing the current state of the Church of England to a "game of episcopal Jenga." He sees what is already, "a rather precarious tower of Jenga bricks" due to "falling attendance, giving, and vocations, a massive trust deficit, multiple safeguarding failures" as further imperiled by "the [Living in Love and Faith (LLF)] story" in which bishops are "pushing with varying degrees of force at eight Jenga bricks, essential structural elements within the Church of England's identity and crucial for its cohesion, stability, and unity."

The "eight bricks" are "standalone services", departure from the "doctrine" of marriage, "the church's understanding of holy orders", if clergy can enter into same-sex marriages, a reduction in "episcopal collegiality", "pastoral reassurance", disregard of "due process", "the lack of a strong consensus" and "Scripture's authority". You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/episcopal-jenga

You can also read a story from Anglican Futures on the same issue: Why stay (at least for now)? https://virtueonline.org/why-stay-least-now

For sheer hubris, an interim report from General Synod House of Bishops Transparency Group regarding safeguarding, has undertaken to increase transparency. The House will do so by continuing to meet without public attendance. So don't ask, they won't tell and things will creep along as they have always done with little accountability.

The new British Labour Party wants to make it a crime to question someone's sexuality or gender identity.

The threat to ban so-called LGBT conversion therapy is rearing its ugly head yet again in the UK. During the state opening of parliament this week, the King's Speech included a fresh promise to make it a crime for anyone -- be it a therapist, teacher, parent or religious leader -- to 'change, "cure" or suppress' a person's sexuality or gender identity.

Labour is rushing to repeat the last government's mistakes. The Conservatives, egged on by Stonewall and fellow travellers in the LGBT movement, tried to legislate against conversion practices several times. Ultimately, they realised that a workable ban would be incredibly difficult to implement without major unintended consequences and declined to support one in their 2024 manifesto.
Make no mistake, introducing this ban would be a grave error. The campaign to ban conversion therapy in the UK is not about protecting LGBT people from psychological abuse or torture. After all, abusive and violent treatments are already illegal. An impartial look at the evidence shows that few LGBT people have actually undergone conversion therapy of any kind.

Whatever happened to free speech for people who voluntarily want to address their same-sex attractions and be free of them? I have personally attended such public meetings and I can assure you that there is no coercion. Men, mostly men, were present in a church basement in London from across Europe and they wanted to know how to be free. A therapist and a psychiatrist were there to assist them.

***

The Primate of Nigeria, the Most. Rev. Henry Ndukuba has accused the CofE Bishops of jettisoning the faith over same-sex blessings. In a statement from the largest province in the communion, he wrote that it "shows the true state of a Church whose Bishops have abandoned the truth of God's Word and have sacrificed the authority of the Scripture for a postmodern Cultural trapping."

"They have finally revealed the choice of the Church of England to walk away from our cherished Biblical truth and teaching on marriage between man and woman; male and female which the Scripture affirms in Genesis 2:18-24 and Matthew 19:4-6...these Bishops have flagrantly jettisoned the fundamentals which they had publicly affirmed, and have certainly abandoned the faith once delivered to the Saints (Jude verse 3). You can read more here:
https://virtueonline.org/nigerian-primate-accuses-cofe-bishops-jettisoning-faith-over-same-sex-blessings

IN OTHER NEWS, Archbishop Ndukuba gave a lecture on persecution in Nigeria in which he argues that the Christian response is that we have examples of the early church and insights gained from the missionaries that brought Christianity to Africa who came with their coffins. The idea of martyrdom to many Christians is nauseating; it resonates with a feeling of abhorrence. Nevertheless, God uses persecution to refine His bride. The Church has grown in number and faith under the heat of persecution. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/response-church-persecution-nigeria

***

The Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel came out swinging against the CofE's decision to bless SS unions and said the decision was contrary to Scripture and to Anglican expressions of the teaching of Scripture in our formularies, including the BCP, Lambeth Resolution 1.10. He went on to say that the diocese supported the coalition known as The Alliance.

***

The recent meeting of the ACNA in LaTrobe, PA there were NEW CANONS FOR THE ACNA. The Very Rev. Cn. Andrew Rowell writes; "In some ways, it's like a whole new province. The election of our third archbishop, The Rt. Rev. Steve Wood, coupled with the ratification of substantive amendments to our canons (the ecclesiastical laws by which the ACNA operates) work together to usher in a new and unique season for the ACNA. While the Archbishop-elect will carry forward the godly leadership of our first two Archbishops, our newly ratified canons will, in many ways, reshape the way the province operates. You can read more here:
https://americananglican.org/new-canons-for-the-acna/

Reports of a new agreement between the Church of Nigeria (CoN) and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) formally receiving the Anglican Diocese of the West (CANA) into the ACNA are inaccurate and is symptomatic of the ongoing discord between the two Provinces, VOL learned.

Nigerian Archbishop Henry Ndukuba and the ACNA have been at odds over the continuation of the Church of Nigeria North American Mission (CONNAM) dioceses in North America for more than a decade. Last year, the ACNA College of Bishops sent a letter to Archbishop Ndukuba stating that they expected him to turn over all CoN dioceses and parishes in North America in accordance with Anglican polity and the CoN's recognition of the ACNA as the only orthodox geographic Province in North America.

Instead of turning them over, the CoN created a new entity to govern Nigerian parishes and dioceses in North America. In response, ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach wrote a stinging letter of rebuke to the Nigerian Archbishop in May accusing him of "disrespect and showing a lack of regard for a fellow GAFCON Province." He called the Nigerian Archbishop's actions "disturbing."

Archbishop Beach argued that the actions of the CoN violated the 2008 Jerusalem Declaration, especially Article 11 which states: "We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognize the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this mission."

Perhaps it is time to look beyond racial and ethnic lines in the church. You can read my full report here: https://virtueonline.org/time-look-beyond-racial-and-ethnic-lines-church

But all is not well in the ACNA. Dean Chuck Collins asks a number of questions; is Bishop Stewart Ruch guilty? Now after almost five years, the ACNA doesn't seem closer to answering them! Did the bishop and other clergy fail to believe and report sexual abuse of 9-year-old girl (and 13 others) in the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest?

Did the chancellor of the diocese advise the clergy to not report - hiding it under the cover of "Well, most of the abuse didn't happen on church property"? Is the bishop and leaders of Upper Midwest complicit in re-victimizing the victims by supporting the abuser in every way (money from discretionary funds to support his legal defense and personal needs, by extending pastoral care and support for him and his family, attending his court indictment in his support, etc.) and failing miserably to support the victims and their families (not reaching out to them and providing pastoral care, pushing them away from church ministries, not providing counseling, etc.)? You can read more at Chuck Collins' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/chuck.collins.sa

***

The Texas based ACNA International Diocese folded its tent July 1, and its 14 churches dispersed to mostly two dioceses. The Texas parishes have been received into a Deanery belonging to the Anglican Diocese of the South and the Oklahoma and Colorado Parishes have been received into the Anglican Diocese of the Southwest. Bishop Bill Atwood has reached retirement age.

***

The Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop has once again lashed out against Israel. In a new statement he has called for a ceasefire. He says Israel must be held accountable for human rights abuses, violence and illegal land seizures.

Not a single mention was made of Hamas and its terrorist activities in the slaughter of 1200 Israelis and hostages they still hold.

"We have expressed our horror at the loss of civilian life, Israeli and Palestinian, and have urged the U.S. government to use all the leverage it can to call for a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian access, the release of hostages, and an end to the death and suffering of innocent civilians, including children," Curry wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden.

Addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu said this; "Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil, yet incredibly many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers...they should be ashamed of themselves."

Netanyahu declared that US support for his nation's war with Hamas terrorists was ultimately "a clash between barbarism and civilizations" and said he would see the war out to the end -- the complete destruction of Hamas.

"The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrendered, disarmed and returned all the hostages," he also claimed. "We're not only protecting ourselves; we're protecting you" he added. "Our enemies are your enemies; our fight is your fight; and our victory will be your victory." Apparently that message did not get through to Curry.

***

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I have done a YouTube interview with Dr. Gerry McDermott on the War in Israel. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/98nNyRRWIz4?si=HEnsrJHU1eRYNjC2

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***

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Warmly in Christ,

David