www.integrityusa.orgFor Immediate Release:
Integrity Responds to GAFCON Statement
Integrity joins with leaders from all around the Anglican Communion rising to reject the GAFCON premise that the differences that challenge us as 21st century Anglicans must necessarily lead to division. Rather we claim the historic gifts of our Anglican heritage that give us grace to celebrate diversity and to listen for the voice of the holy in the “other.”
We reject the assertion that seeking to fully include all of the baptized in the Body of Christ is a “false gospel.” Rather we believe it to be a core value of the Good News of the One who became one of us in order to show us how to love one another as he loved us.
And we share the concern that those who “do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury” are abandoning the historic bonds of affection that have knit us together as members of this worldwide Anglican family of God. Replacing those bonds of affection with a straight jacket knit out of doctrinal conformity is not only antithetical to the ethos of Anglican Comprehensiveness, it abandons historic catholicity in its effort to reinvent Anglicanism as a “confessional” church.
Integrity is committed to continuing to work with those with whom we differ as we live into a Global Anglican Future drawing more people to God’s table – not drawing circles to keep them out. We look forward to the opportunities we will have for our own “constructive conversations, inspired prayers, and relational encounters” as we offer our witness to the Good News of God in Christ Jesus made present in our lives, our relationships and our vocations in Canterbury later this month.
(The Reverend) Susan Russell, President
president@integrityusa.org
Integrity joins with leaders from all around the Anglican Communion rising to reject the GAFCON premise that the differences that challenge us as 21st century Anglicans must necessarily lead to division. Rather we claim the historic gifts of our Anglican heritage that give us grace to celebrate diversity and to listen for the voice of the holy in the “other.”
We reject the assertion that seeking to fully include all of the baptized in the Body of Christ is a “false gospel.” Rather we believe it to be a core value of the Good News of the One who became one of us in order to show us how to love one another as he loved us.
And we share the concern that those who “do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury” are abandoning the historic bonds of affection that have knit us together as members of this worldwide Anglican family of God. Replacing those bonds of affection with a straight jacket knit out of doctrinal conformity is not only antithetical to the ethos of Anglican Comprehensiveness, it abandons historic catholicity in its effort to reinvent Anglicanism as a “confessional” church.
Integrity is committed to continuing to work with those with whom we differ as we live into a Global Anglican Future drawing more people to God’s table – not drawing circles to keep them out. We look forward to the opportunities we will have for our own “constructive conversations, inspired prayers, and relational encounters” as we offer our witness to the Good News of God in Christ Jesus made present in our lives, our relationships and our vocations in Canterbury later this month.
(The Reverend) Susan Russell, President
president@integrityusa.org
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