Surely it is difficult, if not impossible, on Christian moral grounds to justify the presence of nearly forty denominations in one country of the one basic jurisdiction, known as the Anglican Way, claiming to be of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. There is truly and really great incentive in the exhortations of the apostles and the Priestly Prayer of Jesus (John 17) for this Anglican Way to be a united way, at least in essentials.
The absolute basic essential has to be Baptism, but not merely the fact of being baptized, but the whole doctrine that is presupposed in the baptizing of a believer in the Lord Jesus in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus so that in him we are raised to newness of life, and thus to holiness of life within the one Household of God, of which we are family members. Further, being baptized into the Name of the Trinity we accept the Creed which declares the Trinity (Apostles' & Nicene) , the Scriptures upon which the Creed & Gospel calling for repentance, faith and Baptism are based, and the Ministry [Three-fold] which has proclaimed, taught and baptized.
If we begin here, and where else can we start, then we can go on to say that there is the ground for talking about a convergence of all Anglican groups that claim to be biblical & orthodox. Convergence can be presented as a moral duty for if we are all members of the one Christ, the one Household, in the One Jurisdiction (Anglican), of the Church, then we are already brothers and sisters by grace, having duties and responsibilities one to another. (Such doctrine and duties are clouded & twisted in the USA by excessive individualism, pragmatism, egalitarianism and utilitarianism.)
Such convergence can be developed into a charitable comprehensiveness, that is the into the practical recognition that with all our faults and failings, errors and majoring on minors, there is a need to embrace each other in a positive way and to give practical evidence that we are all in the one Church of God.
The older forms of comprehensiveness looked for Latitudinarians, Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals to be together and work together in the one Province - e.g., the C of E. (With Jim Packer and Roger Beckwith I commended and defended such in the 1970s.) The new form of comprehensiveness, which I now propose, and which is required in the American situation in 2002, has to contain a greater charity and a more flexible approach to worship, doctrine and discipline. In other words, on the Basis of Baptism (as set out above) it has to embrace all the following types - and more.
1.Those who want to retain the worship of the "THOU-God" and those who want only to worship the "YOU-God."
2.Those who desire traditional hymns and music and those who desire only modern songs and music.
3.Those who want to use the classic BCP and those who want a modern Prayer Book.
4.Those who want to preserve an all-male priesthood and those who want to admit women to the presbyterate.
5.Those who want to have a strict approach to remarriage after divorce and those who want a lenient approach.
6.Those who want existing bishops [100 plus] to step down to being functionally only presbyters and those who want to retain all bishops as bishops functionally.
7.Those whose model of the Church & Ministry is generated from modern non-Anglican evangelical/charismatic teaching and those who look to the classic Anglican model of Reformed Catholicism (17th century Caroline divines).
8.Those who want to be committed to the dogma of 7 ecumenical councils and those who say that only that of 4 is required for general commitment.
9.Those who use terminology like Pontifical High Mass and those who speak of the Lord's Supper.
10. Those who hope for some reunion with Rome in the long term and those who see Romanism as false religion.
11. Those who see the ECUSA as totally apostate and those who see it as partially so.
Obviously, to look at this list is to open the door to despair and abandonment of the task. But do we not say that with God all things are possible?! And we all claim to worship the Almighty Father, who through his Son, created only one new covenant and only one Ekklesia of God! Let a chorus of voices begin to speak and a host of gracious working hands begin to work for a convergence which by grace can become a comprehensiveness, and which then with brotherly love can truly be known in the one Lord as one Faith, one jurisidiction.
There are various experiments in cooperation and partial communion (e.g., those use in the C of E using flying bishops) that will help to plan the way that comprehensivesness for the USA scene can begin. And there is the excellent paper of Dr Louis Tarsitano to study and work from. At the Atlanta Congress (Dec 4-8) a start can be made.
A final word --waiting to solve doctrinal problems before working for convergence and comprehensiveness is the surest way to failure and to the maintenance of the status quo of anarchy in the Anglican Way in the USA.
Let us press on with this good work unto the good vision for the sake of the GOOD Lord.
Sept 9 2002
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
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