>On July 16, the leaders of the Anglican community will meet in England for their once-a-decade meeting. One of the main topics to be discussed at the Lambeth Conference will be the issue of homosexuality. It is an issue that may divide the Anglican community. Today, more than half of all Anglicans live in Africa and the African church will play an important role at the Conference.
According to an article published in Newsweek, the African Anglican community sees the issues confronting the Anglican Church from an Old Testament perspective:
Worldwide, more than half of all Anglicans now live in Africa. And in sharp contrast to the relatively liberal Church of England (and its U.S. counterpart, the Episcopal Church) the African Anglicans preach a fervent fundamentalist line steeped in the Old Testament message of a stern, unbending deity.
Such strict orthodoxy plays well in modern Africa. In a time of AIDS, political turmoil, genocidal wars and economic chaos, believers may be seeking not just the comfort of religion but also the certainty that goes with unambiguous moral precepts, according to some religious scholars. If the constant woes of the Israelites as described in the Old Testament are remote to the Anglicans of North America and Britain, they may be grimly familiar to their co-religionists in Rwanda and Nigeria.
The Anglican African community has taken a firm position against the issue of homosexuality. Will their position divide the Anglican community? I do know what will happen at the Lambeth Conference but we must hope for the best. Christians everywhere need to pray for our brothers and sister in the Anglican community as they make important decisions that will affect their work and mission in the world.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tag: Anglican Church
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>One response would be to say that the Anglican Communion has already been divided. The final statement of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) that concluded in Jerusalem on June 29 can be read here. It includes the 14-point Jerusalem Declaration which states (point 13): “We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.” This implies a rejection of the authority of Canterbury over the newly-formed Primates’ Council formed by the Primates from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Southern Cone, Uganda and West Africa.Another response would be to say that the Anglican Communion was sundered in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated V. Gene Robinson, an openly practicing homosexual, as the Bishop of New Hampshire and the Anglican Instruments of Unity failed to achieve any decisive response. (It should be noted that the Primates from the Global South contend that this is not a disagreement about sexuality but about the more foundational issue of biblical authority.)Or a final possible response is to say that the Communion is not yet broken pending a conciliatory response by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Jerusalem Declaration. His initial response, however, does not lend much hope for this interpretation.In my humble and often innacurate opinion, though, Lambeth will do nothing to address these issues as it has been carefully preconfigured to avoid addressing any of them.
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>Blake,Thank you for including these links in your response. After I finished reading those documents, it became clear to me that the Anglican Communion is facing a difficult time because of the division that exists among Anglicans worldwide.I renew my call for prayer for our Anglican sisters and brothers. People who love the Lord should find a way to maintain unity without compromising the truth and principles of God’s Word.Claude Mariottini
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>We Anglicans do indeed need your prayers. But no important decisions will be taken at Lambeth (actually in Canterbury). Archbishop Rowan Williams has made sure of that. Instead 600 or so bishops will sit around for three weeks in small discussion groups having fellowship, which just might promote reconciliation, or just might end in fireworks, but given the absence of most key conservatives is more likely to be a damp squib and an expensive waste of time.
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>Peter,It is sad that the situation in the Anglican Communion has come to this point. We believe that God is in charge of his church, so he will accomplish his purpose.Many times our work and our decisions do not reflect our prayer: “Thy will be done.” Let us pray that in this meeting those involved in making those important decisions will seek God’s will.Claude Mariottini
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