HENDERSON: Bishop Harvey has personally shared with me his hurt at being rejected by those he had thought to be friends in the Anglican Church of Canada, when he first became involved in the work of Anglican Essentials Canada. CoGS' formulaic statement of respect therefore rings hollow in my ears.

COGS: "The Anglican Church of Canada welcomes and respects freedom of individual conscience and the theological convictions of its diverse membership. Our General Synods have consistently sought to honour every voice as we work patiently through contentious and difficult issues before our church."

HENDERSON: This is untrue. The voices of members of The Zacchaeus Fellowship, a group within the Anglican Church of Canada made up of those that have chosen out of obedience to Christ to resist their same-sex attractions, were deliberately and explicitly excluded at General Synod.

As to freedom of individual conscience and theological convictions, at present in our own Diocese at least one postulant has been denied ordination precisely because her conscience and convictions were deemed insufficiently "inclusive". Several clergy here and elsewhere have been forced to resign, disciplined or threatened because they will not conform their consciences and convictions to the current direction of the Anglican Church of Canada.

COGS: "Our bishops have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and Episcopal support of all Canadian Anglicans."

HENDERSON: "Adequate and appropriate" Episcopal support must surely be defined in terms acceptable to those that have found themselves in fundamental disagreement and breach of fellowship with their Diocesan bishop - the most long-standing example being that of the parishes that walked out of the New Westminster synod that first approved same-sex blessings in Canada. If CoGS (and by implication, the House of Bishops) were sincere about adequate and appropriate Episcopal support for those that in conscience cannot go along with revisionist theology and practice (in many areas, same-sex blessings being only the most obvious example) then they would be commending conservative parishes to the care of Bishop Harvey, and inviting conservative dioceses to join Bishop Harvey in seeking alternative Primatial oversight.

COGS: "We value and respect the diversity of the worldwide Anglican Communion and have expressed our commitment to its ongoing life, even as we also ask for respect and understanding of our own."

HENDERSON: This is untrue. The worldwide Anglican Communion although diverse in language, culture etc. is largely of one voice on theology and practice in regard to same sex blessings, the authority of Scripture, the historicity of the Resurrection, and the message of sin, repentance, redemption and transformation as traditionally understood throughout the Christian world since the first century. The Anglican Church of Canada has not valued nor respected the ongoing life of this unity-in-diversity but has instead launched out into a different and incompatible life in which the entire Christian message, theology and practice, is up for revision. Just days ago, the Diocese of Niagara approved the blessing of same-sex civil marriages, knowing that this explicitly "tears the fabric of the communion". Bishop Spence must surely have consulted with other bishops (as +Ottawa and +Montreal are apparently still doing) before approving this move, and this makes it an act of the entire Canadian church.

COGS: "To this end we wish to make clear that interventions in the life of our church such as ordinations or other Episcopal acts by any other jurisdictions are inappropriate and unwelcome. In particular, we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders. We call upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church. They aggravate the current tensions in the Anglican Communion."

HENDERSON: Anglican jurisdictions have often been non-geographical - obvious examples being the Bishop Ordinary to the Canadian Forces, our Aboriginal bishop, and the American Convocation in Europe. There are also several jurisdictions that are "extra-provincial" to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there are Anglican groups that have seceded in the past - indeed all Anglicans seceded at one time from the Roman Catholic church, yet we insist that we are still part of the one catholic and apostolic church. Why therefore, the angst over intruding jurisdictions? I can't recall that any Anglican ordination in, say, Ottawa was ever deemed "inappropriate and unwelcome" by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese! Is the Anglican Church of Canada about to repeat history by excommunicating ("not a valid expression of Anglicanism") +Harvey and those that accept his ministry on the basis of jurisdictional boundaries? In the United States, it is tragic-comical to watch the canonical discipline of clergy who had already announced their departure from the Episcopal Church USA - surely we can avoid such meaningless litigation here.

COGS: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the world, and our primary task as Christians is to make this Gospel known through action and word. We strongly support our Primate's view that the Church in Canada and throughout the world should make Christ and His mission its central focus. We therefore call upon all our members, lay and ordained, to commit themselves to this priority, and to respect the structures and authority of the Church."

HENDERSON: CoGS itself needs to respect the structures and authority of the Church - those of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which remains more than 2/3 opposed to the innovations we are making. That opposition goes to the point of excluding us from communion. Not to mention the global Church of Christ, which even more clearly is excluding us from fellowship. Yes, absolutely the Gospel must be our central focus.

The Gospel that Jesus preached was about repentance and believing, salvation by grace through faith, and transformation of life, in anticipation of ultimately conforming fully to the image of Jesus Christ in radical denial of the worldly/fleshly nature. Unfortunately the false gospel presented in many of our churches has no concept of sin, no need for repentance, nothing definitive to believe, universal salvation regardless of faith, and a pseudo-loving, pseudo-inclusive approval of all kinds of life and belief, thereby denying and refusing the power of God to transform.

COGS: "We ask your prayers for our continued fellowship in the Spirit and our unity in the bond of peace."

HENDERSON: New Testament fellowship and unity is founded in truth.

---Norman Henderson is an Anglican layman living in Ottawa, Canada. In 1981 he joined The Episcopal Church's American Convocation in Europe mostly to escape the demands of the Gospel, but experienced a renewal in Biblical faith and Christ-centered life during the past seven years. He is President of The IT Department Inc., a business-as-ministry serving the technology needs of small/medium organizations including several Christian agencies (www.itdepartment.com).