"To be an enemy of the cross is to set ourselves against its purposes. Self-righteousness (instead of looking to the cross for justification), self-indulgence (instead of taking up the cross to follow Christ), self-advertisement (instead of preaching Christ crucified) and self-glorification (instead of glorying in the cross) - these are the distortions which make us 'enemies' of Christ's cross" --- From The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
December 20, 2007

VirtueOnline first broke the news of a second or PARALLEL LAMBETH CONFERENCE in June of this year. The concept of a parallel Lambeth Conference was raised by the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, Archbishop and Primate of Nigeria, as well as head of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), which represents some 40 million Anglicans across the African continent. He raised it because he was upset that The Episcopal Church was not being disciplined for consecrating an openly avowed homosexual to the episcopacy and apparently had no intention of changing its ways. Since then, things have only gotten worse.

The idea has again emerged with a news report, out of London by Jonathan Petre of the Telegraph, that Conservative Anglican leaders are secretly planning a meeting next summer for the hundreds of bishops expected to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by boycotting the Lambeth Conference.

The unprecedented event will be widely seen as an "alternative Lambeth", further damaging Dr Rowan Williams's hopes of averting a formal schism over homosexuals.

A handful of other African primates are understood to be backing the initiative. Many non-African bishops are likely to be present including the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali. Bishop Nazir-Ali is a staunch evangelical who has not been afraid to stand up to the Church of England establishment over the besetting issues that plague the CofE.

I have written an extensive piece on the history of this issue which you can read in today's digest. Certainly, if it comes off, it is a major black eye for the Archbishop of Canterbury and very embarrassing to his leadership of the Anglican Communion. You can read it here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/2g9uc8

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The Presiding Bishop of TEC, KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI, has received a number of letters asking about her responses to one of the latter portions of the HOB statement made at the September meeting, in particular, about the status of an invitation to the Bishop of New Hampshire to the Lambeth Conference next summer. "I have asked the bishops of Wyoming, Northern Indiana, and Vermont to consult with the Archbishop about extending an invitation. They hope to have a response to share with the House at our meeting in March."

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The DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA will finally consecrate its new bishop, Mark Lawrence, as the XIV Bishop of South Carolina, January 25, at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul. Mrs. Jefferts Schori has not been given an invitation to lay on hands, but those who will, include orthodox bishops like C. FitzSimons Allison, Alex Dickson, Ed Salmon, Michael Scott-Joynt,(UK) and Bishop Clifton Daniel of East Carolina. The consecration will be done with all the solemnity southerners can muster for the occasion. The real question is where the diocese itself is bound. Will it join four other dioceses ready to walk away from TEC? Stay tuned.

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The former bishop of Newark, Jack Spong was in Toledo, Ohio, last week speaking at a church he undoubtedly felt more comfortable in - a Unitarian church. When asked about the Future of the Episcopal Church, he said this, "You don't try to keep the church together by keeping the slave holders happy. We are past that mentality, but that's what [the Archbishop of Canterbury] is trying to do. He's trying to keep the homophobic people happy, the people who are operating out of the old definition. And it's not going to work. The old definition is going to die, and if the church splits, too bad." Too bad indeed. He can try and deliver that message at the Last Judgment. Perhaps, when he is consigned to hell, he will hear those two words come back to haunt him, "too bad". You can read the full story here: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007712160331

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The DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA has approved a parish departure protocol for congregations and clergy who wish to leave The Episcopal Church. Under terms of the plan, departing congregations have the option of purchasing the church property, if those members who wish to remain with The Episcopal Church agree to the terms of the sale. "The protocol does not guarantee success," Bishop John W. Howe of Central Florida said in a recent letter to diocesan clergy. "If the leaders of some congregations offer unreasonable proposals and we cannot possibly accept them, and if I and the board offer counter proposals that these leaders cannot accept ... there is no guarantee whatsoever that somebody may not do some something that the other side will find litigious. I believe nobody wants to go there. But we may not be able to avoid it." The vote of a rector and vestry cannot control whether or not a congregation disaffiliates under terms of the approved protocol. However, if at least a two-thirds majority of the vestry and rector believe "that a substantial majority of the congregation is determined to disaffiliate from the diocese at some point in the future, they shall immediately notify the bishop of that fact.

"On one level, I think the honorable thing those who wish to 'disaffiliate' would be to simply walk away," Bishop Howe wrote. "That is what happened at St. John's, Melbourne, and Shepherd of the Hills, Lecanto. And it appears that is what is about to happen at St. Edward's, Mount Dora. But, on another level, I believe that there is validity to the argument of some who wish to 'disaffiliate,' that it is they who have been faithful, while the national leadership of The Episcopal Church has increasingly abandoned the very heritage we have all sworn to protect. So, I want to try to work with these brothers and sisters if it is at all possible." You can read the full story here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/ywoajn

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The DIOCESE OF SPRINGFIELD met recently with Bishop Peter Beckwith, noting that little had changed in the Anglican Church, either nationally or internationally. It was not a very positive picture, he said. Events in the church remain "very tentative. Let us not neglect this opportunity to recommit ourselves to the faith once delivered to the saints and to the saving ministry which flows from it by keeping 'the main thing the main thing' in what we say and what we do."

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IT'S the end of the line for "ANGLICAN EPISCOPAL WORLD" magazine after its 126th issue. James Rosenthal, its editor, dropped an e-mail to VOL with the news. The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council Kenneth Kearon announced that the quarterly magazine will cease publication after 36 years. The magazine was inaugurated by the Anglican Consultative Council in 1971 under the title "Anglican Information." The quarterly magazine has been published under four names in its four decade life. In 1991 the magazine was renamed "The Compasrose" with issue number 63, and was redesigned in 1991 with issue 70 as "Anglican World." In 2004, the magazine changed its name, but kept its glossy photo style and starting with issue 114 was called "Anglican Episcopal World."

No one will say why the magazine is going out of business, but official reports blame the internet for robbing the magazine of much of its immediacy as a news source. Its liberal bias also does not endear itself to the growing evangelical voice of the Global South. Furthermore, there was no information as to whether funding from the Episcopal Church, that had underwritten the magazine, had dried up.

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THE INTER-ANGLICAN STANDING COMMISSION ON ECUMENICAL RELATIONS (IASCER) met in Cairo, Egypt, early in December, under the chairmanship of the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. The Commission is charged with reviewing current international ecumenical dialogues involving Anglicans, and provincial and regional initiatives towards unity with other Christians. IASCER consists of representatives from each international dialogue involving Anglicans, including the multilateral dialogue of Faith and Order, and of certain other commissions and networks, and consultants who bring particular regional or theological expertise.

In the course of reflections on the current life of the Anglican Communion, the commission also responded further to the proposals for an Anglican Covenant following the publication of the initial work of the Covenant Design Group, which presented a first draft for a covenant to the Primates' Meeting in February 2007.

The Commission welcomed the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt and President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The Commission also received His Holiness Pope Shenouda, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, His Beatitude Patriarch Antonious of the Coptic Catholic Church, and met with His Eminence Metropolitan Bishop of Damiette, Co-Chair of the Anglican - Oriental Orthodox International Commission, together with its Co-Secretary Bishop Nareg Alemezian.

While on the surface all looked sweetness and light, behind the scenes it was not so. One bishop who got an earful about the state of affairs in The Episcopal Church, was Rt. Rev. Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's Ecumenical officer. He was subjected to nearly an hour of lecturing by His Holiness Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the sins of the Anglican Communion and especially The Episcopal Church. This venerable monk and leader of this ancient church lit into Epting and his party. The pope said he actually read one of Bishop Spong's books and was not impressed!

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BELIEFNET, one of the country's leading Web sites devoted to religion and spirituality, is under new management as part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and the Fox Entertainment Group. The deal, announced December 4, gives Beliefnet a new solidity after it emerged from bankruptcy protection five years ago. The site is now profitable and gets 3 million visitors each month.

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ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH ALGARVE IN PORTUGAL will have its first ordained woman pastor. During a moving and lively service at St Etienne Cathedral in Kigali, Rwanda, the Rev. Jackie Nevill of All Saints Anglican Church Algarve was ordained into the worldwide Anglican Church by Archbishop Emanuel Kolini, the Primate of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. Under clear blue Rwandan skies over 1,000 people, and 40 priests, Canons and Bishops packed into the Cathedral for a 4 hour service held in both Kenyan Rwandan and English to witness the Ordination of 5 Priests, and 3 Deacons including Nevill.

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In the DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER things are coming unraveled, living proof that revisionism and orthodox Christianity are like oil and water. Bishop Michael Ingham is doing to the diocese what Jack Spong did to the Diocese of Newark - slowly destroying it. In an editorial "Preparing for change in 2008" Neale Adams, TOPIC editor and diocesan bigwig, noted that 2008 will be a year of change in their church. Something called Ministry Assessment Process (the "MAP"), currently taking place in several parishes will lead to the merger, amalgamation, or partnering of parishes, and even closure. "Our list of parishes, unchanged for several years, will not be the same at the end of 2008 that it is now. Churches have a life cycle. They are planted. They grow. Sometimes they transform. Sometimes they die and in so doing bring new life."

The "new life" part might be a bit of a problem. Some might call that spin. The only "new life" in that diocese is to be found among the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC) evangelical parishes that sprang up after leaving the diocese. They are flourishing just fine.

Adams noted that it's no secret that some Anglicans within four parishes who continue to protest the actions of the 2002 Diocesan Synod, but have stayed within the diocese, may leave the Anglican Church of Canada. "We hope not. We don't think it's necessary. Both we and they would be impoverished by a departure. But again, change seems likely."

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UGANDA'S anti HIV/AIDS program is often criticized as unworkable. Nothing could be further from the truth. A British Medical Journal article (10 April 2004) written by six AIDS experts, including officials from the Global Fund for Aids, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the US Agency for International Development, argued that in Uganda, where HIV in adults fell from 15% to 5% in a decade, each component of the ABC approach (Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom) is needed. Debate was often polarized between those who emphasized A or C, they said, and B was "the neglected middle child". They made the simple, but profound observation that "It seems obvious, but there would be no global AIDS pandemic were it not for multiple sexual partnerships". An article in today's digest by a couple from Colorado shows definitively that it is working and working well. Of course, episcopal pansexualists don't want it to work. They prefer their new fangled doctrine of inclusion that brooks no change in people's behavior.

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It's official. The new congregations now composing part of the CONVOCATION OF ANGLICANS IN NORTH AMERICA (CANA) in northern Virginia will not allow women to be ordained. They will not unordain women who are already ordained, but they will not ordain more women to the priesthood. Some 11 churches are awaiting a decision by the courts over who owns the properties. The stakes are high. Over $30,000,000 in property will be awarded to the winning side, or divided in a manner to be determined by the judge. Perhaps even larger issues are being sorted out for The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Can parishes and/or dioceses break away or "separate" from The Episcopal Church and keep the keys and the chalice? We shall see.

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The archbishop of the ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SYDNEY, the Most Rev. Peter Jensen, has delivered his Christmas Message. The archbishop once told former Prime Minister John Howard as he has the new PM, Kevin Rudd, "we all have a higher authority to which we are accountable and ultimately. God has placed the government of us all on the shoulders of Jesus, the one the prophet Isaiah spoke about. That is a radical change of perspective! If we imagine ourselves as independent human beings who do not need God - the world will prove us wrong. Climate change - for example. It is right we take action but our own actions must be accompanied by prayer to the God who sends the thunder and the rain. It is vital that action continues to be taken to protect children in aboriginal communities but we must also help and pray for those who have already been affected. There is a dark legacy of abuse that may leave its mark for generations to come."

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THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY says the story of the Three Wise Men is a legend and should be understood as such. Reports in the "London Times and Telegraph" say Dr. Williams claims there is little evidence that the Magi even existed and there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were kings. He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew's gospel and the details were very vague. As one tongue in cheek reader noted "if the ABC had been in the manger, there would have been at least one ass present." You can read these stories in today's digest.

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MIDNIGHT Mass will be held early at churches across England this Christmas to stop drunks disrupting services, according to the Telegraph newspaper. The service with candles and carols normally begins between 11 and 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve, but Roman Catholic clergy in some areas have been advised by police to start much earlier amid fears of rowdy behavior and violent crime. Priests concerned for the safety of their parishioners are holding the services as early as 6 pm, a survey by The Tablet, the Catholic weekly magazine, has found.

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Think you have heard it all. Not a bit of it. A nationally recognized pansexual magazine called The Advocate is advocating Mrs. Jefferts Schori for President. A piece by Teresa Morrison headlined "KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI FOR PRESIDENT" says the lady is among our most committed allies in the battle for LGBT inclusion and equality -- and she happens to wear a clerical collar. That's all this country needs -- a pro-sodomite president to uphold righteousness in the nation.

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The CHURCH OF SWEDEN approved a gay marriage law this week. Sweden's Lutheran Church said it was in favor of allowing same-sex couples to wed in church, but recommended that the term "marriage" be reserved for heterosexual unions. The position of the Church, which has 7.2 million members out of a population of 9.1 million, had been solicited by the government as it prepares a bill on a new "gender neutral" marriage law that it hopes to present to parliament early next year. "Marriage and (same-sex) partnerships are equivalent forms of unions. Therefore the Church of Sweden's central board says yes to the proposal to join the legislation for marriages and partnerships into a single law," the Church said in a statement. "According to the Church of Sweden's board the word 'marriage' should however only be used for the relationship between a woman and a man," it said.

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VISION VIDEO. Looking for a last minute Christmas gift, then consider a Christian video. These are timeless videos for Christmas, Home and Church. Recently I had an opportunity to sit down and watch some wonderful videos produced by a Christian video company called Vision Video. They are some of the very best Christian videos I have ever seen. I know they would make excellent gifts for friends, family and viewing by church groups and much more. They are not expensive and provide something for the mind as well as the heart. It is a wonderful way to learn church history. Commentators include Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright, theologian Alistair McGrath and such notable actors as Claire Bloom, Joss Ackland (he played C.S. Lewis), Peter France and Tony Robinson, to name but a few.

THE APOSTLES' CREED, one of several videos, is a living link that takes us over the centuries to the Early Church. It's a bond that unites today's believers with diverse cultures and traditions. It's a concise summary of Biblical faith taught to new believers in the Early Church prior to being baptized. Here you will find a two-hour abridged version of an upcoming twelve hour curriculum series by award-winning producer-director T.N. Mohan and a special release part of Christian History Institute's 25th anniversary celebration. The programs demonstrate the timeless power and importance of the Creed and feature an international and interdenominational cast of notable theologians. Please take a moment to click here to go to the website and make your order. VOL cannot recommend these too highly: http://tinyurl.com/yq8h6j

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AMIA NEWS. The Anglican Mission in America is on a roll. Since it began in 2000, they have grown from one to 132 congregations. Their newsletter The Wave is garnering interest from across the Anglican Communion - a sign of revival and renewal. Their Winter Conference 2008 Plenary Speakers will feature the best of the Communion's thinkers and speakers. They include The Rev. Leith Anderson, The Rt. Rev. Sandy Millar, Judith MacNutt co-founder, with her husband Francis, of Christian Healing Ministries (CHM) in Jacksonville, Florida. The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy, chairman of AMiA, and Dr. J. I. Packer will offer daily Bible studies during morning devotions. A panel of Anglican Archbishops will speak to the emerging Anglican witness in North America.. VOL will be there to cover this significant occasion. There is still time to sign up: http://www.theamia.org/winter/2008info

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If you haven't registered for next year's MERE ANGLICAN CONFERENCE 2008, then you can do so here: http://www.mereanglicanism.com/register.htm This conference will be held on Thursday, January 30 through Saturday, February 2, 2008 at Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul, 126 Coming Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29403.

The conference features theological analysis and advocacy by notable writers and speakers reflecting on the crisis of biblical authority, interpretation, and trustworthiness underlying current issues in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. Speakers include Canon Robert Crouse, Bishop Robert Duncan, Canon Michael Green, Bishop (deo volente) Mark Lawrence, Dr. Paul Moser, Canon Ashley Null and Dr. Jerry Root. The conference will feature panel discussions, networking opportunities for laity, clergy, and in particular theological educators and bloggers, together with daily worship at the restored Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul in the historic City of Charleston. VOL will be there to cover this historic event.

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ROGER STEER (author of "Guarding the Holy Fire" Baker Books) has been commissioned by IVP Books to write a new biography of John Stott. The book will be shorter than Timothy Dudley-Smith's 2 volume biography and is designed to reach a wider audience. If you have a reminiscence of John to share, or a particular perspective on him, Roger is anxious to hear from you. Please contact Roger on rs@rogersteer.com

As you know, VOL regularly features quotes from the works of John R.W. Stott and we are delighted that Mr. Steer is writing a book about this great man who kept the faith alive in the Anglican Communion, especially the UK, in the later half of the Twentieth Century.

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There are a number of exclusive VOL stories in today's digest, as well as some excellent commentary on the state of the Anglican Communion. I hope you will take the time to read all the stories.

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VIRTUEONLINE is looking for 100 regular readers to commit themselves to making a financial commitment of $150.00 per month for one full year to keep this ministry on a sound financial basis. 2008 will see major changes and configurations in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion as the realignment takes shape. Lambeth Conference, perhaps two will held on English soil and VOL is committed to being present at this and all the major Anglican gathering both at home and abroad. If you would be willing to one of those persons please write to me personally at david@virtueonline.org

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