C4SO Bishop Stands by Suffragan Nominee After 2015 Communion Remarks Resurface
Kris McDaniel says he "spoke too broadly" when he invited people to the Table regardless of sexual conduct; election set for November 7
The bishop of the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) has moved to shore up his nominee for suffragan bishop after audio from a decade-old parish meeting surfaced online, raising questions about the candidate's teaching on Holy Communion and same-sex practice.
In a letter to C4SO clergy, Bishop Jeff Bailey defended the Rev. Canon Dr. Kris McDaniel, rector of Trinity Anglican Church in Atlanta, and released a statement in which McDaniel acknowledged that remarks he made in 2015 went too far and said he regrets them.
The ACNA College of Bishops has unanimously consented to McDaniel's candidacy, clearing the way for his election at the C4SO Diocesan Convention on November 7. Bailey said four bishop examiners from other dioceses interviewed McDaniel thoroughly and recommended him. If he is elected, the College will consider final consent in January.
THE 2015 AUDIO
The controversy began with an anonymous Substack post. It drew on two sources: audio of a 2015 members' meeting at Trinity, and a set of white papers the parish published around the same time. The post asked whether those materials still represent McDaniel's teaching and Trinity's practice.
Bailey's answer was no. The white papers, he wrote, used the "Side A" and "Side B" labels then common in some evangelical and Anglican circles. Trinity has since dropped them, he said, because they tended to collapse several distinct questions into confusing categories: belief, attraction, conduct, repentance, membership and sacramental discipline.
The 2015 meeting followed a teaching series on Trinity's commitment to a traditional biblical sexual ethic. Bailey said McDaniel spoke from a pastor's desire to welcome people who experience same-sex attraction. But, the bishop acknowledged, his words "invited people to the Table without regard to conduct."
McDANIEL'S STATEMENT
In his statement, McDaniel confirmed the recorded comments are his. He said Trinity's conviction, then and now, is that marriage is the covenant union of a man and a woman and that all sex outside it is sinful.
But he conceded that in stressing grace and the ancient view of Communion as medicine for sinners, he "spoke too broadly" about inviting people to the Table regardless of whether they were living contrary to Christian sexual teaching. "I regret those comments," he wrote.
His instinct, he said, was to make clear that no one comes to the Table because they have made themselves worthy. What he failed to stress was the equally important call to self-examination, confession and repentance. "Communion is indeed medicine for sinners," he wrote, "but it is not indifferent to repentance."
McDaniel said the 2015 materials were revised and replaced on Trinity's website years ago. He added that the parish now asks staff, vestry and many ministry leaders to reaffirm its statements of Christian orthodoxy each year. He said he would not say what he said then, or give that pastoral direction, today.
THE BISHOP'S VERDICT
Bailey said he has spoken with McDaniel at length and is grateful for "the humility with which he has owned what he said." He cited the changes McDaniel made to Trinity's Communion practice years ago and his commitment to the Church's historic teaching on marriage. "I remain fully confident in his doctrine and pastoral leadership," Bailey wrote, "and I believe he is the right person to serve as our next Suffragan Bishop."
Bailey described McDaniel as a seasoned leader with 25 years of ministry who has helped C4SO raise up church planters and launch congregations.
The bishop told clergy they may forward his letter, but asked them not to engage the claims on social media, saying the aim was clarity rather than a prolonged online dispute. He invited further questions at a "Get to Know the Candidate" clergy gathering with McDaniel on October 20.
WHAT COMES NEXT
C4SO, founded by Bishop Todd Hunter and now led by Bailey, already has a suffragan in Bishop Brian Wallace, who took up the post in 2023. McDaniel's election would add a second.
The episode is the latest test of how ACNA handles questions about sexual ethics among its clergy. The province's teaching is settled. The question for C4SO's convention delegates will be whether a candidate's clear retraction of decade-old remarks, backed by his bishop and the College, is sufficient.
David W. Virtue, DD, is founder and managing editor of VirtueOnline. His writings can be found at www.virtueonline.org, where you can subscribe to receive his free biweekly VIEWPOINTS. His Substack on the Middle East is at davidvirtue2.substack.com
Aside from anything else ACNA has some weird names for its dioceses. It's a Church founded on homophobia and nothing else. No wonder it's so screwed up.