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ACNS LC023 - 20 July 1998

Archbishop Carey calls for "radical discipleship" in presidential
address 

By David Skidmore
Lambeth Conference Communications

Archbishop George Carey brought the Lambeth Conference to its
feet with a call for "a more radical discipleship shaped by God's
transforming power" in his presidential address Monday before
more than 1,000 bishops and spouses gathered in the two plenary
halls. 

In his hour-long address-delivered live in the smaller of the
halls and via a closed circuit simulcast on a screen in the
larger hall-Archbishop Carey stressed the need for renewal in the
Anglican Communion's vision, its faith and order, its mission,
and in the bishops' understanding of their vocation as church
leaders. It is a daunting call in an era assailed by political
persecution and social traumas, he admitted. But when the church
stays true to its mission, it prevails. In the wake of the last
Lambeth Conference, the Berlin wall came down, apartheid was
dismantled, and the Anglican Communion launched the Decade of
Evangelism which brought millions of new Christians into the
church, he said. 

Church confronted with blessings and challenges

But with blessings come more challenges, he noted, such as in
Rwanda where civil war spawned genocide claiming 800,000 lives,
and in Sudan where continuing civil war has displaced hundreds of
thousands, sowing a new crop of widows and orphans. AIDS has
become a pandemic in Africa, and mounting debt has bequeathed a
lifetime of poverty to millions in the Third World. Despite these
problems, "this is our world," said Archbishop Carey. "This is
the world in which we live and work; the world in which we are
called to serve and witness."

While it is important for Anglicans to share the stories of their
struggles and to seek solace from each other, that falls short of
what the conference is about, stressed Archbishop Carey. "Even
when evil seems to prevail in so many places, and in so many
ways, the challenge before us is to bring to the world an
authoritative vision of the God of love and justice who is the
beginning and end of all things."

The vision of the Anglican church as a witnessing community
should be driven not by the issues on its plate but by an
Irenaean theology that stresses God's goodness and generosity.
Solutions to the host of issues before the Communion "will only
emerge from a real encounter in gratitude with our living God,"
he said.

Flexibility balanced with firm faith

The renewal of the church needs to follow that same prescription,
he said. Criticism should be given "in the spirit of truth" and
not get locked in a campaign of denigration and polarization.
Truth has always been sought, and found, through a variety of
perspectives in the Communion, but that flexibility should not be
misconstrued as equivocation on the fundamental principles of
faith, cautioned Archbishop Carey. "I am not arguing for some
kind of Anglican comprehensiveness that is vague and woolly or is
uncertain about the foundations of our faith," he said, noting
that there are clear boundaries to Anglican faith and moral
behavior "which we cross at our peril."

Citing the Virginia Report-the pre-conference paper on Anglican
theology and structure prepared by the InterAnglican Theological
and Doctrinal Commission-Carey acknowledged that while scripture
is the medium for divine revelation, its meaning must be grasped
"through a continuing process of interpretation." Since the 17th
century, Anglicans have understood scripture through the lens of
tradition and reason, he noted.

Yet, he admitted, that also raises the question of whether a
communion of interdependent churches can remain together in the
absence of a binding, doctrinal force. "If we meet as a
fellowship of self-governing, national churches, in what
realistic form can we claim to be a Communion?" he asked. The
answer, he said, is in the common heritage of doctrine, faith,
liturgy and spirituality, and a government expressed through
"dispersed" authority. Although admittedly untidy, he added, it
is a better than the alternative: authoritarianism and a muffling
of individual expression.

Links between mission and evangelism underscored

Archbishop Carey also stressed the need to end a "puzzling
divide" between mission and evangelism. "People need to be fed
physically as well as spiritually," he said "and a church that
exists for God in this world must be prepared not only to spread
the Gospel but also to press for action on the great issues
confronting our world."

There is no single template for an evangelistic mission, he said.
On his visits to provinces in Africa, Asia and the South Pacific,
he has encouraged church members to be "less English," and to
incorporate their own traditions and music in their worship. "By
empowering and celebrating the local, we enrich the whole," he
said. 

While aggressive or "insensitive" evangelism has never been the
Anglican style, this does not mean Anglicans should entertain any
compromise of the Gospel message, he said. "We hold Jesus Christ
as the one Saviour of the world and we invite all to honor him as
Lord for it is a faith given us to share with all."

As for episcopal leadership, bishops should adopt a "simplicity
of discipleship" and strive for openness to all views. "If we are
not transformed, corporately and individually, through that
constant practice of a loving, sovereign Lord," he said, "his
vision for his church and his people will never become a
reality." 

Archbishop Carey concluded by observing that "the fundamental
conviction" guiding the conference is the power of the Gospel
that transforms the world, the church "and all of us gathered
here." 

Address meets with enthusiastic response

Despite the stifling heat, the bishops and spouses responded with
a standing ovation. Bishop Clark Grew of the Diocese of Ohio in
the United States said he was "deeply moved" by Archbishop
Carey's call for a renewed church. "I found it to be a gracious
reminder of what the Anglican Communion is and needs to continue
to be, and of what we need to recover," he said.

Bishop Mano Rumalshah of the Diocese of Pesharwar in the Church
of Pakistan, who testified last month before the U.S. Senate
Foreign Relations Committee on religious persecution in Pakistan,
was encouraged by Archbishop Carey's sensitivity to Third World
concerns, and his emphasis on mission and evangelism. 

For Bishop Catherine Waynick of the Diocese of Indianapolis in
the United States, the emphasis on the Communion's diversity was
also a strong point. "That is one of the best gifts of the
Anglican Communion," she said. "When we are doing that well, we
are offering the world a particular kind of witness it otherwise
might not get."

Bishop Waynick also was struck by Archbishop Carey's message that
church renewal begins with personal transformation. She said that
she agrees with him that a transformed church "begins with our
attitudes and our determination to be loving."

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org