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ACNS 1882 · 16 September 1999 · Dundee [ACC-11/16]
The Chairman's Address to the Anglican Consultative Council
"What is the Communion we share?:
The Anglican Communion in a 'time of change and transition'"
"I am proud to be your servant, and I want to extend you a warm welcome,
karibu sana! I appeal to you to speak freely and openly at this meeting.
Since we are all baptized into the one body of Christ, we all have the
authority to speak the truth in love, and to love and speak the truth," the
Right Rev Simon Chiwanga, bishop of Mpwapwa, Tanzania, said to the members
of the Anglican Consultative Council as he presented the Chairman's Address
today in Dundee, Scotland.
Bishop Chiwanga has extensive knowledge and experience of Anglican Communion
affairs. He was elected Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council for
three meetings at ACC - 10, held in Panama City in 1996. Recently awarded a
D. Min from the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts, he was
previously the Vice-Chairman of the ACC.
Explaining that the Anglican Communion is 'at a very important time of
change and transition', Bishop Chiwanga said that 'old ways of knowing and
old ways of relating have begun to evolve into a yet unknown world filled
with hope and possibilities in the Risen Christ.'
"In times of profound change, many who are fearful seek security and solace
in what they perceive as safe and sound," he said. "For some, such safety is
found in a clearer articulation of and uncritical appeal to doctrinal
positions and/or theological truths...Others seek security in ecclesial
structures or offices that have developed over time....Whether confession or
curia, catechism or conference, constitution or council, the fearful are
looking for easy answers."
"In the meantime, the world is dying to hear, to know, and to experience the
Good News that we have found in Jesus Christ," the Bishop said. "The
divisions that we wrestle with in the Church are minuscule in relation to
the evils and pains of the world. Capitalism and international debt,
militarism, religious persecution, civil wars, the drugs trade, the
environmental crises and the devastation of this fragile earth, and nuclear
arms proliferation, the continuing marginalisation of women and youth in
some of our cultures, all seek to undermine the commonality of creation we
have with and in God," he said.
Bishop Chiwanga said that God's mission in the world, the missio dei stands
in stark contrast to these demons of division, and in it is found the answer
to the question, What is it we share? And the answer is the truth of 'our
common call to a redeemed, restored life in Jesus.'
"It is in following Christ, in all our differences and particularities, and
very often in the messiness of our life, that we can begin to see and
appreciate what God is doing for each and every one of us through His saving
love," he said.
Bishop Chiwanga pointed out the profound change that had been experienced in
relationships within the Anglican Communion since the 1960s. Previous to
that the majority of Anglicans lived in the industrialised West. Christians
in the Southern Hemisphere lived under colonial rule and worshipped in
churches that were 'still missionary districts of the mother churches.' He
said the change came with the emergence of independent nation states and the
advent of self-supporting, self-governing, and self extending Anglican
churches in the former missions.
For Anglicans Bishop Chiwanga saw the turning point of relationships 'from
that of givers and receivers to a family of equals' in the imperative of
'Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ' (MRI) from
the 1963 Toronto Anglican Congress. This brought a radical reorientation of
mission priorities stressing equality among all Anglican churches.
"For the first time the younger churches in the Anglican Communion saw
themselves as equal to the older, 'richer' churches of the West," the bishop
said. "It has taken three and a half decades, but today, as we stand on the
eve of a new millennium, we can say without question that the vision
heralded by MRI is beginning to become a reality. There is no turning back,"
he said.
He concluded with his own prayer for the Anglican Communion in this time of
transition, 'that we will continue to seek to live together in communion,
speaking the truth in love, acknowledging our faults, and loving our
enemies.'
"To separate ourselves from one another and from God is contrary to all that
Jesus came to do. In Jesus is our commonality; one Lord, one faith, one
baptism. This is the Communion we share," he said.
After Bishop Chiwanga's address the ACC received the report from its
Standing Committee and also a report on constitutional matters and
guidelines for its debates and procedures. Discussion on these matters will
be continued throughout the meeting.
Communications Team
ACC - 11
Ian Douglas, Margaret Rodgers, Jim Rosenthal and Manasseh Zindo