The Anglican Communion, which has traditionally had its spiritual home in the Church of England, has seen a drastic shift over the past years, with energetic revivals taking place in the Global South.
In Africa, Asia and South America, the rise in church congregations has been phenomenal, yet the Church of England has been shrouded in reports of decreasing churchgoers, with statistics revealing that less than a million worship regularly in the Church of England.The urgent need to capture back the “empty pews” has led to evangelicals within the Church of England to invite an American-based bishop, consecrated in Singapore and sent from Rwanda as a missionary bishop to the United States, to speak at a number of events in early July.
The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy, Chairman of the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), leads a missionary movement based in the Anglican Province of Rwanda, which testifies that it is planting a new church in America about every three weeks.
Bishop Murphy said, “I’m personally happy to go. It will allow us to present the passion and vision we have for church planting in the AMiA among the leaders of the Church of England, in ways that will strengthen our bonds and relationships.”
The visit follows the recent efforts of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to keep some degree of unity within the worldwide Church. The spiritual head of the Communion last month called for a two-tiered system of membership. The “covenant system” proposes that Churches should be asked to sign a formal covenant, which would allow some to be fuller members of the Anglican Communion than others.A dual system is proposed, whereby there would be full “constituent” members to the Communion that have conformed to the traditional Biblical views of the Church, but also another section of “associate” members which will incorporate rebel and more liberally-viewed Churches.
The move has come following the ECUSA’s failure to “repent” for its actions to liberalise the gay agenda of the Church at its General Convention in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month. In addition, the ECUSA also failed to vote through a moratorium on any more gay consecrations.
