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The Kikuyu Conference and Global South Anglicanism: for What Does the Anglican Communion Stand?

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The Kikuyu Conference and Global South Anglicanism: for What Does the Anglican Communion Stand? Chapter 13 The Kikuyu Conference and Global South Anglicanism: for What Does the Anglican Communion Stand? Joseph Galgalo The Anglican Communion as an organization of churches has had an ‘awkward existence’ from its very beginning.1 The very expression Anglican Communion is in itself ambiguous and defies any neat definition. Early attempts at defi- nition have remained just that – attempts. The Lambeth Conference of 1930 defined the expression ‘Anglican Communion’ as ‘a fellowship within the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury’ (Resolution 49).2 What precisely it means to be ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’ or what such communion means in practice has always remained a matter of interpretation. It should be noted that the 1930 gathering was not the first to employ the descriptive tag ‘Anglican Communion’. The Lambeth Conference of 1867 used the term with reference to ‘the Anglican branch of the 1 By Global South I have here in mind the Anglican Provinces in the Global South located in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and South America. The meetings of the leaders of these churches are usually referred to as ‘South to South Encounters’. The first South to South Encounter took place in Limuru, Kenya, in 1994 and the second in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. A third meeting took place in Egypt in 2005 where the theme was ‘One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: Being a Faithful Church for such a Time as This’. The fourth South to South Encounter took place in Singapore in April 2010 with leaders from Provinces of the Global South and other mission partners, who described themselves as ‘unequivocally committed to the apostolic- historic faith’, while the fifth South to South Encounter, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2012, had the theme ‘Be Transformed by the Renewing of the Mind to Obedience of Faith for Holistic Mission in a Radically Changing Global Landscape’, based on Romans 12:1–2; and 2 Tim. 4:7. There were also many meetings of Global South Primates that took place in between the South to South Encounter Conferences. These Churches believe they represent ‘more than 70 percent of the active membership of the worldwide Anglican Communion’. See, for example, Article 6 of the official Communiqué of the meeting of the Primates of the Global South Anglicans held in September 2006 in Kigali, Rwanda. See http://www.globalsouth anglican.org/index.php/blog/comments/kigali_communique (accessed 8 March 2016). 2 See http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/ 1930/resolution-49-the-anglican-communion?author=Lambeth+Conference&year=1930 (accessed 8 March 2016). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004388680_015 282 Galgalo Church Catholic’ (Resolution 3).3 This gives the impression that, even though there were bishops from beyond the British Isles and the USA, the expres- sion ‘Anglican Communion’ must originally have applied to the English, Irish, Scottish and the American churches as a collective description for these four churches that shared a common cultural heritage.4 The precise meaning of the phrase Anglican Communion aside, it is even more difficult to place a finger on the exact ecclesial nature of the commu- nion of churches that collectively constitutes the Anglican Communion. The Communion lacks structures that are authoritative enough to order the com- mon life of the Communion. As is expressed in the final report of the Windsor Continuation Group, the problem can be framed as an ‘Anglican ecclesial deficit’ with regard to the lack of ‘structures which can make decisions which can carry force in the life of the Churches of the Communion, or even give any definitive guidance to them’.5 A cursory look at the background of the Anglican Communion can help explain this ecclesial uncertainty. Anglicanism as a distinct branch of the universal church took shape in the sixteenth century, principally during the reigns of King Henry VIII and, more definitively, Queen Elizabeth I. Through carefully crafted legislation the new Anglican polity came to depend on two key documents: the Thirty-Nine Articles (a revised version of the earlier Forty- Two Articles) and a modified edition of the Book of Common Prayer of 1552. Both documents provide a rough guide to the form and shape of the Anglican patrimony, particularly belief and worship, that sought to accommodate the whole population of England in as comprehensive a settlement as possible. The compromise Elizabethan religious settlement may not have been hailed as ‘all encompassing’ by every warring party, but it was accommodating and broad enough, avoiding, in the words of Bishop Stephen Neill ‘the over- definitions both of the Protestant left wing and of the right wing Tridentine Catholicism.’6 The intention was to bring on board, in one broad sweep, all who were prepared to conform. As is the case with any compromise, the 3 See http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/ 1867/resolution-3?author=Lambeth+Conference&year=1867 (accessed 8 March 2016). 4 Colin Podmore shows that the term came into use in the 1840s when some mission agen- cies of the Church of England started using it alongside such other descriptors as Protestant Episcopal Churches or Reformed Catholicism (Aspects of Anglican Identity (London: Church House, 2005), pp. 34–7). 5 Windsor Continuation Group, ‘Report to the Archbishop of Canterbury’, Para. 51. http:// www.anglicancommunion.org/media/100354/The-Windsor-Continuation-Group.pdf? author=The+Windsor+Process (accessed 8 March 2016). 6 Stephen Neill, Anglicanism (London: Mowbray, 1978), p. 119..
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