Anglicans were challenged to live with diversity on
hot-button issues such as homosexuality by a leading African Bishop at a major
Anglican Mission Organisations Conference last week in Cyprus.
The Rt Rev Simon Chiwanga, a recent chairman of the Anglican Consultative
Council, said that the Anglican Communion was emerging from its conflicts on
Bible and theology. "Not that we have solved those conflicts in
interpretations of Scriptures and our theological convictions, declaring a
victor and a vanquished and divided the spoils of that war. Rather, I see us
Anglicans as engaging together in mission without needing first to 'solve' hot
button issues as such". He said that the church emerged from such
conflicts stronger.
He said that the Anglican Communion was learning to live with difference on
certain issues by placing a priority on mission. He urged Anglicans to hold
unity and diversity in constructive tension. "In the Third World I see
another healthy development: the way the Church there approaches these
international hot button issues. I see more and more efforts to move away from
our doctrinal myopia, the inability to work with others who see things
differently than we do."
In a sharp criticism of conservative American groups who have attempted to
enlist African church leaders to resolve doctrinal disputes, he said, "we
are learning how to resist the new scramble for Africa, where factions of our
worldwide Church, cozy up to Africans and African dioceses looking for
supporters for their social agendas."
Mission, he argued, was about solidarity across borders of language. "More
and more of us are realising that we don't have to agree on human sexuality in
order to advocate for persecuted Christians; we don't need to have the same
churchmanship to combat poverty; we don't need to agree on our theology before
working for peace and safety in Sudan," he declared.
A statement from the Anglican Communion Missions Organisations Conference, said
that 'transformation' stands at the heart of mission. The statement challenged
provinces of the Anglican Communion to appreciate diverse cultural experiences
and find ways to use these positively. It also called on Provinces to
"raise up a new generation of children free from the scourge of
HIV/AIDS."
Delegates, from 40 countries, were told that the Church is one of the greatest
resources in the fight against AIDS but also one of the weakest because of a
reluctance to openly address issues of human sexuality.
They heard how Anglican Churches in some of the worst hit areas of the world
are taking a lead in the fight against the pandemic. Most Anglican Churches in
Africa were in the process of founding an HIV/AIDS desk to co-ordinate the
campaign.
A delegate from Uganda said that the pandemic was challenging existing
approaches to issues like confidentiality. "What I would call 'shared
confidentiality' works better than 'strict confidentiality'. If I want to tell
my wife I have tested positive I need my pastor to be there and the Mothers'
Union to be on hand to support her," he said.
The Rev Riaj Jarjour, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches,
told the conference that mission, "needs to practice justice by doing
justice". He pointed to two broken communities in the Middle East. First,
he said that the people of Iraq had suffered for 12 years under international
sanctions. He warned that a war will destroyed the country and its
infrastructures. But he also pointed to the Palestinian situation. He said,
"People don't mean anything to Israeli soldiers. We need a mission to
Muslims, not to bring people to Christ, but to proclaim Jesus the
peacemaker."