There's an integrity problem in the Anglican Church of Australia
Integrity
Imagine the marketing director for a major soft drinks company who drank and promoted the competitor’s leading brand of drink at press conferences. They wouldn’t expect to keep their job very long.
If they had any integrity.
Imagine a left-wing politician who only ever advocated for conservative positions. You’d think they’d resign and join another party.
If they had any integrity.
So what about ordained Anglican ministers who promised to defend and promote the church’s teaching from the Bible but instead constantly undermine and attack it while banking their stipend every month. The right thing to do would be to resign and join another group.
If they had any integrity.
the basics Of Integrity
Bible
Our ultimate rule and standard of faith containing all we need to know about salvation.
Creeds
The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds from the Fourth Century, still just as true today.
39 Articles
The "Authorised Standard" of doctrine, assented to by Anglicans all over the world.
BCP
The Book of Common Prayer, our "authorised standard of worship".
Constitution
All this is set out at the start of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Promises Matter
Deacons
Do you wholeheartedly accept the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as given by the Spirit to convey in many and varied ways the revelation of God which is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ?
I do accept them.
Will you strive to shape your own life, and that of your household, according to the way of Christ?
I will, by God’s grace.
Priests
Will you faithfully and humbly minister the doctrine, sacraments and discipline of Christ, as he has commanded and as this Church has received them?
I will, by God’s grace.
Will you be ready, both in your public and private ministry, to oppose and set aside teaching that is contrary to God’s word?
I will, by God’s grace.
Bishops
I firmly and sincerely believe the Catholic Faith and I give my assent to the doctrine of the Anglican Church of Australia as expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons; I believe that doctrine to be agreeable to the Word of God … I do solemnly and sincerely declare my assent to be bound by the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia …
Honesty
It is your duty to fix the lines of doctrine clearly in your minds: and if you wish to go beyond them you must change your profession. This is your duty not specially as Christians or as priests but as honest men. … We never doubted that the unorthodox opinions were honestly held: what we complain of is your continuing in your ministry after you have come to hold them.
We always knew that a man who makes his living as a paid agent of the Conservative Party may honestly change his views and honestly become a Communist. What we deny is that he can honestly continue to be a Conservative agent and to receive money from one party while he supports the policy of the other.
Christian Apologetics, Easter 1945
Marriage
When asked about marriage, Jesus said,
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“DEARLY beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this Congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church…”
The 2017 General Synod affirmed,
the doctrine of our Church and the teaching of Christ that, in marriage, “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Matt 19:6)
and censured the Scottish Episcopal Church for changing their doctrine of marriage.
When all the bishops of the Anglican Communion met together they affirmed the following:
This Conference …
… in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union …
… cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
The Bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia agreed to the following:
The doctrine of this Church is that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman.
If we as a Church are to change this doctrine to permit same-sex marriage, the appropriate mechanism is through the framework of the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Anglican Church of Australia National Bishops’ Meeting, 20 March 2018
Despite all these statements and agreements, key leaders in the Anglican Church of Australia (including bishops) either actively promote same-sex relationships or do nothing while others act.
In August 2019 the synod of the Diocese of Wangaratta, encouraged by their bishop who had previously agreed with other bishops not to act in this way, approved a liturgy for the blessing of persons in a same-sex marriage.
At least one other diocese is planning a similar move and same-sex blessings happen regularly with no discipline in response.
It's time for some of our bishops to act with
If our leaders won’t keep the promises made when they were ordained and consecrated, they should have the integrity to resign and hand over to someone who will.