Out of Egypt I will call my Son
Sitting here in a city of 30 million people , not far from one of the most televised conflicts in human history, there is a stillness with the Lord that is beautiful to cultivate.
This has come in times of worship and stillness as a group of Anglican Primates (Archbishops) and nine observers have been meeting since last night.
Archbishop Justin Badi (South Sudan) spoke from Isaiah 49, Acts 13:47 and Matthew 5:13-14 of our calling to be a light to the dark world, and live and proclaim God’s truth. He spoke of how the world needs full gospel urgently, as the Gaza conflict, suffering in Israel, Palestine, Sudan and many other parts of the world must cause us to cry out to the Lord with tears in word and deed… we need to proclaim the Prince of Peace and help the nations learn from him.
“We need the word of God unadulterated. We need the Holy Spirit’s power. May the Lord use this meeting to light the fire of his love and help us work together to touch the nations for God. A wayward and divided church will be overrun by other forces that seek to control the world but a truth, holy united church will never be overcome”
It has been an important meeting with many significant points made as the Anglican Communion begins a necesary journey away from being an extension of the long gone British Empire into something quite new.
Archbishop Mouneer spoke of the demographic changes that have taken place:
“In 1900 Church of England was 90% of Anglicans in the world.
in 2005 Church of England could say they had 26 million people but in sub-saharan African alone there were 46 million Anglicans attending church.
So 75% of Anglicans were not in England anymore by 2005.”
That will have sped up over the past 18 years, and yet of those 26 million, less than 4% ( 1 million) are likely to be in church on any given Sunday. The reality is within a little over a century, both through sustained and sometimes dramatic growth abroad combined with rapid decline at home, the Church of England now represents only a very small fraction of the global worshipping Anglicans.
But the affection for Britain remains, and is seen in the memory many have of missionaries who have visited or in earlier times helped start new dioceses. It is seen in stories of having attended SOMA conferences before Lambeth gatherings, or in countries around the world. It is seen in the affection for John Stott’s legacy, or the enthusiastic reception of Alpha in many parts of the world.
So it is a humbling moment to stand back and listen to these leaders reflect on the Communion, our churches in the West, and especially the Church of England. This was triggered not just by the House of Bishops’ deliberations, or the General Synod but by a direction of travel they discerned in the ‘mother church’ over many generations alongside some current practices and power plays and structures. We await tomorrow when we will hear what God has said to and through the Primates gathered here to the churches back home. It can be uncomfortable to have a mirror held up to your province, but there are also many olive branches of hope to bring back, and a commitment to join the Holy Spirit tending to the nervous system of the body of Christ that means we are interconnected and that there is hope for sleeping bits of the body to wake up when prodded.
If the West was ever the parent, the children have grown up now. For parents that can be an awkward stage. A good prayer might be that we in the West can learn how to listen to this vibrant Global Church and their passion for the truth.
Two millennia ago God called his Son out of Egypt, where he had been a refugee… a tough start to the divine life on earth. God offers few easy assignments, even to his Son.
In this season we are wondering what he will call us out of and in to today? Definitely out of a colonial mindset. Certainly into a humbler stance as we minister and and to the Global Church. And, God knows, perhaps more besides.
