Can't We All Just Get Along?
In the last year I have been approached from time to time by a few parishioners concerned that our vestry at The Falls Church might be giving serious thought to our disaffiliating from The Episcopal Church (TEC). "Can it be so bad, John, that this is necessary? The last thing the church needs is more division. Let's stay in and con-tinue to work from within, for renewal and reform as you, John, have always taught us."
The question deserves a thoughtful answer. Understand, we are not at this time taking action to disaffiliate from TEC; but is it a possibility one day? It is certainly possible. None of us knows what will happen in the future, and our vestry at The Falls Church has made no definite plans. We are, however, considering carefully all contingencies that we can imagine and attempting to be prepared with various strategies. We are in regular discussion both with our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee, as well as with leaders of a coalition of 25 or so other Virginia congregations that share our deep concerns.
Our denomination has undergone a major, steady transformation over the last half century, a transformation that has become evident to all due to a series of major deci-sions over the last ten years or so regarding sexual ethics, though the changes that resulted in this revisionist thinking are rooted in deeper doctrinal shifts that have evolved more gradually.
There are many key issues over which Episcopalians are divided. They are extremely serious issues and all of these issues are rooted in doctrine, even though we now live in a day when the culture is quite suspicious of doctrinal matters. And this divi-sion is reflected in many ways, including the parting of many congregations from the denomination. The now-famous quote of our bishop about choosing heresy over schism is evidence of a widely held view in TEC. Our denominational leaders are less and less certain about the ancient truths. When you deprive the church of its ancient orthodox underpinnings, you eventually pull the whole church down. It is happening before our eyes.
TEC has come to practice grievous revisions to key doctrines. The doctrine of man (i.e., humanity) in TEC extols man, not God, as the measure of all things. The doctrine of revelation has become a "pick and choose" approach to the Bible whereby we accept what we think accords with modern wisdom, and reject what doesn't. The doctrine of salvation now sees Jesus as a way to God-the reason evangelism is so rare within Episcopalianism is that most Episcopalians don't really believe it's necessary for people to commit their lives to Christ, as long as they do the best they can. The doctrine of the church (i.e., ecclesiology) has been replaced by a preoccupation with running the church by General Convention's revisions of canon law.
Another area of concern is the doctrine of regeneration. While TEC has weakened doctrinally, it has at the same time elevated liturgy and rites. Listen to just about any current Episcopal leader speak about holy baptism and the Eucharist as the deci-sive actions of the church. Infant baptism is viewed as the key rite of entry into the church, while Eucharist is the sustaining rite, and these are the two essentials "in which we now find our unity." While there is truth in this, the early church placed great emphasis on repentance, informed faith, and moral discipline in accordance with the Commandments and essential Christian doctrine. There is no doctrine of regeneration in the Episcopal Church now, other than a fuzzy notion that the "new birth" occurs in infant baptism. This places great emphasis on rite and very little on repen-tance, transformation, and discipleship. The New Testament teaches that regeneration occurs when the Holy Spirit enables a person to come to active, personal faith in Jesus Christ, along with genuine repentance for sin.
These and many other factors have been eating away at Episcopalianism for a long time and many church members have recognized that we are irreconcil-ably divided and have exited TEC. The current crisis over same-sex relationships has caught people's attention, however, and brought about even greater division, not because this one ethical issue is so important, but rather because it has become the leading illustration of what happens when a church breaks loose from its biblical and orthodox foundations. It is interesting that the youngest members of the Anglican Church (the Global South Anglicans) have seen this fact the most clearly and spoken out the most boldly against the heresies of the North (us).
For years I have believed that renewal of the Episcopal Church was not only possible but worth working towards. That is the way we viewed our role within TEC. The Falls Church has hoped to be a lighthouse of renewal and a model of orthodox Anglican faith. Certainly renewal is always possible with God, but all the signs I see now lead me to believe that TEC is inevitably headed away from historic biblical faith. TEC is now basically a radically liberal, Unitarian-like church with tinges of ceremonial high-church flavor, and it is pathetically shrinking numerically week by week. Yes, there are still exceptions to this, but the exceptions are rarer and rarer.
The major question is: Can orthodox, biblically committed congregations continue to remain affiliated with TEC, or has the time come to seek alternative affiliation with some other branch of Anglicanism?
Our own bishop allows us to be who Christ has called us to be, and tells us that the rest of the diocese and denomination needs us. We are under no pressure to embrace or teach or give financial support to practices or people or programs that in good con-science we feel we cannot support. Still, many, many dioceses are not so generous and open as Virginia. Many of us simply do not feel at home in TEC anymore.
I dream of an Anglican Church in North America that is truly biblically centered, mission-focused, evangelistically on fire, doctrinally sound, and led by wise, passionate, godly leaders-a church that will offer confused 21st century postmoderns a real faith, a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, and community in which the healing, powerful, and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is being celebrated in worship and fellowship day by day.
This guidebook is offered as an aid for those who are seeking to discern how God is leading in response to these issues. It has been written by many different people from several Virginia congregations who intend to devote forty days to prayerful discern-ment. May God indeed enable us to discern what actions are most pleasing to him. May he guide and direct us all.
- the Rev. John YatesRector of The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia