While mutual affection can be strained, our main hope at General Synod is to be united by the gospel.
The Anglican Church of Australia consists of 23 Dioceses which together cover the whole continent. We are bound together by ties of history, law, theology, purpose, patterns of church life, and mutual affection.
Every three years, delegates of the Dioceses meet in the General Synod, which gathers this year in Fremantle in the Diocese of Perth. For about a week we will be discussing, praying, debating, electing and deciding about issues which affect our common life.
One of the key issues which we will have before us is legislation to do with child protection. An enormous amount of work has gone into the proposals which will be before the Synod, not least by delegates from Sydney. We need to get these matters right for the future protection of people in our churches.
An Australian-wide body such as ours is bound to be rather unwieldy. Please pray for wisdom and patience for all involved.
Mutual affection is sometimes strained at the Synod! One of the controversial subjects which will be before us is the question of whether it is right for women to be consecrated as bishops.
For many of those who have ordained women in the priesthood, this is a reasonably straightforward matter. But there are questions even there.
After all, there remains a substantial minority in our Church – and certainly not merely in Sydney – who believe that the ordination of women is not God’s will. Having a woman as a bishop makes it difficult for clergy with such a view to remain in the same Diocese, and it makes it hard for other Dioceses to relate effectively.
For example, it will not be possible for a woman bishop to act as a bishop in some of our Dioceses. There will be a painful increase of ‘impaired communion’ in the Church as a whole.
The Synod will try to meet these problems, but in the end, there is likely to be frustration and dismay on one side or the other. For myself, I remain absolutely convinced that the teaching of the Bible is against the practice of ordaining women to the priesthood, though it is fully supportive of the ministry of women as a whole.
It is not an accident that this has been the understanding of the Bible all down through the centuries. Thus I am bound to oppose the move to consecrate women to the episcopate.
Many other matters will be before us. Given the importance of evangelistic mission for the present state of the Church, I am sorry to say that only a small about of time has been dedicated to this subject.
However, a session has been planned, and I hope that it will be an effective sharing of ideas and strategies.
After all, our main hope is to be united by the gospel of God’s grace and in the service of Jesus. A deeper unity along such lines would be a great outcome of the Synod!
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<i> General Synod will be held in Fremantle from October 2 to 8. Decisions and speeches will be available at www.anglican.org.au/gs2004.htm. Southern Cross reporters will be filing stories daily at www.anglicanmedia.com.au </i>