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Guarding the Gospel Copyright 2006 by Chris Green Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
ISBN-10: 0-310-26741-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26741-6
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The Congress in Context Chris Green The papers in this book are only a few of the many that were presented at Blackpool, in the unforgettable mock-baronial setting of the Winter Gardens. There were so many forums and seminars that they simply could not be included. And many of the main stage presentations simply could not be put on to paper. Who could forget Archbishop Josiah Fearon from Nigeria explaining to a packed and silent ballroom that, yes, he expected to die for his faith. Or the explosive passion of Andy Hawthorne putting the challenge of today's youth culture before us. Or Communion to the sound of the Hallelujah Chorus and fireworks.
These papers, then, are the principal addresses on the main stage, on the key Congress themes. They were all given with a view to publication in this form.
It was an extraordinary summer to be meeting, and repeatedly we had to remind one another that the Congress had been three years in the planning, and was not a hasty attempt to grab headlines, or to meet as a 'Council of War' on crises in the Anglican communion.1
Decisions made in New Westminster, New Hampshire and Oxford,
the Primates' meeting in Brazil, and a major international Evangelical Fellowship of the Anglican Communion (EFAC) conference in Nairobi faced us with a sense of purpose and a reason to meet, unexpected and possibly unhelpful in its emphasis, which had perhaps been lacking even six months before.
It certainly helped us focus on the word Anglican in a sharper way. Suddenly, people who were in practice hardly allied to a denomination at all discovered that decisions being made in another part of the country, or even the world, were having an impact on their own congregation. I shall never forget being told off by an archdeacon in Kenya for the state of the Church of England, for which I think he held me personally responsible. And to the extent that we might be, we need to face up to our denominational ties and duties. One of the new realities for some at the Congress was that it was precisely because we are evangelical that we are having problems with other parts of the Communion. Evangelical and Anglican can work together, independently, or in conflict, and the conflict makes one think harder about the contours of loyalty, and the question of which of those two words is the noun and which the adjective. That is work we need to do together, internationally,
before the next NEAC.
Which means it is a surprise for many to discover that up to a few months before the Congress, the Steering Group had no intention of mentioning sexuality at all. We had planned that this would be our congress on our issues, and other questions would for the time being have to be unaddressed. It became clear, though, that although we were trying to avoid the unhealthy interest with labelling us as sex-obsessed bigots, not having an evening on sexuality was going to be eccentric and unhelpful, and so we planned an up-to-date briefing for evangelical Anglicanism. Again, not all of the presentations could be reduced to paper, but the two principal biblical ones are here, and they both break new ground.
Back to Basics?
'Back to Basics' was the title of Prime Minister John Major's ill-fated attempt to reverse the trends that ended his term of office. He tried to capture the essence of political conservatism in the phrase, but it was used against him, trapping him in a lost world of yesteryear.
When NEAC 4 was first suggested around the themes of Bible,
Cross and Mission, similar concerns were raised. Surely, said some,
The Congress in Context a 'Back to Basics' campaign is the last thing we need. And if there had been an attempt to think in that political, or rather party political way, those voices were a quite necessary corrective. It is easy,
but fatal, to avoid today's hard questions, retreat to the past and fight yesterday's battles with yesterday's slogans.
But there is another sense in which those voices are siren voices.
The people of God throughout history have a tendency to forget,
and it is a common theme of both Old and New Testament writers that we should 'remember'. It came through in Paul Gardner's Bible readings from 2 Peter, reprinted here. Remembering in this context means a conscious act of the will, to bring into our thoughts and actions the impact of God's work and words. In that sense, 'back to basics' should be the daily cry of every Chris tian, because we know how easy it is for today's questions to crowd out the Bible,
the Cross and our Mission. Rather than drawing the wagons in a circle, as some feared, these three themes expressed a confidence in the finished words and works of God, in the need for us constantly to return to his agenda, rather than ours, and in the unfinished task which lies to hand.2
What the steering committee had failed to foresee, although with hindsight it is obvious, is that the Bible, the Cross and Mission are three of the different but connected means which God uses to create unity among his people. As we opened God's word to discover what he says on the three themes, he used his word to create the unity which we had longed for, planned for, worked for and prayed for, which seemed too fragile in prospect but so inevitable and powerful in reality.
That was, in itself, a demonstration of the habit of mind which comes closest to defining evangelicalism: a submissiveness to the whole of the Bible, giving each part its appropriate weight, allowing the defining centre to explain the remainder. Such a pattern frees us from the tyranny of the present, because it is God's word and work which is truly relevant, and frees us from the tyranny of the past, because each generation has to encounter God's word for itself and to encounter those old truths in the face of new and urgent questions.