Relationships change everything.
The media often have a perception of the church that allows through their filter only anything that has to do with sex or conflict. The 2008 Lambeth Conference involved a load of relationship building that didn’t press the buttons of the people looking only for conflict. It is hard – nigh impossible – to measure relationships.
In the last thirty years Anglican dioceses have established links with other dioceses in parts of the world where the culture, language and church is different. For the last eleven years of my ministry in the Diocese of Southwark we were closely linked to dioceses in Zimbabwe. Bradford is linked with Southwestern Virginia in the USA and Sudan.
A three-way link is a gift. Looking at developments in the American diocese though the lens of an English diocese is interesting enough. But, to look through the eyes and listen through the ears of Sudanese Anglicans provides a whole different challenge.
Yesterday I had a long conversation with Bishop Andudu who has been forced into exile from his Diocese of Kadugli in Sudan. While he was having medical treatment in the USA his home was destroyed, his cathedral torched, his office looted, his people attacked and dispersed. Andudu cannot now return to his people, so is ministering to his people who are exiled in a variety of places including Southern Sudan, Egypt, the USA and the UK.
While Bishop Andudu is here in the USA the Archdeacon of Bradford is in Sudan with another of the Bradford clergy.
The Youth Council here in Roanoke has raised $35,000 to fund 142,000 food packs for Sudanese refugees who have been expelled from their homes since the conflicts and ultimate separation of Southern Sudan from the north. This evening we will help them pack them, ready for transport to where they are needed. Who said all young people are selfish narcissists?
The young people have with them a remarkable man with a remarkable story to tell. He is a Sudanese rapper (former child soldier) called Emmanuel Jal and he has been brought over from London to work with the young people here in Roanoke. I am writing this as he has 200 teenagers on their feet dancing. Even Bishop Andudu is dancing. I am sparing everyone’s embarrassment and sitting at the back writing…
This is the Anglican Communion. This is what the media misses when thinking, writing or broadcasting about the Anglican Church. Sudan has a different response to some of the ethical and social challenges faced in the USA or UK, but we are all here together and focused on making a difference where we can.
It is a remarkable sight (and sound). It is the sound of a common vocation and a common humanity in and though a common church. It is colourful. And it is very loud…
Nick Baines's Blog 
January 29, 2012 at 6:29 am
“The 2008 Lambeth Conference involved a load of relationship building that didn’t press the buttons of the people looking only for conflict.”
I don’t know who these mysteriously Unnamed People are. Lambeth 2008 was a stage-managed, wasted opportunity. It was designed by Williams to prevent debate and to prevent calling Tec to faithfulness, after Tec’s direct snub to Lambeth 1998 with the election of Gene Robinson, since repeated in LA, and reflected in the schism in the Diocese of Virginia and many other places. Those who went to Gafcon in Jerusalem were and are certainly involved in realtionship building for the sake of the Gospel.
As for Sudan’s “different response to ethical challenges” – seriously, Nick – homosexuality is homosexuality, whether in Africa or America. Unless one is a Geographical Situation Ethicist, better comment is needed than this! No wonder much of the world can’t take fading western Anglicanism seriously – it has lost any concept of catholicity.
January 29, 2012 at 7:59 am
This is a Very Wonder Full post Nick
Thank you for this
I think that t is not only the media who need to see this – there are may within the Anglican Communion who need to as well. So much current debate seems to be occurring in a vacuum of non-interaction of the type you describe here – This Is Communion
January 29, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Kieran, your self-confidence about things of which you are ignorant is staggering. We’re you at Lambeth? Do you know what went on there? Do you listen to anyone who doesn’t start with your prejudices? Do you have a totally uncritical view of Gafcon or could you answer the unanswered questions about misrepresentation and subterfuge that have also come out of that stable? Were you present in Roanoke to listen to the Sudanese and their conversation with others? Has it occurred to you that there is no mystery about ‘Unnamed People’ – that I might have been referring to those who wrote in the media? Do you ever doubt – even for a second – your prejudices? Do you know of any conference that is not ‘stage managed’? I was there and there was debate and difference – but (thank God) we didn’t waste time and energy on votes and resolutions, but spent hours every day listening and talking and, in many cases, understanding (if not agreeing with) the other.
I think you should take your cynicism elsewhere. Your comments on this blog are unceasingly negative, self-righteous and miserable.
January 30, 2012 at 12:59 am
So great to have you with us this weekend and to have you in and around our Diocese over the last week. Really enjoyed your workshop on apologetics, and had a lovely time sitting next to your wife during this morning’s Eucharist. It was a powerful service, and I was so grateful to have the Sudanese represented – to feel that tangible connection to a region of the world we pray for daily. Blessings on your travels tonight as you head home. Hope we can visit you in your diocese soon!
January 30, 2012 at 7:30 am
Nick,I didn’t read your first paragraph about the media carefully enough – my bad. But then, newspapers have been declining in readership for a generation (something I don’t think will change), and conflict “sells” in a world of infotainment.
Yes, I visited Lambeth and recall seeing Peter Tatchell walking around, and visiting the tent with the “Changing Attitude” at the very entrance, and other stands.
I read the reports of the indaba meetings. I read or watched the video reports from Gafcon, esp. Nazir-Ali’s contribution. I don’t think my view of anything is “totally uncritical” as I’m not given to hero worship. That governs my view of Rowan Williams, who I think has many admirable qualities. But some people can’t brook any criticism of him.
Likewise for Tom Wright. I like a lot of his scholarship, but I was bewildered by Tom’s attempt to trash Gafcon before it happened. I think that backfired on him. Maybe he takes a different view of things now he’s out of England and back in academia.
I haven’t been to Roanoke – my main efforts are in fund raising to help Christian schooling in South Sudan. I do know how the Dioceses in Virginia are doing, and how Tec has been in unrelenting decline since 2000, and steeper since Robinson was consecrated (with the support of Neff Powell). The statistics from Tec are all there in Titusonenine. A disproportionately large number of Tec are aged over 60. The decline in baptisms, marriages and attendance has been very sharp, reducing the church to the size it was in the mid 1950s.The heart of the Anglican problem is that the Africans have the people but the Americans have the (old) money. But that won’t last either.
I’m sorry if you think me “cynical”. I don’t think my faith in Christ has changed, except (I hope) to get deeper.
January 30, 2012 at 8:08 pm
For what it is worth ( and it is a small sample) when we English talk about the Anglican Church in the USA it is worth cautioning ourselves what a small part of the picture we are. I recall looking for an Anglican Church in Dallas – I think there was one – and several hundred Baptist. Houston has no listed Anglican Church and over 800 Baptist Churches.
Lay folk probably think the American Provinces are more significant than they are. That is a numerical comment and no disrespect.
January 30, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Hello, Bishop Baines! I just waned to say that it was great having you in Virginia this past week. I was truly uplifted by the events at our annual council in Roanoke. A big part of the experience was hearing you speak. You were an inspiration and really made an impact. Your words found a home in my heart.
Thank you!
Brian Wright, Trinity Episcopal, Richlands, VA
January 30, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Emily Cox, thank you – and thank you for the welcome and warmth of friendship and fellowship we enjoyed in Southwestern Virginia. We got back at midday today after good flights and are now ready to sleep! See you again, I hope.
January 30, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Kieran, ‘visiting Lambeth’ as all sorts of people did (including some unpleasant conservatives) is not the same as ‘being at Lambeth’. You question the integrity (moral and spiritual) of all sorts of people, but seem blind to the manipulation, subterfuge, lying and misrepresentation of those you support. I could tell you story after story about stuff at Lambeth that shocked me. Now, that is situation ethics – where ends justify the means and bad behaviour is justified on ‘biblical’ grounds.
I am glad you take your discipleship seriously. Why do you question the discipleship of others engaged with Southern Sudan, others who see differently from you, others who are more cheerful than you? You consistently miss the point of what I write and find the bit that presses your critical buttons. You stand in judgement on all sorts of people and display a fine skill at patronising and dismissing. Do you ever harbour even the remotest hint of a possibility that your analyses might be just the slightest bit wrong?
January 30, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Brian, it was a complete pleasure to be with you all in SWVA. Thanks for your comment. I do hope we will all meet up again in the not-too-distant future. God bless you.
February 3, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Nick asks: “Why do you question the discipleship of others engaged with Southern Sudan, others who see differently from you, others who are more cheerful than you?”
????? I haven’t “questioned” anyone “engaged with Southern Sudan”. I said the Diocese of SW Virginia is in serious decline. These are not my words – they are Tec’s own statistics. Everyone who can read knows also that the Dio. of Virginia has been seriously riven and embroiled in great court cases. I would hate to think these things would happen in the UK as well, but given Nick Holtam’s words and the letter from London clergy on civil parnerships, I fear not. As for my “cheerfulness”, don’t worry, I know how to laugh!
“You consistently miss the point of what I write and find the bit that presses your critical buttons.”
No, I usually get the point; I just think you tend to focus on marginal questions and ignore the elephant in the living room. Which is your privilege as this is your blog. But I don’t envy you your position, because questions of religion and sexuality are very contentious in post-Christian Britain and it’s easy to land oneself in trouble, as a number of now unemployed lay Christians have discovered.
“You stand in judgement on all sorts of people and display a fine skill at patronising and dismissing. Do you ever harbour even the remotest hint of a possibility that your analyses might be just the slightest bit wrong?”
Tu quoque, frater? I suspect you have your Nixonian list as well. If your last question is serious and not ad hominem – my “analyses” (they are nothing so strong!) are more fluid than you might think because politics is not as important to me as my evangelical faith. That means I can be “cynical” (your word – I would say “realistic”) about the City of Man while never doubting the victory of Christ. I put this down to my basic Augustinianism, which I’ve long thought should be the default position of any Christian who takes original sin seriously. Ave atque vale, Nick.
February 6, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Dear Nick,
I am grateful for your blog would like to connect with you via email. I am a community Pastor on the West Coast of South Africa. The Lord bless you. Ian Chalklin