In Depth:  Chris Sugden

Chris Sugden

The scandal surrounding Oxfam staff in Haiti in 2011 has brought to light the need for the leadership in global organisations to address the imbalance of power between well-resourced institutions and desperate people struggling to survive in a disaster zone.

At the heart of the issue is accountability. The history of Christian mission, and of the Anglican Communion in particular, suggests that accountability must be rooted in the local situation. Anglican bishops around the world long since ceased to be accountable to any UK-based ecclesial body. They are leaders in their own ‘provinces’ and accountable to their own people. Powerful charities, which are the 21st-century equivalents of 19th-century missionary societies, could do well to develop similar models of local accountability, to address the issues and implications of the imbalance of power and its misuse.

Chris Sugden

At a meeting of Trustees in October, the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC) restated its vision and appointed new leadership.

EFAC’s purpose remains to encourage and develop biblically faithful fellowship and mission throughout the Anglican world. It is adjusting its goals and strategies to best serve its constituency, which has seen tremendous change since John Stott founded the Fellowship in 1961.

Chris Sugden

Five bishops in the Anglican Church of Australia have asked their church lawyers whether bishops can take part in consecrating another bishop of a church which is not formally part of the Anglican Communion.

They raised objections to the consecration in May of the Rt Revd Andrew Lines of the Anglican Church in North America by the Archbishop of Sydney and bishops of Tasmania and Northwest Australia. These proceedings were set to dominate the meetings of the Church’s General Synod in September.

Chris Sugden

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon noted to the General Synod of the Church of England in February 2017 that ‘the route to the Church of England’s internal health is, as with any church, through her self-expenditure for the sake of the world’.

To this end, Anglican Mainstream hosted a presentation at the July Synod on the response of African Anglican Churches to the challenges facing Africa.

Chris Sugden

In February, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, a Nigerian Archbishop, Josiah Idowu-Fearon, addressed the General Synod of the Church of England; and Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion – 1980 to the Present, edited by David Goodhew of Cranmer Hall, Durham, was launched at a conference.

Archbishop Fearon clarified that the term ‘Anglican Communion’ referred to churches which find their common roots through the CofE and its tradition to the witness and mission of the apostolic church. ‘The very word anglicana implies a living tradition of faith in the gospel as this church has received it … from Augustine of Canterbury … to renewal in the English Reformation and beyond.’ ‘They feel they owe so much of their faith, in human terms, to the faithful giving of Christians in the CofE over the centuries.’

Chris Sugden

At the 6th Global South Conference in Cairo from 3–8 October, Anglican Primates were encouraged to address the challenges to God’s truth and justice in their own provinces, not only those in the West.

Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, the Primate of All Nigeria, spoke of the challenges facing his Church.

Chris Sugden

Delegates from 16 Anglican Provinces attended the sixth Global South conference at All Saints Cathedral, Cairo from 3-8 October, along with guests from Australia, Canada and England.

They issued a conference communiqué which gives strong counsel to the Church of England and foreshadows development of a structure to sustain orthodox Anglicanism. The Primates Councils of the Global South and GAFCON issued a further joint com-muniqué concerning same-sex unions.

Chris Sugden

The Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) was founded in 1979 in Chilema, Malawi, by the Anglican Primates of Africa. It reaches out to individuals, communities and groups through more than 40 million dedicated Church members in the 25 African countries with an Anglican presence. That 40 million is over half the Church-going Anglicans in the world.

CAPA is headed by a council to run the Provinces’ activities. Its secretariat, headed by General Secretary Canon Grace Kaiso from Uganda, is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Chris Sugden

The campaign by a highly competent and organised global lobby group to change the teaching and practice of Anglican Churches about marriage continues apace.

In July the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) voted to allow its clergy to solemnise same sex marriage. The vote secured a two-thirds majority among the bishops and laity, but initially failed to secure a two-thirds majority among the clergy by one vote. After a recount, the General Secretary was found to have been counted as non-voting. He had been registered as nonvoting throughout the Synod, but was now found to have a vote. The required majority was thus secured.

Chris Sugden

My first exposure to St Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi for the Sunday morning service was in May when I attended a consultation in the country.

A Nigerian non-stipendiary minister whose wife worked in the oil and gas industry led the service. We were 13 in all, from the UK, Philippines, North America and South Asia and met over coffee after the service.

Chris Sugden

Canon Precious Omuku from Nigeria, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Anglican Communion Affairs and seconded from the Anglican Communion Office, was consecrated assistant bishop in Juba, South Sudan, in a televised ceremony on 3 January at the age of 68.

Bishop Omuku will remain in London as a special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury and be an international advocate for the Anglican Province of Sudan and South Sudan.

Chris Sugden

In the worldwide Anglican debate over gay marriage and same sex relationships, a major issue is the human rights of people who are same sex attracted to contract marriage on the same legal level as heterosexuals.

The UK Justice Ministry is preparing a Bill of Rights and a Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights will hear evidence to address the relationship between human rights in the UK and those determined by the European Commission on Human Rights, which some argue are overly intrusive upon our national sovereignty. Dominic Grieve MP, the former Attorney General, argues that if Britain withdraws from the European Convention (not the EU) then other nations would do the same, with perhaps more egregious consequences for their own citizens.

Chris Sugden

In the lead up to the Anglican Primates’ gathering from 11–16 January, further pressure was brought to bear on African churches and nations to change their laws on sexuality.

Both President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron have, from their positions of enormous power, made direct threats to African states, saying they will remove funds from their education and health budgets if the laws are not changed. The Episcopal Church (USA), the Church of Canada, the Dean of Christ Church and lobby groups have pressed for this too.

Chris Sugden

South Africa witnessed two major campaigns in October and November. Tens of thousands of students protested against a rise in student fees, ‘Fees must fall’, and the Anglican Archbishop, Thabo Makoba, and the Director of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa, the Revd Moss Ntlha, led an anti-corruption march of 6000 people.

These protests against the government by churches which had supported the anti-apartheid struggle marks an important step in the development of South Africa since freedom from apartheid came in 1994.

Chris Sugden

‘Summitry’ was a regular part of the Cold War. The USSR and the USA faced each across the Iron Curtain with separate alliances, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Warsaw Pact. Their leaders could not meet as part of one organisation, without recognising the unrecognisable: the West did not recognise the division of Berlin. In 1963 John F. Kennedy proclaimed across the Berlin Wall: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.

But US and Russian Presidents did meet in ‘summits’. And Archbishop Justin Welby has called a summit of Anglican Primates in Canterbury for 11–16 January 2016 in these words:

Chris Sugden

In the Western hemisphere, September saw a new year for schools, universities and many professional bodies. This year it saw the elections for the new five year term of the Church of England General Synod and four new appointees in the Anglican Communion and the Church of England take up their office and ministries.

They all come from evangelical and orthodox backgrounds and commitments.

Chris Sugden

International Yoga Day was held on 21 June with hundreds of people doing Yoga at different iconic locations around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rajpath in Delhi. It was promoted by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and represented the spread of ‘Hindutva’ – understood as Indian culture, not necessarily Hindu religion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s platform when he won his overall majority in the Indian Parliament was and is ‘development’. It was a simple and straightforward message, building on his achievements over ten years as chief minister in Gujarat. But this development is strictly limited to economic development.

Chris Sugden

At its General Synod on 11–13 June, the Scottish Episcopal Church (to be distinguished from the Church of Scotland) will vote on proposals to allow its ministers to solemnise same sex marriages.

The SEC has a membership of about 35,000 in 310 parishes with seven bishops. Small it may be in number, but in terms of how Anglicans address this issue the vote will be significant. By the time you read this the vote will have been taken.

Chris Sugden

Political Islam is shaking and shaping many countries and societies. Most refugees and asylum seekers coming from Islamic countries are changing the political balance of those countries they enter. At a recent meeting, leaders from Islamic majority countries shared the following reflections.

Western governments are at a loss what to do. Only Egypt has successfully addressed this full-scale attempt to impose Islamist violence which is specifically targeting churches and Christians in Nigeria, Pakistan, Kenya, Syria and Iraq. In the UK, Islam is becoming increasingly rigid and political.

Chris Sugden

The African primates have affirmed ‘real marriage’. However the Scottish Episcopal church is uncertain.

In a very significant development primates from seven provinces in Africa released a statement in March as follows: ‘We are deeply concerned about the divisions within our beloved Anglican Communion. These divisions emerged when some churches in the West allowed the worldly cultures to reshape the message of church to the society, especially in the area of marriage and human sexuality. These issues not only contradict the traditional teaching of the Scripture but also impede our witness to the gospel, which is the reason of our presence in this world. We believe that the church is entrusted with the message of the gospel in order to transform the culture, not the other way around. We do accept diversity, but not diversity at the expense of the truth. Therefore we call upon these churches to refrain from making unilateral decisions which will further the divisions between the provinces of the Anglican Communion.

Chris Sugden

Christian Aid Week in May is an established national institution. Thousands of volunteers, including me, drop red envelopes through people’s letter-boxes and collect them at the end of the week. Thousands who never attend church respond generously to appeals to help the most deprived in the world.

Christian Aid began in response to the refugee crisis at the end of the Second World War. It puts into practice the teaching of Jesus to love our neighbours and to obey him in helping the poor, the hungry and the naked. Jesus did not specify that these poor people had to be Christian.

Chris Sugden

In Nigeria, 46 churches have been burnt and ten people killed following riots triggered by the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo.

On 9 January when French security forces cornered and killed the Parisian Islamists, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali drew an equivalence between the ‘Charlie’ terrorists and governments which executed people for blasphemy: ‘Many Muslim countries are doing judicially what those in Paris are doing extra-judicially. The Organization of Islamic Countries have campaigned for many years to bring in an internationally recognised crime of the defamation of religion. This is not therefore just about radical Islam. It is about the tendency among Muslims to suppress criticism rather than answer it.’

Chris Sugden

Christianity is the most widely persecuted faith worldwide and 4/5ths of this persecution is at the hands of Muslim jihadists. Islam in its final, prophetic, 15th century is taking a more confrontational and supremacist attitude to other faiths.

Persecuted Christians face significant challenges. A flyer for a conference in April facilitated by the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life poses the following options. ‘Should they move or stay (Middle East)? Should they suffer in silence, resist or even retaliate (Nigeria)? Should they rely on “world opinion” and “the international community” or take matters into their own hands? What are their options of self defence? What is the difference between being prepared for martyrdom or for genocide? How should the Church respond to the violence that intends to uproot whole Christian communities from their homelands?’

Chris Sugden

Transition of leadership is always a testing time for organisations.

This is certainly true for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which came into being in 2009. Following the consecration to the office of bishop of a man who was in a samesex relationship, those who could not accept this within a Christian church formed a new church, faithful to Anglican teaching. It was recognised by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON), which first met in 2008 in Jerusalem.

Chris Sugden

We recall the emergence of Southern Sudan as an independent state in July 2011. The Anglican Church played a significant role along with other churches in the forming and developing the new nation, the first in history to escape from Muslim domination.

Since December 2013, Southern Sudan’s viability has been gravely threatened by an internal civil war. The rebel forces are led by the former vice-president, Riek Machir, who established himself in the north east of South Sudan where many of the country’s oil fields, the source of its income, are situated.

Chris Sugden

‘Convert, leave or die’. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians face this choice. Hundreds have been either beheaded or crucified. Many thousands have left everything they had in life and are living in crowded and temporary shelters.

They got brief exposure in this summer’s headlines but mainly along with the Yasidis who were trapped on a mountain.

Chris Sugden

On Sunday June 29, Canterbury Cathedral hosted a service of Celebration and Thanksgiving, marking the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Samuel Ajayi Crowther in the Cathedral as Bishop of the Niger.

Bishop Crowther had been a slave and was made the first Anglican black bishop, of the Niger. He was an evangelist and church planter and promoted ‘wholistic mission’ especially combatting the slave trade. His slogan was ‘The Bible and the Plough’. The tragedy was that the Anglican church worldwide had no further non-white bishops until Bishop Azariah in India in 1912. Crowther, who was a distinguished linguist with a DD from Oxford, was too much of a threat.

Chris Sugden

In Pakistan, to be born into the minority Christian community and female – definitely to be a Christian woman – is both a challenge and a kind of punishment.

A challenge, because it opens a Pandora’s box of issues related to social class, marital status and religious discrimination as well as gender bias. A punishment, because sometimes there is no redress from the law or even support from the church. In their own country these people are treated as outsiders and when they go abroad they are viewed as ‘Pakistani’. Thus they are ostracised everywhere! There are two sides to the picture. One is where all the social media, journalistic media, political parties and politicians say ‘all is well’. But is it really? What about the stark reality of the other side of this picture where many issues go unspoken, unheard or unread?

Chris Sugden

A heartbreaking story took place in Bangalore, India during March.

A young girl was married, at her father’s insistence, on her 18th birthday to a man in their community. She had had a good education through the Divya Shanthi Christian Association in Bangalore. ‘Sporty’, she had won many championships at state level. It was hoped she could compete at national level. She was enrolled in a pre-university college with a scholarship.

Chris Sugden

Anglican churches in Nigeria and Uganda have, through history, stood for biblical truth and principle and been at the forefront of action for justice, peace and equality.

They have transformed their societies, especially the relationships of men and women. One African Anglican archbishop told me recently: ‘Defenders of polygamous families have never lived in one’. The church was also at the forefront of developing democracy in African societies, often in opposition to the ruling colonial powers and their national successors.

Chris Sugden

GAFCON 2013, which met at the Conference Centre and Cathedral at All Saints Nairobi, can legitimately claim to be the largest worldwide gathering of Anglicans since Lambeth 1998 which was attended by all Anglican bishops and their wives.

331 bishops and archbishops and 1,358 delegates, including over 300 women, met together, among whom 120 were from England, Ireland and Wales.

Chris Sugden

The Church of England Synod in July will take up the unfinished agenda of the consecration of women to the Episcopate.

This is not just an English but also as an international issue. There are already woman bishops in the Anglican Communion. But the position of the Church of England in the Communion still means that the stance it takes defines for many (but not all) provinces what is acceptably Anglican.