bishop michael gill's keynote address at the conference of continuing anglicans

8/3/2019 Bishop Michael Gill's Keynote Address at the Conference of Continuing Anglicans

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CONFERENCE OF CONTINUING ANGLICANS

BOSTON, NOVEMBER 2011

Address by Rt Rev Michael Gill, Bishop of Pretoria and Southern Africa,

Anglican Church in Southern Africa (Traditional Anglican Communion aka

Traditional Rite)

Your Grace, Archbishop Haverland; Your Grace, Archbishop Prakash; Fellow

Bishops of the Church of Christ Jesus; honourable members of the Clergy;

honourable delegates; ladies and gentlemen.

It is a pleasure and a privilege to speak to you this evening, and to be

permitted to vocalise some of the thoughts that have been racing about in my

head for some time...

Before I go any further, however, I would like to pay tribute to our hosts for

this Conference; His Excellency, Bishop Brian Marsh, The Revd Fr and Mrs Hiles,

the Parish Executive and Council of St Pauls, and the volunteers whose hard

work over many months has brought this vision to reality. On behalf of us all,

may I express our sincere gratitude for all your efforts and for presenting a

Conference of such high quality and at such a vital time in the life of the

Church. The Lord will surely bless you for your kindness to us. Thank you.


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As you are aware, I am Bishop of Southern Africa. My area of jurisdiction

covers eight SADEC countries, at least 30 languages and many, manythousands of miles. I travel a great deal, through beautiful countryside, and I

have some pretty good adventures on the way, especially in the wilder parts of

Zimbabwe and Mozambique and NOT with the wild animals, I can assure

you! The people of ZANU PF in Zimbabwe are far more dangerous than any

wild animal I have yet to meet..... I try to reach every parish as often as I

possibly can, although sometimes the visits have to be quite spread out.

About a year ago I visited The Parish of St Cyprian the Martyr in Atteridgeville,

just a few kilometres outside of Pretoria

Atteridgeville is a large township, (a township, in South African terminology, is

a vestige of theApartheidyears, where people were geographically separated

on the basis of racial categories, and towns and cities ended up with separate

racial units these still remain). For those of you who have never been into

one, it an eye-opener in terms of a vibrant and, unfortunately, also a very

violent style of life, for in townships life is cheap, the murder rate is sky high

and one has to be extremely careful all the time. In this township of

Atteridgeville, Rev Mike Maseko was pulled out of his car in his clerics and

shot five times! One of the bullets has left a long scar across his forehead,

where the hijackers coldly shot him in the head! Our Lord spared his life! I told

him he must have something special to do..... Just last month another of my

Deacons was shot and killed in a Pietermaritzburg township. The people live on

top of each other the noise is intense all the time and the minibus taxi


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drivers are like Kamikaze pilots; their vehicles filled with terrified passengers;

yes, a township is a truly fascinating experience. Much of social life takes place

on the streets, and so in a church context, processions are the norm and a lot

of fun! (Coligny on Palm Sunday.) Township people cant sleep in the leafy city

suburbs....all too quiet for them! In fact, they used to know that there was an

Apartheidpolice raid coming in the bad old days, because the township dogs

all went quiet!

St Cyprians is a large Parish approximately 300 Communicants (real ones!!)

on any Sunday without counting the young people and the singing is, at

times, quite deafening, with bells and drums and lots of what we would call

jiving the whole parish swaying in time to the music! It is a wonderfully

uplifting and exciting experience.

As I was robing in the Vestry, the Rector, Fr Martin Magoleng came up to me

and said, Bishop (in conspiratorial tones), we have a very important visitor

today; Mr Maila is from St Bernard the Martyr the local Canterbury

Communion ParishIf he joins us, he will bring many!

After the service in a township parish, there is an obligatory lunch. It is an

amazing parish exercise in which every single adult and child present receives a

huge plate of food, for some, I suppose, the only substantial meal of the week?

It is a real part of the spirit of what is locally called Ubuntu, where the

community cares for each other.


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Over the years I have developed a stomach of steel, for one is obliged to eat,

and the food is made with much care and love. The lunch is usually cabbage,

coleslaw (more cabbage), very chilli beans, beetroot, meat (often goat in rural

areas) cut in chunks and attacked with relish, and pap, a thick white maize

meal porridge served with a plate. Quite often I have my own table, my own

2 litre bottle of Coke (you see a young woman bringing it on her head before

the service) and sometimes an audience of 8 10 elders who watch me eat!

(One is nearly ready to fire up a Space Shuttle after a meal like that!) The trick

is to serve yourself for if you are not quick enough and one the Mothers

Union members serves up on your behalf, the heavily laden plate you are given

is probably (and I am not joking) enough to feed four or five of us here tonight.

It must all be eaten or someone amongst the watching cooks will be most

upset.

On this occasion I remember that I was too slow, and so I sat munching

opposite Mr Maila (who turned out to be a very little man) and asked him why

he had come to St Cyprians that day. Was he in trouble with the Bishop, the

local priest or the community? (Fr Martin bobbed anxiously behind him...) I

made it quite clear that I was not interested in other peoples troublemakers,

nor did I want any disaffected faction joining us and destabilising the parish. Istated that the kind of person I would welcome would need a heart for the

Gospel and a hunger for souls. Any other agenda and I would rather they

stayed where they were, at St Bernard the Martyr..... Fr Martin was not

pleased.....


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That is my first short story.

My second anecdote is an inter-Continuing Anglican story. I tell it without any

malice, but rather with the intention to get my later point across.

For the past few years, around early December, all my clergy have received a

Christmas card from the Canon Missioner of another Continuing Anglican

group in South Africa, inviting them to abandon their loyalty to their church,

and to come over to a far better Continuing Anglican option, that being his

particular church and diocese.

Interesting.....

There are two issues here. Firstly, it is a very bad Christian practice to

proselytise in any way, as I am sure you agree? It is, in fact, something we

should avoid and abhor. It makes for bad blood amongst Christian brethren,

and too often, it allows bad clergy to escape discipline and continue their poor

practices in another jurisdiction without any consequence for previous

misconduct.

More important to us is the sender.

The grand title ofCanon Missioner should surely imply a man on fire for the

Gospel; a very pioneer of the church - cutting a path into the darkness of


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unbelief in a sinful world? An invitation such as has been so regularly sent,

serves not only to point out a serious flaw in the mans understanding of his

primary task that of Mission but it highlights the sad fact that he probably

does not know howto do this work, and so he has had to resort to far more

basic tricks to try to fill his churches.....it is a sad but true story. I am sure many

of you have had a similar experience?

Following directly on from the second, and yet inextricably linked to it, my

third story concerns our current number one on the hit parade......

Anglicanorum Coetibus...... the document issued in October of 2009 by the

Holy See.

We are all aware of the furore it has created in Anglican circles and of the

people who have been polarised by the various, and usually nave

interpretations given to the document. The blogs have been the most

hysterical and creative by far, with some fascinating views on the future

liturgies that will be used and just who the Ordinaries will be.... Basically, and I

do this only for clarity, there is a fresh offer on the table for Anglican Christians

to swap allegiance and join the Roman Catholic Church to convert as

individuals or groups and become Roman Catholics.

That the arrangement is entirely on Romes terms should have hardly been a

surprise to anyone who has read any Church History!


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About 12 months ago, in a face to face meeting aroundAnglicanorum Coetibus

with Archbishop George Daniel [and yes, he is a retired Archbishop, but he is

still one of senior the persons in charge of Anglican/Roman Catholic dialogue in

Southern Africa], my wife and I were told that not only would there be no

Ordinariate in Southern Africa, but that the conversion to Roman Catholicism

required would in many cases go back as far as Baptism depending on the

original church background of the convert. [This was fizzed over by the

blogging community for a brief moment!] Archbishop Daniel is a highly

sophisticated man, someone I have known and respected for more than 20

years, and he was as gentle as possible in breaking the news that we (all the

Continuing Anglicans in Southern Africa) were an immature lot, and a long way

away from the levels of theological education expected for acceptance as

Roman clergy.

He went on to tell us, in a great amount of detail, of his personal journey from

Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, and made it plain that this authentic

personalconversion decision would be the route to follow. It was actually a

really good conversation, open and extremely positive, and it was exactly as

we had expected, butnot at all close to what we had been told by those with

stars in their eyes and their hands already grasping for St Peters keys?

..... Anglicanorum Coetibus....or to quote the English press the Popes Panzers

parked on the lawns of Canterbury (dont you think that is brilliant?) has been

a very effective tool to prize some away from their Anglican roots, to entice

them to denounce their Ordination and even their Consecration vows and their


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ministries, and to abandon their flocks in order to fill some empty stalls in

Roman Catholic Churches.

In reality, it is closely linked to my second story, as it has been a high class

exercise in proselytising although of course we are not allowed to call such a

lofty document by such a mean term!

All three of my anecdotes have a common thread.... and of course you have

seen it by now.... and that is that not one of these stories has spoken of

bringing a single fresh convert into the Christian Faith no NEW soul has

been won for Jesus Christ our Lord and added to the Kingdom of God by all

these cunning plans and announcements.

No; actually, all we have done is shuffle the cards already on the deck. We

have moved them around to no good effect. It is a bleak picture.

When I was in Primary School, I read a book called the Eagle of the Ninth. It

was gripping stuff full of tension and danger, about a young mans quest to

redeem his fathers memory. His fathers Legion had been lost years before in

a sortie out amongst the Picts in present day Scotland; no-one had returned,

and the disgrace to the boys family had been devastating. His was a quest to

restore honour and to answer questions about the end of the Ninth Legion.

This year, amazingly, the book was made into a movie, The 9th, and I found the

result most pleasing. Like the book, it is full of danger and tension, and there is


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an interesting scene that we can well use to develop our train of thought. The

young man who is searching for his fathers lost Roman Standard comes back

to Britannia, and finally arrives at Hadrians Wall. The Wall symbolises the end

of all that is civilised and orderly.

Beyond lies the unknown world of the Picts to him, a world of chaos, death

and hopefully opportunity...... the boy demands that the great gates be

opened to let him and his companion through. Slowly, with great trepidation,

the soldiers do so, the gates creak open and he passes through and rides out

into adventure and danger....to vindicate his fathers memory and recover that

which was lost.(I wont tell you the end see it for yourself!)

Empires are doomed the moment they begin to fence, or rather, wall

themselves in. Imperialism is, by definition, the building of empires and

therefore, it has to be expansive and dynamic. The very fact of a wall indicates

an end of growth and the shift to a defensive mentality that of an empire at

the end of its time and its energy and usually about to be lost! A good modern

example of this is the Berlin Wall or if you prefer, Mr Churchills Iron Curtain;

the attempt to wall out democracy and stop people leaving a repressive

political system for a better life. Its fall remains the defining moment of the

death of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

May I suggest, without I hope, being offensive, that by our very definition as

Continuing Anglicans, we have determined to defend that which we have

received? We have often decided within our own minds that ours is a


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rearguard action against the onslaught of liberalism a last ditch defence? A

walling in of what we know and hold dear? No-one will take the Book of

Common Prayer away from me!!If that is so, my dear friends, then I am afraid

that we are all lost....and so is Anglicanism....and so ultimately will be the

Christian Faith!

Although I appreciate what we are doing here and although I can clearly see

the value of interaction and networking and who knows, this could even lead

to what one blogger recently called a new Continuing Anglican unity, I am

deeply concerned that the inward looking nature of our expression will simply

continue a circular downward movement in which we could easily find

ourselves trapped.

The Vicar General of Zimbabwe, Fr Wellington Murinda (a true evangelist and a

great missionary Priest), tells his men in the field, dont speak to me; show me

the work!Ours has to be movement that is forward and outward no matter

what the personal cost or the danger.

I expect utter commitment to the work of the Gospel from myself and from the

clergy with whom I work. For us, it is a matter of the utmost urgency. There is a

real loss of personal value and of spiritual awareness happening in the huge

urban sprawls, the squatter camps, around our cities. Not only that, but

Islam is making massive strides into the youth of Africa the church has to be

on the march against such a concerted onslaught, fuelled as it is by millions

upon millions of Saudi dollars.


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Souls are being lost and this while we are the ones responsible for this

particular era of the Church.

I speak of Africa as an arena of spiritual conflict, how presumptuous of me, for

what of the UK and Europe now openly called post-Christian or for that

matter, the USA and Canada where the number of Muslims is growing

exponentially. Did you know that in the UK, ten years ago the most popular

boys name was Michael? It is now Mohammed!

[Dr David Virtue, thank you for being here at this Conference. I consider your

What the Archbishop of Canterbury should have said after the London riots

article to be one of the best written on the current condition of the Church of

England. The vision has been lost, the skills have been lost the church and

souls are lost too! Thank you that was an inspired piece of writing we

congratulate you on it, and we thank you for all you are doing for Orthodox

Anglicanism by your thorough journalism.]

I am a real traditionalist; believe me I am forApostolic Succession; for the

seven Sacraments;forthe three-fold ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons;

for the Book of Common Prayer, but every generation is potentially the last

generation of the Church. We are an edge people. There is no other church

waiting beyond no rescuer from the East like the mythical Prester John of


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the Middle Ages we are all there is in the now and we have to perform in

our lifetime or the Church will be no more!

The Church and the Faith is being lost on our watch.......

Our minds race What he says is true, but what about our perpetual

Continuing Anglican problem of being under-resourced and understaffed?

Yes, of course we are; there is no doubt about that. But I cast my mind back to

twelve under-resourced and underequipped men and a few faithful women,

the first disciples our fathers in the Faith and I see the fruits of their labours

and of the labours of the faithful men and women of the first centuries of the

Church. They worked as if their lives depended on it and often they did!

If they could do itI ask, Why not I?

Tonight I see more than twelve and brilliant men at that.

If it were so for them why not us? Why can we (like the boy) not only go

through the gates, but take back the whole of Anglicanism for starters? And

then spread forward and outward into the unknown and conquer the mock

spirituality that is Islam, with its false piety and empty prayer and fasting, and


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the other insidious enemies of our time, the peace of Buddha and the

harmony of Hare Krishna?......

But where then are we to find these warriors, these Christian Soldiers?

Amongst the Pentecostals? Amongst the Orthodox? Do we have a sufficiently

soldier attitude or will we continue to play with liturgy or music or continue

with our skirmishes for power and position?

I do believe that as Continuing Anglican Christians we are fighters by nature

[unfortunately mostly with each other!] and that we have shown that we are

prepared to stand up for what we believe, even at great personal cost in many

instances. I have to say how much I appreciate the sacrifices made, the

difficulties faced but what is needed amongst us is a far more offensive

mentality. The first Disciples faced the same shortages as we are doing, and yet

they triumphed should we not be able to do the same?

Look at just how blessed we are! We have the solid base of the inspired Word

of the Holy Scriptures as our manual, we have the Sacraments as our depth of

offense, and the Communion of the Saints as our resource in prayer.

The Armour of God, put down so beautifully by St Paul in Ephesians, speaks of

offensive weaponry for the Christian soldier. The inference by Paul is that this

is equipment for going forward not backwards. All that is needed now are


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committed men of God with the will to put it on, and then use it for the

purpose for which was designed.

I remember, in 2007 at my Consecration at St Agathas in Portsmouth, that I

was given a very old, heavily embroidered chasuble to wear that was so made

that it literally felt like putting on a piece of military equipment. I remember

clearly thinking I dont remember much else I must confess that Our Lord

was telling me that this was a renewed personal call to battle, and I was

required to respond appropriately. I decided then to embrace a certain

recklessness in my Christian work and witness and so I have done. There is a

tremendous liberty in throwing oneself into the fight for the Gospel. I have

determined to expend myself in my allotted time I could not justify my

existence or my ministry without doing so?

My challenge to you tonight (and I am obliged by the urgency of the historical

moment in the life of the global church to issue such a challenge) is, who will

throw themselves headlong into this divine battle with me which of us will

stand and fight, and if needs be dietogether?

Who is prepared to be numbered with that mighty host, seen by John the

Divine, who the angel said had come through the great tribulation and whose

robes have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We are on the edge of All

Saints celebrations what must our forefathers in the Faith think of the

modern day church?

William Shakespeare has these powerful words from Henry V. (Act lV Scene iii)

spoken to by Henry to Westmorland on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt:


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He, which has no stomach to this fight, let him depart!

Let his passport be prepared, and crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that mans company that fears his fellowship

To die with us!

Strong words indeed!

In Chapter 16 of Lukes Gospel, about five or six weeks ago, we had the Parable

of the Unjust Steward. I refer to the phrase in verse 8 in which Jesus says that

the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of

light!That was said about mere money could we perhaps tamper with that

verse this evening to read the children of this age are in their generation more

courageous than the children of light?

My brothers and sisters; all of us here are for The Book of Common Prayer; we

are for Anglican faith and order of course we arebut before all that, we are

for the Gospel and the salvation of souls. We are the soldiers of Our Lord Jesus

Christ and ours is a good and Godly fight, and it is now!

On Sunday (I hope Fr Hiles?) we will sing.............the hymn, For All the Saints. It

says:

And when the strife is fierce, the battle long,

rings on the air the distant triumph song;

and hearts are brave again and arms are strong,

Alleluia, Alleluia!


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I began my stories at St Cyprian the Martyr in Atteridgeville, and I return there,

back to Mr Maila.... whatever became of him?

He joined St Cyprians, quietly and with no accompanying band of dissidents.He grasped the vision I have shared with you tonight, has joined the ministry

team in the parish and now works for souls in the enormous informal squatter

settlement adjacent to the church. He has, small in stature though he may be,

brought many new souls to Christ and to His Church. He is a true soldier of

Jesus Christ and has proven to be a great blessing to the whole community. I

am pleased to say that he will be made Deacon in December.

Yes, we have the soldiers! (Some brave souls are here tonight.) We have them

in our pews; we have them amongst our clergy.... they are looking for

inspiration; they are looking for discipline and integrity; but mostly, they are

looking for strong and godly leadership!

As we debate and discuss Continuing Anglicanism in this fine Conference, we

as leaders of the Faith dare not disappoint them!

Thank you.

bishop michael gill's keynote address at the conference of continuing anglicans

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