Peter Akinola at Wheaton

I had the unusual privelege of hearing Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, speaking to a group of Orthodox Anglicans at Wheaton College. This meeting was in the news for a couple of reasons. For one, the meeting stands in contrast to the meetings held in New Orleans, during which the Episcopal Church has once again failed to even adequately address the call of the majority of the Anglican Communion to repent of the blessing of same sex unions and the consecration of an openly gay Bishop.

Akinola heads the largest province in all of Anglicanism, and is an outspoken opponent of the agenda of the Episcopal church on this issue. That has made him an enemy of many and there were a handful of picketers, as promised, outside Edman Chapel on campus.

But like most of the Orthodox Anglicans, his focus is not on the symptom but the cause. A brief summary of his key points will follow.

This meeting was about unity, as representatives from many different churches in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota were present. Africans, midwestern Americans and Spanish speaking churches were present. Those churches represented different groups whose leadership, at present, comes from places like Nigeria and Rwanda, groups which critics say could further fragment the communion if they do not come together after the dust settles from the September 30 deadline for the Episcopal church to comply with the demands of the rest of the communion. The fear is that if the TEC fails to repent, which is almost certain, that various Anglican groups will split into many different directions, with various Global South leaders setting up different missionary structures in the US that will end up in competition.

To that end, Akinola said things like this:


When it comes to unity, we cannot give what we do not have, meaning that unity is not something we, as fallible humans can generate on our own.

Rather, he said, the first step toward unity is the gospel itself. The first step in evangelism is for each person to "evangelize" the dark corners of his or her own heart so that the gospel is a reality in our lives. When the focus is on the gospel, unity will be the result.

He said we cannot claim to be unified if we do not obey what the gospel commands. He did not place any undue emphasis on homosexuality at that point. He mentioned sins like gossip, adultery, fornication, greed, sins common to all, sins often not rooted out of the lives of ordinary Christians. He simply stressed that for those living in sin, whatever the sin, it is necessary to call it sin. Only the transforming power of the Gospel matters.

He mentioned his own country, in which the hideous evil of human sacrifice was once practiced. It was the gospel, brought to Nigeria by Western Christians, many of whom were Anglican, that caused Nigerians to turn away from that practice. One can easily see why he is not in any way shape or form, in favor of proclaiming anything less. His forceful words, which I don't have the recall to quote verbatim, were to the effect that we cannot claim to be united believers if we do not obey what scripture teaches. We are liars if we claim the mantle of Christ and are not obedient to his words. Pretty straight talk.

I was struck by his humility. There was no air of power about him. He simply did his best to tell the truth as he saw it.

It strikes me that this is a message for all Christians. Unity does not happen by striving for unity. Unity happens when we are transformed by the gospel and become more completely focused on the cross of Christ.

Over the next few weeks, something has to happen within Anglicanism. The majority of the leadership of the TEC is in abject heresy, having completely substituted something else for the Biblical gospel. The majority of the leadership in the Global South is evangelical, reads the Bible in a straightforward fashion, and wants nothing to do with the theological or moral path the "western" church has adopted.

Unfortunately there is no easy solution. Anglicanism isn't structually set up in such a way as to forcefully evict the TEC. Many hope the TEC will quietly walk away to pursue their own agenda, but that is not likely. The agenda of heresy is not to be left alone, it is to infiltrate, deceive and pollute the healthy body. The voices of the revisionists will insist on more talk, more dialogue, more opportunities to evangelize the orthodox to their position.

But if nothing decisive happens soon, it will be a victory for heresy. With all the buildup to the September deadline, if that deadline passes with a whimper, the Revisionists will have won another round, will live to deceive another day. It will be harder and harder for Biblically faithful, Orthodox believers to stomach any relationship whatsoever with the TEC. Being "out of communion" is not enough. Ties need to be severed.