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Southern African Primate Delivers Hobart Lecture, Outlines Mission

Episcopal News Service. November 6, 2004 [110604-1]

Matthew Davies

"The church exists for mission and that's our priority" announced Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane as the guest speaker of the fifth annual Hobart Lecture held November 3 -- the anniversary of Richard Hooker's death -- at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York.

Ndungane, Archbishop of Cape Town and Primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA), addressed more than a hundred guests of the Diocese of New York on key areas such as poverty eradication, Christian diversity and the recently-published Windsor Report, which recommends ways in which to unite the world's 77 million Anglicans and Episcopalians.

In his introduction, Bishop Mark Sisk of New York described Ndungane's commitment to the impoverished of the world as the characterization of his ministry. "The focus he's had for the sick and the poor is not only at the heart of his ministry," he said, "but also very close to the heart of the Gospel."

The Hobart Lecture, founded in 2000 and named after Bishop John Henry Hobart, the third bishop of New York (1816-1830), is a series of annual addresses presented to acknowledge and encourage the pastoral ministry of the Church.

Previous guest speakers have included: Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams; Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold; Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; and Dr. Peter Carnley, Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Perth.

Discerning Christ's way

Speaking on "The Pastoral Care of the People of God," Ndungane said that "devout and faithful Christians often find themselves beset with serious differences of opinion," outlining that God is complex in his Trinitarian nature.

Quoting Hooker, a 16th century English priest, author and teacher of the faith, Ndungane insisted that "God creates us to be in loving community with one another; a community that reflects the revealed life of the Trinity."

"None of the three is superior, nor inferior, to the others; none acts independently of the others, but always with mutual awareness and in relation; none takes over another's particular role or characteristics or responsibilities; none acts at the expense of another," he added. "Indeed, they show us what it is to enjoy freedom within a relationship of interdependence, a living example of the autonomy-in-communion which the Windsor Report explores."

The autonomy to which Ndungane refers is characteristic of the 38 self-governing provinces that compose the worldwide Anglican Communion in more than 160 countries.

The Inter Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission (set up in 2001 and given a mandate to study the nature of communion), Ndungane explained, has described the Anglican Communion as ‘not just an accidental coming together of the like-minded but a historic adventure of finding the reality of Christ in diversity and circumstances.'

"God's Spirit lives in every one of us," he said. "What we share is greater than what divides us."

Ndungane expressed his fervent hope that, when the Primates of the Anglican Communion meet in February 2005 to discuss the Windsor Report, the primary concern will be to encourage all Anglicans to engage in a serious and thorough process of reflection and response, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Highlighting that the report offers far more than questions and institutional suggestions, Ndungane vowed that "we shall breathe new life into our Communion if we engage with it thoroughly and seriously."

"It reminds us that the commitments Provinces have to one another are not primarily legal contracts," he said. "Their basis is the covenant love which the Lord has for all his Church ... We must never forget, my friends, that the prime calling of the Church is to serve God's mission in God's world."

Speaking about the Millennium Development Goals as the primary focus for mission in the Anglican Communion, Ndungane briefly acknowledged his support for the United Nations, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and his involvement in launching the Micah Challenge, a global Christian campaign that challenges leaders to halve absolute global poverty by 2015. "Drawing together over 260 Christian NGOs and the more than 3 million churches of the World Evangelical Alliance, the Challenge aims to harness the political voice of all the Christian individuals they touch, to lobby for the Millennium Development Goals," he said. "What governments most need is the strong signal from their constituents that we should all ‘do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God' (Mic 6:8)."

"Our God is the God of reconciliation ... we must face the reality that our common life is diminished when we are apart," Ndungane said. "As the Primates said in 2000: ‘To turn away from one another would be to turn away from the cross.'"

Revisiting the Windsor Report, Ndungane said "fascinating though these issues are, when the sheep are separated from the goats, I doubt we will be called to account over our stance on the Windsor Report. It is how we serve the people of God that will matter."

If only the energy we have spent arguing within the Anglican Communion had instead been used to tackle poverty, conflict, and disease, he said, adding that "Anglican leaders must get serious, grow up, and focus on the real life and death issues of our world."

"The church exists for mission and that's our priority," he said. "We need to join hands together to make the world a better place for everyone."

[A video stream of the Hobart Lecture is available on-line at: http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/news/article_420.shtml. The full text is available on-line at: http://www.dioceseny.org]

[thumbnail: Archbishop Njongonkulu Nd...]