Call to Pray and Be Steadfast Issued to Episcopalians
Episcopal News Service. July 21, 1976 [76244]
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen has issued a call to all Episcopalians to pray and to stand fast in their defense of the Church and their faith. The Fellowship has also announced its intention to call a general meeting of concerned Episcopalians if there should be an apostate break with Apostolic Faith and Order at the Church's General Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul next September. This action was taken at the meeting of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen held in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 16 and 17. The text of the statement issued by the Fellowship follows:
"As the time for General Convention approaches, we summon Episcopalians to await the outcome in steady prayer and confidence. We love the Episcopal Church and we stand unyielding in our adherence to Scripture and the Holy Catholic Faith. Loving them, we speak out and will fight for them. We urge all Episcopalians to stand with us. With dedicated unity and zeal on our part, disruptive actions may well be avoided at General Convention. If disruption and division come, they will not come from us. We are proposing nothing that will take us out of the Church's communion or out of communion with our fellow-Episcopalians.
"We have made our positions clear. It is our conviction that any action altering the Apostolic ministry of bishops, priests and deacons as these Orders were received by the Church and have been preserved to the present time would be beyond the power of a General Convention and would result in the creation of a new body outside the Holy Catholic and Orthodox Church.
"We go into General Convention praying and fighting for the continued unity of the Church. If, however, there should be a break with Apostolic Faith and Order, we would convene a meeting as soon as possible of those who share our concerns, allowing time for divine guidance and for the careful planning required to deal with the new situation of apostasy in the Church.
"We are determined that the Church, as presently constituted in Doctrine, Discipline and Worship, will continue, God being our helper."
The following Episcopal organizations and publications, associated in the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, have joined in the foregoing statement: The American Church News, The American Church Union, The Anglican Digest, The Canterbury Guild, The Certain Trumpet, The Christian Challenge, Congregation of St. Augustine (CSA), The Episcopal Guild for the Blind, Episcopal Renaissance of Pennsylvania, Episcopalians United, The Foundation for Christian Theology, The Living Church, The Society of the Holy Cross (SSC), and SPEAK*
The Council for the Faith, of the Anglican Church of Canada, while not directly involved, warmly welcomes and endorses this statement, as does Comment, the Council's periodical publication.