Denton Points to Anglican Vitality
Episcopal News Service. November 15, 1984 [84227]
David E. Sumner
LAGOS, Nigeria (DPS, Nov. 1) -- "I think there's new vitality in most parts of the Anglican Communion," said John G. Denton, outgoing Anglican Consultative Council chairman at the close of the sixth meeting here. Denton, a layman, is general secretary for the Anglican Church of Australia, and has served as chairman since 1980.
In an interview here, he said, "In the general flow of documents, letters, telephone conversations I've had, there is evidence of Anglican vitality. I certainly sensed it very much at Vancouver with the strong participation of Anglicans... disproportionately so. There was not a major issue that Anglicans were not into on the plenary floor and in the sections," he observed.
"I don't believe you're going to have that kind of vitality poking out through the surface internationally without a great deal of spiritual activity and enrichment going on in the churches that these people are representing," he commented.
The greatest recent growth of Anglicanism has been in Africa. "When you start breaking it down into regions, Anglicanism in Africa has been an almost spectacular success. The processes of grassroots evangelism in much of Africa - the clergyman, priest and parish center, the catechists...that whole wave upon wave in African community initiative has brought in all parts of Africa, south of the Sahara desert, near spectacular growth in most of the Anglican churches."
Looking back on the history of the Anglican Consultative Council since it was formed in 1968, Denton said the emphasis has gone from mission to ecumenism -- and now back to mission. "It is interesting to note that the major characteristic of Anglican Consultative Council-1 and Anglican Consultative Council-2 was mission. The title Partners in Mission is the theme from the Dublin meeting of Anglican Consultative Council-2," he pointed out.
"Anglican Consultative Council is derived in part from the Advisory Council on Missionary Strategy, and in part from the Lambeth consultative body. ...The first Anglican Consultative Councils had a high proportion of missionary executives from their respective churches. Churches used to think that's how you related to the Third World - that's the way you related to the erstwhile missionary areas."
"It took the theory Partners in Mission sinking in after Dublin to realize that we're in fact -- not a superior and beneficiary kind of arrangement in the Communion -- but we're all adults. some adults are older than others. The whole essence in the new day has been that the only adequate relationship between churches was an adult one of equals," he stressed.
Anglican Consultative Council-6 met at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria at Badagry in Lagos state. The campus grounds serve as a training center for government officials and conference center for visiting groups. Denton was relaxed as he reflected on changes in emphasis and understanding in the Anglican Consultative Council and wider Communion.
He said that while the early Anglican Consultative Council meetings had a disproportionate number of missionary executives from member churches, later ones were more widely representative of various phases of church life. This -- and ecumenical dialogues -- brought a stronger emphasis to ecumenical affairs.
"There is built into the terms of reference for the Anglican Consultative Council a considerable number of ecumenical obligations," he stated. "Because of the growing emphasis on Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation and the growing Orthodox discussions...there was this strong ecumenical surge from 1974-75. That threw the whole emphasis onto ecumenical affairs. But I believe the pendulum swung a bit strongly there," he thought.
"With the change in the nature of mission relationships to church-to-church relationships, mission went out of phase for a bit... As an old-hand missionary from Tanzania, I felt very keenly that in the last part of the 1970's that we were running out of balance.
"My position at...the end of my chairmanship is that I'm very glad to see mission coming back into prominence," said Denton.
He hopes that more activity in the aid and development field will be the result of this. "I would like to see more work... in aid and development," he said. "It needs to be more integrated to Anglican Consultative thinking. I would like to see a closer relationship between the Anglican world and the processes of aid and development."
Denton, 55, has been succeeded as Anglican Consultative Council chairman by the Ven. Yong Ping Chung of the Province of East Asia. A native of Australia, Denton was a missionary to Tanzania between 1955-64 and director of information for the Diocese of Sydney between 1965-69. He has been General Secretary for the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia since 1969.