Leaders of Anglican Organizations Issue Call to Rededication, Faith
Diocesan Press Service. January 20, 1975 [75024]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Leaders and editors of ten organizations and publications of the Episcopal Church in the United States and of the Anglican Church in Canada have joined in issuing the following call to rededication and faith, upon their return from a joint meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 11, 1975:
A CALL TO ANGLICAN REDEDICATION
The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church in Canada are buffeted by innovation, strange doctrines and disorder. Anglican Christians have been thrown into confusion, controversy, dismay and anger. The Church is in disarray. Its membership and outreach are clearly diminishing.
This state of affairs is disastrous to the mission imposed upon us by the Lord Jesus Christ. It cripples His Church and wounds and divides His people. It is time to change course.
We therefore call upon all Anglicans to renew in heart, in worship and in life their allegiance and dedication to Jesus Christ.
1) We call the Church to devote itself single-mindedly to Christ's command to go into the world to preach the Gospel of God's love for man, of redemption from sin, and of the hope of everlasting life in Christ. The world cries out for evangelization in these perilous times when evil seems so triumphant.
2) We call for a return to reverence and beauty in worship, as is God's due and as has always hitherto been our Catholic and Anglican custom.
3) We call for a return to order and discipline in the Church in a spirit of humble obedience to the Lord and to His apostolic successors. The Church is Christ's army and it can fight His battle only in unity and obedience.
4) We call the Church and all churchmen to a renewal of the spiritual inner life and a rejection of all that is purely worldly. As Christians, we can carry the Christian message into the world only if we have removed ourselves from the spirit of the world. To these ends, we declare our conviction that spiritual humility, love and obedience must replace anger, spite and self-serving if all of us are not to stand dishonored in His Name and Presence.
We beseech the Church's leaders to draw back from a course which, if continued, can only divide the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in Canada and separate them from the Apostolic Church.
Loyal leadership is not wanting. There are tens of faithful bishops. There are thousands of faithful priests. There are hundreds of thousands of faithful lay men and women. We call upon them to stand firm, to show forth their light, to renew their stand for Christ, and to look to the future with complete faith in Him. "
This call has been signed by leaders of the following:
The American Church News
The American Church Union
The Anglican Digest
The Certain Trumpet
The Christian Challenge
The Council for the Faith (Canada)
The Episcopal Renaissance
The Foundation for Christian Theology
The Living Church
SPEAK
Other organizations are invited to subscribe to this call.