A group of clergy, claiming that the Episcopal Church has departed from "the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this church has received them," has vowed to take a series of actions to stop "this departure from apostolic truth."

Meeting in Pawleys Island, S.C., Sept. 9, 26 members of the clergy signed a statement titled "The First Promise," which acknowledges "that this church must repent for its failure to fully obey the Great Commission of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18ff), and that we must submit ourselves to God's reforming judgment upon us all."

The statement declares the authority of the church and its General Convention "to be fundamentally impaired, and that they are not upholding the truth of the gospel," and it notes that the signatories resolve to implement a strategy which includes the following:

• "Because the holy scriptures are 'the rule and ultimate standard of faith' (Lambeth Quadrilateral), we will not receive any canon nor submit to any ecclesiastical action which ordains that which is 'contrary to God's Word written' (Article XX, Articles of Religion)."
• Parishes will be asked to endorse a statement called "A Place to Stand: A Call to Mission" produced by the American Anglican Council in 1996.
• The Kuala Lumpur Statement [TLC, June 8] is endorsed "as a true and accurate statement of the apostles' teaching concerning biblical authority and human sexuality."
• The signatories intend to be in communion with that part of the Anglican Communion "which accepts and endorses the principles aforesaid and not otherwise."
• Those who signed the statement will support and urge their people to support "only those mission agencies and ministries which directly further the Great Commission."
• Clergy will not be bound by legal or geographic boundaries of parishes or dioceses "if those boundaries are being invoked to prevent the preaching and teaching of 'the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this church has received them'."

Other strategies include pledging to remain under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of "faithful bishops who uphold our heritage in the gospel," seeking alternative episcopal oversight if necessary; providing aid for persons who are being persecuted "for the sake of the gospel as it has been received by this church," and appealing to the bishops of the Anglican Communion "to reassert the apostolic truth and order."

The statement indicates three actions of the 72nd General Convention in Philadelphia which had a major effect on the development of the series of actions:

1. The election of a Presiding Bishop "who had departed from the teaching of the apostles."

2. The mandatory and coercive enforcement of the ordination of women.

3. The failure "to uphold and require a biblical sexual ethic for this church's clergy and people."

"One of the driving reasons why we came together and issued this statement is that we believe that the institution within its present structures is not capable of being reformed," said the Rev. Thomas W. Johnston, associate rector of All Saints', Pawleys Island.

"If the Episcopal Church is going to be reformed, we are going to have to call forth new leadership. We believe that leadership will not come from the House of Bishops, but will come from the parish clergy."

The statement is addressed to all ordained persons in the Episcopal Church and it invites their signatures and support.

It was expected that the statement would be brought to the Anglican Life and Witness Conference Sept. 24-28 in the dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth. That event, sponsored by the Ekklesia Society, was to bring together 37 bishops from many parts of the Anglican Communion.

Among the persons who signed the statement are the Rev. Jon C. Shuler, executive director of the North American Missionary Society (NAMS); the Rev. M. Dow Sanderson, ecumenical officer of the Diocese of South Carolina; the Rev. Laurens A. Hall, rector of the 3,400-member Church of St. John the Divine in Houston; the Rev. H. David Wilson, rector of All Saints', Winter Park, Fla.; the Rev. Chuck Murphy, rector of All Saints, Pawleys Island; the Rev. Jeffrey Steenson, rector of St. Andrew's, Fort Worth; the Rev. David Harper, rector of Church of the Apostles, Fairfax, Va.; and the Rev. Ronald L. McCrary, rector of Christ Church, Overland Park, Kan.

Copies of the statement were to be delivered to the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop, and the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop-elect, as well as other bishops.