CONTINUING ANGLICAN COMMUNION IN ZAMBIA
SEPTEMBER 2003 NEWSLETTER No.6
THE CANTERBURY CRISIS DEEPENS...
A.D. 2003 will go down in the history books of
Anglicanism as the year when its claim to be a biblical Church was finally
shown to be the lie it has been for so long...
From "New Directions", June 2003
"The recent appointment of a new Bishop of Reading
caused a stir in the national press. Dr Jeffrey John, 50, Canon Theologian of
Southwark Cathedral, is one of the Church of England's most prominent
advocates of homosexual rights. He has called for the ordination of practising
homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual 'marriages'. He has also contributed
to a prayer book for homosexuals which includes prayers for sex changes and
'fantasy and fetish'. He was chosen as a suffragan bishop by Richard Harries,
the Bishop of Oxford. Harries has never been shy of appointing
practising homosexuals to key staff positions but this is such a high profile appointment
that he must have been aware of the message it would give about official policy
in the Church of England.
Second, it seems unlikely that Harries would have gone
ahead without consulting the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
If he was consulted, and approved, he must have known that it would, at a
stroke, demolish the bridges he has been painstakingly constructing to
suspicious and critical Evangelicals.
As Dr John so pithily put it, "More than half of the
bishops have been ordaining and positively supporting gay clergy for years.
This is the reality."
Comment: The appointment of Dr John caused a storm
of protest in the Church of England, mostly from Catholic and Evangelical
Anglicans. When they threatened to withdraw financial contributions, Dr John
was persuaded to decline his appointment as bishop.
IN THE MEAN TIME...
In spite of the Lambeth Conference resolution of 1998
against homosexuality, and in spite of all the reassurances given to orthodox
Anglican primates since, the Diocese of new Westminster, Vancouver, Canada, officially
approved the blessing of same-sex "marriages" in its churches.
AND ALSO....
The American Anglican Church [ECUSA] elected an active
homosexual to be the bishop of New Hampshire. He is Canon Gene Robinson,
a man who left his wife and children and is now living in the rectory of his
parish with his male lover. The General Convention of ECUSA formally approved
his election in July.
Commented one prominent
Anglican, Canon Bill Attwood, "The election of Gene Robinson as bishop is
a great tragedy. That he could even be a candidate for the post of bishop
reveals both the arrogance of liberal Anglicans and the weakness of
conservatives in ECUSA. That he could be elected within days of Anglicans
worldwide declaring that they were now in 'impaired and broken communion with
New Westminster' reveals utter disdain for the clear teaching of Scripture and
a casual dismissal of the majority voice of Anglican leaders worldwide."
COMMENT: Zambian bishops were of course quick to
make public statements dissociating themselves from these three shameful
events. But they remain in fellowship with Canterbury where such terrible
things occur regularly. Although Scripture forbids fellowship with false
teachers, local bishops, when abroad, continue worshipping with them,
continue sending clergy abroad to be trained in institutions run by such false
teachers, and continue receiving funds from that apostate Church.
CANTERBURY ABOUT TO
EXPLODE...
Evidence is accumulating that the Canterbury Anglican Communion is about to disintegrate, as we predicted long ago:
"Forward in Faith" Anglicans in England and
Australia and the USA are openly discussing the creation of a separate
international Province for biblical Anglicans.
Many Primates of that Communion are now openly
speaking about expelling unbiblical Provinces from the Communion,
effectively dividing the Canterbury Communion into two factions.
More and more parishes are leaving ECUSA to join,
instead, the biblical alternative of ECUSA, the AMIA [Anglican Mission in
America] or Continuing Churches
Statistics show that liberal Canterbury
congregations are losing members at a frightening rate.
Instead of producing "Born Again"
Christians, the liberal Anglican Church manages to produce only "Torn
Again" Christians...
+++
Recently, an independent Christian Re- search agency
conducted a survey among Church of England clergy to assess how biblical their
beliefs are.
The results are shocking:
| Belief in ... | stood at | stood at |
| Male clergy | Female clergy |
| God the Father: | 89% | 76% |
| the Holy Spirit: | 83% | 71% |
| the Trinity: | 85% | 69% |
| Jesus' Virgin Birth: | 69% | 40% |
| Jesus' Resurrection: | 77% | 54% |
| Jesus died for our sins: | 84% | 54% |
| Jesus is the only way of salvation | 62% | 39% |
We ask, "How relevant is a Church that does not
believe in the teachings of its own Lord and Master?"
+++
When will they ever learn?
In the western, developed world, where liberal Christians
have held sway for many decades, "the Bible is made to say only that which
echoes the surrounding culture.. The Bible is bent to the culture instead of
the Bible judging that culture and the society it produces. Politically-correct
revisionism of Christian doctrine and morality has only encouraged the
moral rot of the western world. It has also emptied the churches.
E.g., the Church of England has lost 41% of its
adult members in twenty years. In 1991 223,000 children attended the CoE.. By
2002 the number had dropped to 80,000. Infant baptisms halved between
1970-1990. Confirmations now stand at one man and 1.5 women a year per
congregation...
On the other hand... in AFRICA, 100 years of
biblical teaching has resulted in phenomenal growth: In 1900, Africa had just
10million Christians out of a conti- nental population of 107million, i.e.
about 9%. Today, Africa has 360million Christ- ians out of a population of
784million, or 46%. Africa had 16million Catholics in the early 1950's - it has
120million today, and is expected to grow to 228million by 2025.
Draw your own conclusions - which sort of
Christianity does better? The type that attacks biblical beliefs and
morality, that ignores the apostolic ministry put into place by Jesus Himself
, and that focuses on "tolerance", "rights" and "freedom"
- or the type of Christianity that teaches the old, same, ever-true Gospel ?
WHAT MUSLIMS THINK OF ANGLICANS...
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, loves
inter-faith dialogue. He suffered recently a blow when Islamic scholars
boycotted top-level talks between the two faiths.
"The Muslim
academics abruptly withdrew from a two-day meeting with Anglican delegates in
New York in protest at the appointment of the worldwide Church' s first
actively homosexual bishop. But the Muslim group from Al-Azhar university in
Cairo, one of the most authoritative centres of the Islamic world, cancelled
the meeting.
The Muslims blamed the
American Episcopal Church's decision last month to confirm Bishop-elect Gene
Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, and said that their decision to withdraw
was supported by Christian groups in Egypt."
The issue of
homosexuality has also overshadowed Dr Williams's first meeting with the Pope
in Rome. The Pope warned that it had serious implications for Christian unity.
+++
AND ROME SPEAKS...
In August 2003, the Vatican issued a statement of the
Roman Catholic position on same sex "marriage". The document,
approved by Pope John II, declares that:
"There are absolutely no grounds for considering
homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's
plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts acts go
against the natural moral law. [Such} acts close the sexual act to the gift of
life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complimentarity.
Under no circumstances can they be approved....
homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."
===========================
THE T.A.C.
Archbishop Louis Falk reached retirement age recently; therefore he resigned as TAC Primate but continues as bishop of his own diocese.
Bishop John Hepworth of Australia was unanimously elected as the new Primate of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion, of which the CACZ is a part. We warmly congratulate Archbishop John on his election, and look forward to a visit from him soon! Congregations are asked to pray for him at each Sunday service.
THE C.A.C.Z.CONTINUES ITS LIVELY GROWTH....
1.Members are informed that the CACZ has finally been officially
registered by the Government of Zambia. More than a year ago the CACZ Trust was already officially registered., enabling it to own property.
2. Even better news is that the CACZ has acquired a
further THREE plots of land for church building, namely in Chawama,
Matero and Lilanda townships. The total cost of these is considerable -
K18.6 million.
Some of this money has since been donated to the CACZ by
Traditional Anglicans overseas. We thank them most sincerely for their generous
response !
The Chawama plot measures 40 x 20 metres, Lilanda plot
70 x 50 metres, and the Matero plot 70 x 50 metres. Now these three congregations are challenged to build their churches, using self-help as much as
possible since there are insufficient funds for so many new churches.
3. On Pentecost Sunday 2003, the CACZ celebrated a great
event - our first four deacons were ordained by Bishop Trevor Rhodes,
the Bishop for Southern Africa
Fr Mukuyamba reports on this great event:
"We had about 600 people in the church. The church was well decorated with the help of local church members and the Church of the Good Shepherd Woman Fellowship. The whole
atmosphere was great. There were 50 visiting members from Mwembeshi, 30 from Linda, about 60 from Church of the Good Shepherd, Makeni, 30 plus from Chawama, and representatives from Chisamba, Mwomboshi and Ndola. The representative from
Eastern Province sadly arrived a day late. The transport he was using broke down on the way... "
The Vicar General was unfortunately not with us for the
occasion as he was still undergoing treatment for cancer in South Africa.
However, his wife, Mrs Wenda Dil, had flown back to Zambia to be with us
[she had taught the ordinands in the seminary for three years...] , and to
represent Fr Dil.
She reports as follows:
"Before the actual
day of the ordination, there had been feverish activity: the Chunga church
still needed to be painted inside - it never had been painted before. So the
men really went to work. The local women spent hours scrubbing the floors
afterwards, and then polishing the sanctuary area until it shone like a mirror.
All the benches and
chairs of Makeni church [the oldest congregation] were trucked to Chunga, as
were chalices, ciboria, vases, ornaments, and even a livingroom carpet from the
house of one of its most faithful members, Mrs Maggie Malunga!
Apart from the Women's
Fellowship of the Church of the Good Shepherd who were responsible for flower
arrangements in Chunga church, women of other congregations had also brought in
their household pot-plants - the building looked splendid by the time they
finished!
Mr Ngulube, a carpenter
belonging to Chunga congregation, presented a beautiful lectern to the church
as his gift for the occasion. This came as a total surprise to all present !
There was a very festive
atmosphere in the packed "Church of the Holy Spirit", Chunga. The
choir of Chunga congregation was in great form, as was the visiting choir from
Mwembeshi. The service started half-an-hour late, at about 10.30 and lasted
till about 13.30 hours.
When the Bishop
announced, after the ordination, "Christians, here are your new Deacons
!", the congregation went absolutely wild - there was dancing, clapping,
ululating, hugging backslapping, and tears of joy and emotion - interrupting
the services for at least fifteen minutes! The newly ordained men looked
splendid in their new albs and cream stoles, which had been made by the ladies
of Chunga, Lilanda and Matero congregations.
The Bishop also licensed
new lay ministers, and in the afternoon confirmed a few candidates who had
arrived too late for the confirmation service of the day before...
At the end of the
Service, the newly ordained deacons stood in a reception line, dressed in their
albs, to greet family, friends and each and every member. At that point there
was a fresh outburst of joy and gratitude towards God for the gift of four new
servants of His Church!
Lunch was served to
about 60 people [parents and wives of ordinands, and lay leaders] in the nearby
school, while "the feeding of the 3000" took place outside the
church. People finally dispersed at about 17.00 hours,
proud and thankful for this important
4. TRAINING FOR THE PRIESTHOOD:
The CACZ is now ready to start training another group of
men for the priesthood. Several applications have been received but the calibre
of some of them is not so good.
We ask congregations to identify suitable candidates
for training for the priesthood, and to encourage these men to offer themselves
for training.
Training for the priesthood lasts three years and is
residential. No college fees are charged and candidates are given a food and
medical allowance. Minimum academic qualification required is Grade XII with a
good pass in English. Application forms can be obtained from Ven. A. Mukuyamba.
In the meant time, suitable applicants will begin training
for one year at the Bible School of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Lusaka, with
which Church we will collaborate in future in theological training.
================================
COPPERBELT NEWS:
Early August, Archdeacon
Mukuyamba visited the CACZ congregation up north. It is a growing congregation
under the able leadership of Mr Jones Banda. They are still worshipping in a
classroom for now. Fr Mukuyamba conducted services, workshops and house
meetings attended by nearly forty adults.
EASTERN PROVINCE NEWS:
CACZ-members there report:
"The Continuing
Anglican Communion in Zambia has seen a rapid growth in the Eastern Province
due to a vigorous Evangelising Campaign waged by a few committed members based
in Msoro - of Mambwe district.
The commitment to the
Church exhibited by these few elders, has helped to spread an understanding of
the reasons that brought about the Traditional Anglican Communion. This has
been a very difficult task considering CACZ is new and that Msoro is the seat
of Canterbury Anglicanism.
The main branch based at
Mphandika which started around April 2002, organised workshops and crusades
with the aim of spreading not only the ideals of the TAC but the Gospel as
well.
CACZ members immediately
faced many difficulties. We were at times denied medical facilities, ambulance
services etc. since they are under the control of Canterbury Anglicans. Despite
all this, we continued our stand for the true Gospel. Although our friends have
money and facilities, we have seen our members grow and more branches opened.
I am happy to report that
our struggle is bearing fruit at long last and that the CACZ is now recognised
by many people of all walks of life, Chiefs and their Indunas and even
Canterbury clergy. We have gained respect at long last. Families now call upon
us to give prayers for their sick relatives or during funerals. We thank God
for this recognition.
Due to effective Evangelism
many branches were planted, VIZ:-
1. Msoro- Mphandika Main
Branch -Mtetezi-
Msoro Central -Msoro North
2. Nsefu- Nsefu Central
3. Munkhanya- Munkhanya
North
4. Jumbe- Jumbe Central
5. Nsinda- Nsinda Main -Ukwimi
A total of 13 preaching
points were opened. We lack the means of co-ordinating the work because of:
1. Lack of transport
2. Lack of teaching aids
such as Bibles, hymn books, prayer books etc. and
3. Lack of money - due to
the hunger situation prevailing in the province, we need to purchase food
during Evangelism tours. Sunday collections alone have failed to support this
programme. Lack of funds has hampered the spread of CACZ in the Eastern
Province, threatening some preaching points with closure.
4. Lack of Priests. We
should receive Holy Communion at least once every month, but since we don't
have a (visiting) Priest in the area, people feel neglected and discouraged.
LAND: His Royal Highness
Chief Msoro VI has informed us that he has granted our request for a plot of
land to build a church on.
WOMAN'S FELLOWSHIP: due to
the lack of teaching aids, our women have mostly been engaged in activities
such as visiting the sick and helping at funerals. They have also formed a
choir.
SUMMARY: There is need for
leadership training at all levels. We also need exchange visits to enable us
learn from others." Mr Oliver Msoromoka
PS: Together with Ven. A Mukuyamba, a group of Woman's
Fellowship-members and lay-leaders will be visiting Eastern Province to build
up and encourage local efforts.
----------------------------------------------------
Church of the Good Shepherd, Makeni:
This congregation is now setting up a second congregation
in Kanyama
Mwembeshi Paramilitary Camp Church:
They have obtained a church plot and have started building
their church. The CACZ has been asked to provide roofing materials, which will
be done as soon as the building is up to wall-plate level.
Chawama congregation is to start with the
building of a vestry. Linda church has still not built a sanctuary
platform or altar in their new church. This is discouraging donors who want to
see aid and self-help, hand in hand.
------------------------------------------------
PRESS STATEMENT
The CACZ has issued a
Statement to the national press in Zambia summarising the spiritual malaise of
the Canterbury Anglican Communion, detailing the three latest scandals, and
urging local Anglicans to make a stand against them. Copies available at K1000
from the CACZ office.
-----------------------------------------------
South Africa:
A number of clergy, layministers and congregations of the
evangelical Church of England in South Africa have joined the
traditional Anglican Church [ACSA-TR] in South Africa. CESA has lost its
catholic heritage altogether and has become in doctrine and liturgy much like
the Baptist Church. CESA has made an official complaint to ACSA-TR for
"encouraging" its pastors to defect, but Bp Rhodes has explained that
their decision to join is entirely their own.
Africa
A number of African Bishops presently belonging to
the Canterbury Communion are considering joining the TAC - more details as soon
as they publicly announce their move.
------------------------------------------------
LATE NEWS: African and Asian Bishops are to meet with
the Archbishop of Canterbury in October to discuss the future of the Canterbury
Communion. They believe that recent developments are unacceptable and that a
break in the Communion can now no longer be avoided.