The Church of the Province of South East Asia has endorsed the Anglican Covenant, stating the pan-Anglican agreement was necessary for the church “to express our communion with the Triune God and with one another,” to guard the boundaries of the faith, and to be “faithful witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
South East Asia now joins Mexico and the West Indies in formally endorsing the Anglican Covenant—reports that the Province of Myanmar (Burma) has endorsed the covenant have appeared, but could not be independently confirmed.
On May 7, the Diocese of Singapore’s website reported the province had released a 3000 word statement detailing the historical background and theological and ecclesiological rationale for its endorsement.
The province noted that “our accession” to the covenant was based on the understanding “that those who accede” to the agreement “will unequivocally abide by Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 in its spirit and intent,” and would honour the moratorium on gay bishops and blessings.
Churches that accede to the covenant should also “bear authentic witness to the orthodox faith by an unequivocal commitment to the standards of moral and ethical holiness as set by Biblical norms in all aspects of their communal life.”
And South East Asia stated that it saw the primates as the body to oversee the implementation of the covenant, as it was the group “responsible for Faith and Order” in the Anglican Communion.
The language of the covenant that called for “common commitments and mutual accountability” among Anglicans to “hold each Church in the relationship of communion one with another,” echoed the “closing appeal” of the Kuala Lumpur statement. The 1997 statement called call for new structure to “guard the internal unity of our Communion,” and “strengthen the bonds of affection between our provinces, and especially, make for effective mutual accountability in all matters of doctrine and polity throughout the Communion.”
The province said the “similarities” between the documents were “not accidental” as the covenant was “the culmination of a decade of intense disputes over ethical teaching and church order in the Communion. The Kuala Lumpur Statement, in fact, marked the beginning of a united stand, spearheaded by churches in the southern continents, for the faith that was once delivered to the saints across the Communion.”
The covenant “offers a concrete platform in ordering” Anglicans as a communion “with a clear ecclesial identity,” the said, and begins the process of “overcoming” the “ecclesial deficit” within the structures of the church.
The Anglican Communion should adopt more uniform processes in the election and appointment of bishops, to ensure that such processes are not held hostage to local politics and to parochial understandings of the episcopal office.
“Churches that accede to the Anglican Communion Covenant need to subject their common life to the reforming and transforming work of the Holy Spirit,” the Church of the Province of South East Asia said, “so that the Communion may be built up until all ‘reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ’ (Eph 4: 13).”
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A report will be carried later this week on CNI of the C of I General Synod debate on the Covenant.