Anglican Communion Covenant

The final text of the Anglican Communion Covenant is available here.
The Covenant is an attempt to hold the worldwide Anglican church together when some are trying to rewrite the faith and its practical outworking (if you want to read what Bishops and others have been saying take a look at the Anglican Mainstream or Reform websites).

When the idea of a Covenant was first mooted some years ago, it seemed like a really good idea. A covenant would surely state clearly the foundations of the Anglican Church (Scripture, 39 Articles, the Prayer Book) and since one of the presenting issues was a failure to adhere to basic Christian morality, surely it would include something about sexual practice only being appropriate within heterosexual marriage.
Well, I've been reading the Covenant in advance of the forthcoming debates at Deanery and Diocesan Synods. And what a mess it is! First, it's written in typically Anglican Committe Speak. In other words, the perspicuity of the document, which is both referred to above and linked via a hyperlink at the top of this page, is complicated by the contextualisation necessary for a document which will have the widest possible readership throughout the many and varied churches of the Anglican Communion, and which seeks to draw together in close communion these same aforementioned communities of faith... you get the idea!
It starts with a long introduction (8 paragraphs). Then there's the Preamble. Then there's the Covenant itself.
"Each Church", it says, "affirms the catholic and apostolic faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation[2].  The historic formularies of the Church of England[3], forged in the context of the European Reformation and acknowledged and appropriated in various ways in the Anglican Communion, bear authentic witness to this faith."

 So at first glance, it appears that it's affirming the traditional faith of the C of E. But notice those little words, 'context' and 'appropriated'. They're the get out words for any church that doesn't like the traditional faith of the C of E - they can 'appropriate' it 'in various ways'. Now I'm sure that's not what the authors mean by this, but it's undoubtedly how the revisionists will read it.
And even if you're very generous and assume that this doesn't refer to major doctrines but only local and insignificant cultural practices, when you get to para 1.1.4, the alarm bells must surely ring loud & clear. "Each Church affirms...the Apostles’ Creed, as the baptismal symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith" [italics added].

This is outrageous! How can the Nicene Creed possibly be the sufficient statement of the Christian faith? It leaves so much unsaid. It's the lowest common demominator of the faith. It says nothing about church order, the Lord's Supper, baptism, and its one short phrase about how God speaks ("through the prophets") is completely inadequate for the purpose of the Covenant. But what's most amazing is that there mere presence of this Covenant demonstrates that it's not sufficient as the statement of the Christian faith!

There's so much more in the Covenant that's wholly inadequate, but the bottom line is that it's thoroughly relativistic, has no teeth whatsoever, and seems to place too much power in The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. The bottom line is that it's not worth the paper it's written on.

If you're a member of a Deanery or Diocesan Synod, please do read it, and think carefully about what it is and what it's not saying.