Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, successor to Desmond Tutu, has several times taken exception to the hard-line traditionalist views of Nigeria’s Peter Akinola and his allies. This past Sunday he preached at Southwark Cathedral in England. Excerpt:
We must learn to recognise God at work in people who are not ‘one of us.’
We must not be like Joshua, who can only accept those who are prophesying under Moses’ direct oversight. Rather, we should be like Moses, who sees that God is at work in Eldad and Medad, and generously says ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets!’
It is not easy to live with a spectrum of perspectives – it is challenging even when we are fully confident we are all firmly within the Anglican heartlands.
But this wrestling together offers us the possibility of treasures that cannot be found in more monochrome approaches.
As individuals, congregations, Dioceses, Provinces, and as a Global Communion, we grow best when we have that level of complimentary difference which can indeed ‘provoke one another to love and to good deeds’ (Heb 10:24).
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