Continuing the Apostolic Mission:
The Global Impact of the ACAC in the Anglican Tradition
Abp. D. E. Chase, Ph.D., OSP
Presiding
The ACAC is a vibrant expression of Anglican faith, rooted in its Anglican theological, sacramental and ecclesial heritage and participates in the mission of God as a global member of the Continuing Anglican Communion International (CONAC), by maintaining historic Anglican observances relating to Apostolic Succession, heritage liturgical practice, and a mission-oriented immersion in the global Christian Church. This article examines how the ACAC participates in the Anglican Communion as a Global Assembly of CONAC, maintaining an Anglo-Catholic theology, sacramental identity while missioning globally as a Christian Church.
Key points:
Apostolic Succession: The ACAC’s commitment to Apostolic Succession ensures the continuity of Christ’s mission through an unbroken line of bishops.
Anglo-Catholic Theology: The ACAC’s adherence to Anglo-Catholic theology shapes its understanding of liturgy, sacramentality, and ecclesiology.
Global Anglicanism: As a member of CONAC, the ACAC participates in a worldwide network of Anglican churches dedicated to preserving the foundations of historic Anglicanism.
African Christianity: The ACAC recognizes the unique contributions of African Christianity to the broader Anglican Communion, embracing its emphasis on community, social justice, and contextual theology.
International Appeal: The ACAC’s global outlook fosters relationships with churches and Christian communities across all continents, reflecting its commitment to the Anglican Church’s universal mission.
Apostolic Succession: Scriptural and Historical Foundations
An example of this is Apostolic Succession – the belief that every ordained bishop today traces his ministry back to the apostles through an unbroken chain of bishops, without which the ACAC believes that authority in the church and the sacramental character of its ministry would be lost.
Scriptural Basis for Apostolic Succession
It finds its biblical basis in the commission of Christ to the apostles, when he tells them: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:18-20). So the apostles are handpicked to be the first ministers of the Church, charged with continuing His work.
This pattern is reflected in the early Church’s method of transferring apostolic office. In Acts 1:20-26, the apostles convene and empower Matthias to replace Judas the betrayer – an apostolic succession. The laying on of his hands is significant, and the emphasis on maintaining an unbroken line of leadership has continued to our day in the ACAC, and more broadly in CONAC.
Finally, in 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul tells Timothy: ‘And what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be also qualified to teach others.’ Successive generations of leaders in the Church transmit that teaching and authority that came directly from the apostles – the foundation of Apostolic Succession in the Anglican Church and the entire Church worldwide.
Theological and Liturgical Foundations: Anglo-Catholic Influence
The Anglo-Catholic emphasis on liturgy, sacramentality, and ecclesiology stems in part from adherence to the beliefs of Anglo-Catholicism. Anglo-Catholicism is an Anglican movement that focuses on the Church as catholic in the sense of its rootedness in the early and medieval Church and its claim to carry on the Apostolic Succession, the direct line of ‘laying on of hands’ from the Apostles, as well as the issues of real presence and apostolic succession.
Sacramentality and Liturgical Tradition
An essential expression of the ACAC’s sacramental theology is how its liturgical life revolves around the celebration of the Eucharist and Baptism. The Eucharist, the central act of worship and a central doctrine for both Catholic and Anglican Christianity, is institutionalized in the words spoken by Christ in Matthew 26:26-28, ‘Take, eat; this is my body … This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ For Anglo-Catholics, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is fundamental, as it is for all Catholics. As such, the sacraments are understood to be ‘outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace’, as the 1662 Book of Common Prayer articulates Anglican doctrine on sacramentalism.
Such a sacramental priority is further emphasized in 1 Corinthians 10:16, where Paul also uses sacrificial language to speak of the Eucharist as a participation in the body and blood of Christ: ‘Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?’ The ACAC, as an Anglo-Catholic Church, also identifies the liturgical encounter with Christ present in the Eucharist as central to piety and the primary act of worship.
It is here that one of the most important associations with the global Anglican tradition is immediately apparent: by retaining for itself the Book of Common Prayer as the intoxicating wine at the Eucharistic table, the ACAC keeps itself closely linked with the worldwide Anglican communion, and affirms continuity of faith and worship between different conditions.
CONAC and Global Anglicanism: Commitment to Ecclesial Unity
The ACAC is one of many Anglican jurisdictions belonging to CONAC (Continuing Anglican Communion International), all representing a corporate endeavor to ‘preserve the catholicity and decency of historic Anglicanism, which was loyal to the ancient theological and liturgical tradition, while accepting the beauty and grandeur of spiritual development encompassing all the ages’. CONAC is a worldwide association of independently governed Anglican churches working together simply to persevere in traditional Anglican doctrine and especially in the Sacramental ministry of Apostolic Succession, as guaranteed by the validity of the historic episcopate. In light of modern ‘theological and liturgical reform’, it perceives itself as a bastion of tradition holding fast to the essentials of faithfulness to the early 17th century confessional standards, in which the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion play a prominent role.
CONAC is an ecclesiastical family of Continuing Anglican churches that promotes unity through shared theological, liturgical and ecclesiastical commitments. The ACAC’s engagement in CONAC places it within the worldwide family of churches that historically have continued as the apostolic and catholic wing of Anglicanism, providing a single witness in the world, while respecting regional diversity of faith and expression.
This universal Anglican commitment, this universal identity, is expressed by the theological Paul Avis in the following words: It is characteristic of Anglicanism to affirm its commitment to the ‘apostolic faith’, to the faith of the Church in the early centuries, especially through its emphasis on Scripture and the ancient creeds as normative in determining the content of the faith. (p87 of The Identity of Anglicanism, 2007)In keeping with this commitment to the ‘apostolic faith’, Southern Cone is committed to the global expression of Anglican orthodoxy, for ACAC is a member of CONAC (the Confessing Network: Global Anglican Future Conference).
African Christianity and the Global Anglican Context
African Christianity is a vital force in world Christianity today, both inside Anglicanism and beyond. The Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches (ACAC) welcomes the baptism of all faithful members of ACAC. The ACAC affirms ‘that insightful and prophetic theological awakenings for world Christianity are coming from African Theology, African spirituality and community-based forms of expressing faith to the larger Anglican Communion.’ As part of the international current, ACAC identifies with CONAC (Continuing Anglican Communion International), a worldwide group of charismatic and evangelical members of the Anglican Communion that desires to honor African insights into Christianity, particularly the vibrancy and praxis of African Christianity. At the same time, ACAC remains committed to maintaining the integrity of Anglican orthodoxy and sacramental worship as part of its mission to the world.
The form of community worship – often an uplifting liturgy, music, and an intimate ethic of responsibility to the whole community – expresses the nature of the faith: God’s work is not limited to the church building, but can and should overflow into every aspect of one’s life in society and neighborhood. Practicing Christian fellowship and mission in the manner described in Acts 2:42-47 demonstrates the ancient roots of African Christianity.
This community worship is also valued by the ACAC for its focus on the liturgical tradition of the Anglo-Catholic Church. African Anglican commitment to social justice accompanies the prophetic call of Isaiah 1:17 to ‘learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed’ In addition to social justice, African Anglicanism is characterized by an emphasis on community and its engagement with discernment and corporate worship, which focus the life of the Church on the sacramental and liturgical work of the Bride of Christ. This emphasis is consonant with the sacramental and liturgical focus of the global Anglican Communion. Global Anglicanism involves the participatory engagement of laity with priests and bishops in the corporate worship of the Church.
Having a well-educated and evangelized laity in Africa means that they will actively participate and be leaders in the life and witness of the Church. Faith is not only expressed in personal piety, but also in service to these communities rooted in sacramental and liturgical worship. This priestly work, particularly in the development of a highly educated clergy in the leadership of the Church, is crucially needed for the gospel work in sub-Saharan Africa. The success of the Church in planting vibrant congregations in major cities amid the attractions of modernity is remarkable. This success, even with its uneven record, is a hallmark of contemporary Christianity.
The social justice work of the Church, with its emphasis on confronting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and lack of education, are concerns that are consistent with the poverty and malaria that have plagued the lives of Africans. This commitment to social justice is driven by a profound commitment to social justice borne out of centuries of social and spiritual disease. African Anglican commitment to social justice accompanies the prophetic call of Isaiah 1:17 to ‘learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed’.
But perhaps one of the most important gifts that African Anglicanism gives to the wider Church is the theological creativity (newness) and contextual engagement with culture that takes place within its traditions. The emergence of contextual theologies that situate within traditional Anglican doctrine an engagement with pre-Christian forms of spirituality, ritual practices and conceptual vocabularies – but that are committed to the confession of the creeds and the catholic tradition – offers a dynamic and fresh case study that helps us all better fulfil the complex demands of our faith, given the realities of our contexts. This is contextual theology in the strict paleo-Christian sense of inculturation: ‘a dynamic, dialectical interrelation between a given culture and the Christian faith, where it remains beholden to the apostolic witness of the Church while also creatively adapting its forms of expression to the diverse grammars of discrete contexts’ (definition by N A Armstrong).
CONAC reflects CONNECT the Anglican Communion Note on the convention 38 (2006), Toronto. Here, in this dynamic approach, the ACAC is very much a product of its paternal body, CONAC, and a fitting inheritor of the intercultural revolution it has embraced. Following the precedent set by the Lambeth Conference in 1978, the Anglican Communion accepts and encourages this notion that Anglicanism is an open and indigenist tradition that can adapt to and thrive in encounters with cultures and traditions other than its own (the reasons for the Church’s existence). This marks an important departure from the vestigial ideal of Anglicanism that harkened back to Christopher Wren’s Anglicanism, now obsolete and extinguished by the firebombing of its mother church; furthermore, the Anglican ‘experiment’ of the past represents an outdated worldview that found expression in the Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888.
In conclusion, global Anglican mission relies on this crucible of intercultural exchange as it stretches forth to the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit today facilitates a Church that can witness to the apostolic faith while remaining faithful to catholic good news. This is the faith that vibrates in the caves of Atoha, under the sky of China, from the Aotearoa to the ends of the earth – and indeed it is even here.
In that way, African Christianity is both a creative expression of the existing worldwide Anglican tradition, and a source of renewal for the Church across the globe. Within CONAC, the ACAC will continue to connect with the theological, liturgical and social contributions of African Anglicanism, and embed these insights within its common commitment as the Communion to bear witness to the apostolic faith and seek to hold the Church together around the world.
International Appeal, Connectivity, and Fellowship within the ACAC
It is an undercurrent that animates the diversity that is finally the future: the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches (ACAC), a part of the global Continuing Anglican Communion International (CONAC), expresses a vision of Anglicanism that is local, but also not: the sort of Christian witness that is both deeply rooted in tradition and deeply connected across a multi-cultural, multi-linguistic human family.
Embracing All Nations: A Global Communion
This reflects the Anglican Communion’s long history of mission around the world. The ACAC is fully immersed in the relationships with churches and Christian communities around the world through its membership in CONAC – an ecumenical body representing the ACAC in a global fellowship of Anglican jurisdictions which agree to accept Apostolic Succession, the sacraments, and the catholic faith, yet remain open to a diversity of forms of worship, ministry and cultural engagement.
It reflects that call to ‘go and make disciples of the nations’ in Matthew 28:19, when Christ says: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ In other words, by reaching across nations, the ACAC fulfils a program that transgresses borders and ministers to all nations, cultures, ethnicities and language groups.
Consequently, the ACAC has relations of fellowship and collegiality with dioceses and provinces of the Anglican Communion across the globe, in which they engage in inter-Anglican dialogue and shared worship and offer one another mutual support for ministries of mission. This fellowship is an embrace of the church’s catholicity: the creed’s assertion that we believe in ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church’, an earthly body that transcends all nations and peoples.
Connectivity Through Shared Faith and Mission
Its international reach is further encouraged by its commitment to liturgical unity and common sacramental life. While the liturgical and cultural expressions of Anglicanism may be diverse from nation to nation, all the ACAC’s churches are united through the core elements of Anglican worship: primarily the celebration of the Eucharist and the administration of the sacraments.
References:
- Avis, Paul. The Identity of Anglicanism: Essentials of Anglican Ecclesiology. T&T Clark, 2007.
- The Holy Bible, New International Version. Zondervan, 2011.
- Book of Common Prayer (1662). Church of England.
- Chapman, Mark. Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2006.