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Anglicans Gathering for God's Mission: A Missiological Ecclesiology for the Anglican Communion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Ian T. Douglas
Ian T. Douglas
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Abstract

These are difficult times for the Anglican Communion. The crisis in global Anglicanism is not so much over human sexuality but rather over questions of identity and authority. Some church leaders are advocating structural and canonical solutions to maintain the integrity of the Anglican Communion. A missiological perspective, however, sees communion as a gift from God fostered through relationships in mission across difference. The Decade of Evangelism and pan-Anglican efforts to address international debt and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are examples of communion in mission relationships. A missiological ecclesiology for the Anglican Communion will lift up, celebrate, and encourage more meaningful relationships in God's mission. The Anglican Congresses of 1908, 1954 and 1963 are expressions of such a missiological ecclesiology. The proposed 2008 Anglican Congress or Gathering will unite and foster a deeper sense of communion across Anglicanism through enlivened mission relationships.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 2004 , pp. 9 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) and The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2004

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