TLC editor Christopher Wells writes in a column for Anglican Communion News Service:
The communion of Christians and churches is a journey of faithfulness over time, on two counts: because the Christian life is corporate, and because we are called by God not just once in a flash of conversion but to sustained growth in obedience. Following St Paul (see Romans 5:3-4), St Augustine named this journey by grace perseverance.
For divided Christian churches, the question becomes: How can we persevere together – not simply along isolated, or possibly parallel, paths, but along roads that may converge in God’s good time, as we learn to cooperate with him and his Spirit, and to follow more surely the path of his crucified Son, the way of the cross, which leads to resurrected life? This is the question of walking together, along the one road of the gospel and its truth, in a bid of common formation and conversion.
While there are various points along the road, and not all will walk together at every point, the hope, at least, to advance along the road after our Lord marks an irreducible criterion of evangelical authenticity. Seeking to follow Jesus — “Lord I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) – is all that is required of anyone to begin the journey of discipleship.
Just here, the Church of England Evangelical Council’s (CEEC) recent reflection, “Gospel, Church & Marriage: Preserving Apostolic Faith and Life” [PDF], presents a compelling case for the unity of catholic and apostolic truth: catholic because shared throughout the world and across time; apostolic because given and articulated as the definitive deposit of ancient faith.
His first column appeared March 23.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
