It was an unexpected pleasure to have one of the world's foremost authorities on Anglicanism turn up at our church today (although actually not so unexpected given that his son and daughter-in-law are members of the congregation) and a fantastic opportunity for me to be able to chat for a while.
But apart from the chance to test a few ideas and pick up a bunch of great research leads, I was really encouraged by the news that in the USA - where he lectures theology - there's a significant number of young leaders heading into the Anglican Church. Apparently, one of the big reasons for this is that many of them are seeing some of the problems of those churches that don't have a formal liturgy. And interestingly, one serious shortcoming is felt to be that those churches don't really allow for much congregational participation in the Sunday services - singing and putting money in the collection plate is often about it. On the other hand, the liturgical churches are recognised as encouraging members to be involved at several points; saying creeds, confessing sins, leading prayers, etc. And so for those people who want to lead churches with more of this kind of congregational involvement and who aren't Catholic, the Anglian Church turns out looking pretty good.
I really wouldn't have guessed any of this, but there you have it. God is working in significant ways in new generations in the Anglican Church - even in North America.
Thoughts on Theology-in-Practice for Anglicans and Episcopalians - plus some other stuff.
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