5 Takeaways from 2016—and their implications for 2017 As we approach 2017, what opportunities and challenges will carry over from 2016 for Anglican followers of Jesus Christ? I’d like to suggest that there are five “takeaways” from 2016 that we can reflect upon, five challenges that will shape our mission and ministries for Christ as we move into the New Year: Reaffirm the limits of Anglican Diversity Emboldened by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s failure to uphold the January 2016 Primates’ recommendation for discipline of The Episcopal Church (TEC), Anglican leaders in the largely Western “global north” churches will continue to abandon Biblical, apostolic and catholic doctrine and practice in favor of what is politically and culturally correct. These Churches will stretch to bless whatever the culture blesses in terms of gender identity, sexual orientation and changes to the definition of marriage. This was already the case for TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, and we have seen such changes accelerate in Scotland, Wales and New Zealand. But as I wrote previously, there are Limits to Anglican Diversity. We find these “guardrails” in the Bible, the creeds, and the doctrinal expressions of the Councils of the Ancient Church. These Christian essentials are what define Anglicans, rather than the Archbishop of Canterbury’s mailing list. I’ve written an essay on this confessional identity of Anglicanism which concludes with this observation: If anything, it appears that increasing numbers of Anglicans are turning away from elusive identities based on relationships, “spirit and ethos” and returning to what Avis calls a “content-based,” doctrinal identity, a confessional identity--one that is rooted and grounded in Scripture, the Creeds and the Historic Formularies of the Church, including the Thirty-Nine Articles. As a result, communion with the See of Canterbury is a waning factor for Anglican identity.” You can download whole essay, The Confessional Identity of Anglicanism A Canonical-Doctrinal Approach here. Or you can watch our Anglican Perspective videos on the Thirty-Nine Articles here. The American Anglican Council will continue to make resources available to everyday Anglicans to help understand the Christian essentials that make Anglicanism a Biblical, catholic and confessional Church for the 21st century. Prepare for further fractures in the Anglican Communion The Church of England appears to be on an irrevocable course to bless same sex unions—either civil partnerships, same-sex marriages or both. This follows the recommendations of the Pilling Report and the “facilitated discussions” throughout the Church of England around these recommendations. As the Rev. Dr. Steve Noll observed, the letter from the Archbishops Council represents the position of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. This letter “deconstructs” the plain prohibitions against same sex marriage in Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998), and prepares the way for acceptance of same sex blessings in the Church of England, apparently with the blessing of Canterbury and York. As Noll also observes, this flies in the face of the specific warnings issued by Global South Anglicans meeting in October in Cairo Egypt—that such blessings would breach irrevocably the doctrine and discipline of the Communion. Click here for the rest of the article: https://americananglican.org/current-news/5-takeaways-2016and-implications-2017/