All eyes are on Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania this week, as the worldwide Anglican Communion comes together for a summit which could see the Communion splinter amid the continuing row over homosexuality in the Church.
Standing in one corner is one woman who has certainly flamed the fires of debate since she was appointed as the first-ever female leader of the American Episcopal Church (ECUSA). Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has outraged traditionalists within the Church with the outspoken manner in which she has firmly backed same-sex unions and gay clergy. Even more extraordinarily for a Christian leader, she even clearly stated in one interview that she did not believe that Jesus was the only way people can go to God.
The result of such comments? Hundreds of churches in the Episcopal Church have walked out on her leadership, and found solace in a man opposing the liberal agenda picked up by Bishop Schori. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, a firm believer in the traditional faith as observed in the Church for centuries, has spoken out with equal clarity against same-sex unions.
Then standing seemingly in the middle of the splitting Communion, is the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Despite his liberal underpinnings, Dr Williams has in fact taken several steps towards the conservative wing over recent years. Even if his modest U-turn is nothing more than an attempt to hold the Communion together, his mediation efforts have just managed to hold the Communion together thus far. Tanzania should give some indication of the future of the Communion following this hazzardous mediation route.
All corners are eager to avoid schism. If the Anglican Communion splinters, this will have repurcussions not only in the Anglican Communion, but also to churches of all denominations worldwide. If this very public debate sees the Church split, no doubt the secularists will have a field day, and the public image of the Church being at war within itself will obviously do very little in bringing more believers to Christ.
But looking at the current climate within the Anglican Communion, to what extent is the communion still "in communion"? To be in communion means to be in spiritual unity. Rumours emerged over the past few weeks of a possible walk-out among the leaders gathering at the summit this week. The only set Eucharist at the event will be voluntary.
In Tanzania, a fear of public shows of being "out of communion" has meant that the Anglican Primates will not be put in any position in which they are forced to share communion with each other, or indeed one which would "force them" to walk out on each other.
