Frank We are in a Covenant Union with Nigeria, but not with the rest of the Primates in the Lambeth Conference, unless I've missed something. The Covenant Union we have spells out some specifics. The Anglican Covenant that the Archbishop of Canterbury's committee forsees in 2012 has to survive 6 years of discussion and debate before it becomes a reality. I'm not optimistic that it will be any longer lasting than the Windsor Report in effectiveness or that it will surpass the ECUSA 2006 Covention expression of regret in clarity. Charles+ --- Frank Warren <warren-sa@...> wrote: > We are "in" by way of the Nigerian church, of which > we are a part. > > Right? > > Frank ========================================== > > New Anglican covenant begins to take shape > > By Bill Bowder > > THE OUTLINES of a sacrificial covenant that could > bind the Anglican Communion together as "genuinely > global communion of interdependent autonomous Churches", despite its current differences, has been approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a select group of Primates. > > Dr Williams and other members of the joint > standing committee of the Primates of the Anglican > Consultative Council have agreed on a way to produce a covenant that could be in place by 2012. It would form a key part of the discussions at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury in 2008. > > The details of the covenant will be drawn up by a > design group, to be appointed by Dr Williams later > this year. They will then be considered by > bishops, clergy, and laity across the Communion. > > A working party of eight clerics and academics > based in Britain has sketched out a timetable for its development and implementation, and the style of > its possible contents. > > First, there would be just one Anglican covenant > for everyone. It would be a single formula and it > would have no opt-outs. For the purposes of the > Communion, the covenant should be built on the idea of God's promise "that we shall be led to truth and unity". > > In the covenant, the different provinces and > Churches would commit themselves once again to live > together in communion. > > Such a covenant would be costly: "We do not > underestimate the cost that being in covenant may > exact on the Churches of the Communion," the group > warns. > > For the covenant to work, most Churches and > provinces must be able to "gather" around it. But those who could not, would not then have to leave the > Communion. > > Just as the Churches had been Anglican before > there was a Lambeth Conference, so they could be > Anglicans without accepting the covenant. "It might be expected that, as time goes on, stronger presumptions of mutual recognition and nterchangeability of ministry and > membership would arise between those Churches and > provinces that had signed up than those who had > not chosen to do so." > > What could emerge was "a two (or more) tiered > Communion with some level of permeability between > Churches signed up to the Covenant, and those who > are not". > www.anglicancommunion.org<http://www.anglicancommunion.org/> >