The Emergent Church of England: A Sign of Things To Come

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams is no stranger to controversy. Here's just a few recent examples:

• called for the establishment of Islamic law in Great Britain.
• drafted an official apology to the deceased Charles Darwin for misunderstanding him.
• the first leader of the Church of England to accept visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes as historical fact.

In Ekklesia's news piece, Archbishop Moves to a Fresh Catholic Beat, the Archbishop led an all day Advent event with prayer and drum beats. Prior to the celebration of the Eucharist, the Archbishop pointed to the sacred community trademarks of "how a community embodies, practically and visibly, some of the things we’ve been thinking about".

Workshops in the afternoon included "Body Prayer in the Christian tradition", "Looking with Mary to God's possibilities" and "Monasticism, New Monasticism and the Contemplative tradition".

This event was touted as "cementing links between Fresh Expressions and the Catholic tradition of the Church of England."

Who or what is Fresh Expressions? Author and Anglican cleric Ian Mosby describes this movement within Anglicanism:

It is clear that fresh expressions are a mixture of inherited and emerging churches – where emerging are attempting to relate to the postmodern whilst the more inherited seek to relate to the more modern... The emerging churches seemed to be attempting to relate to pomo culture where people had some focus on new forms of mysticism. I was really excited to discover that some emerging churches consciously or unconsciously were based on Trinitarian ecclesiology. What God models as the sacred community is what church is called to reflect. These values of inclusivity, justice, incarnation, unity in diversity and focus on fluidity as community are key to being emerging church. It is deeply mystical and hugely exciting....

According to Mosby "Anglicanism came about in response to such fundamentalism – its place of unity in diversity is a key voice. If Anglicanism is about this unity in diversity and an outworking of Trinitarian ecclesiology."

The Archbishop seems to be blessing the mystical path of the Emergent church movement as the Church of England restores the bridge to Rome.

Can Evangelicals see the Anglican family resemblance in the Future Face of the American Ancient-Future Faith?

See related videos:

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CROSSTALK AMERICA: Ken Silva & Warnings About The Emergent Church