Inclusive Church’s Nebulous PCC Motion

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Scott Gunn over at Inclusive Church is asking parishes on both sides of the Atlantic to pass the following motion before the Lambeth Conference (and then of course to tell everybody up the chain that they’ve done it).

“As Christians, we believe that all people have been made in the image of God. We believe that God loves each and every person with an infinite, never-ending, unconditional love.

As members of the body of Christ, we acknowledge each person’s unique and valuable contribution as we seek together to build up that body in love.

As members of the Anglican Communion, we celebrate the gift of our diversity and are committed to being a broad Church that accepts and welcomes difference. We acknowledge our need of God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings which harm our shared witness in the world. We believe our unity is rooted in our baptism in Christ, and we will seek to maintain that unity through the grace of the Holy Spirit who lives and works in each one of us.”

Sounds nice doesn’t it? The problem with these kinds of motions though is that they mean nothing.

For example, the last paragraph includes "we celebrate the gift of our diversity and are committed to being a broad Church that accepts and welcomes difference". Well let me ask Scott a simple question. If there was an Anglican church in the USA that openly practised polygamy, does Scott believe that his and their’s "unity is rooted in our baptism in Christ, and we will seek to maintain that unity through the grace of the Holy Spirit who lives and works in each one of us"?  What about welcoming the difference of a church that practised open sex (promiscuity)? Would he still think we should maintain unity? Child sexual practice? Child sacrifice?

Where do the boundaries of unity lie? Nowhere, or somewhere along the line of depravity? If the latter, why doesn’t he make that clear in his motion?

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