The Diocese of Niagara may not have a mission, but it does have a Mission Strategy Committee. According to one of its members, (page 1 here) bold steps are needed to pull the Niagara diocese out of what even the most optimistic are seeing as a slump.

In case anyone is labouring under the misapprehension that Niagara’s malaise is rooted in a liberal drift away from Christianity towards an amalgam of neo-paganism, Gaia worship and Unitarianism and that to speak to a non-believer about this is simply too embarrassing, Andy Kalbfleisch sets us straight. The people of Diocese of Niagara keep quiet about their beliefs because to do otherwise might expose them as aggressive right-wingers – this ever present danger is a constant worry for the diocese:

The growth of, dare I say, aggressive right wing evangelical denominations, have made us fearful of being coloured with the same brush when we speak about mission and discipleship. We want to be seen and heard as promoting a God of love instead of a God of fear. So it’s much easier to forget or push to the margins of our church experience, actions and strategies about mission and discipleship. Instead we may engage aggressively in important, but peripheral activities that serve God but that may not spread His word in the manner of first century Christians.

The diocesan newspaper is a beacon of enlightenment – on how Niagara got to where it is today:

A friend recently asked me, out of the blue, “Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?” I could have simply said, “Yes,” but hesitated instead.

Of course you did: why build faith when you can sow doubt. This is, after all, what Western Anglicans mean by Evangelism.

Why? I felt that it was a simple question to which I should, as a Christian, have an immediate and satisfactory answer. Racing through my head, however, were various interpretations of these words, some more valid than others. Furthermore, what answer would be most useful to my friend at her stage of questioning? Other progressive Christians joke about being labeled heretic.

Being labelled a heretic in the Diocese of Niagara is no joke: it is a condition of employment.

Back to the question of the identity of Jesus. He called himself “the Son of Man,” a more modest label than “Son of God.” Like “Messiah,” with its overtly warlike associations, “Son of God” was an aggressive, politically loaded term from the Old Testament that some of Jesus’ followers must have pressured him to claim. They also called him “Teacher,” “Rabbi,” and “Lord.” The Christian Church has used all these titles as well as “Christ” and “Emmanuel.”

First we employ Anglican bafflegab and confuse the issue of Jesus’ divinity by focussing on the irrelevant: warlike associations and aggressive, politically loaded term[s].

By the time I had realized that this information was merely the tiniest corner of the scholarship on the topic, days had passed. I began to consider that the key word in my friend’s question was “believe.” That posed a second challenge. Have I any business expressing my ideas let alone my beliefs if I do not believe in Jesus in an orthodox way?

Then clinch the muddle by casting doubt on the meaning of common words: in this instance believe.

This is a variation on the Nicene Creed debate. Many church leaders have stopped reciting it during church services because they can no longer believe it to be literally true. No wonder many loyal Anglicans feel torn! Another friend said recently, “I like to recite the Creeds because they remind me of what I believe. If I throw out these beliefs, which I realize are limited in terms of common sense, it’s like jumping from the familiar into the unknown and I don’t know where I’ll land.”

And the coup de gras: almost no-one in the Anglican Church of Canada believes the Creed any more; if you do happen to find yourself in a parish that defies common sense and still says, “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father”, you can always cross your fingers.

As Søren Kierkegaard, the early 19th century Danish theologian, put it, to be a Christian requires a leap to faith because of the logical absurdity inherent in orthodoxy. How else, for example, can we assert that Jesus is both God and man when our rational minds say that this, let alone the doctrine of the Trinity, doesn’t make sense? To take a leap to faith requires a leap of faith. The pervasive 20th century response to the claims of religion was the existential despair of nihilism.

It’s just as well Kierkegaard is no longer with us since he spent much of his life inveighing against clergy who lived lives contrary to their professed beliefs. His solution to this hypocrisy was for the clergy to live up to their beliefs; the contemporary Anglican solution is for the clergy to abandon them.

I called my friend and gave her my rather long answer to her question about my belief in Jesus as the Son of God. She said, “Oh, really, I didn’t know it was so complicated! I’m sorry to put you to all this bother. What matters to me is not right or wrong theology but that we are friends!” As Paul put it, “if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

Jesus’ divinity is mysterious; it only becomes complicated to those who don’t believe in it.

“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus seems to have been pleased by Peter’s prompt response: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Two millennia later, the question, “Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?” should not be asked as a test of orthodoxy. It deserves an answer only if asked in the spirit of friendship.

Who needs a test of orthodoxy? Not the Diocese of Niagara.

Here is a letter from Bishop Michael Bird to the Hon. Deb Matthews, June 2008:

Bishop Michael Bird, Anglican Diocese of Niagara

“In the short term, we realize that charity and compassion are essential when people are suffering and we will continue to respond to the needs of our neighbours. But for too long, faith and community groups , individuals, volunteers and social service agencies and ministries have carried a disproportionate load in meeting the needs of individuals at the local community level . . .
We recognize that we all have a role to play to reduce poverty, however, only government can accomplish the structural change to law, programs and policies that are essential for a successful poverty reduction strategy. Only government can re- allocate the resources of society more equitably through its regulatory and taxing powers and increase its funding of social programs.

Please hear our communities call for social justice.”

There you have it: the Diocese of Niagara’s plan to reduce poverty is government enforced wealth redistribution. Hasn’t that been tried before?  Oh yes:

A recent agreement between the Diocese of Niagara and three of the Niagara parishes that chose to leave the diocese and align with the Southern Cone, gives two of the ANiC parishes exclusive use of their buildings for up to two years and the diocese exclusive use of St. George’s for up to two years – or until the property dispute is legally settled.

After one gruesome Sunday when the diocese brought in faux-congregations to each parish, an interim court ruling in February 2008 gave the ANiC parishioners full use of their buildings. Since the parishioners had such a strong disagreement with the diocese, the judge ruled that it was unreasonable to expect the parishes to share the building.

A court ruling in May 2008 overturned the temporary ruling and gave the diocese use of the buildings between 7:00 am and 10:00 am on Sundays and ANiC the use of the buildings for the rest of the day. Taking into consideration the first disastrous attempt at sharing the buildings and the fact that service times overlapped with the diocese, the parishioners who voted to realign – a large majority for each parish – decided to find other accommodations for their Sunday morning worship. In effect, most of the parishioners were ejected from their buildings on Sunday morning.

The diocese quickly discovered that two of the parishes had non-viable congregations; the third, St. George’s had a small congregation. Whether it will be viable in the long run seems doubtful, since the Diocese of BC has concluded that it is not financially feasible to keep parishes with less than 150 people open. There is little reason to suppose Niagara will be different, but the diocese is determined to put on a show, and Rev. Susan Wells is part of that show. Here is her version of events:

Since February 2008, the parishioners of St. George’s, Lowville have felt like they have been in a state of chaos, much like the people of Israel did when they were wandering in the desert. In fact, after a service on February 24, 2008, presided over by our Bishop Michael, the parish was exiled.

We lost all access to our church. For the next several months, we held services first in an old school house with no running water and then, thanks to the generosity of the good people of Lowville United Church, were able to hold our services in their church.

Then, in May of 2008, a court ruling allowed us back into our church but only for 10 hours a week.

Although, it was great to be back, you can probably imagine how difficult it was to do the work of a parish and maintain the building in only ten hours a week. (The other people, who had chosen to leave the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), had control of the building the rest of the time but, for whatever reason, chose not to use the building.) It was discouraging and disheartening to watch this building, built to the glory of God and for the extension of God’s Kingdom here on earth, sit empty. We often felt like we were betraying our 152 year ancestry of serving Christ in our community. That being said, members of the parish continue to be actively involved in ministry in the prison, nursing homes, the hospital and helping with other projects, including the “Walk to Bethlehem”, sponsored by the Milton Area Christian Churches Working Together (MACCWT).

At several levels, our journey felt like we were wandering in the desert, trying to come to terms with what all this meant. Why did friends choose to leave the church (and us), rather than to continue to seek a place within it? Why were we exiled from the building our ancestors built? These past 2 years have given us a chance to deal with our sense of betrayal, desertion and confusion and have given us a chance to heal, to seek Christ in our new situation and to begin to discern what God’s mission is for us. We are “Striving to Service Christ.”

Finally at an arbitration meeting held on December 7, between the Wardens of those who chose to leave the ACC and the Diocese, an agreement was reached changing the way the time in the parishes was allocated and setting down criteria by which expenses would be shared. For St. George’s, this meant that we were granted, full use of our Church building for two years or until the ownership of the building is ultimately determined, whichever comes first and given the recent ruling in BC, there is a possibility that this will be a permanent situation.

It is worth noting the chronology of early events in the parishes that voted to join ANiC:

The vote occurred on Sunday February 17^th, 2008

Monday was a holiday.

Tuesday, the diocesan representatives appeared on the doorstep of the parishes to collect the building keys. The parish’s bank accounts were frozen. Papers were delivered to the parishes demanding that the corporations appear in court the following Friday – clearly these had been prepared well in advance.

Wednesday. In order buy time to prepare for the legal onslaught, the ANiC parishes agreed to share the buildings on the following Sunday.

Friday February 29^th was the first court appearance when the sharing arrangement was thrown out by the judge (to be re-instated in May).

The Diocese of Niagara acted in a planned, draconian and malicious way; I believe its true intent has always been to destroy the ANiC parishes.

The diocesan administrators have taken Christians to court to gain ownership of buildings for which they have absolutely no use; they have lied in their affidavits, not paid court mandated costs, attempted to seize the personal assets of wardens, tried to seize a rector’s home and lied to their own parishioners by telling them that ANiC instigated the court proceedings.

So Rev. Susan Wells, neither you nor the diocese that employs you is a victim: the panjandrums whose dirty work you carry out are unrepentantly aggressive, rancorous, vindictive and devious.

Like other Anglican Church of Canada dioceses, the Diocese of Niagara is in financial difficulty. Not only are numbers dwindling in its parishes, but whole parishes are departing for ANiC (5 so far), the diocese has to pay close to $400,000 in legal fees for suing departed parishes and now, finally, has to come up with back payments (around $54,000) for its invasion of ANiC parish buildings during the last 2 years.

It isn’t surprising, then, that Bishop Michael Bird is scrounging for cash: he has asked parishes that have not managed to pay their diocesan assessment to take out a line of credit loan – so that the diocese doesn’t have to – to pay their assessment. Since, contrary to common sense, ethical fairness and Christian compassion, Bird has always claimed ownership of the ANiC parishes buildings, he cannot be expecting parishes to use their buildings as security for the lines of credit. In the lawsuits against ANiC, Bird has attempted to lay claim to wardens’ personal assets, so he probably expects corporations to use their personal assets to secure the loans.

Anglican wardens in the Diocese of Niagara are scrambling to transfer all personal property to close relatives and there has been a run on replacement front-door locks.

Rev. Vicky Hedelius and Rev. St. Clair Cleveland of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Hamilton announced to their congregation last Sunday that they will be leaving the Diocese of Niagara to join ANiC; they will be starting services in St. John’s United (an evangelical church) this coming Sunday. Two thirds of the congregation has gone with them. They turned in their licenses on Monday morning and were immediately received by Bishop Don Harvey.

Thank you both for having the integrity and guts to stand up for the Gospel.

Living the vision in Niagara.