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• Context

Contents

Giles to Andrew		Andrew to Giles
19 December 2006 18 January 2007 8 February 2007 25 February 2007 25 March 2007 3 November 2007 2 December 2007 25 January 2008 29 May 2008		13 January 2007 31 January 2007 11 February 2007 27 February 2007 16 September 2007 12 November 2007 13 December 2007 8 March 2008

Context

Who are we?

Andrew Goddard is Tutor in Christian Ethics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Giles Goddard is Rector of St Peter's Church, Walworth, South London. Giles is also Chair of Inclusive Church while Andrew is on the Leadership Team of Fulcrum and a scholar of the Anglican Communion Institute.

What are we doing?

We agreed just before Christmas to correspond with each other over the next few months on matters relating to the challenges facing the Anglican Communion and the Church of England and to publish our exchanges online. The correspondence will appear on both the Fulcrum and Inclusive Church sites although both of us are writing in a personal capacity. We do this knowing we initially come with different perspectives on many of the major presenting issues (the nature of Anglicanism, life in communion, the Windsor Report, Lambeth I.10 on sexual ethics etc) and eager to explore these together.

Why are we doing this?

The idea for this open correspondence arose out of our own personal conversations and growing friendship over the last year. We got to know each other in the context of a consultation organised to dialogue over matters of sexuality and then by working together across that divide on an initiative to encourage all Christians to put into practice the Primates' statement that 'the victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us'. We have become aware of the value of listening to each other's perceptions, finding common ground, and trying to understand our different outlooks on the present and visions for the future. We also realise that many are confused and concerned about the challenges we are facing as a Communion, are often unclear as to what the differences are, and regularly presented with them in a confrontational manner with the challenge to join one 'side' or the other.

Websites of concerned groups and networks understandably often only publish views they support and they can sometimes misrepresent or caricature those with whom they disagree. We hope we may find a way of avoiding such pitfalls.

What are we hoping to achieve?

One of the exciting but also daunting features of this exercise is that we really don't know where it will go and we know that with the Primates' Meeting in February 2007 and General Synod debating human sexuality and civil partnerships later that month there are rocky waters ahead. We talked of planning out an agenda for discussion but decided instead to see how it develops and trust God will guide us as to what and how to discuss matters with each other. As in any genuine dialogue and mutual listening we know we will be changed but we don't know exactly how. Our hope and prayer is that we may all learn and find a way forward as we seek to heed Paul's words to the Ephesians:

I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is abve all and through all and in all...So then, putting off falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil...Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one other, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Can others join in?

If you want to discuss any points raised there is an opportunity to do so on the Fulcrum Forum.

If you want to contact either or both of us our emails are giles@in-spire.org.uk and andrew.goddard@wycliffe.ox.ac.uk although we hope you will understand that our work commitments mean we may not be able to respond to your email personally.

Finally, are we related?

Not as far as we know !

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