Everything that was incorporated into the College of Bishops’ January communique was intended to influence the ACNA memberships' view of the College of Bishops and what it is doing. This is what is known as “spin.” The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines “spin” as “a certain way of describing or talking about something that is meant to influence other people's opinion of it.”
The College of Bishops’ January communiqué is in a number of places quite pretentious. For example, the communiqué states, “The bishops of the Anglican Church in North America have made it clear that it is a high priority to be together to pray and meet in council to carry forward the apostolic ministry of the Church.” The bishops apparently have a different understanding of the nature of “the apostolic ministry of the Church” from that of the New Testament. If the bishops had been engaging in “the apostolic ministry of the Church” in the New Testament sense, they would not have been meeting in Orlando, Florida, but would have been busy in their respective dioceses and networks evangelizing, preaching, and teaching and planting and strengthening new churches like the apostle Paul. Indeed all Christians who evangelize, preach, and teach and plant and strengthen new churches are engaging in the same ministry as the apostles.
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