There was a time in my life when missional hubris and personal offense went unchecked in me and some of the leaders around me. Unfortunately, I see this occurring again in leaders around me from various church backgrounds.
It seems almost impossible to me that over two decades have passed since the founding of the great church-planting movement that became known as the Anglican Mission in America. I feel spoiled to have been one of the founding leaders. We gathered, credentialed, and sent forth leaders to plant churches all over North America at such a rate that it became one of the fastest growing church planting efforts in our lifetime. We had submitted ourselves to the overseeing Apostolic covering of the Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda. We enjoyed God’s favor in resources, talent of leaders, vision, and planning. They were truly glory days.
In the early days of this missional movement of God, we as the national leadership team of the Anglican Mission would gather in meeting rooms of elegant hotels for planning and strategy. Up on the screen would be diagrams, maps, and leadership principles. At one such meeting, after hours of discussions, one of our beloved Rwandan overseer Bishops stood up, slammed his bible down on the table so hard it startled most of us, and said, “You Americans, you plan so much, pray so little, and read this (pointing to his Bible) even less.” We were stunned. He had us get on our knees and pray. And that prayer went on for several hours. That day changed my life personally. That day threatened our enemy (the devil) mightily.
Though we had on that day been somewhat convicted to be cautious about rooting our missional efforts in entrepreneurial planning and strategy, we didn’t see at the time how we would be tempted and crippled within our own missional zeal by hubris and offense. We became convinced that we as a movement were the only ones who had the evangelistic commitment, passion and “anointing” to really “get the job done” when it came to planting life-changing churches. We did not see what was growing amongst us. A spiritual cancer coming out of our zeal and arrogance led to a culture within the movement that was incapable of tethering itself to humility and total trust in God’s sovereignty and provision, rather than relying on our own giftings and vision.
Many of us later realized we had come to the belief that for sake of mission we were to seek alignment in our missiology and theology and ignore the differences we had in our ecclesiology. Because of this way of thinking, an ultra-permissive culture of freedom resulted; we blessed the doing of your own thing, your own way, as long as it reached as many people as possible, no matter how different it might be. Along the way something happened. We forgot to love. We forgot Agape love.
In addition, this “glorying” our own abilities proved detrimental to relationships with those outside of Anglican Mission, leading to an isolation that, in our naval gazing and pride, was disconnecting us from brothers and sisters we should have been shoulder to shoulder with, that we should have been partnering with in the mission and ministry of Christ’s One Holy Church.
In recent times, now as part of the ever-growing, but still maturing, twelve-year-old Anglican Church in North America, many of us continue seek to Share the Transforming Love of Jesus with North America and making disciples across the country. However, there continues to be an enemy who would distract us from our mission. And as always, that enemy uses the same old tools he always has used. Hubris and offense. But now he has weaponized these through social media. I remember my own contributions to the overall hubris and offense, and I shudder to think how easy it is to step off that cliff, over the edge, without the constant filling and guidance of the Holy Spirit plus the willingness to submit oneself to accountability, allowing others to speak hard words when hard words are needed.
Over this last year it has been deeply saddening to experience conversation after conversation, post after post, tweet after tweet, where young and old leaders from throughout this wonderful movement we call Anglicanism seem to be permitting themselves to be tempted into thinking that their particular vision and perspective of what it means to be an Anglican is the only worthwhile perspective. Too often we think that we, or our bishops, or our diocese are the only ones to truly or effectively be addressing issues of justice, or race, or sexuality, or what it means to be Anglican. Our tribes think that they are the only ones who have a chance at reaching the western culture because they are the only ones who can be flexible enough, or permissive enough, or open enough, or grace-filled enough for the lost to find a home.
And to be fair, it has brought me equal pain and sorrow to read writings of others who believe themselves to be the only keepers of Truth (with little mention of Grace). People write as if they are the self-appointed defenders of the faith, the curators of pure Anglicanism. Sadly, often these brothers and sisters see only a Church made in their own image, one that tends to be similar to a Bonsai tree, needing constant trimming and pruning, in order to keep it small and beautiful.
Voices from both extremes are currently prevalent in our Church culture and in our dialogues. And instead of flowing from hearts rooted in an understanding of our own human brokenness and need for grace, this Bishop of the Church feels it is once again rooted in hubris and offense.
During my daily offices I pray for many things. But I never leave out prayers for the persecuted Church throughout the world, as well as prayers for protection from pride and arrogance in my own life and in the lives of my fellow leaders within the Western Church. I encourage you to join me in adding to our prayers that God’s Holy Spirit would so fill us, so purify and refine us as Christian leaders, with humility and love for one another, that despite our differences, the world will only see His Glory working in us. History has proven over and again that hubris and offense never end well. Humility and complete dependence on the Grace of God always end well.