Church's future in China has last bishop worried.China's last Anglican bishop An Anglican Bishop is a bishop in the Anglican church, either in the British Isles or beyond. Anglican Bishops
At a dinner with members of a delegation from the Episcopal Church Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. Doctrine and Organization of the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Bishop Ting said that Anglicanism seems to have disappeared in China's post-denominational church, but "Anglican bishops and priests have been greatly appreciated for better learning and theological education." As a result, they have exerted a strong influence on the formation of church life at the local and regional level, as well as providing leadership for the China Christian Council The China Christian Council (中国基督教协会) or CCC was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. , the national organization that supervises church life. Although he is the last bishop and there are no priests who function as Anglicans, he detects a new interest in the Book of Common Prayer and the Anglican style of worship centered in the Eucharist. Chinese students returning from studies abroad sometimes bring back elements of Anglican liturgy, even a few vestments. "I like to think in pride that we are an experiment on behalf of the whole church," he said. The rapid growth of the church is causing some problems in China, and Bishop Ting is open in describing his deep concern for its theological direction. The key to maintaining unity is an attitude of mutual respect in matters of faith and worship, he said during the conversation at his home. The church's strong interest in evangelism means, however, that there is not much discussion about sacramental theology. "We are paying a heavy price in order to maintain the present unity," he said. "Many things are being omitted in our church life in order to be mutually respective. In building up our theological life and thinking we are trying to emphasize that we all need more diversity. We are doing our best to encourage students to be interested in theology, not just schools of theology." Bishop Ting was consecrated con·se·crate tr.v. con·se·crat·ed, con·se·crat·ing, con·se·crates 1. To declare or set apart as sacred: consecrate a church. 2. Christianity a. in Hanzhou while teaching at Nanjing Seminary in the early 1950s, after graduating from Columbia/Union Seminary in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The church was not anti-communist then, and, he said, "The mission of the church in China will be fruitless if it adopts anti-communism as our mission, especially these days." He is convinced that "the Communist Party Communist party, in China Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. is changing its attitude towards the church." |
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