The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) has voted to approve same-sex 'marriage', reversing its original decision.
The ACC's General Synod, meeting in Ottowa, appeared on Monday night to have rejected, by one vote, a proposal calling for its introduction.
However, on Tuesday, the last day of the triennial conference, it was announced that the ACC would approve same-sex 'marriage', after church leaders confessed to a counting error.
The vote
To pass, the resolution required two-thirds of votes from each of the following groupings: laity, clergy and bishops.
After hearing from more than 60 speakers, the needed majority of bishops and laity voted in favour.
Clergy, however, failed to reach the threshold by one vote which was inadvertently counted as a laity vote.
The error was discovered after members, who stood up to say their vote had not been recorded, requested a detailed hard copy of the electronic voting records.
Rebellion
Before the discovery, Toronto’s archbishop led a rebellion of clergy who said they would conduct same-sex ‘marriage’ ceremonies regardless of the Synod’s rejection.
In order for the resolution to become canonical law, it must be reviewed and affirmed at the next General Synod in 2019.
Roughly 1.6 million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican, according to Statistics Canada. Figures suggest more than 500,000 of them are part of about 2,800 congregations across the country.
Christian Concern's Wilberforce Director Dr Joe Boot, who is based in Canada, commented:
"The logic of the Canadian Anglican bishops is that of a homeowner burning down his own house in hopes of claiming on the insurance to build another, only to discover that there is no policy coverage for acts of arson.
"God will not underwrite such fraud. Apostate institutions are cast aside by God with their culpable leaders; he does not rebuild his church in the image of sinful man. Such leaders have certainly forgotten that judgment begins at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17) and that those charged to teach are subject to stricter judgment (Jas. 3:1).
"The Anglican bishops presiding over the decrepit remnants of old liberalisms assault on their churches appear ready to hammer the last nails into their own coffin of spiritual apostasy and cultural irrelevance.
"The only churches that continue to grow, flourish and win people from all walks of life are those that remain faithful to God, to scripture and to the eternal truths of the gospel – truths set forth so powerfully in the marriage covenant. This is the end of the line for the ACC as we have known it."
Read Joe Boots full article here: Goodbye to the Anglican Church of Canada.
Related Links:
Goodbye to the Anglican Church of Canada (Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity)
Teetering on the brink: Shared Convulsions at Synods