Well, “The Accidental Anglican” is not me! Although my journey to Agnlicanism shares some similar ground, the title is given to The Rev. Dr. Todd Hunter in the latest “Christianity Today” (which has John Calvin on the cover wearing a “Jonathan Edwards is my Homeboy” button!). This issue includes a short interview with Hunter who is going to be consecrated a bishop next week in the Anglican Mission in the America. I have mentioned him previously as he has a vision to plant 200 new Anglican churches on the West Coast over the next 20 years!

As to the interview, I actually usesd it last night in my sermon at St. George’s. I’ve been preaching through the Book of Colossians. What an incredible book! It’s focus upon Jesus is relentless. The interview itself is well worth reading. He answers a number of questions regarding why he has become an Anglican and what he sees for the future. Here are some excerpts.

You just became an Anglican priest in March and a bishop this month. Did you ever remotely envision aligning with Anglicanism?

Two of the earliest people to shape my theology were J. I. Packer and John R. W. Stott. Through John Wimber, I knew almost every charismatic Anglican leader in the world. In Alpha I grew to love and respect a lot of key Anglican leaders. I wasn’t on the Canterbury Trail and didn’t see it coming. But now I realize that I do fit this tribe.

I love the Packer and Stott references as they were 2 of my main touchpoints in my Canterbury Trail. Hunter next answers a question about the Emergent Church. This is timely for my blog as I posted Mark Driscoll’s take last week. Hunter gives different reasons than Driscoll regarding his concern on the Emergent Church.

When you left the Vineyard leadership, you connected to the early emerging church movement. What did you learn?

I linked to the emergent thing because I loved these young Christians who were trying to figure out church and what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this new era. We coached church planters all over the world who were trying to create communities of faith that made sense to their postmodern, post-Christendom friends.

Now you can’t broad-brush the emergent movement. But I saw two big problems in the emergent world.

First, the emergents are so sensitive to issues of community, relationship, egalitarianism, and being non-utilitarian in their relationships, that evangelism has simply become a synonym for manipulation—a foul ball, relationally. If you and I were work colleagues and I built a relationship in which I could influence your journey toward Christ, that would be considered wrong in these circles. I cannot be friends with you if I intend to lead you to Christ.

Second, after 10 or 12 years of the emerging church, you have to ask where anything has been built. Evangelism has been so muted and the normal building of structures and processes hasn’t moved forward because there’s no positive, godly imagination for doing either evangelism or leadership. Such things are by definition utilitarian, and so they were made especially difficult.

Now one can easily ask, what does the Anglican Church bring to the table that makes it relevant today.

What do you think about churches in the seeker mode—if that means “non-participating mode”?

I love all the seeker guys and was one myself. But anybody today who wants to be a seeker and follow God in the way of Jesus is going to want a religion to practice. I’m wondering if Anglicanism and other streams grounded in spiritual practices aren’t going to be used by God in a way they have not been used since frontier America and Wesley.

America is going to become increasingly secular and hostile to the church. But what will build the bridge to whatever authentic Christianity emerges next is going to be a serious practiced Christianity. I think there’s going to be a revival of religion.

What does evangelism look like in our world today.

When people are on a journey of discovery, at what point do you think, The Spirit of God is now leading me to pose the question that gets them to cross the line?

In much of post-World War II evangelicalism, we asked people to cross a finish line. So it went: apologetics, apologetics, apologetics, then, okay, you get it now, you need to make a decision, and you get to go to heaven when you die. What I’d prefer to see is apologetics, enculturation, saying the prayers, and then you come to a line, but it’s a starting line: Are you ready to become a follower of Jesus? Can you now see the big intention of God for the earth and what he was doing through Christ and Pentecost and creating the people of God? Are you willing to join that family and take up that family’s cause through following Jesus?

Finally, he gives an example of how the liturgy helps to lead and then tranform people into Christlikeness.

You’re planting churches that require people to understand liturgy. How do you engage people with old traditions?

The book I’ve just now finished writing is called Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices (InterVarsity). I walk readers through a service from prelude to benediction, and I try to recast preludes, Scripture readings, the sermon, and so forth to show how these practices can be spiritual disciplines that animate, energize, and enliven a spiritual life in Christ.

In one public service, I didn’t wear all the vestments. I wanted to give parishioners just a taste of liturgy. So when I went behind the table, I put on my stole. I said, “This is a stole. On the same night that Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ he put a towel around himself, washed the disciples’ feet, and said, ‘See, I’ve set the example.’ This stole is symbolic of me as a servant and us together as a community taking up the towel of Jesus.”

I am personally encouraged to have Todd joining, leading and soon to be overseeing (as a Bishop) our church (not St. George’s in particular as we will still be under the wonderful oversight of Bishop Sandy Greene). There’s more to the interview and you can read it all here: “The Accidental Anglican.”

Shane+