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Saving Power: The Mission of God & the Anglican Communion

Reviewed by Julian Reindorp.

This is an excellent account of mission and the Anglican church today. Michael Doe, formerly parish priest, youth secretary of the British Council of Churches, Cathedral Canon, Bishop of Swindon for 10 years, and just finishing seven years as General Secretary of Anglicans in World Mission (formerly USPG) has packed a huge amount into this short and very stimulating book.

Saving Power is, of course, about the Gospel, but it also raises radical questions about how the church has used and is using its power today. He also faces head-on some of the conflicts in the Anglican Communion today, raising searching questions for those holding very different viewpoints.

The early chapters have a very Anglican focus – the expansion of the Church of England, the emergence of the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Communion today, the mission of God and the Anglican tradition, but the issues he raises are ones all our traditions are facing – the Church in mission today, globalization and the post-colonial church, the future of mission and Communion.

The average Anglican lives in the South, “she is 22, lives in sub-Saharan Africa, walks several kilometres a day to fetch water for her three or four children”. Bishop Mwamba of Botswana reminds us (p.37) that “Africa does not want the sexuality debate imposed upon it as a priority agenda. Our priority is about basic survival.” The same bishop talks about leaders needing “long ears for listening”. The problem, he says, is that many bishops in the Anglican Communion have “short ears”.

To the five marks of mission (Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; Teach, baptize and nurture new believers; Respond to human need by loving service; Seek to transform unjust structures of society; strive to safeguard the integrity of creation; and sustain and renew the life of the earth), has been added to in 2009 by a sixth mark focussing on reconciliation.

Packed with good quotations - ”most political questions are, at their core, moral or spiritual”, his own society trains ‘companions in mission', and focusses on Communion (koinonia): “Communion is at the heart of God, the very life of the Trinity. God yearns to draw each one of us into this communion with him” (p.40).

His twelve illustrated points offered to the 2008 Lambeth Conference suggest an Anglican approach to mission and evangelism: the source and goal of all mission lies in the nature and work of the Trinity; all mission should be centred on Jesus Christ; it must be holistic or 'integrated'; understanding mission needs Scripture, tradition and reason; theological diversity can be creative in understanding mission; the Church is an integral part of mission and its delivery; it must be rooted in the Incarnation of Christ; it must take its cultural situation seriously; in mission we continue to grow in our understanding of what God is doing; it is the responsibility of all the baptized under the leadership of the bishop; it should be a shared activity across the Communion; and it should be part of larger ecumenical giving and receiving.

Michael Doe is a wise and informed guide and sees Anglicanism as rooted in common prayer rather than common beliefs. This book highly recommended.