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As the chairman of the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa, Akinola also is urging Africans to develop their own system of theological education. When bishops held their first all-Africa gathering at Lagos, Nigeria, in late October, they agreed. "The time has come for the church in Africa to address the pitfalls in our present theological and Western worldview education, which has failed to relate with some of the sociopolitical and economic challenges and Christian faith in Africa," their communiqué said. "We need well-resourced, highly rated and contextually relevant theological institutions that can engage intelligently with our peculiar challenges from an African perspective."

That goal, too, connects with Akinola's concern that African Anglicans not be at the mercy of wealthy Westerners. Akinola believes the Episcopal Church is creating a new religion. God asks in Amos 3:3, "Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?" It's a question Akinola has cited repeatedly. Akinola has said he can no longer walk alongside the Episcopal Church. "Whatever is not in line with the authority of the Word of God must be evangelized. Those who do not uphold this," Akinola said while holding a Bible aloft, "I will not go with them."

Just what that means for the future of the Anglican Communion will become clearer as the next Lambeth Conference convenes in 2008. For now, as Philip Jenkins has observed, the day of Global South Christianity is dawning.

Douglas LeBlanc, a CT contributing editor, is a lifelong Anglican.

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Our full coverage of the battle in the Anglican Communion includes articles about Akinola:

'African Church Has Come of Age,' Say African Anglican Bishops | It now faces the dual threat of Western heresy and militant Islam. (Oct. 27, 2004)

Christian History Corner
The African Lion Roars in the Western Church | Anglican liberals are fretting, conservatives rejoicing, and all are scrambling to their history books: whence this new evangelical force on the world scene? (June 27, 2003)

The website of the Anglican Church of Nigeria has more information about Akinola.

Philip Jenkins wrote a profile of Akinola for The Atlantic.

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July 2005, Vol. 49, No. 7