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I am not naïve. The divisions in the Episcopal Church are deep, and the issues do not lend themselves to compromise. Either same-sex relationships can be hallowed by God, or they can't. At the present moment, to put it in political terms, I am on the "losing" side. The ecclesiastical machinery of the Episcopal Church is firmly in the hands of those who affirm the 2003 convention's actions. Indeed, I do not expect to live long enough to see the church change direction. In this, I take comfort from the example of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria during the contentious fourth century.

The divisions in his day were as profound as those in ours. As a young deacon, Athanasius had attended the Council in Nicaea in a.d. 325, and he affirmed its decisions regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ. In the decades that followed, however, the church moved from the Orthodox to the Arian position. (The Arians rejected the divinity of Jesus and placed him in a kind of "semidivine" status.) It seemed at times that Athanasius stood alone: Athanasius contra mundum. When he died, he was still on the losing side. Yet it was his faithfulness that, after his death, turned the tide, and in 381 the Council of Constantinople reaffirmed the decisions of Nicaea. While I do not compare myself to Athanasius, nor our crisis to that of the fourth century, I do cling to his witness and pray that I can serve a divided church with the same faithfulness.

My friend Jeffrey Steenson, bishop of the Rio Grande (New Mexico and a slice of west Texas), notes in his recent diocesan convention address that Augustine of Hippo, responding to the Donatist schism, articulated three important principles:

1. The true identity of the church as Christ's body is in no way diminished by the imperfections of its human members.

2. As long as we live in this present age, we must accept that it is God's will that saints and sinners are mixed together in the church.

3. Breaking communion and separating ourselves from the church is ultimately more damaging than the heretical ideas and practices that may have occasioned these actions.

Bishop Steenson then points out that Augustine cited two parables of Jesus—the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24-30) and the net (Matt. 13:47-50)—as a reminder that it is not our vocation to stand in the Lord's place as the sifter at the harvest or the sorter at the close of the age. "Let the separation be waited for until the end of time, faithfully, patiently, bravely," said Augustine.

Why do I not join those who have left or are leaving? Why do I stay? Serving a broken and divided church is a hard calling, and I do not minimize the difficulty of the task or the inevitable disappointments that I will encounter on the journey. But the Lord, for his good purpose, has (I humbly believe) thrown into one church Christians of radically different and sometimes theologically incompatible perspectives. Is it possible that in the midst of this painful discontinuity, he may do a work that none of us can foresee? It is in that hope and in remembering that he is Lord of the church and in charge of the big picture that I follow Jesus in the Episcopal Church.

The Rt. Rev. Edward S. Little II is bishop of Northern Indiana and author of Ears to Hear: Recognizing and Responding to God's Call (Morehouse Publishing, 2003).

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Christianity Today's full coverage of the turmoil in the Anglican Communion is available online.

A recent Christianity Today editorial suggested sometimes church splits are necessary.

Intelligent Church Redesign | It's a sad but necessary reality that some denominational splits are justified. (Dec. 7 2005)

An earlier CT editorial made a similar point.

No-Fault Division? | It may be time for mainline churches to consider an amicable divorce. (July 1, 2004)

CT has also reported extensively on similar issues in the American Baptist Church, the UCC, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

CT Executive Editor Timothy George recently discussed evangelical ecumenism in Is Christ Divided?

For more articles on related denominational disputes, see Christianity Today's Church Life, and Sexuality and Gender archives.

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March 2006, Vol. 50, No. 3