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Meet South Africa’s Bishop Gill

The best outcome to be expected from a major meetings of church leaders, according to an old and cynical friend of mine, is that no lasting damage is done to the church catholic. I guess that meetings of the National Council of the Anglican Church in America falls into the above category—thus the council’s gathering a couple of weeks ago in Brockton, Massachusetts, qualifies as a roaring success.

Actually, the most interesting aspect of National Council meetings is not so much what takes place around the conference table as the people one meets there.

And, perhaps, the most interesting person at this gathering was The Rt. Rev. Michael Gill, Bishop of Pretoria and Southern Africa, and secretary of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

Bishop Gill’s enormous jurisdiction spans many thousands of square miles. It encompasses eight of the Southern African Development Community countries and its members speak at least 30 languages.

Witnessing for the faith in Southern Africa can be a dangerous business. Not so long ago, in South Africa’s townships where murder rates top those of Baltimore, two of his priests were brutally assaulted and a deacon was killed.

Bishop Gill’s jurisdiction is anything but wealthy. A majority of his people are desperately poor, but the parishes are generally large—some with as many as 7,000 or 8,000 people.

“We don’t get a lot of financial help from places like America,” he says, “But you would be surprised how far we can make a little money go. For $50, for instance, I can put a priest in a parish …”

Bishop Gill has little time for the defensive posture of so many American Christians in the face of the constant attacks from secularists determined to drive all expressions of the faith out of the public square.

“[Anglicans] often [seem to believe] that ours is a rearguard action—a last ditch defense; a walling in of what we know and hold dear,” he says, “If that is so then I am afraid that we are all lost. And so is Anglicanism, and so ultimately will be the Christian Faith.”

Evangelism has to be our top priority, he declares, adding: “Father Wellington Murinda, the Vicar General of Zimbabwe, is a true evangelist and a great missionary priest. He tells his men in the field: ‘Don’t speak to me; show me the work.’”

In Southern Africa, as in America and Europe, Islam—fueled by millions of Saudi dollars—is making massive strides particularly among the youth.

“The church has to be on the march against such a concerted onslaught,” he says. “Souls are being lost—and this while we are the ones responsible for this particular era of the Church.

“We have shown that we are prepared to stand up for what we believe, even at great personal cost. But what is needed amongst us is a far more offensive mentality. The first Disciples faced the same difficulties, and yet they triumphed. Should we not be able to do the same?” GPH✠

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