After their meeting in Virginia the Rwandan bishops returned home. Their attitude towards Chairman Murphy soured. As Bishop Barnum put it, “It seemed, on the surface, that this meeting went well and that these two men were walking together. But deep, unresolved issues lay underneath the surface.”1
The Rwandan House of Bishops met in late November “to discuss all that has transpired and determine(d) that the AMiA situation requires immediate intervention.”2 and they “made numerous attempts to communicate with Murphy via telephone, email, and in person…As a last resort, the House of Bishops wrote to Murphy on Nov 30 expressing numerous concerns and calling him to repentance.”
In fact, one day after a Rwandan bishop met with Reverends Colson and Claire, the Rwandan bishops wrote to the “congregations and leaders” of AMiA on Sunday, November 20th, but “The AMiA national office refuses to distribute this letter to clergy and congregations.”3 This was the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, so perhaps they waited until after the holiday to see if AMiA headquarters would distribute the letter as instructed. The November 20th letter said:
Kigali, November 20, 2011
Peace and Grace from our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
This letter is written with the purpose of reaching out to the AMiA congregations and leaders, to re-assure you of our firm stand with you. We are hearing all that is going on and the issue that is distracting all of us. Our hearts were broken by the resignation of Terrell Glenn. Terrell remains one of us and under the leadership of the Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda. We also have been praying for the Washington group. Openness, transparency and speaking truth in love should be encouraged.
Dear AMiA friends, stand firm in this difficult and trying times. As per our House of Bishops’ stand, we are supportive of AMiA that we know, have and nothing else (Washington DC Meeting in November 2011, AMiA and PEAR delegates). we will do anything with the Lord’s guidance to support and stand with you.
Instead of being distracted, let us keep our focus on the higher calling of being obedient to the Great Commission, preaching the news, planting healthy churches and growing them and encouraging the believers. (signed by all the bishops)
Notably, the letter made no mention of Bishop Murphy but strongly endorsed Bishop Glenn as “one of us.” It referred to an “issue that is distracting all of us” meaning the Missionary Society proposal. The Rwandan leadership specifically called out the “Washington group” as in their minds for supportive prayer. It said they supported the “AMiA that we know” implying that changes to that structure were not welcome. It is easy to see why Pawley’s Island did not want to distribute this letter that undercut everything they were working for.
Having been frustrated in their attempt to communicate with those theoretically under their leadership, the Rwandan House wrote again on November 30th, and sent the earlier letter along with a second letter.4 These letters were emailed out as “an open letter” to all the bishops in the USA who were encouraged to send it to their network leaders. My pastor told me “What if you were to send the letter forward to Stand Firm and others so that they can post it? It is meant to be read.” That’s what I did with both Stand Firm and Anglican Ink, who quickly had it on their sites. Others may have also shared the letters to these sites, but I am not aware of it. While it may seem like nitpicking to wonder who sent what to whom and when, it was a major issue to the AMiA bishops. Thad Barnum later wrote:
If only this letter had been private. It wasn’t. An unknown source had released it to an Anglican journalist who was about to take it public. And once again, what was meant to be done in private was now exposed for all the world to see. But worse, far worse, it seemed to some to color the way the Archbishop’s letter of godly admonition was received. Was it possible Rwanda released it? some asked. And if that was true, how could the admonition be, in itself, godly? But surely an orthodox Archbishop’s godly discipline can’t be ignored, and ruled ungodly, simply because it was leaked to the press?
And Chuck Murphy mentioned these communication issues:
In November, Stand Firm posted communication from the HOB in Rwanda to the clergy in the Mission regarding Terrell’s resignation before the letter hit my Inbox through email.
I was one conduit for these communications, but I suspect that there were many others, possibly including bishops in Rwanda.
The second letter said:
Kigali, November 30, 2011.
Dear Bishop Chuck,
Greetings from Kigali.
After a moment of prayer, reflection and discernment, we are writing as House of Bishops to express our concerns. You have constantly disregarded the decisions and counsels of the House of Bishops. You have misused the authority given to you by the Archbishop in advancing your New Missionary Society interests. We wrote you a letter twice to halt the advancement of the society, and you have ignored us to where you are at step 8th of 10. You have insulted our house using abusive language (knucklehead, reversed colonialism, lawlessness, etc…). You have dogged questions of financial transparency and yet in the September meeting you had promised that you will send all the financial transactions meant for Rwanda.
We are asking:
- A letter of apology,
- Stopping trying to change AMiA into a new missionary society which is confusing and causing divisions among AMiA flock.
- Provide a letter of commitment to re-focus on AMiA.
We would like to hear from you within a week. Failure to do that, you will have made “de facto” choice to withdraw from your position of Primatial Vicar. We know that you have your options, but we also can not function with the behavior and approaches we have seen and observed.
The Most Rev. Dr. Onesphore Rwaje, Archbishop of the Province and Bishop of Gasabo.
(the other bishops signed)
Rwanda was exercising authority over a bishop in their chain of command and their instructions to Bishop Murphy went public immediately. The gauntlet had been thrown down.
- First Steps Toward Reconciliation And Why I Decided to Stay in Rwanda, Bishop Thad Barnum. ↩︎
- Why Did AMiA Break Away from the Anglican Province of Rwanda? by Claire et al. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Bishop Barnum wrote, “On November 30, after taking counsel with the House of Bishops, and in unity with
them, Archbishop Rwaje decided to release two letters.” First Steps Toward Reconciliation And Why I Decided to Stay in Rwanda. ↩︎
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