The spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican communion, George Carey, officially created an autonomous Anglican province of Southeast Asia in Singapore in February. Moses Tay, 57-year-old evangelical bishop of Singapore, has become its first archbishop.
The new province unites about 200,000 Anglicans in Singapore, West Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The new province will make autonomous administrative and leadership decisions, while still being "in communion with the Church of England."
Anglicanism throughout Southeast Asia generally is more evangelical, charismatic, and conservative than that of the Church of England. Autonomy will allow distinctives to remain. The Anglican church in Singapore is unlikely to ordain women as is now permitted in many Anglican provinces. "Anglicanism at its very best can hold differences of thought together," Carey said. "Catholicism, evangelicalism, charismaticism, and liberalism all contribute."
Copyright © 1996 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.
Our digital archives are a work in progress. Let us know if corrections need to be made.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
More from this Issue
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineThe Secret Sin of ‘Mommy Juice’Alcoholism among women is rising. Can the church help?
- Editor's Pick‘Wildcat’ Is as Unsettling as Flannery O’Connor Would Have WantedEthan Hawke has made a movie as scandalous as one of the writer’s short stories.