Bishop Davidson prays for Archbishop Bates and his wife Cathy
The Convocation of the Central Province took place at the Cathedral Church of the King in Olathe, Kansas (June 10-12).
At the opening of the Convocation, Archbishop Bates told a gathering of 140 persons that God drew the CEC’s founders to build its communion as a “house of prayer.” He noted that the CEC was birthed out of the pro-life movement and prayer.
“The founders were not on a journey to Roman Catholicism, or Anglicanism, or Orthodoxy, but they had heard God’s voice and, as he spoke, they wanted to obey him whole-heartedly. This movement was one based on revelation, not information. The CEC was not birthed out of theology, it grew out of prayer,” Archbishop Bates said.
The CEC’s early leaders already understood there was power in the blood of Christ. Archbishop Bates, said, “As Spirit-filled people, we sang about the blood and ‘pleaded’ the blood. When we grasped that Jesus is instructing us in John 6 and Luke 22 to ‘drink his blood’ this made sense–the ‘Real Presence of Christ’ in the Eucharist made sense–because we knew ‘there’s power in the blood.’”
“Then there was the discovery of Holy Water, not because of information, but because of revelation. When they used Holy Water, demons were cast out. It worked! That’s why they used Holy Water. Why the Book of Common Prayer? Because they needed a liturgy and the Book of Common Prayer was not only thoroughly Biblical but the ancient liturgy was present there in a form their congregations could speak and comprehend,” he said.
Archbishop Bates told the gathering that, “the CEC was a movement of God–not the movement of God.”
“As time went on, God began to speak about being connected to the historic church and there was a revelation about Apostolic government. What did Acts 2:42 have to say about the early church and the government of God? Unity is found where the Bishop is celebrating the Eucharist! There was also a caring community of believers who did ministry together with the bishop, lay and clergy alike, voluntarily giving to each other. So, the liturgy was not the only thing, not even the most important thing.”
“Like the beggar at the temple asking for money, when two bishops told him, ‘Gold and silver I have not but what I do have I will give you…in the name of Jesus Christ be healed,’ that man didn’t need to hear about the perpetual virginity of Mary or various theologies about Purgatory. He needed to know the power of Christ. Don’t sell out what you do have for ‘the liturgy.’ There are many churches with traditional liturgy but the Spirit is not moving among them. The church was built on the movement of the Spirit, not the liturgy. The liturgy is good, but it is nothing without the life of the Spirit. The CEC is a renewal movement.”
The next evening, Archbishop Bates spoke about being an encourager. It was the feast day of St. Barnabas and he wanted to remind parents to be encouragers to their children. He reminded them that their children need to walk with the Lord themselves: “The children can’t live off our anointing. We may have a good plan for our children but God’s is better.”
Bishop Michael Davidson, diocesan for the Central Province, mentioned there has been a lot of pain in the CEC: “When people chose to break covenant with us, there were a lot of broken hearts–especially the hearts of the women and the children.” Both bishops agreed that the Holy Spirit was leading them to pray for the women. A large number received prayer.
On the final day of the Convocation, Archbishop Bates spoke about the ministry of deacons:
“What is our mission? The Great Commission is our mission. We want to reach out to the least, the lost, and the lonely. In fact, that is why the deacons are so important to the Church and to the priests. Their job is to make sure the priest does not forget about the least, the lost, the lonely! Someone who is hurting and doesn’t know Jesus doesn’t need theology and liturgy. He needs the love of Christ. The office of deacon needs to be elevated. Anyone who feels that ‘I’m just a deacon’ does not realize how important that job is.”
