We’ve just published our canons. Some may wonder why such a small community like ours even bother with canons. After all, it is not an unreasonable criticism that this is purely a “vanity exercise.” There are, however, a number of points worth mentioning by way of rebuttal.
Regardless of size, all communities develop written or unwritten rules about their organisation – its ethos, and the mechanics of how it achieves its goals. In our small community we have seen time and again, both through experience, and observation of other communities, that clarity breeds confidence; investment in a clear (but not rigid) outline of the method and ethos of the community (again regardless of its size) empowers the whole membership.

We are not an OC/IC community in isolation – rather we are proud to be a constituent member of a much wider movement with a, sometimes daunting, degree of diversity. Increasingly we are of the belief that we OC/IC folk need to be more visible. We are after all a sizable minority within Christianity – and we have some really talented people in the movement – why should we all not benefit from their contribution to our ever-growing tradition, our sense of identity?

Yes, it is true that “identity” here, is a tricky thing to pin down, we are not (thank God) a homogeneous community. But we do have enough common points – our history and heritage for example – to allow for lots of cross-pollination, and exchange of ideas. Publishing, not just on the web, but also in print (and for that matter other media), opens the doors for a much wider audience within and without the movement, to engage with interests and issues, and to better understand ourselves, and one another.

We know that our canons are only one possible system for organising a community, and it is a system which while some may find inspires, others may not find to their liking. If in publishing our canons we have contributed to the debate and exploration within another synod about how they see themselves, and how they organise themselves, then we believe we have achieved our greater goal.

So, was this a vanity exercise? Yes, absolutely! We are proud of our canons, and we wanted to have them in a format we enjoy. But we also saw an opportunity to contribute to the wider debate within the OC/IC community – about issues of how we see ourselves, how we organise ourselves, and how we can all help one another do it better. We also feel that its time we OC/IC folk began producing – in all formats – innovative and original products that set our ideas, theologies, and issues before a wider audience within and without the movement. This is our first attempt – more are on the way.