If Christianity is more about relationships than rules and rituals, how does that express itself in contentious areas?
Justin Welby seems keen to develop a relational approach to his leadership of Anglicans. Perhaps this springs from his own relationship with Christ. Asked by the Daily Telegraph recently, ‘Do you know Jesus?’ the Archbishop responded: ‘Yes. I do. He’s both someone one knows and someone one scarcely knows at all, an utterly intimate friend and yet with indescribable majesty’.
An emphasis on relationship is something that characterises his approach to resolving conflict. Recent discussions at General Synod about the ordination of women as bishops followed a whole day in which members were put into groups to share their views more informally.
Option One
When the debate came, Synod ‘reaffirmed its commitment to admitting women to the episcopate as a matter of urgency’ and to do so via what has become known as ‘Option One’ — the simplest proposal put forward. This would make it possible for women to become bishops in exactly the same way as men, without any caveats or qualifications. Arrangements for opponents would, according to the Church Times, ‘be set out in a formal declaration by the bishops, or an Act of Synod. The Synod also approved a motion to introduce a mandatory grievance procedure’.
Essentially, what is envisaged for those opposed to women bishops is to be founded not on regulations but on establishing relationships of trust. Justin Welby told the Synod: ‘History and contemporary experience show that detailed arrangements not only embed division, they are also unworkable and lead to frequent and prolonged litigation... If they do not lead to gaming the system they invite a box-ticking approach that seeks to conform to the letter not to the spirit’.
He added that the approach he was trying to develop was ‘a radical way forward’ focused on ‘the possibility of building trust’ so that women are ordained as bishops ‘on exactly the same basis as men’ and yet there was also the ‘flourishing together of all parts of the church’ — in other words, those
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opposed to the change.
Homophobic bullying
On sexuality, the Archbishop said he was ‘not proposing new policy’ but that the church had to face up to homophobic bullying. He called for ‘a programme for use in our schools, taking the best advice we can find anywhere, that specifically targets such bullying’, and, more than that, to ‘demonstrate the lavish love of God to all of us, who are all without exception sinners’. A Daily Telegraph report — under the misleading headline, ‘Welby calls for church to join the sexual revolution’ — suggested gay rights group Stonewall was among those being consulted. Its chief executive Ben Summerskill said: ‘There are already several dozen Church of England schools working with Stonewall. But the cynic would be tempted to think perhaps that the Archbishop is trying to distract attention from his failure to engage gay people’.
It is not just Justin Welby who is thinking about relationship-building. In an article on the Church Society website entitled ‘The Need for Evangelical Courage’, Pete Myers writes: ‘Spiritual battles are fought by loving winsomeness: only when many of our opponents truly feel that we love them will they actually listen to what we say. However, this also requires courage. It makes me feel a lot better to lament and shout about how people must repent and submit to the Bible. If you want to feel better — go ahead and do that. But if you want to make a difference — we must befriend our opponents in order to faithfully win people over for Christ’.
