It’s very easy to lament all that is wrong about the Church of England – after all, there is quite a lot to choose from!
Sometimes, however, it’s also good to reflect on some of the positives that still exist. For example, as a national church, the CofE still has a voice that carries some weight in a way that other denominations do not. Thus, in recent discussions about the migrant crisis at Calais and its effect on the UK, the Bishop of Dover was on hand to offer a much needed Christian comment on how we view those seeking to come here.
And so when David Cameron referred to ‘a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean’ Bishop Trevor Willmott said: ‘To put them [migrants and refugees] all together in that very unhelpful phrase just categorises people and I think he could soften that language – and that doesn’t mean not dealing with the issue. It means dealing with the issue in a non-hostile way.’ His views were widely reported. Given that loving our neighbour is the second greatest commandment, and bearing in mind Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, it was surely good for an Anglican bishop to be able to say something at least moderately helpful.
Pulling leaders from their thrones
Similarly, when David Cameron attacked ‘non-violent extremism’, controversial cleric Giles Fraser was on hand to write an excellent column in The Guardian in which he denounced the government’s apparent view that it was ‘the job of religious people to be pas-torally nice, softly spoken and uncontroversial’.
‘But that’s not Jesus,’ he continued. ‘And like him, I believe in pulling the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly. And I believe there is an authority greater than yours [Mr Cameron] – one I would obey before I would obey the laws of this land. And if that makes me a dangerous extremist, Mr Cameron, then you probably ought to come over to south London and arrest me now.’ Giles Fraser is often wide of the mark, but on this occasion, he was spot on.
We might also applaud two recent General Synod motions on climate change which were passed with overwhelming majorities at its most recent meeting in July.
A tolerated minority?
But, of course, the challenges remain. The Shared Conversations on Sexuality continue, with one evangelical, Nick Gowers, vicar of Holy Trinity, Old Hill, Worcester, telling the Church Times of his experience at the West Midlands session: ‘Everybody was trying very hard to listen to one another, and that was very precious and valuable... [But] I think I realised that the Church of England was further from the traditional position than I feared, in practice, on the ground. I hope we would call people to a traditional view of marriage or celibacy, but my fear is that those who hold an orthodox position will become a tolerated minority.’
Some challenges not only remain, but are not even on our horizons. I am often concerned about the way Anglo-Catholic practices in the Church of England now seem to be widely tolerated by evangelicals in a way that would have J.C. Ryle spinning in his grave.
Church Society is shortly to produce a book called ‘The effective Anglican – seizing the opportunities of ministry in the Church of England’, with contributions from Lee Gatiss, Keith Sinclair, Andrew Atherstone, Simon Vibert and Andrew Cinammond. Perhaps it will help us solve some of these conundrums – or even conundra.
