A church council in Hull has called on the Archbishop of York to repent.
This follows him making what were seen as ‘intemperate’, ‘ungodly’ and ‘theologically inept’ comments at the Church of England’s General Synod in July.
The vicar of the church, St John Newland, has also criticised the Archbishop for giving his authoritative approval to a ‘Service of Welcome’ for members of the LGBT Christian Fellowship at Hull Minster.
Evangelical flagship
Writing online, the Revd Melvin Tinker said that Hull Minster (formerly Hull Trinity Church) was once the ‘flagship of Evangelicalism’, but is now hosting the service with transsexual lesbian Canon Rachel Mann as the main speaker.
‘The rector of the Minster, Canon Dr Neal Barnes, who identifies himself as an evangelical, has defended his decision to host this event by appealing to the statements made by Archbishops Welby and Sentamu after the failed House of Bishops Report earlier this year.
‘Dr Barnes has assured critics ‘that there is no departure from the Church of England's position on the matter and that the emphasis of welcome coheres with the recent calls from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the General Synod.’
‘To be sure, there is no departure in that no one has formally denied the Church’s teaching, but there is more than one way to bring about a denial of, and a change to, the Church’s teaching. This is one very effective way.’
Once lamented, now celebrated
Mr Tinker highlighted that Hull was known for its evangelicals in the 18th century. One of the great leaders of the day was ‘Joseph Milner, elder brother of Isaac Milner, who was instrumental in the conversion of William Wilberforce’.
Mr Tinker said Milner used to preach, at what was then Hull Trinity Church, to packed congregations each Sunday.
‘In one of his sermons he lamented that he detected “a proud and worldly spirit and the excessive love of gain eating out the love of Christ” and “the awful progress of gross wickedness and vice’’.
‘What was once lamented in that church is now sadly being celebrated. But of course, Milner was not very “inclusive”; his hard Biblical preaching would have no doubt put many people off. Some people, no doubt, but then we read of this occurring: “Drunkards, debauchees were reformed [is this an 18th century case of ‘conversion therapy’?], the care of the soul became the topic of common conversation, the sick sent for him to visit their chambers, and when he returned he found his house crowded with visitors who had come for spiritual advice: great numbers of the poor and of the middle classes became truly religious.”
Fake Christ
‘We can hardly expect the same today, while some clergy cannot distinguish vice from virtue, and replace the Christ who came preaching ‘repentance for the Kingdom of God is near’ with a fake Christ who affirms everything and demands nothing.
‘I am sure Canon Barnes is not wittingly being complicit in the attempt by some to subvert genuine Christianity which, in theory at least, the Church of England still stands for. But perhaps the famous saying of Edmund Burke that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” has morphed into “The only thing necessary for the triumph of the progressives is for good men to be naive”.’
In an open letter to the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, the Parochial Church Council (PCC) at St John Newland said that there was a ‘failure to meet the standard required of a bishop, according to Titus 1.7-9’. It also said that the PCC would be withholding its freewill offering to the Church of England to indicate their ‘serious concern at the present state of affairs’.
Where’s the Bible?
The PCC referred to an amendment made by Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams at the General Synod: she wanted to insert the words ‘as revealed in the Bible and taught by the church’ to a motion calling for politicians to ‘prioritise the common good of all people’.
But Archbishop Sentamu responded: ‘If you’re going to serve the whole community please don’t limit our language… The Word became flesh and sadly we are now making it Word, Word and Word again.’
The PCC said it ‘no longer has any confidence in the Archbishop of York in ‘all things spiritual’ and requests that he expresses repentance for what took place’.
It added: ‘The PCC has also been grieved by the general direction of the Synod and the appalling manner in which those who hold to the teachings of Jesus have been ridiculed, mocked and scorned. We fear that the Synod has imbibed the ‘spirit of the age’ and we request satisfactory assurances from the leadership that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable and that it will work towards creating a more courteous and biblically responsive environment in the future.’
