Confusion abounds – both inside and outside the Church of England.
(1) Justin Welby gave an interview in which he was asked: ‘Is gay sex sinful?’ He replied: ‘You know very well that is a question I can’t give a straight answer to.’ The interview transcript then states: ‘[Pause, mildly embarrassed.]’ Pressed on why he couldn’t give an answer he said: ‘Because I don’t do blanket condemnation and I haven’t got a good answer to the question. I’ll be really honest about that.’
(2) Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, said that the CofE should be stripped of its exemptions under the 2010 Equality Act which allows it to act differently from the rest of society in relation to gender and sexuality issues where there are ‘strongly held religious convictions’.
(3) Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, wrote in the Church Times that ‘The central purpose of the Church is no longer to reconcile people to God…. It is to invite people to enjoy God.’
Not just us
But it’s not just in the Church of England that there has been confusion.
(4) In a surprise move, former Church of England minister Gavin Ashenden was made a Missionary Bishop by the obscure Christian Episcopal Church, apparently with the idea he should work with GAFCON’s Missionary Bishop Andy Lines, REACH-SA’s Missionary Bishop Jonathan Pryke and others to develop new Anglican structures outside the CofE. But later it was revealed that his consecration had been four years ago and kept secret until now.
The Christian Episcopal Church seems to have less than a dozen parishes – and none in the UK. Its website reveals that it held a ‘Requiem Mass’ for its late founding bishop. It recognises seven sacraments. It uses the 1928 Prayer Book and the Anglican Missal, a Catholic-orientated document. These things are scarcely compatible with evangelical belief.
A GAFCON statement said: ‘The Christian Episcopal Church ... is not part of the Anglican Communion and is not a constituent Church of the GAFCON movement.’
(5) Meanwhile in the global Anglican Communion a Primates’ Meeting was boycotted by some, but attended by most. According to the Church Times, Kenya’s Archbishop Jackson Sapit, a GAFCON Primate at the meeting, called on the Church to avoid being ‘narrow-minded’ and ‘not focus too much on narrow… differences’ which surprised many GAFCON supporters.
GAFCON’s Andy Lines responded to the Primates’ communiqué, pointing out that it ‘does not criticise false teaching, but focuses on border crossing’ – i.e. by Missionary Bishops – ‘as if it is more harmful… We cannot make an equivalence between Provinces who choose to abandon key aspects of biblical theology… and those who respond to calls for help from faithful Anglicans within those Provinces.’
ReNew positive
Amidst this confusion the ReNew conference of UK Anglican evangelicals was very positive. Many would agree it could have been even better if Bishop Julian Henderson, Church of England Evangelical Council President, and thus a key Anglican evangelical leader, had been invited and given an opportunity to speak about his meeting with Global South Primates and the CEEC’s promised new initiatives. Next year?
There’s further useful clarity in an article by Mark Pickles, Anglican Ministry Director at Oak Hill, in the latest Church Society Crossway magazine.
