Re-formation or re-creation?

Those who have been following recent events in Anglicanism will have noticed two competing narratives at play. Both claim they are looking for a new Reformation:

‘… the Canterbury Primates Meeting, held earlier this month, shows once again that the Anglican Communion is in urgent need of a new Reformation.’ – Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates

‘What do we do with the gift today? Will we be willing ourselves to be reformed again and always, setting aside our differences because we are caught up in the grace that is found through faith?’ – Archbishop Justin Welby

But if we look closely at these two narratives, we see that only one is seeking true reformation; the other, whilst using the language of reformation, is in effect seeking to re-create the Church in a new image.

Different gospel

In his sermon at the Reformation 500th Anniversary service, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared that: ‘through the Reformation we learned that we are saved entirely, confidently and unfailingly by grace alone, through faith and not by our own works’. While it is wonderful to hear again these truths, it is disturbing because the statement implies that this view of God’s saving grace is a mere 500 years old. Yet Luther, and others, did not ‘discover’ these truths, rather they rediscovered what the apostles knew, as they returned to the Scriptures.

Justin Welby went on to say that, although the gospel is eternal, its application is different at different times, thus: ‘Today the gospel speaks to the inequalities of a 21st-century world of inequality: of refugees and human trafficking; human arrogance and materialism; in the use of technology as a saviour rather than as a gift.’

By this analysis, the world’s greatest problem is relational conflicts, which ‘drive us, today, into self-reinforcing bubbles of mutual indignation and antagonism’ and the wonder of the gospel is not that a holy God can forgive sinners, but that we can put aside our differences and overcome ‘our fears of each other’.

It seems that this is also what drove the Bishop of Hereford to commend the view that same sex relationships should be blessed on the basis that ‘there are couples approaching clergy, wanting that welcome expressed through prayer’. In fact, when interviewed on the Today programme, he was clear that avoiding the relational conflict, which might occur if we do not affirm such relationships, takes priority over engaging with what the Scriptures might actually say about the matter.

But this is not the gospel that was taught by the apostles. This is something very different and those who hold this view are seeking to re-create the church in an entirely new image.

Canterbury replacing Scripture

How easy it is to hear ‘evangelical’ language being used and to assume that those who speak share our commitment to the truth of God’s Word. But those who claim we can live with difference on matters where the Scriptures speak clearly are recreating, rather than reforming, the Church. Archbishop Nicholas Okoh has said: ‘The painful truth is that the authority of Scripture is being replaced by the authority of Canterbury.’

As we continue to celebrate the Reformation we are offered a choice: We can join Archbishop Nicholas Okoh in his desire to ‘restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion’ or we will find ourselves in a re-created church where Archbishop Greg Venables says: ‘you have to be either a relativ-ist, [or a] pluralist, or there’s no place for you.’