• Church Society reports that it was ‘glad to approve several hundred new members, mainly from Reform and the Fellowship of Word and Spirit’. Associate Director Ros Clarke said: ‘We look forward to working together with all our members as we move forward with plans for the merger of these organisations.’
• The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard from a number of witnesses connected with the Church of England and its failings. General Synod member Rosie Harper wrote online: ‘It will take some time before we know where this will all go. We will get Part Two in June…’
She added: ‘The horror of what we learnt in the three weeks of the hearing is that the Church is run by the sort of people who are prepared to cover up and lie, and who have it within them to protect the institution rather than the very victims they have created. They proclaim a gospel of love and then treat survivors appallingly.’
• The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, released a film telling how he came to faith. The film, made for ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, a prayer movement, saw the archbishop return to Cambridge, where he became a Christian.
He describes the night in October 1975 when he decided to become a Christian. He said: ‘I realised my life was going to go one of two ways. And I prayed a very simple prayer saying: “Lord Jesus, come into my life. I don’t know anything about you but come into my life.” He came in and something changed. And has stayed changed from then on. With all the ups and downs and me trying to run away and good times in my life and really bad ones.’
Comment:
Proverbs 3.7 seems a good verse for Anglican evangelicals right now. It reads: ‘Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.’
• Do not be wise in your own eyes: there are some who think they ‘definitively know’ what the ‘right’ thing for Anglican evangelicals is to do at the moment. Some believe they have special prophetic insight that the Church of England is doomed. Well, maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Whatever our perspective on the CofE, I think all any of us can reasonably do is to recognise our views as provisional and incomplete, and to hold our opinions with humility.
• Fear the Lord: how easily we fear other things. Fear of liberalism (or of losing a house or pension) may stop some evangelicals from speaking out or seeking change. Equally, fatalistic fear of liberalism may lead others into a negative mindset where prayer for the CofE is effectively seen as hopeless, and where revival is impossible.
• Shun evil: we are to separate ourselves from error – and from ungodly tactics. In some quarters the idea of being winsome or gracious is openly derided. Astonishingly, one influential evangelical recently sent me – unsolicited – a message he had sent another, telling the latter: ‘Your self-righteousness sucks…’. Being gracious doesn’t mean being feeble – but it does mean rising above playground taunting. And, equally, how important to shun error – whether based on rationalism or ritualism.
Tim Keller comments on this verse: ‘Wisdom is to see things through as many other eyes as possible, through the Word of God and through the eyes of your friends, of people from other races, classes and political viewpoints, and of your critics.’ Let’s pray for wisdom.
