Dismay, anger and outrage from across the Church of England evangelical spectrum are greeting fresh proposals by bishops in relation to sexuality.
A majority of the C of E’s House of Bishops says it will commend its divisive ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’ for use with same-sex couples ‘in public worship’ such as Sunday services – while 11 have publicly dissented.
A Church of England statement acknowledges that the use of a process known as ‘Canon B2’ is in fact required for ‘standalone services’ (for example, akin to a Saturday wedding) involving the prayers. This procedure requires a two-thirds vote of support in each of Synod’s three ‘houses’ – Bishops, Clergy and Laity. This vote is not expected until 2025, and it is currently believed that such levels of support are not present.
Bishops are also undertaking ‘further work’ to ‘explore further forms of pastoral reassurance and formal structural pastoral provision to ensure the conscience of everyone is respected’. It has been previously suggested that any such provision for orthodox clergy would depend on a diocesan bishop permitting it.
Finally ‘pastoral guidance’ about how this might all work in practice will come to November’s Synod this year – and other work is belatedly ‘in progress’ relating to what might or might not be permitted for clergy and lay ministers in terms of relationships and sexual behaviour.
Church Society, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), the Gafcon-affiliated Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), a coalition of organisations led by evangelist Rico Tice, and theologian Martin Davie are among many giving voice to heartbreak and warnings.
This follows earlier warnings from nine orthodox groups (CEEC, the Church Pastoral Aid Society, Church Society, the Evangelical Group on General Synod, Fulcrum, the Holy Trinity Brompton [HTB] Network, Myriad, New Wine and ReNew) who met the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, in advance of the proposals being released.
George Crowder, a regional director of Church Society, said: ‘By this action the bishops have openly commended what is contrary to Scripture, and that means evangelicals in the Church of England have to consider their relationship with their bishops. Now they have used their power in this way, where does that leave their spiritual authority and pastoral oversight?’
Eleven bishops, including evangelicals Rob Munro, Richard Jackson, Andrew Thorpe, Paul Williams, Jill Duff, HTB-linked Ric Thorpe and several Anglo-Catholics, among others, have publicly dissented from the majority decision of the House of Bishops.
In a statement they declared: ‘We are… unable to support the collective decisions made by the House which we believe fail to safeguard the pastoral stability, mission and unity of the church… Even at this late stage, we urge our episcopal colleagues and the Archbishops, as joint Presidents of General Synod, to reconsider the course we saw mapped out in our meeting.’ They say the existing trajectory ‘fails to safeguard the pastoral stability, mission and unity of the church’.
John Dunnett, National Director, CEEC, said: ‘The press statement from the Church of England is slippery, at best… I am concerned that the House of Bishops might be pulling the wool over the eyes of the General Synod by planning to introduce changes through the pastoral guidance after November that are tantamount to doctrinal hand grenades.’
Theologian Martin Davie said: ‘The orthodoxy and unity of the Church of England are in jeopardy and all of us need to do all we can to address the situation.’
And signatories on a letter to Justin Welby including Christianity Explored, Christians in Sport, Living Out and the Langham Partnership, led by Rico Tice, wrote: ‘We are asking you, Archbishop, to stand once again with us and resist the influence of culture and not affirm its values when they are in opposition to Biblical values.’
The five Bishops of Gafcon-affiliated ANiE wrote: ‘This action is offensive to the God of love. It replaces his wonderful gospel of grace with a distorted message, blessing what God calls sin. This is heart-breaking, wicked and outrageously arrogant.’
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