Why we’re leaving the Church of England

On Sunday 1 October 2023, Bishop Andy Lines inaugurated Wellfield Church, Leyland, Lancashire, into the Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE) and instituted Mark Simpson as Rector.

Mark reflects on their journey out of the Church of England and into ACE:

When people used to ask me: ‘Why are you still in the CofE when (a) you have little to do with it; and (b) you don’t like where it’s going?’, my answer used to be the standard evangelical one: ‘It’s a good boat to fish from, and the revisionists are the cuckoos in the nest, not us. The foundational teaching of the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles is excellent, even if many of the leaders don’t seem to believe it, follow it or teach it.’