Amid great uncertainty in the Church of England, 380 delegates from over 170 churches have gathered at the national ReNew conference in Leeds.
ReNew is a united movement of Anglican evangelicals, both inside and outside of the Church of England, with a positive vision for the growth of the gospel through pioneering, establishing and securing healthy local churches.
How do evangelicals forge ahead with this positive gospel vision, while contending for orthodoxy within the Church of England? The theme of the conference – ‘Lamenting with Hope’ – pointed to the answer.
Matt Fuller, Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair, described lament as a necessary discipline and the essential ‘pressure release valve’ of the Christian life. At the same time Ben Cooper, of the Cornhill Training Course, reminded delegates that ‘God’s Word is not chained’ (2 Tim. 2:9) and that when the church is squeezed in one place, it expands in another.
As is always the case at this conference, there was a wealth of encouraging stories from churches seeing people come to faith, training new leaders and pioneering new churches. These stories came from north and south, prosperous and deprived communities, old and new churches, within and outside of the Church of England. Chris Houghton, Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Gateshead, shared that AMiE (Anglican Mission in England) was aiming for 25 AMiE churches to exist by 2025, but they have already exceeded 30. Even with significant challenges, there are many fruitful examples all over the country of churches being planted and revitalised.
Alongside these encouragements, delegates were called to respond to two urgent challenges in our time. The first was for more people to be sent into training for gospel ministry. Delegates were told that all denominations in England are experiencing a recruitment crisis and that if we are distracted from training in this generation, we will lose the battle in the next.
The second challenge was for those in the Church of England to contend faithfully in light of the House of Bishops’ determined efforts to implement the ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’ and lift restrictions on clergy entering into same-sex marriage. Kieran Bush, Chair of the ReNew Planning Team, urged delegates to formally distance themselves from unorthodox bishops and align with The Alliance’s ‘de-facto parallel province’ – a step taken in response to the ‘de-facto change in doctrine’ coming from the House of Bishops.
Having considered the joys and challenges we face today, the conference concluded with a call from Psalm 84 to set our hope ‘down the road’ on being in the presence of God, and to rely on God to give us strength for the journey.
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