Anti-Semitism questions

Dear Editor,

There are many lessons of wide significance still to be learned from the Stephen Sizer anti-Semitism scandal.

Why, for example, did the Gospel Partnerships network allow the South East Gospel Partnership to tolerate Sizer’s anti-Semitism? (The SEGP rejected multiple calls for action against Sizer’s church.)

When that question was put to a meeting of the chairmen of the regional gospel partnerships, they said their group couldn’t make a partnership take action against a member church. They also said they didn’t have the power to issue a collective statement. Apparently no one has the power to discipline a lax partnership for the good of the whole network.

This absence of accountability will become even more problematic if loosely evangelical CofE churches start succumbing to episcopal pressure to bless same-sex couples. Since the partnerships are in practice free to do as they like, some may allow such churches to remain in their partnership, which would dramatically affect the reputation of the wider network.

The Sizer scandal shows that regional gospel partnerships can’t be trusted to do the right thing. The Gospel Partnerships network urgently needs to address its lack of oversight and accountability.

Yours sincerely,
Nick Howard By email

en contacted the SEGP leadership on 22 August via the email address given on its website and invited them to respond to this letter in time for this issue. As en went to press, no response had been received.