Crunch time for the English

Jeremy Halcrow | 30 January 2007

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Crunch time for the Church of England has come. This is the assessment of the Rev William Taylor, rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate in London and one of the key signatories of the Covenant for the Church of England.

William Taylor was in Sydney over January to deliver the Bible Studies at CMS Summer School.
Under the theme ‘Understanding the Times’ he preached from Matthew that Jesus Christ has arrived as God’s King and that the next event in God’s timetable is the return of Christ to judge the world.

His talks were littered with references to the sign of God’s judgment on England: increased sexual promiscuity leading to an epidemic in STDs; an obsession with tolerance leading to the exclusion of genuine Christian belief from the public square. But he also referred during the week to ‘the failed Anglican leadership’ in England.

The key turning point was the decision by House of Bishops to allow Church of England clergy to enter into civil partnerships with their same-sex partners. A report released last month found that over 50 Anglican ministers had entered into these same-sex ‘marriages’.

Jeffrey John, who was prevented from becoming Bishop of Reading because his past sexual relationship with his boyfriend generated a storm of protest from conservative evangelicals, has become Dean of St Albans and subsequently ‘married’ his partner, where he uses his position to promote his views.

In contrast, the ongoing fallout from the John controversy has seen one large evangelical church in St Albans – with a membership of over 1,500 – being prevented from having more than one ordained minister.

In Southwark, Durham and other dioceses there have been a number of new churches planted that the local bishop won’t recognise, says William Taylor. These have been adopted by the mission agency Crosslinks as Anglican congregations, but they have no episcopal oversight.

Mr Taylor explains that while the scene in England is mixed, the situation for some parishes is dire.

“There are many diocesan bishops at the extreme liberal end of Anglicanism, others in the middle, but only a handful that would describe and handle themselves as conservative evangelicals, if that.

“In the dioceses with strong liberal bishops, there are parishes who can’t rightly accept the liberal agenda that most clearly focuses on the issues around sexuality.

“Those parishes are isolated. Bishops have acted in an aggressive and extremely threatening manner towards them. They need the protection and encouragement of places both within England and overseas who have the privilege of a much stronger biblical leadership.

Evangelical protest

This is the background to news that leading evangelicals in the Church of England met with the Archbishop of Canterbury in December and presented a Covenant promoting “new, informal networks” among churches that are unable to maintain fellowship with Anglicans with whom they disagree.

Those involved included representatives of Anglican Mainstream, Reform, the Church of England Evangelical Council, New Wine and Crosslinks. These organisations are said to represent about 2000 congregations and at least one-quarter of the Church’s membership.

Canon Chris Sugden from Anglican Mainstream told Church Times he is looking forward to a meeting in the new year with the Archbishop of Canterbury: “real discussions with real proposals and a real commitment to work on this together to find a good solution”.

Canon Sugden said the coalition had ‘warm support’ from traditional Anglo-Catholics, and was also hoping to attract other ‘solid, central Church of England people’.

Signatories to the Covenant include many clergy well known to Sydney Anglicans including Bishop Wallace Benn, John Stott, Dick Lucas, Vaughan Roberts and David Peterson, as well as William Taylor.

Mr Taylor says the Covenant is designed to provide protection for those parishes who are unable to accept the oversight of a revisionist bishop.

The trump card is that a panel of bishops have already agreed to provide oversight to isolated conservative parishes in the event of a ‘pastoral crisis’ when there is a breakdown in trust due to a diocesan bishop’s liberal teaching or practices. The identity of the bishops on the Covenant panel remains confidential.

“If Lambeth [the Archbishop of Canterbury] won’t provide suitable conservative episcopal oversight, then we will look to the panel of bishops,” says Mr Taylor.

Role for Sydney?

Although Mr Taylor has visited Sydney before, this is his first trip as a speaker. He has been impressed with the ‘model’ CMS Summer School provides as a conference ‘strong in all the right places’.

“This is what should be at the heart of true Anglicanism,” he says.

“It has a tremendous focus on reaching out to the rest of the world and then there is the place of the Bible at the heart of Summer School.”

He believes these two strengths of Sydney Anglicanism means the Diocese will play a key role in unfolding events in the Anglican Communion.

“Because Sydney Anglicans are so truly Anglican – focused on the Bible and biblical faith – and united on that stand, it can give a clear lead to other evangelicals.”

“For so called Western dioceses, Sydney provides a vital voice alongside the voice coming from Africa and Asia.

“In the past there has been a level of intellectual imperialism [towards the Global South],” he says pointing to the treatment of African leaders at the last Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.

For his part, the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, says he particularly supports local solutions to the present difficulties facing the Anglican Communion. As a result he sees value in local covenants that link like-minded Anglicans.

“I know that the Church of England is facing critical questions which require sustained attention,” Dr Jensen told SC.

“Hence I support the concern of those who have signed the Covenant, seeking to address the current difficulties of those clergy and congregations who are in impaired communion with their bishop. I would encourage their efforts to seek a solution within the Church of England.”

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