October 2009 Reform News

What do we need to do if we are serious about reforming the Church of England (CoE)? Overall, we want the gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed and promoted effectively through the CoE. This means that we need to focus on three objectives:

1 We must create more opportunities for evangelical ministry in local churches.

Many members already play key roles in patronage bodies and in advising those seeking new incumbents. There is also a greater openness than in the past to opportunities for church planting, not least because of a legal framework (The Dioceses Pastoral & Mission Measure 2007) that is able to accommodate (although not promote) church planting across parish boundaries. Help for new and established ministry is given through the regional Gospel Partnerships. There are also many models both of church planting and also of initiatives to breathe fresh life into churches that would otherwise become redundant.

However, there are areas of difficulty – and it is here that support for reform is vital. One substantial difficulty is the current lack of recognition for a number of church plants that are either treated by dioceses as ‘outside’ the CoE, or which themselves have had to refuse oversight from existing diocesan bishops on doctrinal grounds. We are currently praying for – and working with – the newly-formed Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans to see what alternative arrangements can be put in place to enable men to be ordained and proper Episcopal oversight exercised.

Fostering evangelical ministry in local churches depends crucially on effective training for evangelical ordinands. Whilst a number of good developments are taking place at residential theological colleges, the fact is that those wearing an ‘evangelical’ label at such colleges (which is not, as we know, a guarantee of evangelical commitment), account for less than 30% of all ordinands in training. One of the reasons for this is the huge growth over the last ten years in non-residential training courses and in the appointment of non-stipendiary ministers. The figures for the latter (taken from official CoE statistics) are:


1997

Stipendiary

Non-stipendiary

Male

Female

Male

Female

186

57

69

67

Total: 243 (64%)

Total: 136 (36%)

2007

Stipendiary

Non-stipendiary (including OLM)

Male

Female

Male

Female

162

102

128

160

Total: 264 (47%)

Total: 288 (53%)


We need to challenge the institutional confidence in non-residential training and non-stipendiary ministry. Whilst there will be some terrific ministries that have emerged this way, all the anecdotal evidence points in the other direction.
I hope to say more at our national conference about how we might tackle this.

2 We must win hearts and minds at all levels

This has to be done in a number of ways: through publications and engagement with the press; through various church networks both nationally and locally; through representation on key synods and committees; and by bringing some influence to bear on the House of Bishops.

In each of these areas there is still much to be done. We are pressing ahead with the preparation of new leaflets: there will shortly be a new leaflet on ‘Interpreting the Bible’ by Jonathan Fletcher in our ‘Truth Matters’ series and by the end of the year a further leaflet on ‘Anglican Identity’ by Mark Burkill. We are conscious too that we cannot assume we are holding the ground on the Biblical approach to sexuality – so we hope to have another ‘popular’ leaflet on this shortly.

THERE IS AN URGENT NEED to encourage members – particularly ‘lay’ members to consider standing for election to General Synod.
Finally, we need to influence the House of Bishops. We praise God for some recent appointments, but overall we believe the Church still discriminates against ‘conservative’ evangelicals – as the Pilling Report on Senior Church Appointments demonstrated two years ago.

3 We must help the Church of England to become better placed for mission.

The key to this is to win the argument that the Church of England is a confessional church. Some argue that because it is a national church it is thereby catholic and inclusive. That is why it is so important for us to keep emphasizing its doctrinal basis as laid out in Canon A5:
The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.

Last year’s Jerusalem Statement to which a number of us contributed has firmly underlined the confessional basis of Anglicanism. Furthermore, recent conference speeches by David Holloway and Jonathan Fletcher have done much to boost our confidence in the CoE as the right place to be for mission.

We need to continue to engage publicly on this issue. As I write, I have just read Julian Mann’s letter in the Church Times of 18th September defending this position. It is hugely encouraging to see this sort of engagement and I would urge as many members as possible similarly to take up the cudgels.

Needless to say, we cannot talk about the proper basis for mission if we ourselves are not actively engaged in evangelistic endeavour. It’s so good to hear about all the planning taking place for the 2010 ‘Passion for Life’ mission; I do hope it has gained the full involvement of all our churches.

Action Points

Reform is, I believe, a topic that should continue to galvanise us into action. Could I therefore urge you to ensure that:

  • You have booked for the national conference in a couple of weeks’ time (October 13 & 14)? If not, there is still time to do so (you should have already received a brochure and booking form but look on the web site or contact the office if you would like another). The issues we are going to tackle at that conference are central to our efforts to reform the CoE.
  • You have considered – or asked somebody else to consider – standing as a candidate for the next General Synod election? You may not feel you stand a chance, but many Reform members were elected last time. One thing that would guarantee your non-election would be a failure to stand.

Lastly, do you feel that we keep banging the same sort of drum here in Reform? I certainly hope so:

‘Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist …’ (Eph 6:13-14)

Rod Thomas