PRESS RELEASE FROM REFORM 21.6.02
REFORM WARNS OF ‘UNPRECEDENTED DISRUPTION’ ON ARCHBISHOP APPOINTMENT
A major network of evangelicals within the Church of England have today added their voice to calls on the Prime Minister not to appoint as an Archbishop of Canterbury someone whose views could well result in a break-up of the Church. Writing to the Prime Minister and the Crown Appointments Commission, the Chairman of REFORM has appealed for the more orthodox of the two candidates the Prime Minister will be considering to be appointed if the unity of the Anglican Communion is to be safeguarded. He warned of ‘unprecedented disruption’ at the very heart of the Church and ‘untold dismay’ within the Anglican Communion world-wide if a very liberal person were appointed. A copy is attached.
REFORM shares the fear, expressed in an open letter sent yesterday by the vicars of some of this country’s largest churches, that the appointment of someone whose views on human sexuality are contrary to the Bible’s teaching, could:
® Split the world-wide Anglican Communion. Already Bishops in other parts of the world are setting up alternative arrangements to help parishes in the USA where unbiblical teaching from Bishops on human sexuality is currently causing divisions. It is ironical that news of a possible liberal appointment to the See of Canterbury comes in the very week that the present Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his disapproval of the decision taken by a Canadian diocese to break ranks with the Anglican Communion and allow the blessing of same-sex unions.
® Split the Church of England. Our unity is based on a shared commitment to the authority of the Bible as God’s Word. As evangelicals, we see nothing but huge disruption resulting, if this commitment is lacking in the leadership of the Church.
THE LETTER SENT TO THE PRIME MINISTER
Prime Minister,
Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP
10 Downing Street,
London
SW1A 2AA
20th June 2002
Dear Prime Minister,
The Crown Appointments Committee is under way in its work to discern names for the next Archbishop of Canterbury, and presently you will be involved crucially in the process. The simple, but urgent plea of this letter is for you clearly to support the more Biblically orthodox candidate presented to you.
I am the current national Chairman of Reform. It is a network of clear and historic evangelicals within the Church of England (with a rising membership of some 1600, approximately two to one lay to ordained) who have been committed in the last ten years to keep the Christian mission to our nation (i.e. evangelism) the top priority of our national Church and actively to work for its reform to that end. Though we have been charged at various times with intention to secede or cause schism, we are committed to the Church of England in its historical and Biblical foundations and formularies and to the robust and cheerful championing of orthodoxy in doctrine and practice. Among our number are many of the incumbents of the biggest and most active and generous congregations in the whole country.
This perhaps will explain why the thrust of my letter on behalf of our whole network and, we have good reason to believe, very many others, especially lay people, is to ask you clearly to support the more orthodox of the two candidates presented for your nomination. The more liberal lobby is certainly influential and pressing, but it is the essentially orthodox who are the backbone of the church’s membership, giving and service. Their goodwill and resources need to be retained and encouraged if the Church of England is to retain a significant and distinctively Christian mission to this nation. An Archbishop who is perceived to be liberal will be a serious blow to the essentially orthodox and could trigger unprecedented disruption in this heartland and lifeblood of the Church in this country, quite apart from untold dismay around the Anglican Communion which made its orthodox Christian convictions abundantly clear in the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
The flashpoints are obvious – Issues in Human Sexuality, the 1993 Act of Synod, and increasingly the loss of public confidence in the uniqueness of Christ and his gospel in the face of today’s pluralism and secularism. We do not expect the world at large to agree or understand Christian convictions, but we believe it is right that the Church and especially its leaders should be those for whom the Word of God is central and final in all matters of faith and conduct, and not the voices of today’s world. Our own Anglican Articles define the Word of God as the “Word of God written” and as uniquely revealed in Christ.
I do not and indeed cannot name names. But I believe you and your advisers will understand what I am trying to convey and the seriousness of the choice. We continue in prayer to God for your heavy responsibilities in this and so many great affairs of state.
Yours in the love and service of Christ,
David Banting
copy: Crown Appointments