PRESS RELEASE FROM REFORM
“Disaster within a decade” warns Reform Chairman as General Synod faces new financial crisis.
Rev’d David Banting, Chairman of Reform - the Anglican evangelical campaigning network - warned of ‘disaster within a decade’ if the Church of England failed to take evangelical concerns seriously.
Speaking at a fringe meeting of the York General Synod where Reform was launching a new range of materials, Mr Banting said that the Church of England increasingly relied on evangelical churches for both its day-to-day funding and its numbers. Yet evangelical concerns about the church’s gospel ministry was seldom treated seriously. Mr Banting identified four current concerns leading to evangelical disenchantment:
1. The willingness of some diocesan bishops to espouse unbiblical views on human sexuality and other faiths.
2. The hesitancy with which some church boards and committees are willing to accept that proclaiming the gospel of Christ crucified should be the primary business of the church.
3. The way in which churches home and abroad face condemnation when they take action to protest against the promotion of unbiblical views by Diocesan Bishops.
4. The current emphasis on maintaining church “order” rather than being more concerned about “belief”.
“In the last ten years, the existence of Reform has encouraged many evangelical churches to live with the Church of England,” said Mr Banting. “However, unless there is a clearer response to evangelical concerns the next ten years will see a growing number of churches distancing themselves from the Church of England. They will see little point in meeting the ever-growing financial demands placed upon them and the C of E label will be seen as increasingly unhelpful. This could turn the present financial crisis into a disaster,” he said.
Mr Banting confirmed that these concerns had been conveyed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the House of Bishops.
“We will wait to see what happens,” he said, “but as Monday’s debates on church finance reveal, time is not on the side of the church establishment.”
For more information
Please contact :
Rev’d David Banting (Chairman) at General Synod
Rev’d Rod Thomas (Press Officer) at General Synod
Jonathan Lockwood (Reform Office) 0114 230 9256
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Reform is a network of Anglican evangelicals committed to evangelising the nation. There is a common belief that the Church of England could provide the best basis for this, but only if the Church remains committed to the absolute authority of Scripture. Reform was set up in the wake of the vote on the ordination of women but now campaigns on a wide variety of issues. Approximately one third of all members are clergy.