Some questions for the new Archbishop of Canterbury
Posted on November 9, 2012
Filed under Anglican Communion, Church of England
Mark Thompson does us a great service by respectfully raising key questions for the next Archbishop of Canterbury –
“There is a great deal that is wonderfully hopeful in this appointment. Bishop Welby self-identifies as an evangelical. He is able to communicate clearly and winsomely. However, as he prepares to take up this challenging role at a very challenging time, one characteristic that has not been attributed to him is ‘courage’. So there are a number of questions which I would like to put — or at least have someone put — respectfully but seriously, to the next Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Full text here –
The British press has announced, perhaps a bit prematurely, that Justin Welby, currently Bishop of Durham, is to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Though widely tipped in recent weeks to be the successor to Rowan Williams, the appointment is rather unusual, especially since he has only been a bishop for a very short period of time (just a little over a year).
All reports of the Archbishop-elect suggest he is widely liked and respected, and that he will bring a measure of this-worldy reality to a post which has suffered a loss of effectiveness and respect during the tenure of his predecessor. He has extensive experience, I understand, in the business world. He is also a man of genuine faith who is concerned to reach out to various groups within the Church of England and try to keep everyone together.
There is a great deal that is wonderfully hopeful in this appointment. Bishop Welby self-identifies as an evangelical. He is able to communicate clearly and winsomely. However, as he prepares to take up this challenging role at a very challenging time, one characteristic that has not been attributed to him is ‘courage’. So there are a number of questions which I would like to put — or at least have someone put — respectfully but seriously, to the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Will you have the courage to stand up to Ms Jefferts Schori and her companions in The Episcopal Church as they seek to impose their revisionist agenda on the rest of the Anglican Communion?
- Will you have the courage to call to account those who depart from the biblical teaching about the uniqueness of Christ as the only way of salvation and the necessity of repentance and faith as the proper response to Christ’s atoning death and glorious resurrection?
- Will you have the courage to stand with the Primates of the Global South and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the task of proclaiming Christ to a lost world?
- Will you have the courage to remove from office Canon Kenneth Kearon and the others in the Anglican Communion Office who have manipulated the ACC agenda over the past decade in extraordinarily unhelpful ways?
- Will you have the courage to challenge the British government over its social engineering agenda, including the promotion of the legitimacy of homosexual behaviour?
- Will you have the courage to stand with those faithful Christians and Christian congregations in other jurisdictions who are being persecuted because they want to stand with the teaching of Scripture against the revisionist proposals of denominational officials (The Tron, Glasgow in the Church of Scotland and St Johns Shaugnessy in the Church of Canada come to mind, but there are many others)?
- Will you have the courage to reform the structures of the Church of England to enable it to focus on winning the nation for Christ?
- Will you have the courage to break ranks with the other bishops of the Church of England if fidelity to the teaching of Scripture demands it?
- Will you have the courage to insist upon genuine, effective and permanent protection for those faithful Christian men and women in the Church of England who in good conscience cannot accept the oversight of a woman bishop?
- Will you have the courage to preach Christ crucified and risen if you ever have the opportunity to preach in an internationally televised Christian service (a royal wedding or royal funeral perhaps)?
- Will you have the courage to withhold an invitation to the next Lambeth Conference (2018) from those bishops who have denied the faith in word and action and persecuted the faithful who have opposed their agenda?
- Will you have the courage to support evangelistic initiatives throughout Britain, including the planting of churches in areas where there is no clear and biblically faithful Christian witness?
- Will you have the courage to refuse ordination to those who by word or lifestyle deny the teaching of Scripture?
- Will you have the courage to stand with and speak out for those Christians who are pilloried, persecuted and even prosecuted for being open about their Christian commitment and living consistently with that Christian commitment in Britain in the twenty-first century?
These are just some of the questions I, and I suspect many others, would like to ask of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. With such courage, and by God’s grace, respect for his office and health for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion might indeed return.
– Published 09 November 2012 at Theological Theology.
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