‘Church of England’s report on marriage and sexuality suffers setback at Synod’
“A report from the House of Bishops about marriage and same sex relationships has received a significant setback in a vote at the General Synod in London. It is an embarrassing symbolic rejection of the Bishops’ report which had stated that there should be no change in the church’s teaching while calling for a “fresh tone” on the issues. Speaking before the vote, the Archbishop of Canterbury said he believed passionately that the report that had been worked on and struggled with was a roadmap and he promised the church would find a new “inclusion.”
However many speakers in the debate said the report was not clear enough or did not go far enough. …
some evangelical members of Synod also expressed concern, fearing that the Bishops’ report was a softening of the guidelines on sexual morality.”
– This report from The Anglican Communion News Service. Photo credit: Lam Pal. ACNS.
See also: Church of England Bishops’ Report: More Questions than Answers – Canon Phil Ashey, American Anglican Council, 04 February 2017.
‘Welby risks a fatal Anglican split over homosexuality’
“Personally, I believe the most worrying element of the [Bishop’s Report on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships] is the way the bishops have reinterpreted the law of the C of E about where our doctrine can be found. They appear to sideline Scripture and the traditional formularies of the Church, in favour of finding the boundaries of freedom in Canon Law.”
– from an interview with Reform’s Susie Leafe, speaking about the Church of England’s General Synod, meeting tonight (Australian time).
Link via Anglican Mainstream.
Manipulative, domineering revisionists must be opposed, not appeased
“I can already hear the shocked gasps from some as they read this title. ‘Oh, can’t we have a nicer tone in this debate?’, some are thinking, as they cover their ears, desperately thinking happy thoughts and hoping the whole nasty issue will go away. …”
– As the Church of England’s General Synod debates ‘same sex marriage’ this week, Anglican Mainstream’s the Rev. Andrew Symes calls on Christians believers to stand for the apostolic truth.
(He mentions a segment on BBC TV from Monday 13th February. The link at Anglican Mainstream is viewable only in the UK. Here is another source. And another one, though in one minute segments.)
GAFCON UK’s response to the lobby group OneBodyOneFaith
“GAFCON UK welcomes the publication of the OneBodyOneFaith statement “A time to build”.
The statement is admirably clear in its wholesale abandonment of any pretence that OneBodyOneFaith has any respect for Biblical authority or any interest in the wellbeing of global Anglicanism. …”
– GAFCON UK responds with clarity to yet another call to ditch the authority of God’s word.
Canterbury Cathedral to host Service for Freemasons
“Canterbury Cathedral is hosting a service to “celebrate” 300 years of Freemasonry after receiving a donation from the Masons of £300,000. The Duke of Kent, who is the Grand Master of the Freemasons, will be among those attending the special service of thanksgiving on 18 February. …”
– Could be a wonderful opportunity. (Photo: Canterbury Cathedral.)
GAFGON Chairman’s February 2017 letter
“It seems … that the Church of England bishops have recommended the right thing for the wrong reason. They have retained the Church’s traditional teaching, but because they think that holding opposite views together will eventually produce a consensus, not because it represents an apostolic boundary.”
– from Archbishop Okoh’s February 2017 letter to GAFCON supporters.
C of E college apologises for students’ attempt to ‘queer evening prayer’
“A leading theological college that trains priests for the Church of England has apologised after it hosted a service to mark LGBT history month that referred to God as ‘the Duchess’.
Student priests at Westcott House in Cambridge organised the evensong service on Tuesday in the college chapel. …”
– Story from The Guardian. Photo (not of the event described above) from Westcott House.
Related:
Westcott House History:
“Westcott House began its life in 1881 as the Cambridge Clergy Training School whose first president was the then Regius Professor of Divinity, Brooke Foss Westcott. A pioneering and respected New Testament scholar himself, the school was the product of Westcott’s own passionate concern to raise the standard of clergy education and so took the name of its founder after his death. … ”
Church of England Bishops’ Report: More Questions than Answers
“For the last week I have been digesting the ‘Report from the House of Bishops on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations,’ known by its shorthand as GS (General Synod) 2055.
This “Report” was a document prepared by the Church of England’s Bishops and presented to the Church’s General Synod last week. The perspective of LGBT pressure groups within the Church of England is that they were betrayed by the Bishops’ upholding the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage. Some are even hinting at going ahead with same sex marriage in defiance of the bishops.
The disappointment of the LGBT community has been matched by suspicion and criticism from Biblically orthodox Anglicans in the Church of England. To them, GS 2055 is a Trojan Horse. The Bishops’ failure to define boundaries in a clearly Biblical way ensures a theological incoherence that will permit ‘generous pastoral provision’ for LGBT couples to will quickly become facts on the ground (new liturgies and blessings) that make the Church’s teaching on marriage a mere shell.
I sympathize with those suspicions because of my experience with such ‘Trojan Horse’ reports in The Episcopal Church as it marched to gay marriage.
Despite my sympathies, I have tried to find an objective point between the hermeneutics of suspicion and the hermeneutics of hope. I’ve tried to read all 19 pages of GS 2055 inductively, asking what the text really says. All 19 pages are agonizing to read—rather like an essay which reads ‘on the one hand’ and ‘on the other hand’ with no resolution. Except of course for the resolve that ‘it is hubristic for anyone to propose that there is one definitive answer which solves all the moral, ethical and missiological problems we face.’ (para. 7) …
Barbara Gauthier goes on to make a telling observation, from paragraph 65 of the Report:
‘65. ….To maintain an unambiguous position on [the] doctrine [of marriage] while enabling a generous freedom for pastoral practice that does not directly and publicly undermine it is entirely consistent with our traditions and is a perfectly coherent approach to take. (emphasis added)
The implication would seem to be that whatever might ‘directly and publicly’ undermine the doctrine of marriage may be perfectly admissible if done ‘indirectly and privately.’ The progressive wing of the Episcopal Church used that ploy for years, surreptitiously establishing facts on the ground, until it couldn’t be ignored any longer.’…”
– From The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey. Read it all here.
GAFCON UK response to The Bishops’ Report on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships
“The Report as a whole requires a much fuller response than we can give here. However we do not have confidence that this document will guarantee the maintenance of orthodoxy within the Church of England for the future. We need to express our serious reservations about the many ambiguities in the text relating to how we as Anglicans understand truth and goodness, sin and salvation, and how we should carry out pastoral and liturgical practice.
We see the document as giving a rationale for maintaining the current position, but along with many faithful Anglicans in England we believe that the current position is not at all satisfactory, as it involves a lack of clarity about our message, openness to revisionist theology and practice, and further conflict within the church.…”
– Read it all here. And the original Bishop’s report is here (PDF file.)
See also:
A critique of the Bishops’ Report – by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali:
“The report tells us in several places that the Church’s teaching has to be related to a fast-changing cultural context but makes no value judgements about the desirability of such change nor to the principles of development which should guide our engagement with culture. …
The thrust of the report seems very much to be that there should be no change in doctrine but that there should be a change in pastoral provision and in the public prayer for those entering same-sex unions. The question is, of course, when does ‘usual practice’ become teaching, especially when provision is made for public prayer.”
Dr Gavin Ashenden resigns as Chaplain to the Queen
“After a conversation instigated by officials at Buckingham Palace, it is with regret that the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden – theologian, academic, columnist and occasional contributor to [The Archbishop Cranmer] blog – has decided to resign his position as Chaplain to the Queen.
It was, he says, “the most honourable course of action” following “attempts to silence or defenestrate” him…”
– News from “Archbishop Cranmer”.
And you can read Dr. Ashenden’s full statement here.
“I have held the position for the last nine years. But over the last few years people who objected to my defending the Christian faith in public wrote to both Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace to try to get the association ended. …”
The Archbishops’ Statement on the Reformation
“The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have released a joint statement on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The statement recognises that ‘many Christians will want to give thanks for the great blessings they have received to which the Reformation directly contributed’. Furthermore it includes among those blessings, ‘clear proclamation of the gospel of grace, the availability of the Bible to all in their own language and the recognition of the calling of lay people to serve God in the world and in the church’. The Archbishops make clear that the Church of England will be participating in the celebrations of this anniversary, ‘including sharing in events with Protestant church partners from Continental Europe’.
So despite how some of the more popular press might try to spin it, this statement is not a repudiation of the Reformation nor of its doctrine. …”
– At Theological Theology, Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson asks if “the departures from biblical truth that occasioned the split at the time of the Reformation have been addressed by the Roman Church”.
Tribute to Dr Mike Ovey by Archbishop Glenn Davies
Here’s a Public Statement released by Archbishop Glenn Davies on the death of Dr Mike Ovey, Principal of Oak Hill College:
“Dr Mike Ovey was a gifted student of God’s word whose ability to convey the truths of Holy Scripture and their contemporary application was outstanding.
Mike’s scholarly analysis of current trends in philosophy and theology was astute and penetrating, always with a view to strengthening the Christian’s understanding of the nature of God’s kingdom and his sovereign rule over our lives. A gracious and godly leader, Mike’s presence and counsel will be sorely missed not only at Oak Hill College, where he served as Principal for a decade, but throughout England and the world.
We in Sydney have lost a true friend whose frequent trips to our city will be sadly missed.”
via SydneyAnglicans.net.
New Bishop of Woolwich is ‘pastoral and joyful’ former Oak Hill student
“The college community is delighted to hear that Revd Prebendary Dr Woyin Karowei Dorgu is to be the new Bishop of Woolwich. Karwoei trained at Oak Hill from 1993-95…”
– News from Oak Hill College in London.
A statement from the GAFCON UK Task Group — 8 Dec 2016
“We are grateful to God for the gracious, unsolicited affirmation of the recent activities of GAFCON UK given by Archbishop Okoh, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council.
Archbishop Okoh’s Pastoral Letter of 6th December 2016 makes clear that, despite attempts from some in the Church of England leadership both to obfuscate the real situation on the ground in the Church, and to undermine the significance of Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10, the GAFCON Primates are in no doubt either as to the breakdown of discipline in the Church of England or as to the standards for human sexuality that the majority of the Communion expect the Church of England to uphold…”
Open letter to the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council
David Holloway, Vicar of Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle upon Tyne, has responded to last week’s letter from William Nye, Secretary General of the Church of England Archbishops’ Council:
“I write this open letter to you following your open letter to Revd Canon Andrew Lines, the chairman of the GAFCON UK Task Force. Your letter alleged that a GAFCON briefing paper is ‘significantly misleading’.
The briefing was regarding irregular homosexual activities in the Church of England. In support of its criticism of named Church of England bishops and clergy, the briefing referred to a resolution of a former Lambeth Conference. You wrote to ‘correct some of the erroneous assertions’ in the paper. However, the supposed correction included the following statement …”
– Read it all at GAFCON UK.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…