Options for faithful Christians in the C of E

Posted on July 16, 2024 
Filed under Church of England

Anglican Futures has made available a downloadable PDF file, with accompanying discussion, to help faithful Christians in the Church of England think about their options:

“The Alliance described last Monday’s vote to endorse standalone services of blessing for same-sex couples as ‘a decisive moment’; the Church of England’s Evangelical Council chose to call it ‘a milestone’.

It is a day the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) knew could come.

In 2017, having discussed the issues at their Council meeting, CEEC published Guarding the Good Deposit – setting out very clearly the reasons why visible differentiation would be needed in the event of such a service being introduced and the different options structural options that might be possible. It is still well worth reading.

It is a day that Anglican Futures said would come.

In October 2021, this blog predicted that the bishops would bring proposals for same-sex blessings to General Synod in February 2023 – and that they would do it without a two-thirds vote of Synod. It was a call to pray and prepare.

The CEEC have worked hard to rally the troops, first to stop and then to find a ‘settlement’ in this theological quandry. In recent months they have been joined by others, forming ‘The Alliance’’ whose recent letter has caused so much uproar.

Many, including Dr Martin Davie, have worked hard to set out the biblical teaching and doctrinal basis for the orthodox position. Rev Dr Andrew Goddard and Rev Ian Paul (see here) have worked tirelessly to set our the twists and turns of the synodical process and to challenge the bishops lack of transparency.

But now this day has come, it is not surprising that many are asking – ‘What now?’…”

– Read (and download) here.