Reform urges UK General Synod to ‘pull back from the brink’ On Women Bishops

Posted on June 16, 2008 
Filed under News

Reform logoStatement from Reform, Monday 16th June

Reform is urging members of General Synod to “pull back from the brink” of the “deep division” that voting for a single-clause Measure on women bishops would cause.

Rod Thomas, Reform’s chairman and a member of General Synod, said: “A refusal by Synod to provide legal provisions for those who disagree with women bishops is tantamount to a clear decision to exclude many faithful Anglicans from the Church of England. We want to urge Synod members to pull back from the brink, to recognise the deep division that will occur if no legislative provisions are made.”

As well as sending every Synod member a briefing paper explaining its objections to women bishops, Reform is encouraging its 1,700 strong membership to express their widespread dismay at the motion by writing to bishops and Synod members and signing an on-line petition started by Reform member Revd John Richardson, which has attracted over 700 signatures in just over two weeks.

The Manchester Report, published in April, gave a range of possible alternatives for making special provision for those who disagree with women bishops, including the creation of new dioceses or the statutory transfer of certain responsibilities from diocesan to complementary bishops. However the single-clause measure proposed offers those who disagree with women bishops provision on only a ‘voluntary’ basis through a Code of Practice. Revd Thomas dismissed this move as providing the “barest minimum of reassurance” citing the recent Pilling Report on senior church appointments as providing “clear evidence of discrimination against conservative evangelicals. If this is the case when legislation formally provides for our position what possible good could a non-binding Code of Practice do?”

Reform’s concern over women bishops is rooted in the Bible’s teaching on the complementarityof men and women: that men and women are of equal status, but with differing roles, in creation and in the new creation as seen in its embryonic form in the local church.

Editors notes:

The Reform booklet ‘Why are there objections to women being bishops in the Church of England?’ may be viewed on line at: www.reform.org.uk/pages/bb/objections.php

The on-line petition mentioned opposes the ‘Single Clause’ approach on the basis of the traditional view, expressed at the National Evangelical Anglican Congress in 1977, that ultimate responsibility for leadership in the Church should normally be “singular and male”. It may be found at: www.gopetition.co.uk/online/19592.html

– Statement from Reform (it is below the statement on the gay wedding).