Are the Evangelicals taking over the Church of England? Only if the rest of the Church is giving up!

The article in Friday’s Church Times by Angela Tilby, entitled “Deliver us from the Evangelical Takeover” (https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/27-april/comment/columnists/angela-tilby-deliver-us-from-the-evangelical-takeover) has provoked quite a bit of discussion with some people loudly applauding (or perhaps quietly saying “Amen”!) and others much more critical. I’m glad of the discussion about issues of real importance for the future of the Church of England. I think that Angela Tilby overstates her case but I too am worried about quite a serious unbalancing within the Church of England. I sit on General Synod and serve on Archbishops’ Council Finance Committee and am very aware of the discussions that go on at a national level about the future of the Church of England. The demographics of many of our churches mean that some fear that within a generation there might not be any Church of England. Anecdotally we are told that some bishops fear that within 10 years their diocese might not have many churches left! It is certainly the case that the average age of a Church of England worshipper is quite a bit older than the average age in the community. The fear of church decline is driving various initiatives and it seems that Evangelical churches are the ones offering solutions.

The Church Commissioners have freed up some of their historic investments to be used to support the Renewal and Reform programme in the church. This mainly comes as Strategic Development Fund money to dioceses and is funding various evangelistic and church growth projects. In particular it is funding large “Resource Churches” and Church Planting initiatives. To the best of my knowledge none of the “Resource Churches” are other than Charismatic Evangelical. It could be that other parts of the church wouldn’t want to be a church of more than 500 people but there are plenty of other churches that could grow substantially with some of the investment that the resource churches get.

So is it an “Evangelical Takeover” or are other parts of the church simply failing? Clearly there are plenty of thriving Anglican churches of Liberal Catholic or Central church tradition. In our own diocese, the church with the strongest growth in the last couple of years is a Liberal Catholic one. There are also plenty of Evangelical churches that are struggling.  Is there anything about the Evangelical churches that make them more likely to succeed? I don’t believe so, but they are offering solutions to those who want to hear some.

In a response to the Angela Tilby piece Craig Huxley, who describes himself as “Anglo-Catholic to the core of his being“ tells of a visit to Holy Trinity Brompton (Mother church of the Resource churches) and how impressed he was. (https://thetruthshallmakeyouodd.com/2018/04/28/the-myth-of-the-evangelical-takeover/)

His plea to the rest of the church is to stop complaining and to up our game. What he saw at HTB was a church that was confident and competent. Now please don’t misunderstand me, there are plenty of good Catholic churches or Liberal ones or Central ones with confidence in what they preach and live and who deliver their liturgy, their welcome, their events and programme with complete competence but there are many who don’t. There are a variety of reasons why churches might struggle – clergy who are tired and drifting towards retirement; lay people who have viciously fought every proposed change; people demoralised by too many losses; people cynical of “quick fixes” that have failed in the past – but it’s no good complaining of others taking over if we aren’t prepared to do our part. A victim mentality isn’t going to help us at all.

I actually think that many elements of a more liberal theology will aid us in mission to young adults who don’t have much time for preachy conservative rhetoric. I think many would feel happier in a lively, welcoming church of 40-80 people of all ages than in a loud and busy mega-church. I think that many people value churches that thoroughly engage with their community. I think that a slower growth might in the long term be healthier than a quick growth through transfer of allegiance from other churches. I also think that the Church of England needs a variety of styles and types of churches and we need to be investing in them all.

Those who are distributing the extra resources are very focussed on church growth. For some people the whole discussion becomes distasteful - Church growth, evangelism, increasing bums on pews - it's not what led them into the priesthood, or it’s not the sort of church they want to be part of. The reality is that the Church of England is a smaller, less significant institution than it used to be. This isn't entirely bad, (and we could do some good work rethinking our vision, our approach to Establishment, parish system as missional rather than pastoral etc) but for the C of E to have a future we need to draw in younger people as well as older and too many of our churches are failing to do this. Across the different traditions in the church we need to be open and generous to our communities. We need to be outward facing, willing to make use of new technologies and new means of communication. We need to be confident in the gospel, willing to talk spirituality and prayer with people, willing to pray with people and guide people in prayer. We need to listen to people’s questions and explore answers together. Our liturgy, our sermons, our social events, our community service, our websites and communication should all be done well. All of this needs to be done in a way that makes the most of our resources, empowering the laity, working as a team, so that it doesn’t become burdensome to the clergy. I hope too that we can do all this whilst retaining a sense of humour and the joy of the gospel!

I know of a couple of churches in our diocese who are taking on curates who will then go on to “plant” a church. This will mean taking a small number of people with them and could mean starting from scratch but could be bringing new life and vigour to an existing church that’s been fading away. Wouldn’t it be great to see curates from the Catholic or Central traditions who are missionally minded doing this? A “successful” church could bring new life to one that has been struggling.

And when we have success we should share the story with others, to inspire or help and we should share it with those who distribute resources so that they know there are other models to invest in.

Are the evangelicals taking over? Only if we let them. The Church of England is still a broad church and we need a breadth of approach but in a world that has changed and is rapidly changing, doing what we’ve always done in the way we’ve always done it may no longer work. So let’s work together prayerfully, generously, inclusively, competently and with confidence in the God who walks with us.


Apologies about the random underlining that I can't seem to shift!

General Synod vote on Women Bishops

Today in General Synod the vote to proceed to allow women to become bishops was lost. It is a devastating blow to the church. It is causing immense pain and frustration within the church and dramatically undermines the mission of the church in the world. I feel exhausted and very, very sad. But I want to share some thoughts.

The vote was lost because it needed a two-thirds majority in each of the houses of laity, clergy and bishops. We need to remember that there was a clear majority in each of the houses but the laity didn't achieve the two-thirds that was needed.

Whilst more than two thirds voted for the legislation in both the House of Bishops (44-03) and the House of Clergy (148-45), the vote in favour of the legislation in the House of Laity was less than two-thirds (132-74). The vote in the House of Laity fell short of approval by six votes.

In total 324 members of the General Synod voted to approve the legislation and 122 voted to reject it.

If 6 of the laity had voted for instead of against then it would have been passed. If the vote represented the general view in the church I would be disappointed but not as angry as I am. This vote is not representative of the views in the church generally. I can only really comment in detail on the situation in Manchester diocese where something like 10% of our parishes take a stance against the ministry of women. Our synod representatives have 1 out of 6 clergy who are against - over representation but good to have the minority view there but HALF of our lay reps are against, a large over representation. How does this happen? General Synod reps are elected by Deanery Synod reps who don't generally know who the candidates are. Many candidates keep quiet about their real views. Many Conservative parishes get themselves more voters by having inflated electoral rolls. I suspect that the people on their rolls are real people but many have very tenuous links to the church. So what do we need to do? 

The next General Synod needs to be more representative of the wider church with more progressive people in the house of laity. This means that we progressives need to be more organised, more political. We need to be better at getting people on to our electoral rolls (we renew these next year), we need to get good, wise people onto our Deanery Synods (next election in 2014) and we need to ensure that voters know the stance of all the candidates at the next General Synod elections (these will be in 2015). I feel sad that I have to be thinking like this but I am even sadder that the church is not able to allow women to take a full role yet. 

And of course, frustrated as I feel I need to remember that the vast majority of General Synod DID vote to allow women to be bishops!

July General Synod

Unfortunately I rarely get round to posting things on this site but here goes...

I'm at a meeting of the General Synod in York from July 8th - 12th and all the papers are published online so I thought I'd give access to them here. To find all the papers go here: http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod/agendas-and-papers/july-2011-group-of-sessions.aspx


The house of clergy on Friday will debate the setting up of a Clergy Professional Association and how we handle the change to Common Tenure. Some of the more interesting bits of the agenda for me are parochial feesand some new Eucharistic Prayers for use in services where there are lots of children.


To view the proposed fees follow the link above and click on GS1832. The proposals for inner city parishes will mean church weddings become unaffordable for many and I'm not happy. Pretty churches in wealthier areas are worried that they won't be able to charge lots of extras and so will financially lose out - I'm not sure there's an easy answer.

The Eucharistic prayers look quite helpful and you can find them in GS1822

There of course is lots of other interesting business.





I've tried to cut and paste the timetable but it didn't really work but here are the agenda items.

Friday
Meeting of the House of Clergy
Introductions, Presentations and Welcome to Guests
Address by Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania on behalf of the ecumenical guests
Progress of Measures and Statutory Instruments Business Committee report Dates of groups of sessions in 2013 Appointments to the Archbishops’ Council Legal Advisory Commission constitution

 Saturday
Presidential Address (by the Archbishop of Canterbury)
Rest of the morning: reflection, discussion and worship in small groups Lunch Legislative Business Private Member’s Motion: Mission Action Planning in the Church of England
Sunday 10 July
10.00 a.m.    Holy Communion in York Minster
2.30 p.m.    Higher Education Funding Changes Anglican-Methodist Covenant
Bradford Diocesan Synod Motion: Admission of Baptised Adults to Communion
Evening Worship Dinner
Annual Report of the Audit Committee Annual Report of the Archbishops’ Council

Monday 11 July
Morning Worship Confirmation of the Appointment of the Chair of the Business Committee
Legislative Business
Liturgical Business: Additional Eucharistic Prayers: First Consideration
London DSM: House of Laity elections
Lunch
Unfinished Business: A Pastoral and Missional Approach for the Next Decade: A report by the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns
Budget of the Archbishops’ Council
Presence and Engagement: Inter faith issues
Evening Worship Dinner
Conversations with the United Reformed Church

Tuesday 12 July
Morning Worship
Christians in the Holy Land: Presidential Statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Church Commissioners’ Annual Report The Church and Education: Into the Next 200 Years

New Members of General Synod.

I'm amongst the newly elected to General Synod, so thanks to those who voted for me or wished me all the best.
The following people have been elected to represent the Diocese of Manchester:

Laity 

John Stephen BARBER
Peter Charles CAPON
Michael HEPPLESTON
Christine Krogh SANDIFORD 
Geoffrey Frank TATTERSALL
James Edward TOWNSEND

Clergy

John APPLEGATE
Sarah Ruth BULLOCK
Sharon Ann JONES
Simon KILLWICK
Andrew SALMON
Cherry VANN

You can find this list on the Diocesan Website but very strangely if you look up General Synodmembers you come to this page:

http://www.manchester.anglican.org/whos-who/synod/general-synod-members

where it appears that some people haven't given permission for their contact details to be published online. I'm currently in discussion with the diocese because I believe that by standing for office they have automatically consented to publication of their contact details. How can they not be publicly listed and contactable through the diocesan website? This just doesn't seem right to me.

I'm standing for General Synod

Yes I've decided to stand and so I thought I would share my election address with you and this is it:

I’m writing to let you know that I am standing for General Synod and why I think that I have something to offer in this role.

I was ordained in the diocese in 1988 and served a curacy in North Manchester before moving to Salford where I have been ever since.  I have been Priest in Charge, Team Vicar and Team Rector in Pendleton. Over 6 years ago, I moved to my current parishes of St Philip’s and Sacred Trinity, Salford, where I am again a Priest in Charge. I am currently Area Dean of Salford. I served for 10 years as a councillor for Langworthy Ward in the City of Salford. In my time on the City Council I was vice-chair of the Environment, Housing & Planning Scrutiny committee and I chaired Scrutiny Commisisions and a variety of meetings. I still chair the City’s Cycle Forum and my local Regeneration Forum. Since 2009 I have been Chair of the House of Clergy in the Diocese. I don’t entirely sit within any church tradition, but I have been most influenced and shaped by the Open Evangelical and Liberal Catholic traditions and hope I draw from a wide range of tradition in trying to serve God faithfully in my context. I am very much an Anglican but draw a lot of spiritual nourishment from places like the Iona Community, Taizé and Greenbelt.

I offer myself to be one of your representatives on General Synod because I believe I have much to offer and some priorities I would like to promote.

I am very experienced in Urban Ministry and have a passion for helping the church to relate the Gospel to a variety of circumstances. My experience is not just within the church, but also on the City Council and a variety of other bodies. I have gained a lot of experience in regeneration and handling change. Through being Chair of the House of Clergy, I have been getting to know people’s situations around the diocese and so I have a broad knowledge of the Manchester church. I have been in a Team of several churches and currently have two churches under my care. I think it’s important that those who are looking after more than one church are supported and that structures work for us.

I am passionately committed to the church being inclusive. On the issue of women bishops, I am firmly in favour. When the mind of the church is clear on this issue I think it would be counter-productive to drag this out. I don’t want people to leave the church but it’s important to move forward. The media and people “out there” will give us a hard time over this but it won’t get any easier by dragging it out. Inclusivity is not just about women bishops; it’s about developing a culture where all are valued. Some Sundays, in one of my churches, more than half the congregation were born outside the UK. We have to find ways to include people in all their variety.

I passionately want to be part of a church that encourages creativity. Our Tradition is important but so is our ongoing journey with God. For the Church of England to thrive in the 21st century we will need to be creative with our liturgy, our structures, our ways of working.

I’ve been ordained a long time and I’ve been involved in church politics for a long time but I still passionately believe we need to keep Jesus at the centre of our church life. There are times when it’s easy to feel frustrated with the church but at these times we need to go back to the roots of our faith.

I’ve been a parish priest for over 20 years and I care passionately about the way the Gospel is brought alive for people in their local church. I want the resources of the church to be supporting effective local engagement through priests and people in their local churches. If you would like to ask me any questions please do contact me.

Professional Association for Clergy?

I've been asked to join a small working party that is looking into establishing a professional association for clergy. With the changes to clergy terms of service it is felt important that we have some kind of support for when problems occur. At general Synod in July the House of Clergy passed the following motion.

That this House

(a) authorize the Standing Committee to appoint a group to enter into discussions with Unite about the possible establishment within Unite of a professional association for the clergy of the Church of England,

(b) affirm that it would expect the conduct and ethos of such a professional association to reflect the ethos of the Church of England and the professional standards of its clergy; and

(c) request the newly elected Standing Committee to report back to the House on the outcome of such discussions in July 2011.

Passed by House of Clergy of the General Synod  9 July 2010

I'd be very interested to know what people think of this idea. At a national meeting of the Chairs of the Houses of Clergy we had a presentation from people from Unite, which was rather disappointing and some people are quite cynical. It seems to me that working with Unite could offer a good solution but much will depend on the discussions.

Rev - TV sitcom

I got interviewed by the Manchester Evening News recently about the sitcom Rev. I found the final episode a bit disappointing. Tried to be emotionally engaging but wasn't really funny enough. Anyway, the article in the MEN can be found online here: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/life_and_style/s/1312785_is_this_bbc_sitcom_tv_heaven.
 There are a few a few inaccuracies but on the whole it's not a bad piece. I'm not entirely against evangelists of course... just not keen on the ones that don't have space for the Colins... you may have needed to see the episode to understand that bit!