EGN NEWS DESK
The Alliance coalition of orthodox Anglicans against same-sex blessings within the Church of England says it has begun to arrange its personal buildings in a “de facto parallel province”. But the sensible actuality is that the powers-that-be within the C of E are in a position to shoot this “parallel province” down earlier than it even will get off the bottom.
Writing to the House of Bishops forward of its assembly on October 23, the Alliance, which represents conservative evangelicals, charismatic evangelicals and conventional Anglo-Catholics, declared: “We try to fight the schism {that a} de facto change of doctrine (on sexual morality) and a disregard of due course of is creating throughout the Church.”
The letter, signed by the seven administrators of the Alliance, reported: “Sadly, many throughout the Alliance are already experiencing discrimination in the direction of those that maintain orthodox views, with curacies being withheld, funding withdrawn, promotions denied and being informed there isn’t a place for you throughout the future Church of England.”
It mentioned the refusal of the bishops to again down on the same-sex blessings “has resulted in us being pressured to start organising a de facto parallel province throughout the Church of England in response to the de facto change in doctrine”.
It continued: “There are some who’ve sought to painting the Alliance as schismatic and have acknowledged that we’re in search of the widest attainable separation within the Church of England. Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. The creation of a de facto parallel province is with the aim of enabling clergy to remain within the Church of England who would possibly in any other case really feel they’re being pressured to depart.”
But this “parallel province” is a de facto non-entity. The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), a major constituent within the Alliance, can fee as many “overseers” because it likes however this transfer to create a parallel management construction can’t change the authorized actuality within the established Church.
CEEC commissioned its first 20 overseers in July at All Souls Langham Place, the conservative evangelical flagship church in central London, to “present casual oversight to clergy and PCCs (Parochial Church Councils) who really feel a lack of confidence within the non secular management of their bishop(s)”.
But so long as a clergyperson stays within the C of E, she or he holds their licence to take companies and to evangelise from the native diocesan bishop. All licensed clergy are due to this fact topic to the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) beneath which the diocesan bishop performs a significant function in adjudicating over complaints.
The actuality of the CDM signifies that it’s not virtually attainable for licensed clergy to declare unilateral independence from their bishops.
If, for instance, a clergyperson had been to refuse to attend a ministry overview with their native bishop or with a member of his or her management group, within the overwhelming majority of instances they could possibly be topic to a CDM motion.
Clergy who held the Parson’s Freehold, which the General Synod voted to section out in 2006, had extra independence from their bishops than these beneath the Common Tenure association. Whereas ministry critiques had been voluntary for Freehold clergy, Common Tenure clergy are legally required to attend common ministry critiques.
Most parish clergy are actually beneath the Common Tenure association and due to this fact in the event that they refused to attend a ministry overview as mandated by their bishop, they might face authorized motion beneath the CDM.
Among the signatories of the Alliance letter had been: Ade Adebajo, lay chair of the London Diocesan Synod; Rev Canon John Dunnett, CEEC nationwide director; Fr Adam Gaunt, chairman of the Catholic Group on General Synod; Rev Canon Paul Langham, a member of the nationwide management group of the evangelical charismatic community, New Wine; and Rev Sarah Jackson, General Synod chair of the Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) Network of evangelical charismatic church buildings.
They actually took pains to emphasize the dimensions of the Alliance’s membership of their letter to the bishops:
“The Alliance continues to develop numerically with 2360 clergy whose church buildings at present characterize 42% of the Church of England’s common Sunday attendance and 53% of all beneath eighteen-year-olds throughout the Church of England. The Alliance representatives in all 42 dioceses replicate the broad range of orthodox networks we’re supporting, together with conventional Catholics, New Wine, the HTB Network, CEEC, Living Out, Renew, the Church Society, 200 orthodox ordinands, the orthodox archdeacon group, the orthodox feminine clergy group and the orthodox international heritage majority group.”
But the numbers of clergy and the vary of orthodox church buildings and networks make no distinction to the sensible actuality that each single licensed clergyperson within the Alliance is topic to the CDM. The “de facto parallel province” is in actuality a de facto dead duck.
An amazing escape, nevertheless, of biblically orthodox Anglican church buildings from the C of E into their very own province with their very own bishops may show to be the phoenix out of the ashes.
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist primarily based in Lancashire.
