Thinking Anglicans

More comments following the Jesmond consecration

Adrian Hilton has written at Archbishop Cranmer that Justin Welby is not a heretic, he’s a very faithful Anglican.

This is a detailed rebuttal of claims made by Bishop Martin Morrison of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (who presided over the irregular consecration of Jonathan Pryke as bishop in Jesmond on 2nd May). I recommend reading all of it.

Paul Williams Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham writes Gospel unity in uncertain times.

…Recent events here in England have, once again, illustrated the scale of that challenge. In one parish a clergyman (holding a licence from the Bishop of Newcastle) has, we are told, been consecrated as a bishop outside of the structures and pattern of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. The rights and wrongs of that decision will no doubt occupy much debate online and elsewhere and it is important to acknowledge that the Church of England, like churches across the world, is facing challenges – and this is certainly not the first time in our history that we have faced a move such as this.

But it is time now to draw a line in the sand and ask whether unilateral actions such as this will help the cause of the gospel in our nation. I have no doubt that this is the motive behind the recent irregular ordination of a bishop, however, I believe we live at a time of extraordinary opportunity for the Church of England and therefore this is no time to be distracted by further fragmentation….

Lee Gatiss at Church Society has published Topical Tuesday: A Call to Steadfastness

…The vast majority of Conservative evangelicals in the Church of England are not about to go anywhere, or do anything wild. They are united around the agenda of staying in and fighting on, for the glory of God and the good of England. Yes, a very small number are in AMiE (though they have ambitious plans for growth, with which we wish them well and for which we pray); and one perplexingly idiosyncratic church has gone a bit rogue by making its curate into a bishop. They get all the headlines, while the Church Society approach continues to be the main game, supported by the Bishop of Maidstone, Rod Thomas; by those who speak for us in GAFCON meetings such as our President, Wallace Benn; by the next generation of ministers in our Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference; and by many others in churches up and down the country who are thinking every week not about the latest political game or ecclesiastical twitterstorm, but about using the still vast opportunities given to us within the Church of England for reaching out, building up, and sending people into the harvest field. So today, we in Church Society reaffirm our commitment to working within the structures of the Church of England, for reform and renewal, and the re-evangelisation of our spiritually needy land…

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Interested Observer
Interested Observer
6 years ago

tl;dr “Adrian Hilton has a theology degree and doesn’t care who knows it”. At 3680 words his tutor would probably say “cut it down a bit and make your point clearer”.

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