Recent developments in the Liverpool and Manchester dioceses and in the forward planning of the Church of England generally, are affecting congregations very badly. Parishes are being lumped into unwieldy groups, where nobody can be quite sure who will lead the service next Sunday, just where it will be held, or indeed, who is actually responsible for what. This means that there are a lot of very unhappy people around, looking for genuine Christian fellowship, systematic teaching and properly conducted worship within a supportive environment.
GAFCON Kigali 2023 and the promised engagement of the Global South primates are at last giving real hope to those who ardently wish to see non-Christians come to Jesus and new Christians receive regular encouragement in a set-up which listens to local concerns and is absorbed in evangelism and outreach rather than in managerial reshuffles and raising enough money to keep the show on the road. The Church of England as we have known and loved it is now in its death throes, but by contrast, the Anglican Communion outside the West is bursting with life. No wonder they want to say goodbye to the mortuary touch of Canterbury!
However, an American commentator has observed that, although Kigali was held in the very heart of Africa, the conference was dominated by Western delegates and speakers. We in the UK are in desperate need of the joyful spirit of the East African Revival and the rock-solid faith of the Nigerians in the face of unbelievably wicked and sustained persecution. Nigeria long ago showed us the way forward by sending missionary bishops into the Islamist North to build new churches from scratch. Needless to say, their courage was rewarded by the Lord.
We have to face the unpalatable truth that here in Britain we have signally failed to keep pace with the changing patterns of population. New housing estates are springing up everywhere, but the Church is not sending in workers to convert people and build new Christian communities. It takes nothing short of a miracle to get Bishops’ Mission Orders for pioneer work in such locations, all too often because they are blocked by liberal incumbents who cannot or will not reach out to these new inhabitants. They are happily wedded to their church buildings and established work patterns and are content to rely on a ready-made conveyor belt of christenings, weddings and funerals to let them go on persuading themselves that they are truly in touch with the people.
GAFCON’s British counterpart ANiE offers us a far more constructive way ahead. They have made a great point of planting new congregations in places where there is no Anglican Gospel outreach and they have recently unveiled an ambitious programme of targeted church plants in towns and cities up and down the country, using such clergy and lay leaders as are willing to rise to the challenge. Local initiative and volunteer energy lie at the heart of this movement, encouraged by a sympathetic hands-on episcopate of four, led by Bishop Andy Lines, the highly respected former boss of the missionary agency Crosslinks. Despite the aversion of some of their number to ordered, liturgical worship, ANiE are at least free from the shackles of liberal bishops, expensive buildings and bureaucratic control. What’s not to like in this new Anglicanism?
