This month of March may now be some distance away from the O Sapientia day sandwiched between the December Ember Days, but never has there been a time when orthodox Anglicans are in such need of the wisdom of God. The dividing line between the arguments for leaving the Church of England and staying put are wafer thin.
Church Society, New Wine and most Anglo Catholics appear to be moving towards staying put, despite the huge challenges they will have to face by doing so. Their reasoning is sound. Many just cannot afford to leave behind stipend, free housing, expenses and pension for an uncertain future, where they will not be paid unless the congregation they will have to plant themselves grows big enough to afford such luxuries. It would be morally wrong to criticise them for refusing to put their wives and children onto the streets. It would be equally wrong for them to abandon their congregation without there being a proper mechanism for their continuing pastoral care, esopecially in parishes where Gospel ministry is very recent and not yet deep-rooted.
But there is now a further theological argument for them to stay. One bishop only – Jill Duff of Lancaster – a charismatic and a woman – was willing to stick her neck above the parapet at General Synod and make a powerful speech defending the Scriptural truth of heterosexual marriage. Sadly the eight Catholic bishops of the Society of St. Wilfrid and St. Hilda have thus far remained uniformly silent. However, even only one orthodox bishop is enough for the faithful to gather around. It happened in the early Church!
For those who feel that enough is enough and it is now time to leave, the situation has become much easier than it was at the height of the Women Priests controversy. We now have the archbishops of GAFCON and the Global South offering them episcopal oversight and a spiritual home among 75%of the world’s most courageous and faithful Anglicans, many of them in places of great danger and persecution. It has to be a no-brainer! Who could possibly dare to accuse the leavers of schism since they are seeking refuge with the believing majority of our worldwide Anglican Communion? The liberals of the rich and phlegmatic West are now the minority and the schismatics!
However, the orthodox provinces of the Communion are unashamedly Anglican and liturgical, although their churchmanships may vary from the Evangelicals of Sydney to the Charismatics of East Africa and the Catholics of the Indian Ocean. This must surely be a cause for celebration, for this happy variety, united in its witness to Christ’s Gospel, Scriptural truth, and the Anglican balance of Word and Sacrament, will undoubtedly bring new perspectives and new life in its wake.
Nonetheless, this solution will not please everyone, particularly the assorted band of ultra-Protestants and would-be Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who inhabit our Evangelical fringes. They would feel most at home with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches and we should indeed congratulate this important body of Christians, who have done a fine job in taking Jesus to new places in the UK, often some of the poorest and most deprived. All orthodox Anglicans, whether within the Church of England or in the Anglican Network in Europe, should be working alongside the FIEC anyway. It might be that the FIEC people will discover the glories of liturgical worship for themselves and swell and strengthen the ranks of all those who are working for the conversion of pagan England.
Look, what a good and joyful a thing it is, for brothers to live together in unity. Psalm 133.
