For evangelicals in the Church of England there is one key question in the current crisis about blessings for same sex couples: How do I stay faithful to God in mission and ministry in the local parish church as the majority of the House of Bishops continues to reject the Bible’s teaching, contradict the foundational doctrine of the denomination and abuse power?
We are united on the importance of that question, but we not united on the answer. That is not a criticism, because there are a variety of answers depending on context, calling and conscience.
Anglicans are episcopal and we have an ordered structure of fellowship between local churches, which is the reason we have bishops in the first place. In the early church, bishops were elevated to oversee good order in inter-church fellowship. Following the pattern of the New Testament, they should be guardians of doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3) and administer financial support to ministry beyond the local church, like the apostles did with the Jerusalem collection and other such initiatives.
The 'leadership vacuum' in the wake of Welby
After Justin Welby completes his official duties as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, there’s a lot more to put …