Recent tensions in the Anglican Communion over homosexual practice have caused Professor Packer great heartache. Here he takes the opportunity to explain his actions.
In 1966 in Britain, when evangelical leader Martyn Lloyd-Jones called on Anglican evangelicals to leave the Church of England, I, with John Stott and others, stayed put and maintained that this was not the way to go.
But 36 years later, in 2002, I was one of the 80-odd who walked out of the Synod of the Canadian diocese of New Westminster, declaring communion with the bishop and the synod broken. I have been asked: what had changed? Have my principles shifted over time, or were the two situations significantly different? I here respond to these questions.
