A new book to be published in June by IVP called God’s Church for God’s World brings together voices drawn from all major Anglican evangelical networks in the UK, demonstrating a commitment to the gospel being proclaimed and a unity both throughout and beyond the Church of England.
With a number of young contributors, it also offers a glimpse of possible futures for the Anglican Church. This extract (with some very minor adaptations for publication here) not only summarises the book’s contents but also gives a flavour of the situation Anglican evangelicals face – a useful overview both for them and also for non-Anglicans to whom the whole Anglican ‘thing’ can sometimes seem understandably perplexing and exasperating.
Perhaps more than at any previous time – though that is debateable – the Anglican Church is divided and fractured. For many, it is difficult even to agree on what the ‘Anglican Church’ means. It is likely that many will not attend this summer’s global Lambeth Conference of bishops. Church attendance in the West is plummeting and churches face difficult choices about the future, with regard to buildings, finances and ministry. Current moral questions around gender and sexuality continue to tear apart not only the international Anglican Communion but also individual national churches within it, including the Church of England. Covid-19 has shown us that life as we know it is much more frail and fleeting than we ever imagined was possible.
