‘Numerous’ conversions and baptisms in new network
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is growing. Not just because churches are joining or because new churches are being planted – but because God is at work in the lives of ordinary men and women who want to profess their newfound faith in the Lord Jesus.
In June, Trinity Church, Scarborough posted online some fantastic photos (some of which are show here) of a service where nine of their congregation were baptised, which prompted the question, to a WhatsApp group of ANiE leaders, of where else this was happening,
Dithering or deciding?
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
There have been a lot of headlines about the
Church of England in recent weeks.
Many open letters have been written, a
celibate gay bishop has been paraded, and
even Church meetings in Tunbridge Wells
have got a mention. I don’t think it is just
the lack of real news during the ‘silly season’
that has caused it. No, it is also the fact that
the Shared Conversations about Scripture,
Sexuality and Mission are officially over, and
the time has come to make a decision. And
there is no easy answer.
Synod: culture over Scripture
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Aug 2016
The General Synod of
the Church of
England is drawing to a close as I write.
In fact, it officially came to an end last
Saturday night but since then the majority
of members have been cloistered in Shared
Conversations about Sexuality, Mission and
Scripture. I say the majority, because some
have disappeared home and others, including myself, have been here but have refused
to take part in the process because of the
fundamental flaws in the way that they have
been designed.
Shoulder to shoulder
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
In 1995 the Irish rugby authorities commissioned a song to unite players and supporters from all four provinces of Ireland as they played as one team in the Rugby World Cup.
No doubt we’ll hear the resulting song on numerous occasions over the coming weeks:
Complementarian bishop
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
On Tuesday 5 May there was a very subdued press conference, in a back room at Lambeth Palace, at which it was announced that Rod Thomas, vicar of Elburton Parish Church in Plymouth, chairman of Reform and a member of General Synod, had been appointed to be the new Bishop of Maidstone. No frills. No fanfares. In fact, you may have missed it altogether.
The appointment of a conservative evangelical bishop in the Church of England was long overdue. The last complementarian evangelical, Wallace Benn, was appointed 17 years ago and it is nearly three years since he retired. The gap was not unexpected. A report by the Church of England in 2007, called Talent and Calling, highlighted the lack of conservative evangelicals in senior leadership positions. The opportunities to deal with it existed – there have been 75 opportunities for a diocesan bishop to appoint a complementarian to assist them since that report was accepted by General Synod and every single time the opportunity has been missed, or rejected.
Two new AMiE churches
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Feb 2015
‘Thanks be to God’, as us Anglicans like to say, two brand new Conservative Evangelical Anglican churches have opened in the last few months: one in Salisbury and another in Guildford.
Both have been started under the auspices of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) where they join a good number of other churches already identifying with AMiE’s remit and, wonderfully, there are many more churches in the pipeline.
Encourage one another
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2014
Our dear brother John Richardson went home to glory this year. As a writer, he is a loss to this column, but his ministry has myriad legacies. Not the least amongst them is the annual Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference (JAEC) which took place in September.
The ‘Junior’ refers to the delegates – they are all people with less than seven years in ordained ministry, with some who are only just embarking on that path. It was wonderful to be there to see men and women from all over the country gathered to explore together their future ministry, in pursuit of John’s oft repeated goal – nothing less than the evangelisation of England.
Moment or movement?
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Feb 2014
In my youth we enjoyed the old game of seeing how many people we could squeeze into a Mini.
Little did I know how useful those skills would be when trying to organise ReNew, a new conference for conservative evangelical Anglican leaders that took place last November.