Complementarian bishop

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.

Archbishops’ intervention

It took an intervention by the archbishops to arrange for a complementarian to be appointed; in fact, a special role has had to be created. The reaction to this has been mixed. Here at the Reform office we have had hundreds of emails of support but there are many in the Church who would like to see him fail. WATCH, the lead campaigners for women’s ordination and consecration, responded to the news by saying: