The Church Society council, Reform council and the trustees of the Fellowship of Word and Spirit (FWS) all agreed to pursue a merger, it was announced in February.
A statement issued by the organisations said: ‘In the light of our shared Biblical, Reformed, Anglican faith and common goals, we have decided that the challenges of the present time require us to unite our efforts so that we are better placed to harness the energies of evangelicals in contending for the gospel.
Hard work and trust
‘Bringing such bodies together requires a lot of hard work and much trust, but it is right for biblical Christians to pursue this. In the Bible the impact of sin always seems to be fragmentation and dispersal, but the fruit of the gospel and living under the rule of Christ is unity and gathering together. Furthermore, we believe that in the circumstances of the present Church of England the coming together of these bodies will enable us to be more effective in the pioneering, establishing and securing of healthy local Anglican churches.
‘A detailed plan for the merger of the three bodies has been worked out. Both Reform and FWS will be encouraging their members to join this renewed Church Society in advance of our AGM on 12 May, so that they will be eligible to speak and vote at that meeting. A new Church Society council will be elected then, and it is anticipated that this will include representatives of all three groups. A new President will also be appointed. There will, of course, be much still to work out in terms of the new organisation and how best to ensure that we retain the valuable work that each has been doing. We ask for your prayers and your patience during this transition time.’
Countering the fiction
The Revd Dr Lee Gatiss, Bishop Rod Thomas and Revd Dr Rob Munro all made statements about the positive step forward together. Statements commented that the move ‘counters the fiction of orthodox groups fragmenting’, that they approach the merger with ‘enthusiasm and hopefulness’ due to the shared convictions of biblical truth uniting them enabling their message to be ‘heard with clarity and power’ against the backdrop of the Church of England in a ‘crisis about its convictions and influence’.
