Bishop Mullally, who is the C of E’s lead bishop for health care and a former Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: “The Church of England believes that the compassionate response at the end of life lies in the provision of high quality palliative care services to all who need them.

“Today’s vote still leaves the question of how this could be implemented in an overstretched and under-funded NHS, social care, and legal system. Safeguarding the most vulnerable must be at the heart of the coming parliamentary process; today’s vote is not the end of the debate.”

The Archbishop of York was reported in the Guardian as saying: “I regret this decision. It changes the relationship between the state and its citizens, between doctors and their patients, and within families between children and their terminally ill relatives. Once begun it will be hard to undo and control.”

Read it all.

Church figures have expressed concern after the first steps towards making assisted dying legal in England and Wales were taken on Friday. https://t.co/O4jCF3HaEI

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 2, 2024

The NST is following a four-stage process. Stage one is an initial assessment of risk, examining if anyone criticised in the review is an immediate safeguarding risk of harm to others or not. This work is being undertaken by DSOs, CSOs and the NST. It is important to note that if someone is considered not to be an immediate risk that this does not exclude them from consideration under stages two, three or four of the process.

It is also important to note that the NST’s initial responsibility is to examine safeguarding risk. Their work may then lead to other processes including capability or disciplinary, which hold people to account for failures of safeguarding, conduct, or other aspects of leadership responsibility, or for actions which have caused reputational harm. It is for each diocese to come to a decision using disciplinary, capability, or other appropriate processes.

Stage two of the NST process is a more in-depth assessment to be completed by Regional Safeguarding Leads, after which recommendations will be made. 

Read it all.

This really is unacceptable. https://t.co/Wd3vRhpohX Survivors have been waiting for years for a proper response and some action. So what do the Archbishops' Council do? Devise a process to kick the can down the road. Is there anyone in the National Church willing to say enough!

— Pete Broadbent @petespurs.bsky.social (@petespurs) December 3, 2024

Andrew has previously worked and lived in the Diocese in Europe. Prior to ordination he worked in Malta in a banknote-printing factory. His curacy was at St Michael’s Paris. Andrew remembers his time at St Michael’s very fondly and is looking forward to returning to explore more of the Diocese in Europe.  

Andrew was ordained priest in 1996. Following his curacy in Paris he became Associate Vicar at Christ Church, Clifton in the Diocese of Bristol. He worked with Archbishop Rowan Williams as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for International, Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Affairs. He was then Principal of Ridley Hall theological college from 2008 to 2016 before moving to the newly-formed Diocese of Leeds. He is author of ‘A Church Observed: being Anglican as times change’. Andrew is married to Amanda, who works for the Leprosy Mission and is a Licensed Lay Minister. They have two adult daughters.  

Andrew said: 

‘I’m delighted to be returning to the diocese where I served my curacy. Being Suffragan Bishop in this vast and fascinating diocese is an exciting as well as a daunting prospect. In partnership with other churches in Europe, there’s wonderful potential for nurturing Christian faith and witness. I’m really looking forward to coming alongside our chaplaincies in all their glorious diversity, so we can rise together to the challenges and opportunities ahead, in faith-filled and imaginative ways.’ 

Bishop Robert said:  

“I am very excited about Andrew’s appointment. Andrew has a great variety of experience and gifts in theology, ecumenical work and strategic development that are highly relevant to our diocese. I’m sure he will be a wise senior colleague and an encouraging pastor to our clergy and congregations. I am very much looking forward to working with him. Please do join me in praying for Andrew and Amanda as they face this major time of transition.” 

Read it all.

Former Ridley Principal Canon Andrew Norman to be Europe suffragan https://t.co/LALxvfX2ax

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 29, 2024

Some time ago, I found myself sitting at a dinner opposite a Labour peer. We chatted over various things as the evening proceeded. Just before we were getting up to leave a new topic came up. “I am a convinced campaigner for assisted dying,” she said. “As a bishop, I suspect you’re not. Why don’t you think we should do it?” Put on the spot, struggling to know what to say, and knowing I probably had one line to deliver as we stood up to leave, I said something like this: “Life is a gift from God. It’s not up to us to decide when it ends.” She looked across at me with a pitying look and walked away, clearly unconvinced.

I’ve often wondered what I should have said. Lord Falconer suggests that only secular people like him are ‘objective’ and religious people like me or Shabana Mahmood are biased and therefore our views are to be discounted. The idea that his secular perspective is not colouring his views, but that our religious ones are, or that he is not imposing his beliefs on others whereas we are, is of course, as Isabel Hardman has argued, philosophical nonsense.

Our religious beliefs shape our views, as his secular views shape his. The question is which perspective gives us a better, healthier and more coherent way of living together. I spoke recently to a key figure in the Church of England’s response to Assisted Dying who told me in no uncertain terms that religious arguments simply don’t wash in this debate. We have to use pragmatic and political ones that appeal to a wide audience. And so, the main arguments we have heard from church leaders and others against assisted suicide refer to the slippery slope argument: that legislation will inevitably in time become looser to include more candidates; care for the vulnerable, such as the elderly or the disabled who will feel pressurised into taking their own life, or, as the Health Secretary Wes Streeting has argued, the fact that palliative care is not yet robust enough in our health system to enable a proper choice.

Read it all.

My thoughts on why religion matters in the assisted dying debate https://t.co/SJBK4fUI3B

— Graham Tomlin (@gtomlin) November 27, 2024

Two new area bishops in the diocese of Oxford are to be Canons Dave Bull and Mary Gregory, it was announced on Wednesday morning.

Canon Bull, Team Rector in the Marlow Area Team Ministry, and Area Dean of Wycombe, will be the next Area Bishop of Buckingham.

Canon Gregory, who is a residentiary canon of Coventry Cathedral with responsibility for arts and reconciliation, will be the Area Bishop of Reading.

The Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, said that he was delighted with the two appointments. Of Canon Gregory, he said: “She brings great warmth, humanity, and a profound understanding of the healing power of reconciliation in God’s world.

Read it all.

Big great news, Mary Gregory bishop designate Reading and Dave Bull Buckingham @oxforddiocese pic.twitter.com/JNeQJ914JP

— Paul Cowan (@PaulHCowan) November 27, 2024

More Church of England leaders were aware of the John Smyth scandal and should follow the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision to resign, according to the head of the official inquiry into child abuse.

Professor Alexis Jay said that abuse continued in the church and the cover-up of Smyth’s decades of wrongdoing could not be “down to one person”.

The Most Rev Justin Welby, 68, will stand down in January and pass his duties to the Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act in a “caretaker” role.

Alexis Jay, who conducted the inquiry into child sex abuse, says more people must have known about John Smyth and that abuse is continuing in Church of Englandhttps://t.co/fgX70ALtCG

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) November 25, 2024

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Ephesians 6:10✞ pic.twitter.com/AbeBCbf8zT

— Catherine ♡ =^..^= (@Catangels) November 13, 2024

Personal ambition may have motivated some bishops to keep quiet before the Archbishop of Canterbury announced his resignation last week, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has suggested.

Dr Hartley was the only bishop in the Church of England to call publicly on Archbishop Welby to resign before it was announced (News, 15 November).

On Sunday, she told Sky News that she was disappointed that other colleagues had not joined her call, and that she knew of some who “privately were discerning that it was probably the right thing for the Archbishop to resign”.

She suggested that there was “a culture of silence and fear among the Bishops”, and that some might have chosen not to speak out because of a fear of being “reprimanded or rebuked”.

Read it all.

“We’re now in a period of transition and reflection. One of those reflections will be what sort of person we’re looking for to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, and what our expectations are of that person.” https://t.co/2Gsu6rCeez

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 21, 2024

Although the procedure for formally choosing and appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury is thus clear, what is much less clear is how it will prove possible for the CNC to choose a candidate who is acceptable across the breadth of both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

The deep divisions within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over the issue of human sexuality which have opened up since 2003 and which have become even more pronounced during the tenure of Archbishop Welby, mean that it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to find someone who the Church of England as a whole and the Anglican Communion as a whole will be able to agree upon. If a candidate takes a conservative view on human sexuality this will make them unacceptable to the liberals in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion and vice versa.

The question that therefore arises is whether it might not be sensible to hold off from appointing a new archbishop until there is the sort of reconfiguration of the Anglican Communion suggested by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches and the sort of reconfiguration of the Church of England suggested by the Church of England Evangelical Council and the Alliance.

This would solve the problem because a liberal Archbishop of Canterbury could be appointed who would be acceptable to liberals in the Church of England and across the Communion, but conservatives in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion would no longer come under his archepiscopal authority.

Read it all.

Why the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury may prove challenging https://t.co/fzDRacSfnt

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) November 19, 2024

The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretaker.

Following his historic resignation last week amid criticism over his handling of abuse allegations and safeguarding policy, Lambeth Palace has said that Welby would continue to serve as the lead cleric of the church until Epiphany in the first week of January, allowing him to serve over Christmas.

After Epiphany, his duties will be “delegated to the Archbishop of York”. Cottrell will fulfil the role until a new appointment is made, which is unlikely to be before next summer.

Read it all (subscription).

The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretakerhttps://t.co/xKNhA4OLpL

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) November 20, 2024

Patterson is correct when he says that process set out in Canon B2 provides the opportunity for General Synod to approve liturgical texts after agreeing that they do not depart from the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter. This does not mean, however, as Patterson suggests, that the decisions to ordain women as priests and bishops and the decision to permit the re-marriage of divorcees in church did not involve changes in doctrine. They clearly did, in that they involved the Church of England accepting that something was permissible which it had previously said was impermissible. The reordering of the Church of England’s common life that took place was a consequence of this change of doctrine. However, General Synod took the view that this change of doctrine was not in conflict with the doctrine found in the Articles, Prayer Book and Ordinal, and on that basis said that both this change, and the reordering of the Church’s life that flowed from it, were acceptable.

In similar fashion Synod could decide to permit same-sex marriages on the grounds that they were not contrary to what is taught by the Articles, the Prayer Book and the 1662 Ordinal and that therefore changing the Church’s teaching to allow these things to take place would be a legitimate thing to do. However, it would need to show good grounds for making this decision and this would be impossibly difficult to do given that the Prayer Book marriage service is absolutely clear that marriage was ordained by God to be between two people of the opposite sex and that ‘so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their matrimony lawful.’

Fourthly, Patterson declares concerning the Prayers of Love and Faith commended by the House of Bishops in December 2023 for use in regular services:

‘I agree that they are not a change in doctrine, but they are a change. In response to the legalisation of civil partnerships in 2005, the then House of Bishops declared that ‘clergy…should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership’ and on the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2014, repeated the instruction,  ‘Services of blessing should not be provided.’ Whereas now they have very clearly commended a set of prayers that may be used with those who have formed a civil partnership or same-sex marriage.’

Read it all.

Martin Davie–'The…problem with this statement is that the idea that the Church of England does not have a ‘straightforward statement of doctrine’ is simply untrue. The Church of England does have a straightforward statement of its doctrine, and this is found in the Thirty Nine… pic.twitter.com/8jtUCwrQDb

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 21, 2024

The Archbishop of York is under pressure to step down over his handling of child abuse cases in the Church of England.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell faced calls to resign on Sunday from a survivor who said he is perpetuating a Church “cover-up” and a former abuse inquiry leader whose work was prematurely disbanded by the Archbishops’ Council last year.

Rev Matthew Ineson, 56, a retired vicar who was abused at 16 by a Bradford priest, said the Archbishop of York failed to hold clergy accountable for mishandling his case.

He said: “Until there is a complete clean sweep at the top, nothing is going to change.”

The demands follow the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, last week, who was forced to quit over his failure to act on concerns over child abuse committed by evangelical Christian John Smyth.

Read it all.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell is perpetuating Church ‘cover-up’, claims sexual abuse survivor https://t.co/TkaI22T3ck

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 18, 2024

One of the survivors of Smyth’s abuse, Mark Stibbe, said in an interview with Channel 4 News on Tuesday evening that “If there are senior clergy who have broken the law then they need to be called to account.”

Later, in a briefing hosted by the Religion Media Centre, Mr Stibbe said that the “quality of leadership” among bishops needed to be a priority, as changes to safeguarding processes were developed.

“I feel that the top echelon of leadership in the Church of England has this disconnect from reality,” he said.

Speaking to the Church Times on Wednesday morning, the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, said that, when reading the Makin report, she had been “shocked and saddened” by the “extent of the abuse that the survivors suffered”.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Survivors of John Smyth’s campaign of abuse have called for further resignations, after the Archbishop of Canterbury’s announcement that he would take “personal and institutional responsibility” and resign.https://t.co/gHiKy247qc

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 15, 2024

Archbishop Welby has “decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury”; but he remains in office, for now, and it is not yet clear when exactly he will leave.

He said in his resignation statement: “It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.”

When contacted for more details, Lambeth Palace referred back to the Archbishop’s statement, and reiterated that the precise timings of his departure would be made in due course.

The selection of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury is by the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC). There will be 17 voting members: three representatives from the Canterbury diocese; six members of the General Synod; the Archbishop of York; another bishop elected by the House of Bishops; and, in a change since 2012, five representatives of the global Anglican Communion. The final voting member is the CNC chair, often a public figure, who must be a communicant C of E member, and is appointed by the Prime Minister.

Read it all.

Archbishop of Canterbury resignation: what happens next? https://t.co/PD2G1WTunK

— Av Aleksandr (@abbaleksandr) November 14, 2024

Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.

When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow. 

It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024. 

It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion. 

I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse. 

Read it all.

🔴 NEW: Archbishop of Canterbury resigns as crisis engulfs more senior clergy.
Victims call on a further two bishops and associate minister to step down over involvement in abuse scandal
w/ @fiona_parker14 pic.twitter.com/WeweX0Juko

— Janet Eastham (@JanetEastham) November 12, 2024

One finding concerns the impact of setting targets in the first place. A recurrent theme of the evaluations is a feeling that many targets were unrealistic, or not “owned” at a grass-roots level. The finding in Salisbury was that such programmes “risk being an extra pressure point for already over-stretched people, contributing to a crisis-like situation for those managing it”.

Such evaluations are relatively scarce in the public domain, and this fact coincides with the identification by reviews of a crisis of trust in the Church, for which Sir Robert Chote observed that the SDF programme had served as a “lightning rod”. Anxiety about the reaction to a transparent account of projects, including missed targets, is hardly misplaced: those involved may find it hard not to take criticism personally. Nuances may be missed amid the broader angst about the distribution of resources.

Stacey’s public reckoning with results included the suggestion that it might be the underlying approach (resources = output) that deserved attention. It finds a contemporary echo in Dr Stefan Paas’s diagnosis of the dearth of anthropology in church-growth literature, in which “most if not all attention is directed towards the strategic action of the Church.” Is this the real failure at hand?

Read it all.

The current Archbishop of Canterbury was a dormitory officer at the Iwerne holiday camp in the late 1970s, when Smyth was one of the leaders. He has always maintained that he was unaware of any abuse until 2013 and initially denied that Smyth was Anglican (News, 18 April 2019) — one of a number of inaccuracies in his account which the review corrects.

He told the review that he had been warned in 1981 by the Revd Peter Sertin, the Chaplain at St Michael’s, Paris (where the Archbishop was a worshipper), to “stay away” from Smyth, who was “really not a nice man”. The warning was “vague”, the Archbishop told the review. An exchange of Christmas cards with Smyth and donations that he made to Smyth’s ministry in Zimbabwe were not indicators of closeness, he argued.

The review concludes that, on the balance of probabilities, it is “unlikely that Justin
Welby would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding John Smyth in
the 1980s in the UK. He may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the
abuse, but it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of
knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”

A former Bishop of Chelmsford, John Trillo, who died in 1992, was informed of the abuse in 1983 while chairing a selection conference at which Smyth was assessed. The review also reports that the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey was informed of the abuse while Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, and was sent a copy of the outline of the Ruston report, which he denies seeing.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

The “prolific, brutal and horrific” abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, a Reader in the Church of England, was covered up by “powerful evangelical clergy”, the long-awaited Makin review has concluded.https://t.co/67tmeMGVVS

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 7, 2024

O God of light and love, who illumined thy Church through the witness of thy servant William Temple: Inspire us, we pray, by his teaching and example, that we may rejoice with courage, confidence and faith in the Word made flesh, and may be led to establish that city which has justice for its foundation and love for its law; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Church of England celebrates today the lesser festival of the great Archbishop William Temple, one of my great heroes in the faith.
A timely reminder today of all days. pic.twitter.com/qHSQbOlZZG

— Tim Howles (@AimeTim) November 6, 2024

Frank Weston had been Bishop of Zanzibar since 1908 when he died unexpectedly on 2 November 1924, aged 53. He was a remarkable figure. He had excommunicated the Bishop of Hereford and had charged the Bishops of Mombasa and Uganda with heresy and schism. Vilified as the “Zanzibarbarian” by his critics, he had been mentioned in dispatches and appointed OBE for his military service in the First World War. In 1964, he was declared a saint by the diocese of Zanzibar. His grave at the Holy Cross, Magila, in Tanzania, remains a place of pilgrimage.

Although Weston had an Evangelical upbringing, he was increasingly attracted to Anglo-Catholicism. Studying theology at Trinity College, Oxford, in the early 1890s, he was drawn to Christian Socialism, but found the Christian Social Union too moderate, and joined Stewart Headlam’s more radical Guild of St Matthew. During Weston’s studies, Bishop Smythies of Zanzibar visited Oxford and, in a sermon at St Barnabas’s, Jericho, appealed for volunteers to bring Christ to Africa. Weston signed up, but subsequently failed the medical.

In 1893, Weston took a first in theology. Despite encouragement from William Sanday to pursue an academic career, his heart was set on the Church. After leaving Oxford, he lived at the Trinity College Mission, Stratford, in east London. In 1894, he was ordained deacon, and, in 1895, priest by the Bishop of St Albans. Weston’s Anglo-Catholicism and socialism seem to have alarmed the leaders of the mission, and he resigned in 1896. There followed a curacy at St. Matthew’s, Westminster (1896-98), where a monument now stands in memory of his time at St Matthew’s and his subsequent African ministry.

Read it all.

Frank Weston, who died a century ago, was an Anglo-Catholic bishop who strove for racial justice in Africa — while challenging perceived threats from Protestantism and ‘modernism’, writes David R. Lawhttps://t.co/ednDM6LiK7

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 7, 2024

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide and direct, we humbly pray, the minds of all those who are called to elect fit persons to serve the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America. Grant that in the exercise of our choice we may promote your glory, and the welfare of this nation. This we ask for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

A beautiful day to see the sun rise in New York City as people head to the polls on election day Tuesday morning #newyorkcity #nyc #newyork #sunrise @empirestatebldg #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/nWy7MusBzE

— Gary Hershorn (@GaryHershorn) November 5, 2024

The Suffragan Bishop of Doncaster since 2020, the Rt Revd Sophie Jelley, is to be the next Bishop of Coventry, Downing Street announced on Monday.

She will be the Church of England’s tenth woman diocesan bishop. Her diocesan, the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, commented: “It was only ever a matter of time until such an appointment was made.”

Bishop Jelley grew up in Brighton, and studied theology and religious studies at the University of Leeds. After training at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, she was ordained deacon in 1997, and priest in 1998, to a title at St Peter’s, Shipley, in the diocese of Bradford, before becoming a mission partner with the Church Mission Society in Uganda for three years.

On her return to England in 2003, she became Resident Minister of Churt and Hindhead, in the diocese of Guildford. In 2010, she moved to be Vicar of St Andrew’s, Burgess Hill. In 2015, she moved to Durham diocese, to be Canon Missioner and Diocesan Director of Mission, Discipleship, and Ministry.

Read it all.

“The story of @CovCathedral, offering a message of forgiveness rather than revenge, has so much to offer our fractured world at this time. This gives me great hope for the future.”@revsophiejelley is set to be the new Bishop of Coventry.

Read more at https://t.co/ELxwTpNHF2.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) November 4, 2024

A Churchgoer and former employee of Lichfield diocese who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 incurable bowel cancer has run 60 miles, between chemotherapy treatments, to fund-raise for the charity Refugee Action.

The runner, Pete Bate, 50, from Burntwood, near Lichfield, said this week that he had been feeling more stable since his cancer treatments were paused in May, and so he decided to take part in Refugee Action’s Race for Refugees challenge in September. He has raised more than £1200.

“I’m off treatment at the moment, and wanted to do something positive, to show there is life beyond and outside of cancer,” he said. “I’ve been a keen runner for years, but am gradually rebuilding my fitness due to the draining effects of chemo.”

Read it all.

Pete set himself the challenge of running 50 miles for Race for Refugees, during a pause in treatment for Stage 4 bowel cancer. We’re thrilled to share that he reached his goal five days early! #RaceforRefugees pic.twitter.com/OF7ubvygKt

— Refugee Action (@RefugeeAction) November 1, 2024

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

We, the Gafcon Primates, meeting in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, to celebrate the investiture of Archbishop Steve Wood as the third Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and to welcome him as a Primate of the Anglican Communion, send greetings to the faithful.

We wish we could write to you about our great joy for mission, evangelism, and church planting, but recent statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury require us to yet again address an urgent matter surrounding biblical ethics confronting our beloved Anglican church.

The recent actions of the General Synod of the Church of England, where Archbishop Justin Welby has championed the introduction of same-sex blessings into the life of the Church of England, has galvanised the Gafcon movement in the ongoing reset of the Anglican Communion. However, Archbishop Welby’s recent explicit repudiation of Christian doctrine in his interview on Britain’s podcast, ‘The Rest is Politics,’ has brought us to repeat our serious call for his personal repentance.

In this interview, he publicly states that:

“all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship and whether it’s straight or gay. In other words, we’re not giving up on the idea that sex is within marriage or civil partnership. We’ve put forward a proposal that where people have been through a civil partnership or a same-sex marriage, equal marriage under the 2014 Act, they should be able to come along to their local, to a church, and have a service of prayer and blessing for them in their lives together.”

While he may claim not to have changed the doctrine of marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury has demonstrably changed the doctrine of sin, by promoting the sanctification of sin by means of a divine blessing.

This is in clear breach of Holy Scripture, which unequivocally teaches that the only proper context for sexual intimacy is in the relationship of a man and woman who have been joined together in marriage. All forms of sexual intimacy outside of this context are condemned as immorality and are behaviors from which the people of God are regularly called to repent (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

It is also in clear breach of Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which rejected, “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture,” and which the Archbishop as recently as 2022 declared to be the teaching of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England.

We are guided by Jesus’ solemn words of warning to the Church of Thyatira, because, “they tolerate the teaching of Jezebel,” which endorses sexual immorality. Only judgment awaits Jezebel and all who follow her, unless they repent (Revelation 2:21-22; 22:15). Any toleration, let alone endorsement, of immorality is liable to God’s judgment.

For this reason, in response to his public comments, we solemnly repeat our call for Archbishop Justin Welby to personally and publicly repent of this denial of his ordination and consecration vows, where he promised to, “teach the doctrine of Christ as the Church of England has received it.”

Gafcon supports all faithful Anglicans, both those who have chosen to leave established provinces where the authority of Scripture has been compromised, as well as those who choose to remain as they seek to reform their province from within.

Therefore, we continue to champion The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) as Gafcon’s authentically-Anglican structural provision for those who cannot by conscience remain within the historic, revisionist structures.

Additionally, we express our support for The Alliance as they seek to stand firm in defense of biblical marriage within the Church of England, and we stand ready to defend, authenticate, and support them.

Finally, we declare afresh to all those in England who, “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to all the saints,” that you are not alone.

Gafcon Primates’ Council.
Reformation Day,
31 October 2024.

Gafcon rebukes Archbishop Welby and affirms orthodox Anglicans in England: “Archbishop Welby’s recent explicit repudiation of Christian doctrine … has brought us to repeat our serious call for his personal repentance.” #anglican https://t.co/jdxcicstUL

— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) November 1, 2024

Bishops have said that they would welcome consultation on a “left-field” attempt by a Conservative MP, in an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, to abolish the parliamentary seats for the Lords Spiritual.

The Bill, introduced by the Labour MP Pat McFadden in September, seeks to remove the automatic membership of hereditaries in the House of Lords. The move to abolish the remaining 92 hereditary peers was promised in Labour’s election manifesto. The Bill had its Second Reading in the Commons last month. The subject was also debated by the Lords in July, shortly after the election (News, 26 July).

Last month, the Conservative MP Sir Gavin Williamson tabled an amendment to the Bill to include a clause that “No-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of being a bishop or Archbishop of the Church of England.”

Read it all.

Bishops have said that they would welcome consultation on a “left-field” attempt by a Conservative MP, in an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, to abolish the parliamentary seats for the Lords Spiritual https://t.co/8r0VXCxTHC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 31, 2024

What can we say about The Widening of God’s Mercy?

 In the light of the points noted in the course of this review we have to say that Chris and Richard Hays do not offer a persuasive argument in The Widening of God’s Mercy.

They do not show that the biblical laws were revised or that different laws contradict one another.

They fail to recognise that in Isaiah 2 and 56 the advent of universal peace and the inclusion of foreigners and eunuchs is dependent on the nations and particular individuals submitting to God’s law

They fail to show that God changes his mind and admits to having given his people bad laws.

They fail to show that John 16 talks about further revelation through the Spirit that supersedes biblical teaching.  

Finally, they fail to show that rules, boundaries and theologies are rethought in the Bible, they misrepresent the thought of Karl Barth, they say that LGBTQ people need to be included when the New Testament says that they already are, and they fail to distinguish between welcoming people and affirming their behaviour.  

Read it all.

Here's my review of Richard & Christopher Hays' new book "The Widening of God's Mercy" for @TGC.
They haven't found new evidence that changes what the Bible says about same-sex sex. They're offering a sub-theistic view of God to justify their conclusions.https://t.co/17acFfKTHI

— Rebecca McLaughlin (@RebeccMcLaugh) August 29, 2024

The sermon starts at about 1:39 and you are encouraged to listen to it all.