The Church of England has launched a new publication outlining its hopes for students, teachers and educators to flourish across the schools system.

Underpinned by the Church’s 2016 Vision for Education, the new document, entitled ‘Our Hope for a Flourishing Schools System’ makes recommendations including a once-in-a-generation re-imagination of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) funding, provision, training and development, wise and compassionate accountability systems for school inspections and performance measures and steps to ensure teaching is again regarded as a vocation in which adults can truly flourish and commit long-term.

The document sets out the importance of collaboration in different local contexts, particularly between schools in smaller rural areas, to ensure every child in every community receives an effective provision.

It concludes with recommendations for four leadership levels: Schools, School Trusts, Dioceses and Government, and invites dialogue and engagement across the sector to develop flourishing partnerships.

Read it all.

Thrilled to launch our new publication – ‘Our Hope for a Flourishing Schools System’ today 🙌

Full story and document download here 👇👇👇👇https://t.co/uq0SAbFSd9

— CofE Education (@CofE_Education) June 30, 2023

The Church of England could rent out parish churches instead of selling them under proposals to deal with dwindling congregations.

At present, churches struggling to fill pews are often merged with other parishes and their buildings sold off.

However, under plans being considered by the General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, buildings would be allowed to lie “fallow” with the option to reopen them in the future.

This could mean renting them out at times and also offering them to other institutions, such as local authorities or even other Christian denominations, under a shared ownership deal.

Read it all.

The Church of England could rent out parish churches instead of selling them under proposals to deal with the crisis of dwindling congregation numbers. Plans emerged in papers ahead of #synod later this week.https://t.co/MG3xaIK0Pk

— Gabriella Swerling (@GabriellaSwerl) July 1, 2023

A former airline pilot who saw the ‘face of Christ’ in the people he met after landing in some of the poorest areas of the world has been ordained a deacon.

[The] Rev Joshua Pollard worked for easyJet and then Virgin Atlantic over 11 years after qualifying as a pilot when he was 21 years old. He flew to European destinations and later on long haul routes all over the world, including the Caribbean, the US, Africa and India.

“People used to ask me ‘can you see heaven when you are pilot?’ and I would answer ‘frankly no’,” he said.

“Wherever I was going – and sometimes we were flying to some pretty tough and poor places, with people living in real hardship – it was through the people that I could see the face of Christ.

“It was not so much seeing heaven in the skies as in the faith of the people that I met once I had landed.”

Read it all.

Pilot swaps a life in the skies for parish ministry

A former airline pilot who saw the ‘face of Christ’ in the people he met after landing in some of the poorest areas of the world has been ordained a deacon.

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/EORb8Sof4y

— Canterbury Diocese (@CanterburyDio) June 30, 2023

The sacked members of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) have this week given their side of the story, disputing the version given by the Archbishop of York last weekend.

On Wednesday of last week, it was announced that the Archbishops’ Council had terminated the contracts of two of the three members of the ISB, and was moving to disband the body entirely (News, 23 June).

Archbishop Cottrell defended the decision in an interview on Sunday on Radio 4, in which he blamed “a breakdown in communication” for the ISB’s demise. On the same programme, however, the ISB’s lead survivor advocate, Jasvinder Sanghera, said: “It is not true to say this has happened because of a breakdown in relationships.”

On Tuesday, the other sacked ISB member, Steve Reeves, questioned the view that there had been a breakdown of trust, as suggested by Archbishop Cottrell and the secretary-general of the Archbishops’ Council, William Nye.

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On Tuesday, ISB member Steve Reeves questioned the view that there had been a breakdown of trust. “When they say ‘trust’, I don’t think they mean trust in the way that your average person on the street does. What they mean is obedience,” Mr Reeves said.https://t.co/QZjeqoYtGi

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 29, 2023

He comes to the post having served in the Cartmel Peninsula Team for nearly two years after moving to the Diocese of Carlisle in September 2021.

Ordained Deacon in 1994 after studying for a BA in Theology at Trinity College Bristol, he was a curate in the Diocese of Bradford, and between 1998 and 2003 led an ecumenical chaplaincy team in the University of Westminster. He also served for three years as Assistant Director of Ordinands in the Diocese of London. In 2001 Jonathan completed an MA in Systematic Theology at Kings College London. He was the Vicar of Christ Church with St John and St Saviour in Highbury for 14 years, also serving as Area Dean of Islington from 2014 and Acting Archdeacon of Hackney from 2015 to 2016. In 2017 he moved to St Paul’s Cathedral as Residentiary Canon and Treasurer, an appointment involving oversight of the building and the commercial and financial aspects of its work, relating these to the Cathedral’s spiritual mission of worship, prayer and service.

He added: “The cathedral exists as a place of prayer and welcome for the city, the county and the whole Diocese. The God for All vision, is precisely that, it’s an ecumenical vision for all people and I’m so looking forward to getting to know the cathedral community, building on all that’s been achieved in its 900th anniversary year, and supporting the wider mission and ministry of the Diocese as the new Dean.”

Jonathan is married to Sarah and they have four children, an older son and daughter who have left home and two teenage daughters.

Read it all.

Read the words of the Rev Canon Jonathan Brewster who has just been announced as the new Dean Carlisle@CarlisleCath @churchofengland https://t.co/1WOL0TiCeS

— English Cathedrals (@engcathedrals) June 29, 2023

As expected, no substantial developments to the Church’s Living in Love and Faith (LLF) programme will be debated at July’s meeting of the General Synod. Bishops have urged patience, saying that they are “on track” to present concrete proposals in November.

Draft Prayers of Love and Faith, which clerics will be at liberty to use to bless same-sex couples in church, were approved in principle at the February Synod (News, 9 February). A revised version will be presented to the Synod next month when it meets in York (7-11 July).

On Thursday afternoon, among the published documents for the July sessions, was an “update” on the implementation of the LLF process.

It reported that, over the past three months, bishops have been meeting with three “implementation groups”, each focused on a different branch of work: revising the prayers; devising updated pastoral guidance for priests and lay readers; and setting out what measures should be put in place for those who oppose the introduction of same-sex blessings (News, 3 May). Only on the first of these issues is something ready to be set before Synod members in July.

Read it all.

As expected, no substantial developments to the Church’s Living in Love and Faith (LLF) programme will be debated at July’s meeting of the General Synod. Bishops have urged patience, saying that they are “on track” to present concrete proposals in Novemberhttps://t.co/B2aCdDe6wu

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 23, 2023

Pascal was fascinated by our capacity to distract ourselves from the bigger questions of life and death. Is there a God? Who am I? Which religion is true, if any of them? What happens after our brief lives are over? If we are a tiny speck of life on a tiny insignificant planet within the vast expanses of space that were beginning to be discovered at the time, what possible significance can we have? How do you explain the monstrous contradiction of human beings who have the capacity for compassion, understanding and greatness and yet also for cruelty, bestiality and shame?

These are all big questions on which our eternal destiny depends, and so should occupy our minds day and night, and yet we have a remarkable capacity to distract ourselves from thinking about them. Silence and inactivity are unbearable to us and so we fill our time with (in his day) hunting, cards, conversation, tennis. As he put it, “the sole cause of a man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” He would have marvelled at our age with Twitter, TikTok, 24-hour TV and the myriad ways we find to divert ourselves during the most fantastically distracted age there has ever been.

And so Pascal tries to unsettle his reader, trying to stir up the instinct to consider deeper questions. Yet he still knows that even when we do start thinking about these things, we get muddled. Is there a God? Religious people say Yes; Atheists say No. Pascal knows enough of science to know that it is not capable of adjudicating on such questions, that evidence of miracles or biblical prophecies are ambiguous, and certainty is impossible to find. So what do you do when you’re intrigued by religion but there isn’t enough evidence to push you across the line to be a Christian? When one moment you’re convinced God is real, but the next you doubt the whole thing?

Maybe you give up on it – get back to scrolling through TikTok videos, watching the football on TV, musing over Harry and Meghan? Yet Pascal says you can’t just do that.

Read it all.

Today would have been the 400th birthday of the genius that was Blaise Pascal. Here is my take on why you need to read him and how he helps us locate happiness. https://t.co/HjcCMEBpbe

— Graham Tomlin (@gtomlin) June 19, 2023

The Church of England has sacked a panel of experts who provided independent oversight of how it dealt with abuse.

The Archbishops’ Council confirmed it was “ending the contracts” of all three board members – acting chair Meg Munn, Jasvinder Sanghera and Steve Reeves.

The latter two recently claimed the Church had been obstructive and interfered with their work.

The Church said relations between them and senior bishops had “broken down”.

Read it all.

I will be asking the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP, to request a briefing for MPs & Peers on *what on earth is going on* with the ⁦@churchofengland⁩ & safeguarding. https://t.co/eI9XNwPyi5

— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) June 22, 2023

The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board are to remove Shell, BP, and other oil and gas firms from their investment portfolios, because they are not reducing their carbon emissions quickly enough.

The investment bodies were instructed by the General Synod in 2018 to disinvest from fossil-fuel companies by 2023 unless the latter could prove that they were on the path to tackling climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement (News, 13 July 2018).

The Commissioners, who manage a £10.3-billion endowment fund, announced on Thursday that they had “decided to exclude all remaining oil and gas majors from [their] portfolio, and will exclude all other companies primarily engaged in the exploration, production and refining of oil or gas, unless they are in genuine alignment with a 1.5°C pathway, by the end of 2023.

“In 2021, the Church Commissioners excluded 20 oil and gas majors from [their] investment portfolio. [They are] now also excluding BP, Ecopetrol, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Pemex, Repsol, Sasol, Shell, and Total, after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI).”

Read it all.

The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board are to remove Shell, BP, and other oil and gas firms from their investment portfolios, because they are not reducing their carbon emissions quickly enoughhttps://t.co/AvBQ86cUjC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 22, 2023

Bishop Christopher was educated at Manchester University and trained for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham. He served his title at Christ Church, Epsom Common, in the diocese of Guildford, and was ordained priest in 1989.

In 1992 he was appointed Chaplain at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Bedford New Polytechnic and from 1997 to 2001 he served as Director at the Southern Theological and Education Training Scheme (STETS). From 1999 he held the additional title of Honorary Canon at Guildford Cathedral. In 2001 Christopher was appointed Principal of Ridley Hall, University of Cambridge.

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Today, we send huge congratulations to Bishop Christopher of Coventry on his new appointment as Dean of Windsor.

Full details can be found: https://t.co/PryizbHThV pic.twitter.com/l9jyIBhmYp

— Coventry Cathedral (@CovCathedral) June 20, 2023

The action taken by the British government is the first time a Security Council Resolution has been passed on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and puts in place Recommendation 20 of the Truro Independent Review:

The FCO to use the United Kingdom’s position, as a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, to seek a Security Council Resolution to call on all governments in the MENA Region to:

a. ensure the protection and security of Christians, and other faith minorities, in their respective countries;
b. facilitate the establishment of security and protection arrangements for Christians, and other faith minorities, within the legal and governance structure of their respective countries;
c. permit United Nations observers to monitor the protection and security arrangements for Christians and other faith minorities in their respective countries.

FCO also to consider taking a similar approach for other regions as appropriate.

Read it all.

Bishop of Truro @pmounstephen, is instrumental in the development of a new UN Security Council resolution, in conjunction with UK / UAE governments, on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Learn more at https://t.co/O1SAuXCVgL.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) June 19, 2023

Downing Street has announced that the Venerable Adam Atkinson will be the next Bishop of Bradwell, succeeding the Right Reverend Dr John Perumbalath, who became Bishop of Liverpool earlier this year.

Adam is currently Archdeacon of Charing Cross in the Diocese of London, a role he has served in since March 2020. He previously served as Director of Mission Development in the Two Cities area of London Diocese and as a parish priest in Stepney.

Speaking about his appointment Adam said:

“What a joy to be invited to join in with what God is doing here in Chelmsford. I pay tribute to the clergy and lay leaders and volunteers and servants of God in the parishes and ministries of the Bradwell Area. Particular thanks to the Area Deans but also to single out Archdeacon Mike, who has shouldered so much in the last several months. I come to serve alongside you who have also been called to work for the Kingdom of God to come in Bradwell as it is in heaven.”

Read it all.

The Venerable Adam Atkinson is to be the new Bishop of Bradwell in @chelmsdio.

Read more at https://t.co/z74sU2vcjw.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) June 19, 2023

After attending a local comprehensive school in Sussex, Philip studied German and Russian at Cambridge University followed by Theology at Durham University while training for ministry at Cranmer Hall. His PhD was awarded by Edinburgh University for research into Paul’s hardship narratives in 1 and 2 Corinthians, and his book Being Real: The Apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and The Stories We Tell Today is being published by SCM this autumn.

Philip served his curacy at Christ Church, Chineham, an ecumenical church in the Diocese of Winchester, and was ordained priest in 2002. During his curacy he led a team which ran a popular Youth Alpha course and planted a youth congregation.

In 2006, Philip was appointed Vicar of Claygate, in the Diocese of Guildford, a church which in 11 years grew from three to five Sunday congregations and also planted a further church nearby. From 2012 Philip additionally served as Area Dean of Emly, introducing a Deanery Growing Leaders course used by a range of churches.

Read it all.

Philip will be installed as Dean of Durham at a special service at Durham Cathedral on Saturday 16 September.

Read more about Philip’s appointment here ➡️ https://t.co/5sUgZYVif4

— Durham Cathedral (@durhamcathedral) June 16, 2023

O God, who dost raise up scholars for thy church in every generation; we praise thee for the wisdom and insight granted to thy bishop and theologian Joseph Butler, and pray that thy church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"Every man is to be considered in two capacities, the private and public; as designed to pursue his own interest, and likewise to contribute to the good of others."

✒️ #JosephButler, English philosopher, #DOTD 16 June 1752. #Philosophy pic.twitter.com/QUGOBtH5AD

— Nathan Francis (@NathanFrancis__) June 15, 2023

The Venerable Ian Bishop was born and brought up in Devizes in Wiltshire and worked as a chartered surveyor before ordination. He was ordained as a Deacon in 1991 and priested the following year. He became the Archdeacon of Macclesfield in January 2011.

Ian is married to Sue and they have three sons together. In his leisure time, he enjoys theatre, cinema, cricket, golf and amateur dramatics.

Ian will be ordained as a bishop in Westminster Abbey on 29 September 2023. There will be a service of welcome for him and Sue at Norwich Cathedral on Saturday 30 September at 5.30pm to which all are warmly invited.

The Venerable Ian Bishop says;

“I want to be a pastoral bishop who comes among the people of Norfolk and Waveney with kindness and love, and an ability to listen well. I want to be a missional bishop, to help you grow your church where you are and to nurture the green shoots of growth that you see locally. I am looking forward to being amongst you very much, we have very many happy memories.”

Read it all.

Delighted to welcome Ian Bishop @VenBish back to @DioceseNorwich as Bishop of Thetford. Looking forward to visiting Tasburgh (their old parish), Great Yarmouth, Oulton Broad and Thetford with him and Sue today.
And I suspect the @EDP24 headline will be “Bishop to be bishop”. pic.twitter.com/pRJE2G7uNI

— Graham Usher (@bishopnorwich) June 14, 2023

Bishops heard detailed updates on the work of the three implementation groups set up following the Synod debate which considered proposals to offer prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God’s blessing for same-sex couples.

Living in Love and Faith logo.
Meeting both in small groups and in joint session, the bishops reviewed progress made on refining a set of texts, known as Prayers of Love and Faith, which could be offered in Churches voluntarily.

They also engaged with questions to be considered by the implementation group developing new pastoral guidance. And they discussed what pastoral reassurance could be required to ensure freedom of conscience for clergy and laity when the Prayers of Love and Faith come into use.

The meeting of the College, which includes all the serving bishops of the Church of England, did not take any formal decisions but provided feedback to inform the ongoing work of the implementation groups….

Read it all.

'The meeting of the College, which includes all the serving bishops of the Church of England, did not take any formal decisions but provided feedback to inform the ongoing work of the implementation groups…' https://t.co/ZOHCvv9bvW #anglican #bishops #marriage #anthropology

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 8, 2023

Sadly, much of this wildlife is at risk from climate change and associated biodiversity loss. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. 15% of all our species are threatened with extinction, 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, and we have lost 492 animal and plant species in England since the 1800s. This can be even more pronounced on a local level – since 1900, one species of plant has been lost every two years on average on a county level.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, biodiversity loss and degradation, and damages to and transformation of ecosystems are already key risks for every region of the world due to past global warming, and will continue to escalate with every increment of temperature. This crisis of nature is now being recognised alongside the climate crisis as a serious threat to the future of the people and other creatures living on the planet.

Part of our Christian discipleship, as we care for creation, is to notice what we’re interconnected with, so that we can wonder at God’s creation and then take action to safeguard it on this island we call home.

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Do you care about nature? We thought so. Please do contribute to this conversation about the "People's Plan for Nature" before 30th October to have your say on how we can and should go about protecting the natural world. https://t.co/VvhjJaGEKs

— @StJohnsSE8 (@stjohnsse8) October 12, 2022

Any decision at the end of the LLF process was going to face challenges but the responses to the bishops’ proposals suggest that there are four particular failures in their approach which have made matters worse. 

Firstly, in contrast to the detailed work of LLF, and failing to draw on that work, the bishops gave minimal explanation or theological justification for their proposals. Secondly, they proposed a liturgical response to different life situations without—as the ten points above demonstrate—offering any account of what pattern of same-sex relationship might be considered fitting within Christian discipleship. When asked about this the Bishop of London said in an answer (to Q163) in February, that we need to wait for the Pastoral Guidance as that “will include setting out unequivocally the necessary qualities for a relationship to be considered chaste, faithful and holy”. Thirdly, although committing to uphold the doctrine of marriage and thus rejecting a change to extend this to include same-sex marriage, the bishops were not clear as to what else—particularly in relation to sexual behaviour—should be considered as part of the doctrine of marriage. Nor were they clear whether they were proposing to change current teaching on sexual ethics. It was, for example, unclear whether what the Bishop of London had stated only in November last year in answer to a Synod question still applied: 

Canon B 30 does indeed continue to articulate the doctrine of the Church, including asserting that holy matrimony is the proper context for sexual intimacy. 

All three of these failings arose because it seems there was not sufficient time to achieve any consensus on them. The problem is that without any clarity and consensus in these areas, the proposals are inherently unstable and arguably incoherent. 

A further cause of instability and incoherence is a fourth feature of the proposals (number 7 above): to justify offering the prayers, including prayers of blessing, to couples in same-sex marriages the bishops, with the support of the Legal Office, offered a novel and contentious argument distinguishing holy matrimony from civil same-sex marriages. The relationship between civil marriage and holy matrimony after the introduction of same-sex marriage was not a question covered within LLF although it produced an invaluable “Brief History of Marriage Law” by Professor Julian Rivers. The answer now being offered represents a complete reversal of all previous legal and theological statements including in the Church of England’s successful case defending the refusal of Bishop Inwood, Acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, to give a licence to Jeremy Pemberton who was in a civil same-sex marriage. There, as set out in the original employment tribunal judgment of October 2015, the employment appeal tribunal judgment of December 2016 and the Court of Appeal Decision in March 2018, a key argument advanced was that the bishops’ actions were necessary because to be in a same-sex civil marriage was incompatible with the doctrine of the Church of England in relation to marriage.

Read it all.

The Prayers of Love and Faith put the practical cart before the theological horse. What questions do we first need to ask about the pattern of holy life God calls us to before we can discuss the Prayers with any coherence? @theologyethics1 @simonsarmiento https://t.co/i3nHup7SH1

— Dr Ian Paul (@Psephizo) June 2, 2023

Last year I identified four areas where greater funding is need now, and these have become no less urgent in the last 12 months.

First, with the cutting of stipendiary ministry we are facing the real possibility of the C of E withdrawing from large parts of the country. Perhaps that needs to happen, in order for new and effective ministry to be re-established at a later date—but we cannot just ignore this reality.

Secondly, clergy stipends have been in long-term decline, and there is a real sense of hardship amongst those clergy with children and without a second income. Given the overall financial situation, including the Commissioners’ assets, I think this is a scandal.

Thirdly, in 2015 the clergy pension was unilaterally reduced by a third, by what I regard as a sleight of hand. Questions in Synod have confirmed that this would cost a mere £25m per annum to rectify. (I say ‘mere’ in the light of the numbers above). This must surely be put right, and better provision made for housing for clergy in retirement who were not able to buy their own property during ministry. If you are a member of General Synod, please sign my Private Members’ Motion proposing that we address this.

Fourthly, our residential theological colleges are under threat and financial pressure, for a range of reasons, but principally because of the disaster of the RME changes, and because of the unmanaged growth of other forms of training. Historically, these have been vital sources of theological learning; we have already lost what was the largest college, and it would be a tragedy to lose another. These are assets which can never be regained once they are lost.

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The Church Commissioners have posted another excellent set of results for last year. The assets have doubled in ten years—and increase 17-fold in 30. Why, then, are dioceses and parishes still under such financial pressure? @WalkerMarcus @AngelaTilbyhttps://t.co/yIHfw5Nlt6

— Dr Ian Paul (@Psephizo) May 26, 2023

Stephen Conway grew up in London, before moving to Oxford to study modern history at Keble College. Following this he completed a PGCE becoming a teacher at Glenalmond College in Perth, Scotland. In 1983, Stephen began training for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge and was ordained as a priest at Durham Cathedral in 1987. Following time as a priest at churches in the Diocese of Durham, in 2006 Stephen was announced as Bishop of

Ramsbury, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Salisbury, and in 2010 he became Bishop of Ely – the post he has held for the 13 years since. Bishop Stephen became one of the Lords Spiritual of the House of Lords in 2014.

Following a wide-ranging consultation across the Diocese of Lincoln and beyond, Stephen accepted the invitation from the King to become Bishop of Lincoln, after interviews by the Crown Nominations Committee. Following the announcement, a series of formal proceedings will now commence. The College of Canons in Lincoln will proceed to elect

Bishop Stephen and that election will be confirmed at a ceremony in London presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Read it all.

Rt Rev @Bishop_S_Conway is to become the new Bishop of Lincoln.

He will leave his current role in @DioceseofEly and join @CofELincoln later this year.

Read more at https://t.co/XuBNlIqD3E. pic.twitter.com/1bVvT8IuUI

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) May 24, 2023

What is now clear is that, in the event of the General Synod endorsing blessings for people in sexually active relationships outside of heterosexual marriage, the Church of England will confirm she has “chosen to impair her relationship with the orthodox provinces in the Communion”. She will thereby ensure that the Anglican Communion will cease to exist in anything like its current form.

CEEC therefore urges the House and College of Bishops to step back from the brink in order urgently to explore a “settlement” in England that might avoid the Church of England suffering the same internal division as the Communion has experienced in the last two decades.

Given that about 45% of the General Synod has clearly articulated the conviction that the proposals of the bishops are unacceptable, urgent consideration needs to be given to a form of good differentiation involving structural re-organisation without theological compromise. Following this path could prevent the unity of the Church of England being torn apart in the same way that the Communion has been.

Read it all.

The conference as a whole has been marked by humility and repentance. Every day, in response to expositions of the book of Colossians in the Bible, the conference has set aside time for delegates themselves to reflect and repent of their own sins first. Only with that firm basic Christian foundation in place have they felt able to say that “Recognising our own sins, and in humility as forgiven sinners, we pray that those who have denied the orthodox Christian faith in word or deed would repent and return to the Lord… Since those who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1), we call upon those provinces, dioceses and leaders who have departed from biblical orthodoxy to repent of their failure to uphold the Bible’s teaching. This includes matters such as human sexuality and marriage, the uniqueness and divinity of Christ, his bodily resurrection, his promised return, the summons to faith and repentance and the final judgment.” It is noteworthy here that they do not focus solely on matters of sex, but on all departures for the orthodox biblical faith as it has been revealed to us in scripture and held by the church in all ages and in all places. GAFCON is by no means a single-issue group, but is seeking to uphold “the true profession of the gospel, the Protestant Reformed religion.”

For now then, the Anglican Communion is broken. Only a change of direction by senior leaders in revisionist provinces can alter this. “We long for this repentance,” says GAFCON, “but until they repent, our communion with them remains broken”. This gathering, which represents the vast majority of global Anglicans, makes it crystal clear that “We consider that those who refuse to repent have abdicated their right to leadership within the Anglican Communion, and we commit ourselves to working with orthodox Primates and other leaders to reset the Communion on its biblical foundations.”

GAFCON has rightly supported those who in good conscience feel they cannot remain in the Church of England. They do not however call on everyone in England to do the same and follow that path out of the national church. They reaffirm their active support for those of us who wish to continue fighting valiantly within the Church of England and are compelled to resist the changes proposed by the majority of the House of Bishops. So, the statement says, “We also continue to stand with and pray for those faithful Anglicans who remain within the Church of England. We support their efforts to uphold biblical orthodoxy and to resist breaches of Resolution I.10.”

Turning to pastoral matters, GAFCON restates the classic Christian approach on matters of sexuality. “Appropriate pastoral care affirms faithfulness in marriage and abstinence in singleness. It is not appropriate pastoral care to mislead people, by pretending that God blesses sexually active relationships between two people of the same sex. This is unloving as it leads them into error and places a stumbling block in the way of their inheriting the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).” This shows that GAFCON is more interested in people’s eternal salvation and true flourishing than those who want to affirm recent revisionist approaches that are more worldly and supposedly “progressive” in nature.

Read it all.

GAFCON IV – THE KIGALI COMMITMENT

INTRODUCTION [Download the entire commitment using the link below]

[Christ] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Colossians 1:18… pic.twitter.com/wqYV1g0tTo

— GAFCON (@gafconference) April 21, 2023

William Taylor says: ‘The bishops of the Church of England have walked away from us.’ St Helen’s annual clergy review will now be led by Archbishop Foley Beach of the worldwide orthodox Anglican grouping, GAFCON.

Meanwhile, Richard Moy, Resource Church Lead at ‘Christ Church W4,’ says of the meeting between 180 clergy and their London diocese bishops: ‘It was extraordinary. The meeting was called with expectations that [just] the “usual suspects” would turn up but had to be relocated when it was clear that there were more than a couple of dozen people coming.’

Moy says the bishops were told that the whole leadership of one charismatic church plant had told their minister: ‘Of course we’re leaving the C of E.’ This was echoed by four or five other charismatic churches with Global Majority Heritage congregations from across several networks.

A clergyman believed to be the longest serving in the room said he had been ordained 47 years, in the diocese for 40 years and that there had always been rogue or renegade bishops. However, this was the first time that the House of Bishops had collectively gone against the majority view of the Anglican Communion, Anglican doctrine and Biblical authority, Moy reports. At this, those present erupted into ‘rousing applause’ after which the bishops were reported to look as though they were in ‘shell shock’.

Read it all.

The College of Bishops met on Thursday to continue considering next steps for the Church of England following the recent debate at General Synod on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

Last month’s Synod considered proposals from the bishops which would enable same-sex couples who have marked a significant stage of their relationship such as a civil marriage or civil partnership to come to church to give thanks, offer prayers of dedication to God and to receive God’s blessing. Synod members also met in small groups to consider and comment on a set of draft texts for these prayers known as Prayers of Love and Faith, and to offer their views on proposed pastoral guidance.

At Thursday’s meeting, in London, bishops began reviewing those comments and considered how to approach the task of refining the Prayers of Love and Faith and preparing the new pastoral guidance.

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The industry makes most of its profits from those who are vulnerable, with 86% of online betting profits coming from 5% of customers. Most of thesepeople are already suffering from gambling–related harms or have been diagnosed as suffering from an addiction. Further, the statistics show that 35% of people with a gambling disorder receive daily incentives to gamble, compared to only 4% of those without. All too often there are reports in the media of people receiving offers of ‘free’ spins and the chance to be a ‘VIP customer’ when they have been trying to stop gambling.

Coroners currently do not need to record an opinion on the factors that may have caused a person to taketheir life. My Private Members Bill, the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill aims to change that.

It is estimated that between 400 – 500 people take their lives each year in this country due to gambling. Yet when the House of Lords ministers answered my questions they claimed that there was no reliable statistics of the numbers of deaths caused by gambling. Furthermore, they showed little concern to find out.

If this bill comes into law, the requirement on coroners to record the ‘where, how and what’ questions associated with each suicide will remain unchanged. However, once this part of the inquesthas been concluded, each coroner will be required to record the co-morbidities of each suicide….

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Coroners currently do not need to record an opinion on the factors that may have caused a person to take their life this has to change, argues the Bishop of St Albans in this important article discussing his PMB – https://t.co/pK6hMtBJlC #Parliament #SuicidePrevention

— Alistair Thompson (@ali_thompson1) March 17, 2023

Matthew was ordained in the Diocese of Sheffield in 1996 and served his curacy at Christ Church in Dore. Since 2010, he has held the role of Vicar of St Michael le Belfrey in York, a resource church involved in church planting and revitalisation, with a broad range of ages including lots of students and young adults.

Matthew is an author, has recently completed doctoral studies in church planting, and in 2022 was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen, and then the King.

He is passionate about evangelism, discipleship and developing leaders, and particularly serving people in poverty and young people in the North of England.

Matthew often describes himself as ‘a follower of Jesus and a leader in God’s church – in that order.’ He believes that nothing of lasting significance happens without prayer.

He says: ‘I’m humbled and thrilled to be called to be the next Bishop of Bolton, working with Bishop David and Bishop Mark. While sad about leaving The Belfrey in York, I’m coming to the Manchester area in prayerful expectation, excited to be the lead bishop in mission, growth and church planting, and looking forward to serving the people and church of such a fantastic part of the North.’

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The Revd Dr Matthew Porter, currently Vicar of St Michael le Belfrey in York, will be the next Bishop of Bolton, 10 Downing Street has announced this morning.

Read more 🔽 https://t.co/teJhgAhFXs pic.twitter.com/mJ0skkWvo5

— Diocese of Manchester (@DioManchester) March 15, 2023

From here:

The meeting appraised and reviewed the outcomes of the Living in Love and Faith debate and motion passed at General Synod in February and considered the scope of work required between now and the next General Synod in July 2023.

The Next Steps Group then considered and refined the agenda of the forthcoming College of Bishops meeting at the end of March. They noted that it will be important for the bishops to listen to the feedback from General Synod, the response of the wider church to the decisions made, as well as to each other’s reflections before moving on to the consider how the work of drafting the Pastoral Guidance, providing pastoral reassurance, refining the Prayers of Love and Faith and establishing the Pastoral Consultative Group will be taken forward.

With the remit of the Next Steps group now having reached its conclusion, the bishops went on to discuss the necessary phases of work after the March College of Bishops and the composition of the working groups that will take forward the work that will need to be done for the July Synod.

The meeting ended in prayer.

Presently, the Gafcon Primates are meeting regularly with the Primates of The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches and other Orthodox Primates across the world to discern the path forward. The outcome of these meetings will affect the majority of the 85 million Anglicans worldwide.

Gafcon will not be commenting on the content of these meetings while they are ongoing but will be releasing a statement at the end of the upcoming GAFCON IV Conference to be held from 17-21 April in Kigali, Rwanda.

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GAFCON reports discussions underway among the primates over the future shape of the churchhttps://t.co/fOUrGgHNcR pic.twitter.com/IY54ZV1Jqd

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) March 9, 2023

The Revd Canon Smitha Prasadam, currently Chaplain of St Albans, Copenhagen, will take up the role of Bishop of Huddersfield, Downing Street announced this morning.

Her appointment as an Area Bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Leeds marks a return to Yorkshire for Smitha, who once studied English Literature and Linguistics at the College of Ripon and York St John, (University of Leeds).

“I can’t wait to start meeting people in God’s own country again,” said Smitha, who has served the Anglican Church in Denmark since 2018. “This is where I came as a student and began my journey so it holds a special place in my heart. I’m looking forward to working together with parishes, clergy and community throughout Kirklees and Calderdale to encourage people in confident discipleship and relish the thought of embracing cultural, educational, commercial and inter-faith partners so we can support this wonderful place and its people in common cause.”

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The Revd Canon Smitha Prasadam, currently Chaplain of St Albans, Copenhagen, will take up the role of Bishop of Huddersfield, Downing Street announced this morning.

Read more here ➡️ https://t.co/wk9BvbPyux pic.twitter.com/CdSijLgb8v

— Diocese of Leeds (@LeedsCofE) March 8, 2023

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