A forlorn cow nuzzles the soil in search of a blade of grass that isn’t there. In better times Andur was the “boss cow” in a herd of 70. She always enjoyed the best pasture, was first to drink from the water trough, and where she led the others followed. By the look of her clearly articulated ribcage, Andur will soon be the one doing the following to where the rest of the herd lie dead on the edge of the village of Funan-Qumbi in Marsabit County.

Cattle-herding tribes of northern Kenya have been waiting four years for the sustained rainfall that they need to survive, but for most of their livestock it is too late. In Marsabit County, 80 per cent of the cattle have died.

Drought is nothing new in this semi-arid region near the Ethiopian border and the pastoralists are resourceful, but even the most wizened tribal elder says that they have never seen anything like this. In the scattered villages dotted about the remote 67,000sq m region where some half a million people live, hawks pick on the animals’ carcasses. It’s a gruesome visual reminder of the climate disaster that has caused the death of 11 million heads of livestock in Kenya and left more than 23 million people in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia at risk of starvation, according to the UN World Food Programme. Some of the elderly in the far-flung villages are already dying of hunger, but their deaths are not being reported because of the shame.

Read it all (subscription).

In Kenya, drought is wiping out livestock and children are dying from lack of food. It is a natural disaster made worse by rising global food prices. The region is bracing itself for heartbreak — within weeks https://t.co/49lRKmxEfi

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) March 18, 2023

A village’s church bells will be ready to ring out for King Charles III’s coronation in May, bell ringers say.

The eight bells at St Peter’s in Alton, Staffordshire, were removed in October under a £100,000 restoration project.

Work has begun to put them back along with two new bells, and tower captain Alan Walters says he hopes to have them ready for Easter.

“The main thing is the Coronation, we want to be able to ring for that,” he said.

“If we miss Easter then we will be fine for the Coronation.”

Read it all.

Staffordshire News: Coronation target for Alton village bells to ring again https://t.co/LqlezZEvb2

— StaffordshireUK (@UKStaffordshire) March 14, 2023

The City of York Council and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England have given the go-ahead to install photovoltaic panels on the roof of York Minster.

The cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, is considered one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe.

The installation of 199 solar panels on the South Quire Aisle, dating back to 1361, will generate 75,000kWh of power annually and surplus power will be stored in underground batteries to power evening services and events.

Additionally, a panel inside the Minster will display power production and carbon savings, promoting the importance of decarbonisation to visitors.

Authorities say that the decarbonisation project can play a significant role in helping Minster achieve its commitments to sustainability.

Read it all.

Will this be the UK’s first net zero cathedral?

Nearly 200 solar panels will be installed on the roof of York Minster while excess power will be stored in underground batteries@CityofYork@churchofengland

#energycrisis #climatechange #ClimateCrisis https://t.co/ygjaM1rEW7

— Energy Live News (@EnergyLiveNews) March 14, 2023

Were there any particularly transformative moments for you while listening?

I think that, first of all, the depth of Scripture and theology was amazing. There were times that I would stop and say, “Boy, this church had decades of teaching at this level.” This immersion just comes up in his preaching all the time. He gets the big picture.

He sees how things go together at a level of depth that you would go, “That’s not profound.” But the profoundness is that he puts the pieces together. There was a sense that he wasn’t preaching at but … was standing alongside and that we are together learning under the authority of Scripture.

In one sermon, he said, “I think the great difficulty any Christian communicator or preacher has today is to have the courage to face the applications of Scripture in their own lives.” He applied Scripture to himself before he came to anyone else.

Then, in another sermon, he talks about the hallmark of authentic evangelicalism. And I’d be curious to know how John would deal with that today, given what’s happened to the term. But back then, it was the high view of Scripture and Scripture being applied to the realities of the current world.

He would say, “The hallmark of authentic evangelicalism is not that we maintain the traditions of the evangelical elders. It is rather that we are prepared to reexamine even the most long-standing evangelical traditions in the light of Scripture, in order to allow Scripture, if necessary, to judge and reform our traditions. Evangelical traditions are not infallible; they need to be reexamined. They need to be judged. They need to be reformed.” Well, that’s a statement that I think rings true today.

Read it all.

John Stott: ‘Evangelical Traditions Are Not Infallible’

The late theologian’s sermons are going digital, thanks to one of his family friends.

The public will soon have access to a digital collection of hundreds of John Stott’s recorded sermons and transcripts spanning five… pic.twitter.com/O6j2id2afC

— Lagrimas DeMadonna (@lagrimasshop) March 14, 2023

Parishes across England and Wales can now register to participate in Churches Count on Nature, an annual scheme where people visit churchyards and record the plant and animal species they encounter.

An adult and child taking part in the Churches Count on Nature, using a magnifying glass to look at wildlifeCaring for God’s Acre
The biodiversity survey, supported by environmental charities A Rocha UK and Caring for God’s Acre, as well as the Church of England and the Church in Wales, will take place from June 3 to 11, 2023.

In the last two years, 900 counting events took place across churches in England and Wales, and over 27,000 wildlife records were submitted to Caring for God’s Acre. Churches across all denominations take part in the count each year.

The data will be used to determine where rare and endangered species are located in the country and to aid churches of all denominations to increase biodiversity on their land for the enrichment of the environment and local communities. This year, species on some of the 17,500 acres of churchyards in England alone will be mapped, with a further 1,282 acres of churchyards in Wales.

As graveyards and church land are usually undisturbed and not used for farming, they can be host to a great variety of wildlife not seen in other green spaces, particularly in urban areas. Old churchyards often have fantastic flowery and species-rich grasslands as they have been so little disturbed over the centuries.

Read it all.

Parishes across England and Wales can now register to participate in Churches Count on Nature. 🌳

Read more at https://t.co/wrywVybO6C.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) March 8, 2023

Watch it all.

A table made from a 5,000-year-old fossilised oak tree has gone on display at Rochester Cathedral.

The table, which is 13m (43ft) long, went on show on Friday after being transported from Ely Cathedral and will stay in Rochester for a year.

The black oak tree from which it was made was found buried and preserved in a field in Norfolk in 2012.

A cathedral spokesperson described the table as “an amazing piece of craftsmanship”.

Read it all.

The 50-seater table made from an ancient oak tree will be on show at Rochester Cathedral for a year.https://t.co/un0O6mLm1p

— BBC South East (@bbcsoutheast) March 3, 2023

John and Charles Wesley are among the most notable evangelists who ever lived. As young men, they formed a party which came to be derisively called Methodists, because they methodically set about fulfilling the commands of scripture. In due course they learned that works cannot save, and discovered salvation by faith in Christ. Afterward, they carried that message to all England in sermon and in song. John Wesley is credited with staving off a bloody revolution in England such as occurred in France.

Although the brothers did not set out to establish a church, the Wesleyans and the Methodists are their offspring.

Both preached, both wrote hymns. But John is more noted for his sermons and Charles for his hymns. Here we present two hymns by Charles and a sermon by John.

Read it all.

George Orwell coined the term ‘doublethink’ to describe the flexibility of mind required to live and survive in the society described in the novel 1984. Amongst its many traits, doublethink required the ability “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic …” The book frequently quotes these examples: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, and 2 + 2 = 5.

The Anglican world has just received its own example of doublethink (and doublespeak) in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s opening address to the Anglican Consultative Council. Speaking in Ghana less than a week after General Synod’s decision to approve prayers of blessing on sexual relationships outside marriage, Archbishop Justin Welby stated, “When I speak of the impact that actions by the Church of England will have on those abroad in the Anglican Communion, those concerns are dismissed by many. Not all, but by many in the General Synod.”

Read it all.

The Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice has released the second of its biannual Racial Justice reports.

Mandated to drive ‘significant cultural and structural change on issues of racial justice within the Church of England’, the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice (“ACRJ”), headed by The Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng, is charged with monitoring, holding to account and supporting the implementation of the forty-seven recommendations of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce which were laid out in the Taskforce’s comprehensive 2021 report From Lament to Action.

In his foreword letter to the Second Report, Lord Boateng singles out for praise the Church Commissioners for their “ground-breaking work” in the forensic audit undertaken on Queen Anne’s Bounty and its links with transatlantic chattel slavery. The Commission welcomes the £100 million of funding to deliver a programme of investment, research and engagement over the next nine years, but caveats that there is much further work to be done as this is “not the end of the story” [Slavery, p 23].

Lord Boateng welcomes the arrival in December 2022 of the Director of the Racial Justice Unit, but expresses continued disappointment at the time it has taken to establish the Unit and comments: “This has inevitably impacted negatively upon our own work and on the progress made across the Church of England in delivering on the recommendations of From Lament to Action”.

The Second Report draws particular attention to the witness heard from representatives of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Christians about the “indifference, neglect and outright hostility” at the hands of both church and state. General Synod in 2019 urged dioceses to establish a chaplain to the communities. The Commission heard that twelve such chaplains have been appointed and calls for the remaining dioceses to do likewise in ensuring the GRT community receives pastoral, advocacy and educational activities. On the latter, the Church of England’s “Leaders like us” programme will have a part to play and the programme will be scrutinized by the Commission over the course of its work…

Read it all.

CoE Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice releases Second Biannual Reporthttps://t.co/lyT8Ngw1ha pic.twitter.com/xDOn5angEG

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) February 24, 2023

A huge wooden cross has been suspended from York Minster’s Central Tower, to mark the start of Lent.

The cross which is 19ft (6m) tall and 10ft (3m) wide, has been made from wooden scaffold boards in the Minster’s workshop.

The Lent Cross arrived at the cathedral on Tuesday ahead of Ash Wednesday.

Read it all.

York Minster installs giant wooden cross for Lent https://t.co/l3KAiWkyYw

— BBC Yorkshire (@BBCLookNorth) February 22, 2023

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Right Reverend Anthony Poggo, said today:

“I have read today’s statement by primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans with sadness, but am also grateful for its frankness and candour. The statement raises important questions for our collective consideration.

“The Primates who signed the statement have been consistently clear in upholding the traditional Christian doctrine that the proper place for sexual intimacy is within marriage, and that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. These doctrines are held by the vast majority of Anglicans around the world.

“It is necessary to correct two parts of the GSFA statement. The leadership of the Church of England has assured us that they have not changed their doctrine of marriage, nor have they introduced liturgy to bless same-sex relationships. To do so would require a different synodical process than that followed so far. Rather, the Church of England’s General Synod, meeting earlier this month, has endorsed the proposal that prayers can be used to invoke God’s blessings on people. The Synod also passed an amendment to the bishop’s proposals, stipulating that such prayers, when they are published prior to the next Synod meeting in July ‘should not be contrary to or indicative of a departure from the doctrine of the Church of England.’ Of course, this does not resolve other questions that have been raised about the clarity and wisdom of the proposals, upon which I will not comment.

“The other correction that I feel should be made is to the sixth resolution in the GSFA statement. The commitment of Anglicans to walking together was not, and is not, ‘prescribed by the Anglican Communion Office’. The Anglican Communion Office is the secretariat of the Instruments of Communion and has no power to prescribe anything.

Read it all.

A Lambeth Palace spokesperson has said:

“At last week’s meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Ghana, there was widespread support for working together patiently and constructively to review the Instruments of Communion, so that our differences and disagreements can be held together in unity and fellowship. The Archbishop is in regular contact with his fellow Primates and looks forward to discussing this and other matters with them over the coming period.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury commented last week at the ACC in Ghana that these structures are always able to change with the times.

“We note the statement issued today by some Anglican Primates and we fully appreciate their position. As was reaffirmed in multiple discussions at the ACC in Ghana however, no changes to the formal structures of the Anglican Communion can be made unless they are agreed upon by the Instruments of Communion….

Read it all.

PRESS STATEMENT
February 20, 2023

With great sorrow at the recent decision of the Church of England’s General Synod to legitimise and incorporate into the Church’s liturgy the blessing of same sex unions, ten Primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) met virtually on 13 Feb 2023 under the chairmanship of Archbishop Justin Badi (Chairman of GSFA & Primate of South Sudan) to discuss our response.

The panel of Primates agreed on the following resolutions which it now commends to the orthodox provinces and dioceses who are part of her Fellowship for the respective Primate & Province to consider and deliberate on.

1. As the Church of England has departed from the historic faith passed down from the Apostles by this innovation in the liturgies of the Church and her pastoral practice (contravening her own Canon A5), she has disqualified herself from leading the Communion as the historic “Mother” Church. Indeed, the Church of England has chosen to break communion with those provinces who remain faithful to the historic biblical faith expressed in the Anglican formularies (the 39 Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and the Book of Homilies) and applied to the matter of marriage and sexuality in Lambeth Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

2. As much as the GSFA Primates also want to keep the unity of the visible Church and the fabric of the Anglican Communion, our calling to be ‘a holy remnant’ does not allow us be “in communion” with those provinces that have departed from the historic faith and taken the path of false teaching. This breaks our hearts and we pray for the revisionist provinces to return to ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) and to us.

3. The GSFA is no longer able to recognise the present Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Hon & Most Revd Justin Welby, as the “first among equals” Leader of the global Communion. He has sadly led his House of Bishops to make the recommendations that undergirded the General Synod Motion on ‘Living in Love & Faith,’ knowing that they run contrary to the faith & order of the orthodox provinces in the Communion whose people constitute the majority in the global flock. We pray that our withdrawal of support for him to lead the whole Communion is received by him as an admonishment in love.

4. With the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury forfeiting their leadership role of the global Communion, GSFA Primates will expeditiously meet, consult and work with other orthodox Primates in the Anglican Church across the nations to re-set the Communion on its biblical foundation. We look forward to collaborating with Primates and bishops in the GAFCON movement and other orthodox Anglican groupings to work out the shape and nature of our common life together and how we are to keep the priority of proclaiming and witnessing to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world foremost in our life as God’s people. Together with other orthodox Primates, we will seek to address the leadership crisis that has arisen because for us, and perhaps by his own reported self-exclusion, the present Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer the ‘leader’ of the Communion and no longer the Chair of the Primates’ Meeting by virtue of his position.

5. GSFA Primates will carefully work with other orthodox Primates to provide Primatial and episcopal oversight to orthodox dioceses and networks of Anglican churches who indicate their need and who consult with us. This is to ensure that the faithful all across the worldwide Anglican Church but who find themselves in revisionistvii Provinces receive the pastoral oversight, guidance and care of a global, connectional Church which the Anglican Communion is meant to be.

6. Given this action by the Church of England’s General Synod, we believe it is no longer possible to continue in the way the Communion is. We do not accept the view that we can still “walk together” with the revisionist provinces as prescribed by the Anglican Communion Office and in the exploratory way proposed by IASCUFO (Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith & Order) at the recent Anglican Consultative Council (ACC)-18 meeting.

7. GSFA Primates are joint-stewards together with other orthodox Primates of the Anglican Communion, defined by its Formularies and that has been birthed and sustained by God through the centuries. We are accountable to the whole and to each other for the historic Christian faith and its practice in our autonomous Churches. The Church of England is the “historic first” province, but now that it has departed from the historic faith the responsibility falls to the remaining orthodox Primates. We will not walk away from the Communion that has so richly blessed us and for whose faithfulness to God and His word our forebears have paid a costly price. What has happened in the Church of England has only served to strengthen our resolve to work together to re-set the Communion, and to ensure that the re-set Communion is marked by reform and renewal. Only then will the Anglican Church as a whole be able to be God’s channel of light and transformation in a dark and broken world. Only then will we be able to live out our witness as part of God’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

To this end, GSFA will work humbly, boldly and charitably with other orthodox parts of the global Anglican Church. In our own Provinces, we will repent of the ways in which we ourselves fail to keep the covenant God has given us in Christ Jesus. We will ask God to purify and build up our churches so that we can authentically and passionately take the Gospel out to our respective nations and assigned fields.

i The GSFA is currently composed of 14 Provinces from a larger grouping of 25 Global South provinces. These 14 provinces plus one diocese have either signed on to be members of GSFA via assent to its Covenantal Structure (Cairo, 2019) or given written indication that a process to pursue GSFA membership has begun in their province. (See www.thegsfa.org)

ii ‘Orthodox’ provinces are those which hold to the plain and authoritative teaching of holy Scripture as historically understood, and correspondingly their ‘Faith & Order’ is consistent with what the Scriptures as a whole teach.

iii ‘The Church of England’s General Synod has welcomed proposals which would enable same-sex couples to come to church after a civil marriage or civil partnership to give thanks, dedicate their relationship to God and receive God’s blessing.’ (https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/prayers-gods-blessing-same-sex-couples-take-step-forward-after-synod)

iv Canon A5 : ‘The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.’

v Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution 1.10 on Human Sexuality states that “while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation …” The Resolution also states that the Lambeth Conference “cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions.”

vi The ‘holy remnant’ in Scripture refers to that segment among God’s people who remain faithful to God’s covenant against wind and tide by trusting and obeying God’s word and keeping to God’s standard of right and wrong. They do so in spite of sections of the wider community they belong to conforming to the world around them and disobeying the revealed word of God.

vii ‘Revisionist’ provinces are those who take a liberal view on the interpretation of holy Scripture and introduce new and innovative doctrines that do not agree with the plain teaching of Scripture as historically understood by the Church. In their ‘faith & order,’ revisionist provinces and dioceses move increasingly away from the bounds of Scripture .

And with a renewed and reset Communion, we will be able to join hands in mission and ministry across the nations to be a bright, collective light in the midst of the major challenges of our time. This is what we in GSFA are looking forward to as we prepare for our first GSFA Assembly under our Covenantal Structure (Cairo, 2019) , which will be from 28th-31st May 2024 in Cairo.

To God be the glory as a new light mercifully dawns on His Church in the midst of the growing darkness. Isaiah 60:1-3.

__________________________________________________________________

This Statement is endorsed by the following GSFA Primates

1. Archbishop Justin Badi ( Primate of South Sudan & Chair of GSFA )

2. Archbishop Hector (Tito) Zavala ( Primate of Chile & Vice-Chair of GSFA )

3. Archbishop James Wong ( Primate of Indian Ocean , GSFA Steering Committee member )

4. Archbishop Titre Ande ( Primate of Congo , GSFA Steering Committee member)

5. Archbishop Stephen Than ( Primate of Myanmar , GSFA Steering Committee member)

6. Archbishop Foley Beach ( Primate of North America, GSFA Steering Committee member )

7. Archbishop Samuel Mankhin ( Primate of Bangladesh , GSFA Steering Committee member )

8. Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba ( Primate of Uganda )

9. Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo ( Primate of Sudan )

10. Archbishop Samy Shehata ( Primate of Alexandria )

11. Archbishop Miguel Uchoa Cavalcanti ( Primate of Anglican Church in Brazil )

12. Archbishop Leonard Dawea ( Primate of Melanesia )

The pressure on time as a result of the extended debate on Living in Love and Faith provisions was never going to allow this group of sessions to complete the scheduled debate on simplifying the governance of the national church institutions (NCIs). An interim report presented to the General Synod for debate contained 22 recommendations in relation to creating a single governance body: Church of England National Services (CENS).

Prudence Dailey (Oxford) tried to intervene at the outset to adjourn the debate, but procedure meant that the motion — to welcome the report and encourage the National Church Governance Project Board (NCGPB) to continue developing a legislative framework — had first to be moved by the Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson.

He was keen to do this, he said, given how many staff had been working on it. Many people would be affected by the changes, he said, referring to a “them-and-us” trust deficit in the Church at many levels, compounded by a national governance structure that meant that people were unclear how decisions were made. The “convoluted structures” were liable to be bypassed to get something done, he suggested.

The positive aim of CENS was clarity, Bishop Watson said. There would be a full overview at the July sessions.

Miss Dailey tried again for adjournment on a “matter of exceptional significance and importance” that, through no one’s fault, had been “shoved in at the tag end of Synod”. It needed proper scrutiny, she said.

Bishop Watson urged members to resist adjournment at this stage, which they did.

Read it all.

General Synod digest: Governance plan sidelined by same-sex debate https://t.co/JCK55RGOci

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 17, 2023

But is the ABC really surrendering to GAFCON and the GSFA?

Don’t count on it.  Consider what he said in the context of his apparent surrender:

• He will not be dictated to by GAFCON and the GSFA: “I will not cling to place or position. I hold it very lightly, provided that the other Instruments of Communion choose the new shape, that we are not dictated to by people, blackmailed, bribed to do what others want us to do.” In other words, he will reject any solution that is not endorsed by the other failed Instruments of Communion, the most recent of which (The Lambeth Conference of Bishops 2022) he “re-set” to never again express the mind of the Church and its teaching.

• He continues to embrace “pluriform truth” based on interpreting the Bible through the lens of culture: “…we are deeply in disagreement, not through lack of integrity, corruption, lying, or surrendering to the culture, but because we do interpret Scripture differently, we understand the work of the Spirit differently, and we look at these things with different cultural lenses. And are therefore all always wrong to some degree.”
• He continues to champion a process of “good disagreement” and postponement of decision on doctrinal disagreements through the same endless and failed processes employed over the last 25 years.  This is shown through the report of the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith, and Order (IASCUFO) to ACC-18 this week which questions whether there is “a single faith and order shared by Anglicans” anymore and instead “affirms the importance of seeking to walk together to the highest degree possible, and learning from our ecumenical conversations how to accommodate disagreement patiently and respectfully.”[https://acc18.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/Reports/en/en_dept_IASCUFO_Good-Differentiation.pdf ]

The American Anglican Council will continue to support the leaders of GAFCON and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA) as they seek to “re-set” the Anglican Communion in keeping with the GSFA ‘Communique’ following the 2022 Lambeth Conference and the ongoing work of GAFCON.  We will have more to report as details unfold.  Please join us in praying for these faithful, courageous, and resilient leaders!

Read it all.

"The American Anglican Council will continue to support the leaders of GAFCON and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA)… Please join us in praying for these faithful, courageous, and resilient leaders!"https://t.co/9FmBIIGKdW

— M M (@FrMickM) February 15, 2023

From there:

The decision of the General Synod to support the bishops of the Church of England in their intention to make provision for blessings for couples in same-sex relationships represents a shocking departure from the teaching of God’s Word, which will have serious and distressing repercussions.

I should stress that there is no disagreement about the great dignity of all people, made in God’s image and deeply loved by him. We all affirm the importance of welcoming everyone to our churches, whatever their sexuality or relational circumstances. The division is about sex and marriage. The Bible’s teaching is clear, as taught by the universal church down the ages, that God intended his good gift of sex to be reserved for the marriage of a man and a woman (see my recent publication Together in Love and Faith? for more detailed teaching on this and related matters).

By offering the prayers they have published, the bishops will be giving authority (to those clergy who wish to use them), to bless in God’s name behaviour which the Bible calls sin. This is a very grievous step to take, which will cause serious spiritual damage and result in deep division within the Church of England and wider Anglican Communion.

Although the blessings will only be formally commended after the bishops publish further guidance in the summer about the context in which they can be used, the direction of travel is clear. In our distress, and perhaps confusion, we should remember that Christ is lovingly sovereign over his church and his purposes will prevail. We should also be encouraged by the principled, robust and united opposition to these proposals from over 40% of the Houses of Clergy and Laity in Synod, as well as a handful of bishops. That is a significant grouping which, in fellowship with the great majority of global Anglicans, alongside faithful Christians of all traditions and denominations, is determined to continue to walk together in obedience to Christ, as we seek to bear witness to him in our lost and needy world. We cannot, however, travel with those who are leading people away from God’s ways.

St Ebbe’s clergy have already declared that we are in impaired communion with the bishops in our diocese, which means that we will not welcome them to preach, confirm, ordain or conduct our ministerial reviews, and we will not take communion with them. The PCC has also taken action to ensure that any money we pay within the diocese is distributed via the Oxford Good Stewards Trust and is only used for faithful gospel ministry and essential administrative costs. We will be working closely with others, especially within the Church of England Evangelical Council, to discuss what other actions we can take, either individually as churches or together, both to distance ourselves from false teaching and to promote the cause of the gospel. As a larger church, we are especially conscious of our responsibility to help and support smaller evangelical churches, as well as faithful clergy and laity who are in the especially vulnerable situation of serving in churches where their congregations are divided or against them on these issues.

The debate within Synod, and the decision it made, bear witness to a division which goes far deeper than that over the particular presenting issue. There are now two distinct groups within the Church of England. One has chosen the way of compromise with the world and disobedience to God’s word; the other is determined to stay faithful to Christ, whatever the cost. It has been very encouraging to see deepening bonds growing between orthodox Anglicans, from different evangelical and other orthodox ‘tribes’. In the months, and no doubt years, ahead we will be seeking to build new structures that will, God willing, enable us to maintain distance from those who have gone down the wrong path, while working together with orthodox Anglicans in the cause of the gospel.

There will be significant challenges ahead, as we are forced to distance ourselves from many within the Church of England, while being faced with bemusement and, no doubt hostility, from the watching world. Perhaps most painfully, we will have to face differences amongst friends about how to respond to these realities. Our consciences and contexts differ. For myself, along with very many others, I am determined to stay to contend for truth and bear witness to Christ within the Church of England, and believe we can do so with integrity, certainly at this time and for the foreseeable future. Others, for varying reasons, whether principled, pragmatic or both, will choose a different path. Let us determine to resist the devil in his attempts to divide us and keep looking to our loving God. We are in desperate need of his mercy, because of our many sins, his wisdom in our perplexity and his strength in our weakness.

'Until now our doctrine has been clear… Let us be in no doubt whatsoever that that is a very serious step to take…

This is just the first step, massive as it is… it will continue & the cost will be enormous'

Vaughan Roberts @synod #synod #synod2023 #LLF pic.twitter.com/maViNig0Kx

— Rebecca (Bex) Chapman (@bexchapman3boys) February 8, 2023

You may be interested by this: the response of the Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda to the recent Church of England synod decision to allow prayers for same sex relationships.

*drives the last nail into the coffin" pic.twitter.com/okbV2uu4B0

— Chris Howles (@ChrisHowles) February 11, 2023

From there:

Good morning, our Media Evangelists, and Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow!

I have invited you here today to update you and, through you, all our Christians here in Uganda about some recent decisions the Church of England has made. I want to explain them very well to all of us and also explain the Church of Uganda’s position.

The Church of England’s Decision

The General Synod of the Church of England (their top governing body, like our Provincial Assembly) sat yesterday and passed several resolutions that are of great concern to us in Uganda. They have decided to allow clergy to preside at Blessings of Same-sex Unions and have approved supplemental prayers and liturgies for such occasions.

The Church of England is very good at making contradictory statements and expecting everyone to believe both can be true at the same time. That’s what they have done with this decision.

On the one hand, they say that the Church of England has not changed its doctrine of marriage, namely that marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman.

On the other hand, they are giving clergy permission to preside at services of Blessing for same-sex unions, especially for gay couples who are already considered “married” by the British government. In other words, a gay couple joined together in a civil marriage would then go to the church to receive prayers of blessing.

The only significant difference between a wedding and a service of “blessing” is the terminology used.

The Church of England insists it is not changing its doctrine of marriage. But, in practice, they are doing precisely that. You may read various articles, opinions, and commentaries on this decision that try to justify its action.

But, what I want you to know is that if it looks like a wedding, and sounds like a wedding… it IS a wedding.

The Church of Uganda’s Position

1. Now, I want to talk about the position of the Church of Uganda. There have been very many questions about it in light of this terrible decision of the Church of England.First, from the first page of the Bible in the book of Genesis to the last page of the Bible in the book of Revelation, it is clear that God’s design for human flourishing is that we are part of a family – a family that is defined as one man and one woman united in holy matrimony for life and, God willing, a union that produces children. God’s Word has said that the only context for sexual relationships is in the context of a marriage of one man and one woman.

2. Because lifelong, exclusive marriage between one man and one woman is the only context for sexual relationships, the Bible calls any other kind of sexual relationship a sin. Whether it is adultery, or fornication, or polygamy, or homosexual relationships. They are all sin and they all separate us from God.

a. That means sleeping with your girlfriend or your boyfriend before marriage is a sin.

b. That means that if you are married and have a “side dish,” that is a sin.

c. That means that if you take a second or third wife that is a sin.

d. That means if you engage in homosexual or same-sex sexual relationships, that is a sin.

Yes, God can forgive you, but it requires that you come before God, confess that you have done wrong, and make a commitment to change your way of life – in other words, to repent – and walk in God’s ways.

3. Third. When Jesus was questioned about a woman caught in adultery, he told her to “Go, and sin no more.”

There is a lot of sexual sin in Uganda. I know that, and you know that. Nevertheless, we haven’t changed our message. Our message is the message of the Bible, which is, “Go, and sin no more.”

The Church of England, on the other hand, has now departed from the Bible and their new message is the opposite message of the Bible. They are now saying, “Go, and sin some more.”

They are even offering to bless that sin.

That is wrong.

Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu has said the Church of Uganda still considers homosexual relationships sinful thus it won’t take the path of the Church of England which has accepted to bless same sex marriages.

What do you make of the Archbishop’s thoughts? | #MazimaPoll pic.twitter.com/lodIM9fM88

— Mazima News (@mazimaug) February 10, 2023

(Via email–KSH).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the Name of God our Father and His Son our Lord Jesus Christ!

Blessings to you as you behold the beauty of the Lord and his immense truth and grace on display through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul so eloquently writes,‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’ (Rom 1:16-17).

The decision taken today by the General Synod of the Church of England and the explanations given are clear indications that the Church England is moving a step at a time to fully accept the practice of homosexuality as part of the life and practice of the English Church. To some of us who have been hoping that the Church would remain true to her distinctive identity from those who don’t believe the teaching of Scripture, this hope is diminishing.

We have lived through this with other Western Anglican Provinces that continually wavered on the ‘faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) and now outright deny the doctrine of biblical anthropology regarding gender identity and moral behavior. Those in the secular press and culture will argue that these are matters of justice, but God’s justice can never contradict God’s righteousness, and we know these changes attack the very core of biblical authority. Have the Scriptures been clear on human sexuality through the centuries? Yes, they have. The majority of Anglicans around the world have concluded the same. And yet, now, the Church of England has authorized the blessing of sin and declared that sin is no longer sin.

From the Lambeth Conference 1998 (and its overwhelming endorsement of Resolution 1:10) to Kuala Lumpur in 1999, to Dar Es Salaam in 2007, to the Jerusalem Declaration at GAFCON 2008, to the Nairobi Communique at GAFCON II 2013, and the Letter to the Churches at GAFCON III 2018, we have remained resolute in speaking both the truth of Christian witness on matters of practice and ethics, and calling the Anglican Communion Establishment to repent and return to the teaching of the Scriptures and the historical teaching of the Church.

This decision by the Church of England raises questions regarding the relationship of Anglican Provinces around the world with the Church of England and the continued role of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Gafcon provinces and other Global South provinces are already in impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, The Scottish Episcopal Church, The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia, and the Church in Wales. We shall now have to make a decision about the Church of England.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has abrogated his fiduciary responsibility and violated his consecration vows to “banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s Word” with his advocating this change in the Church of England. He is shredding the last remaining fragile fabric of the Anglican Communion. It is time for the Primate of All England to step down from his role as “first among equals” in leading the Anglican Communion. It is now time for the Primates of the Anglican Communion to choose for themselves their “first among equals” rather than having a secular government of only one of our represented nations appoint our leader. We are no longer colonies of Great Britain.

In 2017 the GAFCON Primates (representing more than 60 Million active Anglicans worldwide) authorized the creation of a new mission into England because unbiblical practices had already been occurring in many dioceses in the Church of England. Many faithful Anglicans could no longer serve under bishops who had departed from the teaching of the Scriptures. We consecrated the Rev. Andy Lines to be its first Missionary Bishop and have since constituted the Anglican Network in Europe. Last year the GAFCON Primates consecrated the Rev. Lee McMunn, the Rev. Tim Davies, and the Rev. Ian Ferguson to assist in the growing work in the United Kingdom. The Rev. Stuart Bell will be consecrated in March. We believe the Lord is raising up a biblical alternative for the Christian faithful in Great Britain.

Many in the Church of England have made faithful and courageous speeches upholding the biblical teaching this week. We thank God for them and acknowledge their faithfulness to the Gospel, and our ongoing fellowship with and support for them. For those who are feeling alone and vulnerable during this time, please be assured of the fervent prayers of your brothers and sisters around the world. You are not alone. And you do not have to endure this alone. The Lord will guide you as you honor him and seek to follow His will.

In April Gafcon will be hosting over 1,100 participants in GAFCON IV in Kigali, Rwanda. In collaboration with the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA), we shall have more to say and do about these matters at that time. Please come, and we’ll make room at the table for you.

On behalf of the Gafcon Primates, I am

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Chair of the Gafcon Primates Council

"It is time for the Primate of All England to step down from his role as “first among equals” in leading the Anglican Communion." – Archbishop Foley Beach, Chair of the Gafcon Primates Council. Read more of Gafcon’s response to the Church of England here https://t.co/bO0Tcz0NTP pic.twitter.com/x7OavMbtYO

— ACNA (@The_ACNA) February 9, 2023

The General Synod has agreed to welcome the Bishops’ proposals to provide prayers to bless same-sex unions in church — but with a last-minute clarification that their use would not contradict the Church’s current teaching on marriage.

The debate on the proposals (News, 20 January), which began after lunch on Wednesday, overran by several hours, concluding at lunchtime on Thursday with a vote by houses.

The result was: Bishops, 36 in favour, four against, with two abstensions; Clergy, 111 in favour, 85 against, with three abstensions; Laity, 103 in favour, 92 against, with five abstensions.

The size of the vote against the blessings — after eight hours of debate and six years of discussion about sexuality and identity through the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project — was a clear indication that the chief concern here was not to mollify those who had wanted to be able to marry same-sex couples in church rather than just bless them, as some had thought.

Instead it was to keep conservative Evangelicals in a Church which, as many of them see it, was proposing to endorse extra-marital sex.

Read it all.

The General Synod has agreed to welcome the Bishops’ proposals to provide prayers to bless same-sex unions in church — but with a last-minute clarification that their use would not contradict the Church’s current teaching on marriage https://t.co/RtCgT2iMYb

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 9, 2023

Busola Sodeinde, London, a church commissioner spoke about the impact on the global church and the diaspora here in England, strongly connected with its roots: “There is an arrogance which I recognise, maybe unintended of, one time colonialism which insists that western culture is progressive while dissenting voices in Africa and everywhere else is silenced…I want to address the impending racial injustice, disunity and racial segregation in the church if we were to introduce same sex blessings without further consultation… I am worried that there may be an exodus of diverse communities from our parish churches and of having a profound impact on racial diversity which until now we have tried so hard to encourage.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury replied: “I’m generally torn by this… This isn’t something I take lightly. It’s the most painful thing I’ve ever known…. This isn’t just about listening to the rest of the world. It’s caring. Let’s just be clear on that. It’s about people who’ll die; women who’ll be raped; children who’ll be tortured. So, when we vote, we need to think of that”, then adding at the end: “We must also do right here as part of the church Catholic”.

Last week, the Archbishop met around a dozen MPs in Parliament and it was reported that he said he would rather see the Church of England lose its privileged status as the established church of the country than risk the global church fracturing over disagreements on the issue. Lambeth Palace said the conversation was “more nuanced and complex”.

Read it all.

Approval of the motion allows same-sex couples to go to Anglican churches after a legal marriage ceremony for services including prayers of dedication, thanksgiving and God’s blessing.

The motion had been brought by the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, and was the result of six years of work on questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage known as Living In Love And Faith.

The final motion was passed across the synod’s three ‘houses’. The House of Bishops voted 36 in favour, four against with two abstentions. The House of Clergy voted 111 in favour, 85 against and 3 abstentions. The House of Laity voted 103 in favour, 92 against, and 5 abstentions.

The bishops will now finalise the wording of the new prayers and also issue new guidance on whether gay clergy must remain celibate before the synod meets again in July.

Read it all.

"No-one has to offer these services and no one will be disadvantaged if they don't"

When Sunday Trading was legalised there were firm assurances that no shop-workers would be compelled to work on Sundays if they had a conscientious objection to doing so.https://t.co/MBbJ45bilo

— thoughtfully catholic (@stevhep) February 9, 2023

I know there is fear of a slippery slope, of what may or may not happen at some point in the future, but let us not give in to the fear of a future which we can neither predict nor control. Fear leads us to do the wrong things – trying to secure the future for God tomorrow, rather than trusting the Holy Spirit today.

I have just been in Westminster Hall hearing President Zelensky, who knows well what it means for the world to change overnight. And who knows here what will come to us over the next few years, not least from there.

Each of us will answer to God at the judgement for our decisions on this matter. We are personally responsible. I am supporting these resources, not I think because I am controlled by culture but because of scripture, tradition and reason evidenced in the vast work done over the last six years so ably by so many.

I may be wrong, of course I may, but I cannot duck the issue any more than anyone else here. I ask each member of Synod to vote with their Spirit-inspired consciences, scripturally and spiritually guided, and not because groups or lobbies or outsiders have told you to. I have heard them over the last two weeks in Parliament, and been told exactly what to do. I am not doing any of it.

Read it all.

I’m supporting the Prayers of Love and Faith, not because I am controlled by culture, but because of scripture, tradition and reason evidenced in the vast work done over the last six years so ably by so many. #Synodhttps://t.co/DMHSFntJ3D

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) February 8, 2023

From there:

• Item 510 – Diocesan Boards of Education Measure 2021 (consequential amendment to regulations under Canon B12) which surrounds the administration of Holy Communion in church schools. This relates simply to updating the definitions of headteacher and church school.  Read more.
• Key misc issues
• Issues raised about insecurity around immediate termination of BMOs (Bishop’s Mission Order)
• Clive Scowen seeked to ensure for Artice 7 & 8 business has a two thirds majority of delegates in person to ensure robust debate on the most important issues.
• The Archbishop of Canterbury gave the loyal address. Read more.
• There was a further time of questions focused entirely on LLF. Read more. Questions focused around the details of the new prayers and proposed changes.
• Resourcing Ministerial Formations takes forward proposals discussed in July. Some concerns were raised about the need for transitional arrangements and the use of the tuition formula. Item 9 was passed.

Catch up on yesterday's business at #synod #generalsynodhttps://t.co/rIf5ZLy7zd

— General Synod News (@synodnews) February 8, 2023

The Next Steps Group of bishops met on Wednesday 01 February 2023.

The Next Steps Group of bishops are looking forward to listening and attending to Synod members’ reflections on LLF at General Synod next week. They noted that Synod members’ feedback about the draft Prayers of Love and Faith and the proposed new Pastoral Guidance will be instrumental in shaping the way that these two strands of work are taken forward and brought back to Synod in July 2023.

The group reiterated that the Prayers and the Guidance belong together. In particular, the Prayers will not be commended before the Pastoral Guidance has set out clear reassurances for clergy and laity in relation to being able to either offer or not offer the prayers. The Next Steps bishops welcome Synod’s participation in setting out what such reassurance might look like in practice and what approaches would be helpful to enable church communities to engage with one another well in relation to the opportunity these prayers offer.

Read it all.

(Via email) Issued by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches
STATEMENT – FEBRUARY 2, 2023

By the Primate of South Sudan & Chairman of Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches on the upcoming ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’

HE Primate of South Sudan, the Most Rev Justin Badi, who is also the Chairman of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), joyfully participates in the ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ this coming weekend, in which the Government of his country has invited The Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rev Dr Iain Greenshields, to come together and to pray for peace.

However, the Primate says his warm participation does not in any way diminish his biblical views on marriage or sexuality….

South Sudan is currently going through a civil war, persistent floods have destroyed homes and livelihoods, food shortages are widespread, and millions of South Sudanese people are displaced. Archbishop Badi said: “We appreciate these Christian world leaders for their prayers, and their tireless efforts under the most challenging circumstances, to engage the world in the immense need to stand with the South Sudanese people. We pray their visit will remind us as South Sudanese people to repent of our own spirit of violence and mistrust, and to recommit ourselves to true reconciliation, justice and peaceful co-existence.”

During the weekend, the four religious leaders shall be present for a major prayer event at which a congregation of around 60,000 is expected. They will be praying for peace in the land and the well-being of her people.

Archbishop Badi affirms and values the ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ and shall offer generous Christian hospitality to the invited world and national religious leaders. However, he says his involvement as the Provincial Anglican leader in the country does not, in any way, diminish his views on marriage or sexuality as outlined, in full, in the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches’ Communique, published at the conclusion of the Lambeth Conference in England in the summer of 2022.

Archbishop Badi, and the leaders of the GSFA will be earnestly praying for the outcome of the Motion on Living in Love and Faith before the General Synod of the Church of England this coming week, 6-9 Feb 2023. The views of the GSFA on the recommendations of the House of Bishops have been expressed in the GSFA Press Release of 24 Jan 2023. The GSFA is poised to follow through on the implications of the critical Synod vote, and seeks a good outcome both for the Church of England, and the world-wide Anglican Communion.

Latest #News: GSFA challenges Welby's role as "Instrument of Unity." @AnglicanCouncilhttps://t.co/HMNtDezORL

— The Living Church (@Livng_Church) January 26, 2023

Lambeth Palace has expressed dismay at reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury told MPs that he would rather see the Church of England disestablished than split the Anglican Communion over the issue of same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Welby made the remarks in a private meeting with parliamentarians on Monday. The Church Times understands that it was put to Archbishop Welby that the Church of England’s current position on same-sex marriage was incompatible with its established status, and that the Archbishop replied that he would rather that the Church lost that status than exclude conservative groups in the Anglican Communion. The remarks reportedly were met with some surprise.

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace did not deny that the Archbishop had made a comment of this nature, but said: “We do not recognise the account of the private discussion as it has been leaked, which was much more nuanced and complex than how it has been described.

“The Archbishop agreed to meet for a private conversation with MPs, and it’s disappointing that some parliamentarians have chosen not to honour the terms of the meeting.”

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Lambeth Palace has expressed dismay at reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury told MPs that he would rather see the Church of England disestablished than split the Anglican Communion over the issue of same-sex marriage https://t.co/D1oa7l9GWr

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 2, 2023

The Archbishop of Canterbury will be visiting South Sudan with Pope Francis and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland from 3rd to 5th February.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has urged people to pray for the people of South Sudan ahead of his historic joint visit to the country with the Pope and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Archbishop said the church leaders are making their Pilgrimage of Peace to South Sudan “as servants” to “amplify the cries of the South Sudanese people” who continue to suffer from conflict, flooding and famine.

The Archbishop will be visiting South Sudan with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and the Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields from 3rd to 5th February. The unprecedented Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Peace is part of the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to the DRC and South Sudan which begins on Tuesday 31st January.

During the South Sudan visit the three church leaders will meet the country’s political leaders, hold an open-air ecumenical prayer vigil for peace and meet with people displaced by the conflict.

Read it all.

Please pray for the people of #SouthSudan as @Pontifex, @churchmoderator and I prepare to make our historic Pilgrimage of Peace on Friday.

We come as brothers in Christ to amplify the cries of the South Sudanese people and to pray for justice and peace. https://t.co/qBQQOEp7n4

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) January 29, 2023

Hospital chaplains are witnessing acute stresses and strains in the NHS, in a ministry now as much geared to the needs of staff as of patients; current pressures were showing the value of that trend towards staff well-being, the president of the College of Health Care Chaplains (CHCC), Dr Simon Harrison, said on Monday.

“What Covid began is now very much continuing,” he said. “My colleagues and I are in emergency departments daily, visiting to support patients wherever they are found. There’s nothing we’re doing that’s new. Everyone is in different ways putting their hand to the pump.

“But what we learned from Covid is that you need to see staff where they are: to be alongside them on the front line. It’s not about waiting to be called, but about going out proactively to see how they’re doing on a good day or a bad day. The thing chaplains do which is relatively unique is brief encounters: a lot of these, in the moment — very real, confidential if required, but in the moment.”

Canon Mia Hilborn, a Hospitaller and chaplaincy team leader at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, in central London, described the added pressure from the sheer numbers in hospital, including many who no longer needed to be there. but had nowhere to go as a result of the shortage of workers in the care system.

“There’s a shortfall if everyone is well. But if they take leave or are off sick, then it’s a major shortfall,” Canon Hilborn said.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Care now needed for NHS staff, as well as patients, say hospital chaplains https://t.co/vYIDgJ7giJ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 13, 2023