The Bible begins with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. One chapter later, we’re told that when God created the world he was “at work”. That the very first thing we learn about God is that he is a worker is very significant.

The nations around Israel believed that humans were created because the gods didn’t want to work – work was beneath them. But the Scriptures show us a God who works. Work is not an evil necessity but something associated with God’s character and so, when he creates humans and tells them to go and work in his garden, this is not a jail sentence but a privilege.

Genesis 2 also tells us that God rested. He worked and he rested, and in so doing established a pattern for us. Humans aren’t made for work alone but for work and rest. And as Hebrews tells us, rest is ultimately about our eternal relationship with God. We are made for the heavenly rest where we enjoy the presence of the living God and life full of joy and relationship in a renewed heavens and earth.

Against this backdrop we read that God created us. And there are two really important truths here. First, we are created in the image of God. And second, as those created in God’s image we are created specifically for work.

When God made men and women – to fill the earth and to rule over it – he gave us the privilege of working as his agents in his creation. It’s easy for us to miss the significance of this. Work is very, very good. Work is not the thing that you do to get to the good bits. There is something good about work, even when it’s very “worky”! Even when it’s tiring and difficult.

Read it all.

Joseph the Carpenter by Georges de La Tour, circa 1642.#YearofStJoseph pic.twitter.com/bzbZRYUnuk

— Brant Law (@Mr_BLaw) July 29, 2021

Thirdly, and most fundamentally of all, Bishop Christopher [Cocksworth] admits that the cart was effectively put before the horse. Speaking of the “Pastoral Guidance” the bishops are supposed to be now producing in relation to Prayers of Love and Faith, he writes: “We promised pastoral guidelines on the practical outworking of the provision, with all their complex legal and theological questions, at a later point, rather than offering them alongside the liturgical provision. The result was that the response and prayers raised more questions than they answered…”

In other words, the Bishops came up with the prayers first rather than the theology. But how can you write prayers if you are not sure what the underlying theology is? Not only is it putting the cart before the horse, but arguably the horse has bolted and it is too late to shut the stable door as no-one knows where the stable is anyway. Don’t explore that mixed metaphor too closely but you get the idea…

In other words, the Bishops came up with the prayers first rather than the theology. But how can you write prayers if you are not sure what the underlying theology is? Not only is it putting the cart before the horse, but arguably the horse has bolted and it is too late to shut the stable door as no-one knows where the stable is anyway. Don’t explore that mixed metaphor too closely but you get the idea…

The bishop admits things have been done in the wrong order elsewhere when he lists some of the theological questions still to be answered by the bishops. He says these include: “Is the provision genuinely consistent with the doctrine of the Church of England?” (yes, you read that right!) and “What [are the draft prayers] saying or implying about the permissibility or otherwise of sexual intimacy in relationships of the same sex, and in opposite sex relationships that the Church does not recognize as marriage, and what is its theological case?” So the prayers were written before the answers to the key theological questions on which they rest were considered.

Read it all.

Good grief begins with honest reflection, however difficult.https://t.co/voCNxVJRmM

— Will Briggs (@WillBriggs) February 27, 2023

Ultimately, it’s Jesus who makes me happy. But also chocolate and coffee, and being outdoors.
I love being outside and away from man-made noise; so my favourite sounds are the breeze, and birds singing, and of the natural world.
Jesus gives me hope for the future, especially as we look in disbelief at the recent earthquake. Jesus promises to be with us, even if our worst nightmares come true. Even though this world is so broken, he has overcome the sources of evil on the cross. We live with the presence of all those things, but one day everything will be made new — the new heaven and the new earth — an existence every bit physical as it is spiritual.
I pray most for more of God’s Kingdom to come to earth, at home, at church, in our city, and across the UK. We have a part to play in that: seeing God’s work done on earth, helping people in distress, and developing technologies that prevent or alleviate suffering, such as vaccines and medical treatment.
Economics and politics also play a part, for example, in the fight for human rights, an inherently Judaeo-Christian concept. We have things to do now that point to that future.

Read it all.

'Every time a tragedy strikes, we are reminded that intellectual answers alone are not enough'

Interview with @SharonDirckx, author of Broken Planet: If There's a God, Then Why Are There Natural Disasters and Diseases? ➡️https://t.co/208LJcGR5s

— IVP Books UK (@IVPbookcentre) February 20, 2023

In Uganda, during the eight years in the 1970’s when Idi Amin and his men slaughtered probably half a million Ugandans, “We live today and are gone tomorrow” was the common phrase.

We learned that living in danger, when the Lord Jesus is the focus of your life, can be liberating. For one thing, you are no longer imprisoned by your own security, because there is none. So the important security that people sought was to be anchored in God.

As we testified to the safe place we had in Jesus, many people who had been pagan, or were on the fringes of Christianity, flocked to the church or to individuals, asking earnestly, “How do you prepare yourself for death?” Churches all over the country were packed both with members and seekers. This was no comfort to President Amin, who was making wild promises to Libya and other Arab nations that Uganda would soon be a Muslim country. (It is actually 80 per cent Christian)….
It became clear to us through the Scriptures that our resistance was to be that of overcoming evil with good. This included refusing to cooperate with anything that dehumanizes people, but we reaffirmed that we can never be involved in using force or weapons.

…we knew, of course, that the accusation against our beloved brother, Archbishop Janani Luwum, that he was hiding weapons for an armed rebellion, was untrue, a frame-up to justify his murder.

The archbishop’s arrest, and the news of his death, was a blow from the Enemy calculated to send us reeling. That was on February 16, 1977. The truth of the matter is that it boomeranged on Idi Amin himself. Through it he lost respect in the world and, as we see it now, it was the beginning of the end for him.

For us, the effect can best be expressed in the words of the little lady who came to arrange flowers, as she walked through the cathedral with several despondent bishops who were preparing for Archbishop Luwum’s Memorial Service. She said, “This is going to put us twenty times forward, isn’t it?” And as a matter of fact, it did.

More than four thousand people walked, unintimidated, past Idi Amin’s guards to pack St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kampala on February 20. They repeatedly sang the “Martyr’s Song,” which had been sung by the young Ugandan martyrs in 1885. Those young lads had only recently come to know the Lord, but they loved Him so much that they could refuse the evil thing demanded of them by King Mwanga. They died in the flames singing, “Oh that I had wings such as angels have, I would fly away and be with the Lord.” They were given wings, and the singing of those thousands at the Memorial Service had wings too.

–Festo Kivengere, Revolutionary Love, Chapter Nine

🔵 #TodayInHistory #February16 #Uganda 🇺🇬

➡️1977 – Arrested Archbishop Janani Luwum last seen in public. Killed on orders of Pres. Idi Amin.

➡️ Also killed is Charles Oboth‐Ofumbi, Minister Internal Affairs & Lt Col Erinayo Oryema, Minister Land & Water Res. #JananiLuwum pic.twitter.com/m0wp18b6To

— Louis Jadwong (@Jadwong) February 16, 2023

O God, whose Son the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep: We give thee thanks for thy faithful shepherd, Janani Luwum, who after his Savior’s example gave up his life for the people of Uganda. Grant us to be so inspired by his witness that we make no peace with oppression, but live as those who are sealed with the cross of Christ, who died and rose again, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977 https://t.co/vem2rF2KJf

Image: Detail of window in St John's Anglican Cathedral, Winnipeg, via https://t.co/o5f92VHUhA pic.twitter.com/1TiuYSyhGc

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) February 17, 2023

Ian Paul argues that the issue facing the Church of England is ultimately theological and that “there is no institutional unity apart from theological coherence.” He writes:

How can all this be squared with the consistent teaching of Scripture? This cannot be lightly set aside, since Canon A5 delineates our doctrine as being ‘rooted in the Scriptures’, and Article XX of the XXXIX Articles states ‘that it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written.’

Nevertheless, with the passage of clause (g), he thinks the revisionists won at most a “Pyrrhic victory,” as it will force them to explain themselves clearly. Martin Davie goes even further in claiming that “the passage of clause (g) to the Synod motion was a great victory” for traditionalist Anglicans.

I would that Ian Paul and Martin Davie were right, but the lesson I take from the Episcopal Church USA two decades ago is that the addition of clause (g) will not snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Let me explain.

In 1997, I submitted, as part of the discernment process in the Episcopal Church (called “Continuing the Dialogue”), a book-length defense of the traditional doctrine of marriage titled Two Sexes, One Flesh: Why the Church Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriage (a summary is available online in Theology Matters 6:3 May/June 2000). This book was circulated to all bishops and delegates prior to the 1997 General Convention, as the Church was proposing development of same-sex rites. I received exactly zero theological response at the time, although one bishop took me aside, Nicodemus-like, and said he agreed with me (he later went on to vote with the majority). While the Episcopal Church did not officially approve same-sex rites until 2006, there was clearly no interest in debating further the theology underlying the matter. From their point of view, the “dialogue” was over, and implementation was the only issue going forward.

This is this point concerning clause (g) that I think Martin Davie misconstrues.

Read it all.

On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain received a rowdy homecoming after signing a peace pact with Nazi Germany….we need Ukraine to win, not to negotiate with the evil empire. pic.twitter.com/WkIaSG5gmL

— Ludwik Klimkowski (@ludwikmoneyweb) February 7, 2023

The Church is at a crossroads. Nothing illustrates that more than Archbishop Steven Kaziimba’s response on behalf of the Church of Uganda to the Church of England’s decision to bless same-sex relationships. In short, the Church of Uganda says, “Just say no.”

Just say no to the leaders of the Church of England, including Archbishop Justin Welby and Archbishop of York, Stephen Cotrell, who tried to convince us there is a distinction between the blessing of a couple and the blessing of their relationship. As Archbishop Kaziimba says so clearly: if it looks like a wedding and sounds like a wedding, it is a wedding.

Just say no to the Church of England’s departure from the Bible and their new message, which is the opposite of the Bible. Instead of calling for repentance, it is blessing sin.

Just say no to going down the suicidal path the Church of England has now taken in following the Episcopal Church by redefining biblical standards for human sexuality, marriage, and leadership in the Church.

Read it all.

From there:

On the 9th of February 2023, the Synod of the Church of England voted in favour of the proposals of the House of Bishops to approve the Church’s blessing of Same-Sex marriages while at the same time claiming that it has not changed its traditional doctrine recognizing that marriage is between a man and a woman. This disingenuous manipulation of language to conceal their true intentions and unwillingness to stand by principled positions and Biblical truth has characterized the behaviour and statements of the Church of England for a while. The leaders failed to call to order and discipline ‘The Episcopal Church of America’, Canada, etc., when they violated Resolution 1.10 of Lambeth 1998 by consecrating Gay Bishops and recognizing the blessing of same-sex marriage partnerships. They have hitherto sat on the fence as the crisis tore the Communion apart. They have failed to function as ‘Defenders of the Faith’ and ‘Instrument of Unity’ in the global Anglican Communion.

The recent decision by the Church of England did not come as a surprise to discerning minds because it is the logical result of the path they have been consistently and painstakingly taking for the past decade. This decision to redefine marriage different from the teachings of Scripture and the proposal to change the male gender used for God to a neutral or inclusive language is a clear departure from the truth. Human words are not sufficient to express the depth of the unfathomable truth and power of God or His person. All these bring to the fore the folly of the human mind in questioning the authority of God, who created mankind male and female. Church of England, by this decision, can best be described as ‘quarrelling with God’. In Isaiah 45:9, God declared, “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker…. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ To decide to bless gay marriage without changing the doctrine of Marriage between a man and a woman is to ‘speak from two sides of the mouth.’ The death knell must be the recent appointment and Abp. Justin Welby’s endorsement of a senior priest, who is in a gay partnership, as Dean of Canterbury Cathedral! The spiritual headquarters of the Anglican Communion has been deliberately compromised by this appointment, and the future of the entire Anglican Communion is in jeopardy.

The souls of the faithful departed members of the Church who built and promoted the Christian faith throughout the world, sponsored missionaries, built churches and cathedrals, enthroned Christian civilization, and encouraged Christian families, education, and civil society would be grieved at the recent actions of the current leadership of the Church of England, especially the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bad decisions of the Church’s secular synods. Sadly, the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury have joined the widening rebellion against God and the Church of Jesus Christ; a move that must be challenged, resisted and reversed by the rest of the faithful Church.

The Church of England is one out of the 42 Provinces in the Communion, spread across 165 countries of the world. It cannot hold the rest of the Communion, especially the majority population located in the Global South, to ransom. The Protestant Movement arose out of the Reformation, which was a response to heresies and ecclesiastical abuses by the recognized Church then; the Roman Catholic Church. History is about repeating itself. The Anglican Church is at the threshold of yet another reformation, which must sweep out the ungodly leadership currently endorsing sin, misleading the lives of faithful Anglicans worldwide and endangering their prospects for eternity.

We are grieved that the deviant, revisionist actions of some Western Anglican Churches, including the Church of England are negatively affecting the image, moral credibility and evangelical activities of faithful Anglican Christians because of the likelihood of many other denominations perceiving or labelling the Anglican Church as a ‘homosexual church’, more so, with the capitulation of our ‘Mother Church.’ Geoffrey Chaucer’s statement in the Canterbury tales comes to mind here: “if gold rusts, what can iron do?” If the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Bishops deny the faith and mislead the church, then what would ordinary congregants do? Hence, the fate of Christianity and the Church have experienced a terrible decline, loss and irrelevance in the secular and post-Christian western world. We must take steps to redefine our relationship with those who persist in wilful disobedience to God’s Word and strive to bring the gospel and Church of our Lord Jesus Christ into disrepute.

We of the GAFCON family encourage other orthodox bodies in the Communion to remain firm and resolute in upholding and defending “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). In the choice between truth and falsehood, light and darkness, secular and biblical cultures, we call on all people of God not to be deceived, but like Joshua, deliberately choose to serve the Lord the way He has revealed Himself in the Bible, our historic formularies and time-honoured tradition. We agree with the statement of Abp. Foley Beach, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and Chairman of GAFCON which says: “Most of our provinces have their origins in the Church of England because of the incredible and sacrificial missionary spirit of faithful British followers of Jesus. What are the faithful in England and around the world to do now that the mother Church has departed from Biblical faith and morality? We cannot follow the Church of England down this path which leads to spiritual and moral bankruptcy.”

If the Bishops genuinely love the people in their care, they will think twice about their ongoing redefinition of what constitutes sin. To continue down that path is to deny those caught in those circumstances the opportunity to repent. Christianity speaks of how we should live here in light of eternity, which we want to spend with God. Pursuing this path has made Church of England ‘Blind Guides’ for those who desperately need to repent from their chosen path of disobedience to the clear commands of Scripture. The Bishops are on a slippery slope to spiritual anarchy where everyone will begin to do what is right in their own eyes. Christianity has a rule book which is the Bible, the revealed Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is not about our opinions, passion, or emotional disposition. Their job as shepherds of the flock of Christ in their care is to tend and feed them with the undiluted Word of God unto life and maturity and not to lead them astray. It is also to uphold Christian doctrine handed down over the centuries. It is time for them to repent and return to our spiritual foundations. If they fail to do so, we urge believers in the Church of England to distance themselves from where the Church of England and their likes are going, stand up for what they truly believe and have the courage to defend the Biblical truth for the sake of their children and the generations coming after them. We must immediately extricate ourselves by disassociating from those Church leaders who have infiltrated the Anglican Communion with ungodly teachings.

The Church of Nigeria remains committed to the faith once delivered to the saints, and re-affirm our decision to redefine what it means to be a member of the Anglican Communion as contained in our 2020 Constitution and Canons, Chapter 1:3: “The Church of Nigeria shall be in full communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Lord has commanded in His holy word and as the same are received as taught in the Book of Common Prayer and the ordinal of 1662 and in the Thirty-Nine Article of Religion.”

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

The Most Rev’d Dr Henry C. Ndukuba, MA, BD, MA (Ed.), DD
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate, Church of Nigeria
[Sunday, February 12, 2023]

Response Of The Church Of Nigeria To The Decision Of The Church Of England To Authorize The Blessing Of Same-Sex Marriage https://t.co/ZVQrY3evUB #anglican #anthropology #ethics #marriage #theology #uk #religion #christianity #21stc

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) February 14, 2023

Over the centuries, the church of Christ faced many heresies and unbiblical innovations. However, God raised up faithful church leaders to defend the truth and protect the church from losing her vision.

One of these divisive heresies was the Arian heresy. It started in Alexandria in the fourth century. Arius, a priest from Alexandria, developed a thought that denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. He believed that the Son of God is of a similar, but not of the same, substance as the Father.

Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and his deacon Athanasius realized that this heresy contradicts the doctrine of salvation. In response, they stood firm at the council of Nicaea (325 AD), and defeated the Arian heresy. Arius did not give up but he continued to spread his heresy even after Athanasius became the bishop of Alexandria in 328 AD.

Years later, several Emperors adopted the Arian heresy and persecuted and even deposed Bishop Athanasius. He also was exiled five times during his episcopacy and yet he continued to stand against the heresy. Athanasius became known as “Contra Mundum” which means “Against the World “. Without his faithful, bold stance and endurance, the church in Alexandria would have been swept away and disappeared. To the contrary, the truth prevailed and St. Athanasius was welcomed back by his people to his seat in Alexandria.

Today, in this postmodern age, the church is facing a number of innovations and heresies. Examples of these are rejecting the virgin birth of Jesus, denying His resurrection, undermining the authority of the scriptures, and adopting the prevailing morals of the culture. The most widely spread innovations that openly contradict the scripture, the doctrine of creation and church canon law are: same sex unions and same sex marriage. Those who promote these innovations are not content with the recognition of these practices by the civil societies and governments but they want the church to accept and to bless them.

Of course the church should welcome all people of the society without discrimination but it should not welcome all morals and values of the society. Otherwise, the church would lose its distinctive role to care for and guide people to live a righteous life.

In a time like this, the church of Christ needs faithful church leaders who speak the truth boldly; leaders who are happy to pay the price of defending the biblical truth. Yes, the church needs more like St. Athanasius, Contra-Mundum. Indeed, the church needs Bishops who continuously remember their vows to guard the faith at the time of their consecration.

As I am writing this, I received the very sad news that the Church of England passed a motion that allow the blessing of same sex unions. I learned that very few members of the synod spoke against this tragic motion and the majority voted in favor of it. Some members have said that blessing is different from marriage! They forget the fact that blessing is in fact an approval of the thing we bless. In addition, both marriage and the blessing of same sex unions have the same outcome; two people becoming intimately united!

It is sad that church leaders think that they can undo God’s purpose in creation and they can innovate different teaching from the Biblical one. Yes, we need more faithful Contra Mundum.

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” 2 Timothy 3:12-14

The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis
Archbishop Emeritus
Episcopal / Anglican Province of Alexandria

Interview with Archbishop Mouneer Anis, First Archbishop of the new Anglican Province of Alexandriahttps://t.co/OmR8zmbNgM pic.twitter.com/8MQ4mjGatX

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) October 25, 2021

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:

The unfortunate rise of the liberal churchmanship within the Western Provinces of our beloved Anglican Communion is devious and must be countered with the true gospel. Having lost all theological and doctrinal legitimacy, the liberal churches have used their political dominance to secularize the church by normalizing all manner of sm.

On Thursday, February 9th, 2023 following two days of acrimonious debate on whether to change the church’s teaching of marriage, the Church of England’s General Synod resolved to offer blessings to same-sex couples. It also made a provision that clergy who opt not to use the proposed prayers of blessings for use are allowed to do so. It also adopted a seemingly contradictory position that prayers of blessings may be used in the church but that the church will not approve same­ sex marriage.

It is ridiculous that the Church of England affirms to remain faithful to the traditional teachings of marriage, yet have sanctioned the so-called prayers of love to be used in their churches to bless unions between persons of same sex. This is hypocritical and a blatant lie for there is only one truth and not many versions or opinions of it.

We in the Anglican Church of Kenya call upon these western liberal Provinces to repent and return to the one and only faith in Jesus Christ as revealed and taught in the canonical scriptures of the church. Rhetoric of political and secular correctness will only serve to undermine the one and only pure gospel, and unless these churches preach the gospel as we inherited it, they will soon be irrelevant, lose their identity as a church, and they will only be as good as that salt which has lost its saltiness – to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by the world (Matthew 5:13). We make a humble call to these churches: “Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. Your actions do not meet the requirements of God” (Revelation 3:2)

We write to our Christians to note that:

The General Synod of the Church of England makes legislations for the Church of England, and their resolutions apply only to the Church of England. Whereas we in the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) are saddened by the departure of our mother Church from the true Gospel, their resolutions do not apply to us and we do not recognize any teaching that is extra-biblical or contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

We affirm that marriage, as taught in the Holy scriptures is between one man and one woman, monogamous and heterosexual. Any deviation from this God designed covenant relationship, is sinful and unacceptable. If there are people who are not called to marriage and are faithful followers of Christ, let them embrace celibacy, and live a life obedient to the teachings of the bible as they so profess to believe in.

We affirm that the Holy scripture is authoritative in all matters of faith and any departure from the historic formularies and the plain teachings of the scripture is an error and must be corrected.

We encourage and stand in solidarity with those marginalized Christians in the Church of England who are resolved to remain faithful to the Gospel of Christ and seek obedience to the teachings of the scripture in all its entirety. We pray for them that they will not surrender their light of Christ to the powerful secular voices that have captured the Church.

Statement by:

The Most Rev. Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit,

The Archbishop of Kenya, the Bishop of All Saints’ Cathedral Diocese and Bishop in- Ordinary to the Kenya Defence Forces

 

 

Dated 10^th February 2023

Arch Bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Most Rev.Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, has today presided over a liturgy at Saint Michael’s Cathedral, Nairobi in an event graced by Vice Chief of Defence Forces Lt. General Francis Ogolla.https://t.co/wYrevvsF5k pic.twitter.com/7XPWC77izK

— Kenya Defence Forces (@kdfinfo) January 22, 2023

From there:

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, has described the decision of the Church of England General Synod to offer prayers of blessing to couples in same-sex marriages and civil partnerships as a rejection of biblical teaching.

“In adopting these proposals, the UK General Synod has rejected the clear teaching of Scripture that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is sin.” the Archbishop said.

Archbishop Raffel cited the Global Anglican Fellowship (Gafcon) and the Global South Fellowship, two international groups which he said, “not only represent the vast majority of the world’s Anglicans, but also the historic, universal and apostolic teaching of the bible.”

“Last year, when the 24 diocesan bishops of the Australian General Synod failed to affirm the bible’s teaching on marriage and sexuality, I said that they had left the Australian Anglican Church in a ‘perilous’ state. Today, statements from both Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans have made the same assessment of the impact of the Church of England’s decision on the Anglican Communion. I agree with that assessment.”

“Nevertheless, it is reason for thanksgiving that where some Anglican provinces have departed from Scripture’s teaching in these matters, faithful brothers and sisters have stood for the trustworthiness, goodness and authority of Scripture. This was certainly true in the UK General Synod debate.”

“It is the opposite of loving care for people to deny, distort or downplay the life-giving truth of Scripture on matters of vital importance to understanding ourselves and God’s good plans for our lives, including matters of human sexuality and marriage. We must lament the decision of the Church of England General Synod.”

“God’s people are called to honour all people, and humbly, prayerfully and faithfully to hold out to all, the teaching of Jesus as words of eternal life. With God’s help, we will continue to do so.”

Kanishka Raffel
Archbishop of Sydney
February 10, 2023

BREAKING: wonderful news. Kanishka Raffel to be next Anglican Archbishop of Sydney pic.twitter.com/0RwiT6VVGa

— Michael Kellahan (@michaelkellahan) May 6, 2021

It is not because God intends his human creatures to be ignorant of his will in these areas that the current disagreement exists. The current disagreement exists because some members of the Church of England, including its bishops, under the influence of contemporary culture, have decided to reject, in whole or in part, the orthodox teaching of the Church of England and the divine revelation in nature and Scripture that it reflects.

Contrary to what the Bishop of London suggests, responding to this situation by suggesting that we are uncertain about God’s revealed will is not a matter of humility but rather of pride, pride in thinking that our doubts about what God has said have any standing in the matter. We may subjectively dislike what God has said, but true Christian humility lies in accepting what God has said and acting upon it anyway. To do otherwise is to reject God’s wisdom and to rebel against God’s sovereign authority.

It is also pure sophistry to suggest that we know what nature, Scripture and tradition say, but it is unclear what this means in today’s society. It means what it has always meant, either marriage and sexual fidelity within marriage, or sexual abstinence. This was true in the sexually permissive society of the first century Roman Empire and it remains equally true today.

All this being the case, the proper way forward for the Church of England is not to try to find a way to ‘live with our disagreements’ over human sexuality in a civilised manner. The proper way forward is for it to submit to what God has revealed and to call on those rejecting what God has revealed in their teaching or behaviour to cease to do so.

Read it all.

Martin Davie dissects the Bishop of London's speech on Living in Love and Faithhttps://t.co/51dBcc26o7 pic.twitter.com/OIT0fnf1aE

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) February 8, 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

From there:

We are deeply saddened and profoundly grieved that General Synod has given a ‘green light’ to the proposals put forward by the House of Bishops. The Church of England now appears set on a course of action that rejects our historic and biblical understanding of sex and marriage, by departing from the apostolic faith we are called to uphold. This decision will be extremely distressing for evangelicals in this country today, as they consider the impact of the decision on their ministry and as they continue to contend for Jesus in their local contexts.

This seems to us to be a lose-lose position for everyone in the Church of England. Those who wanted more change will continue to ask and push for greater change. Those of us who have been trying to uphold the historic and biblical understanding of marriage and singleness say change has gone too far. This decision has settled nothing and has only served to deepen divisions and cause deeper hurt.

We will continue to work alongside evangelicals across the country, who today share our sense of great sadness and dismay, to contend for biblical faithfulness and to live lives that Jesus has called us to. We are grateful that several speakers noted the need for some kind of settlement, though this would need to be without theological compromise. We believe that putting in place new imaginative structures, ‘good differentiation’, is the only way we are going to be able to reach a settled outcome, that maintains the highest degree of unity possible within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

For me, and many other ‘orthodox’ Anglicans in the chamber, one of the most heartening things about the debate was the quality of the contributions from those upholding the current doctrine. I append two at the end of this article. I do think there was a significant contrast with the speeches in support of the motion and rejecting the amendments. A large number of them focussed on the feelings of those affected, especially gay clergy who cannot express their emotional and sexual love as they would wish according to current doctrine. There is no doubt that these feelings need to be attended to—but the question is whether this forms the basis for the Church to determine its understanding of the teaching of Jesus. Other speeches lifted proof texts from Scripture in some bizarre ways—claiming that Jesus’ offer of ‘fulness of life’ must mean that no-one should be denied a sexual relationship, or that Paul’s acceptance of diverse approaches to food meant we could have the same approach to sex and marriage, even though Paul himself did not—or that Gal 3.28 implies that sex differences no longer exist. It is hard to see how any of these arguments could form a part of the bishops’ theological rationale for the Prayers.

One theme mentioned several times was the idea that not being able to marry would consign a person to a lifetime of loneliness. It was rather odd hearing those who reject the doctrine of the Church elevating marriage to such a pinnacle, as if it was the solution to all our problems—and very good to hear several single people saying that this was not true.

Where does this all leave the process and what lies ahead for the House of Bishops? It seems to me that there is more work to do than ever before—and both Synod Questions and the debate has exposed this more starkly than ever. The challenges include:

1. How has the relation of sex and marriage been understood in previous statements?
2. On what grounds could these consistent statements be changed or rejected?
3. How does the Church of England engage with ecumenical statements, especially from the Roman Catholic Church?
4. What are the implications for the Communion?
5. What impact will the perception of what is being proposed have on the Church itself—on mission, church planting, plans for growth, clergy deployment and morale, and our work with young people?
6. If these prayers are commended for use in a church service, in what sense is that not liturgical provision? So how can we avoid needing a two-thirds majority in Synod for their approval?
7. Where did the claimed distinction between marriage and Holy Matrimony come from? How can that be sustained in the light of contrary evidence from all previous statements?
8. Why were the proposals brought under Canon B5 (local use and decision) rather than Canon B2 (national approval), against the obvious legal conclusion, when these are being offered national and commended by the House of Bishops?
9. How could the Pastoral Guidelines allow clergy to enter same-sex marriages, if the doctrine of the Church remains unchanged and ordination vows commit clergy to belief, uphold, teach, and pattern this doctrine in their own lives? How can their be any room for manoeuvre here?
10. In addition, what comments and feedback were given by members of Synod in their reflections, and what difference will that make?
11. In what context will the prayers be offered, with what rubric and introduction?
12. How can all this be squared with the consistent teaching of Scripture? This cannot be lightly set aside, since Canon A5 delineates our doctrine as being ‘rooted in the Scriptures’, and Article XX of the XXXIX Articles states that ‘it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written.’

If this is any kind of ‘victory’ for those who wanted to moved forward, it looks very much like a Pyrrhic victory. ‘If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined’ (Plutarch’s account of Pyrrhus of Epirus).

The motion was passed, with a significant addition which explicitly limits the scope for manoeuvre, so the work will continue. But I think the cost has been immense damage to the reputation and standing of Justin Welby, the final nail in the coffin of the Anglican Communion, damage to ecumenical relations, a further loss of confidence in the leadership of bishops within the Church, and the first signs of fracture at local and diocesans levels. And for what gain?

Read it all.

The Church cannot ‘bless’ in God’s name the union of same sex partnered individuals, much less sexual relationships between same-sex persons which in God’s Word He declares to be sinful.

The role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in leading the House of Bishops to make the recommendations that undergird the Motion, together with his statements, alongside the Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of London leading up to the General Synod, cause the GSFA to question his fitness to lead what is still a largely orthodox world-wide Communion.

In view of these developments, the GSFA will be taking decisive steps towards re-setting the Anglican Communion (as outlined in our ‘Communique’ following the 2022 Lambeth Conference). Orthodox Provinces in GSFA are not leaving the Anglican Communion, but with great sadness must recognise that the Church of England has now joined those Provinces with which communion is impaired. The historical Church which spawned the global Communion, and which for centuries was accorded ‘first among equals’ status, has now triggered a widespread loss of confidence in her leadership of the Communion.

Next Monday the Global South Primates shall meet to consider more fully the decision by the General Synod and shall release a more detailed response in due course.

Read it all.

From there:

• Cost of living motion brought forward that champions the work of the church in meeting the needs of the crisis and calls on the government for further action. There were also amendments to remove reference to the Ukraine war and to commit the church to take more action for parishes.
• Item 530 relates to the Misc Measure and gives Parishes the ultimate say on land sales during times of vacancy. A win for Save the Parish. A number of other clauses were considered and passed.
• There was discussion about the Parochial Fees Order. Reductions in fees for weddings and funerals passed in light of the cost of living crisis.
• LLF debate got underway. Was very well humoured considering the nature of the topic. A number of amendments tabled and all failed to pass.

A round up of the day's events https://t.co/tDjmparaZu #synod #generalsynod

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

Some while ago, I picked up a book in a second hand bookshop. It was an old, slightly faded paperback with what looked like an intriguing title: The God I Want. Published in the late 1960s, it was a collection of essays by various public figures explaining the kind of God they could cope with, the God they could bring themselves to believe in.

None of them said they wanted a crucified God. The cross of Jesus simply bars the way to that approach by confronting us with something that so offends common sense that it makes us start back at square one. It directs us, at the start of our search for God to a scene which tells of the absence of God, the strange and counter-intuitive wisdom of God.

It tells us that if we are to find the true God, we need to give up our ideas of what God should be like and sit and listen for a while. It tells us that the journey to find God starts, not with human wisdom, human chattering and speculation on what kind of God we might like, what kind of God we can get our heads around, what kind of God we cm bring ourselves to believe in, but instead, we should stop talking, just for once. The journey to God begins in silence, not speculation.

–Graham Tomlin, Looking Through the Cross: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2014 (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp.27-28

No 10 has announced that the Revd Dr Graham Tomlin will be the next Bishop of Kensington http://t.co/UJNJQklZ0a pic.twitter.com/oNMhYLgKhX

— London Diocese (@dioceseoflondon) July 2, 2015

We are called as Christians to be gathered in the Spirit and to show in the life of the Church of England a passionate love for every person, a profound commitment to the proclamation of Christ, a powerful symbol that culture war and crisis is not the way the world must go: God shows a better, a saving way.

Just as God has spoken in His word, God speaks to us today, in a language that our hurting hearts understand. It’s a language that gives us a new identity, made in the image of God. God gathers out of a physically and ideologically scattered people a church which acts in unity for those who are different, and does it with unquestioning love.

A common identity, those who are saved, a common tongue, speaking Christian, together offer a common community. To those driven into doubt, or disbelief by the raucous hammering at each other in all our churches around the world – not just Anglican, I know what it feels like to have some raucous hammering – which seems to reject people for their sexual identity or their ethnicity, or their gender, or their youth, or their age or their character or their past or their potential future – we must say; “God himself has come for you. God himself cannot bear to be apart from you, he binds himself to you. He invites you to participate in his divine life and he sets you in his church where all, all have a cherished and essential place.”

That is the good news we carry. Whoever we meet, they are loved by God freely and completely. We may say it, we must live it and how we do that is one of the great tests of these times of societal, national and international division. For we live today in a time of war physical, and war cultural. We too easily import culture wars and lapse into their language. It is the sea we swim in. We do not need to drink it.

Read it all.

The Bishops in the Church of England wrote and issued a paper whereby they intend to introduce same-sex blessings services. They are not proposing same-sex weddings (at this stage), but wantng same sex blessing ceremonies. In other words, this change amounts to formally recognising same-sex relationships as a moral and God accepted good and that churches ought to offer services of prayer and blessing for these couples. Not every bishop agrees with the document, but clearly, there is sufficient consensus for its publication and presentation to General Synod for serious consideration.

In what can only be described as a dishonest riff, some Anglican leaders are insisting that the church’s doctrine on marriage isn’t changing…quite literally as they call for changes to the church’s understanding of sex and marriage. The same hypocrisy is being offered up by The Australian Law Reform Commission, albeit a legal entourage rather than a church one. Their recent submission to the Federal Government calls for religious schools to lose their freedom to practice traditional views of sexuality. For example, they are recommending legislation that allows Christian schools to teach a Christian view of sex and marriage, but they may also be required to teach alternate views. They will lose the right to employ staff on the basis of religious convictions. In other words, we’ll tolerate your religion so long as you tell and permit today’s sexology. That’s not compromise, it’s forced capitulation. That’s not co-existing with two unbridgeable views, that’s crossing over and demanding change.

This General Synod is happening on the other side of the world and in a Christian denomination that is different to my own, so why take interest in this debate? This particular case is important for several reasons: 1. I have many friends who pastor or who are members of churches in the Church of England. 2. The very public stature of this denomination (part through age and part through connections to the State) will garner significant media and public attention. 3. The Church of England is part of the worldwide Anglican communion which accounts for 10s million of believers, including Australia. 4. The same revisionist agenda playing out in the Church of England is present here in Australia, including among Baptists.

The flavour of the month is self-expression. In every sphere of life we are told that autonomy and self determination is an absolute, and questioning this ‘reality’ is the gravest of sins. From TikTok to the Bishop of York, the sermon proclaims that an individual’s sexual preferences and gender identity is the most fundamental aspect of reality…with a dash of God apparently giving approval. While this religious message will arouse a clap from the culture’s elites, notice how it doesn’t bring people to the cross or persuade them to follow Jesus and join a local church. What’s the point of Christianity if it does little more than mirror the culture’s messaging?

Read it all.

The real point of all this is that the Church of England is now to bless same-sex unions in clear defiance of both the Bible and the tradition of the Christian church. It will do so even as many of the more conservative churches in the Anglican Communion threaten to break from Canterbury. It will do so even as those identified as LGBTQIA+ in the bishops’ statement are outraged that the church is so tepid. It will do so even after evangelicals rightly call the move outright rebellion against the Word of God.

Anglicans pride themselves on their traditional via media, or way between. They were born in an effort, at least by some, to find a third way between Protestantism and Catholicism. They are proud of their supposed openness to both believers who hold to historic Christian doctrines and heretics who deny them. Now that the sexual revolutionaries are in control of the society and ready to bare their teeth against any who resist, the bishops of the Church of England reveal themselves to be toothless tigers who hold to an imaginary third way between biblical Christianity and the ideologues of the sexual and gender revolutions.

In the Book of Common Prayer’s rite for the consecration of a bishop, the candidate is required to pledge fidelity to the Bible. Then they are asked this: “Will you then faithfully exercise yourself in the same Holy Scriptures, and call upon God by prayer, for the true understanding of the same; so as ye may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers?”

Now, the bishops of the Church of England are the gainsayers. If you bless same-sex unions, you are buying the entire package demanded by the moral revolutionaries. This isn’t a third way. This is just old-fashioned surrender. You bless same-sex unions, dear bishops, and you just bought them.

Read it all.

We do, of course, not live in an heroic age, an age of burning faith, martyrdom and devotion. Rather we live in the great era of spiritual apathy and indifference, interspliced with mad bursts of quasi-religious progressive fanaticism; of mechanism, materialism and utilitarianism; within the church, of the meticulous, supine management of a decay and decline that is seen as inevitable. Given that, it should probably come as no surprise that the sort of bishops we produce are not quite of the nature of Athanasius, Chrysostom or Becket, and are rather more likely to remind us of the deputy regional manager of a chain of supermarkets. Perhaps in some respects that is a good thing: such formidable men were the products of ages more violent, more turbulent and a good deal less comfortable and ‘safe’ than our own. Personally, they were probably incredibly difficult and alarming individuals. If Chrysostom were transplanted to the 21st century, one struggles to see him being offered a column in the Church Times or becoming a regular on ‘Thought for the Day’. He might make us all a bit too uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, it is surely the case that in this kind of shuffling, pusillanimous era we need uncompromising messengers of Gospel truth and orthodoxy, heroic conveyors of inconvenient moral verities, and fiery prophetic voices of doom crying in the wilderness more than ever. Surrender to the secular languages of ‘change management’ and MBA-style jargon, attempting to adapt the spirit of Taylorism and human resource departments to produce spiritual time-and-motion studies, will not make the Church more ‘effective’ or ‘productive’ (whatever that would mean) – it simply reduces its extraordinary, transcendental, urgent message to the level of the quotidian, the utilitarian, the banal. Not only that, but the grasping, instrumentalising spirit of technocracy and managerialism is actively contrary to the spirit of the gospel, which rejects every easy commercial assumption, every sophistical calculation of profit-and-loss, every piece of instrumental rationalisation. We should sell everything we own to possess one pearl and one pearl alone, that of Heaven.

What we need, therefore, are some bishops who defy this spirit, who refuse to conform to the Weberian spirit of the new church bureaucrats, who rattle against the iron cage that Welbyism is creating. The Bishops only emerge from their bureaucratic fortresses nowadays to issue vague, theologically undernourished moral pronouncements on subjects where they know their viewpoint will find approval from their liberal masters. This is not good enough.

Read it all.

Collins…married Diana Kimpton, an actress, in 1955. They had met at a London rally held by the American evangelist Billy Graham. She would put on drama productions in church, as Collins moved away from traditional pulpit preaching, and also train Collins’s curates in public speaking. She died in 2013. He is survived by their children, Dominic and Richenda.
From 1971 Collins served at the semi-rural parish of Canford Magna in Dorset, but led regular missions to London, including the “Leap Step Forward” campaign at HTB, which planted the seeds of its rebirth as a Charismatic evangelical church.

Collins invented what he called the “evangelistic supper party” at which members of his community were encouraged to overcome their qualms, invite friends to dinner and hold discussions about the meaning of life over a glass of wine. It became a highly effective method of evangelising to the chattering classes of Kensington and its affluent surrounds. The suppers were a vital part of the introduction to Christianity course, Alpha, which had been launched at HTB in 1977 and would grow into a global phenomenon.

When he was due to leave HTB in 1985, he made the unusual step for a senior clergyman of staying on for five years as an assistant curate to ensure continuity of mission, while graciously ceding authority to the new vicar, Sandy Miller. At the same time he served as area dean of Chelsea and Prebendary of St Paul’s Cathedral. After Collins’s retirement in 1990, his work would be continued by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel.

He continued to study the Bible in Greek. Aptly, his favourite verse remained “Rejoice in the Lord Always” (Philippians, iv, 4). Ironically, for a man some deemed responsible for tambourines in church, Collins was an accomplished classical organist who played every day until the end of his life.

Read it all (subscription).

The Rev John Collins obituaryhttps://t.co/gZ31j5v9OV

— Nicky Gumbel (@nickygumbel) February 4, 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.

I have been fully involved with the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process since it began. As an Anglican ethicist, I was invited to be a member of the theology and ethics working group, one of several groups set up to resource and inform the project. After the LLF resources were produced, I became a member of the Bristol diocese LLF reference group, and led an LLF course at Trinity College Bristol, where I am the principal.

I have participated in good faith in the process, trusting that this was an opportunity for people across the Church to work together to try to find a way forward that was “founded in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it”, as the Archbishop of Canterbury put it when launching the project in 2017.

But this is not just an academic matter for me. I also write as one of the minority of LGBT people who believe that the current teaching of the Church is true and good for us and should not change. (You can find out more about my story here).

Following the LLF process, the bishops of the Church of England have now published proposals for prayers for couples in committed relationships, including same-sex couples. The Church of England’s General Synod will soon be voting on whether or not to welcome the bishops’ proposals.

As a member of that Synod, I am not able to welcome them as they currently stand, and I want to share my concerns about the proposals. I do this in a spirit of genuine dialogue. There may be things I have misunderstood or overlooked, and I hope I can be corrected where I am wrong.

My concerns are as follows….

Read it all.

8 reasons why Sean Doherty, a same-sex attracted Christian, believes the CofE’s same-sex proposals won’t work:https://t.co/EKhHUAowIW

— Premier Christianity (@Christianitymag) January 31, 2023

IF the General Synod of the Church of England affirms the House of Bishops’ recommendations to ‘Bless’ Same Sex Marriage, or Civil Partnerships, the Church of England will be inviolation of the “clear and canonical teaching of the Bible”, and it will lead to “impaired communion with many provinces of the Anglican Communion”.

The role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as a “moral leader, and a figure of unity within the Communion” will also be “severely jeopardised”. So says the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) which covers around 75% of Anglicans across the globe, ahead of the Synod’s London meetings, February 6-9.

The House of Bishops’ Response to the six-year Living in Love and Faith ‘listening’ process says lawyers have advised them that the official Doctrine of Marriage would remain, despite the Church, from now on “joyfully welcoming and recognising permanent, stable same sex relationships” through services and prayers of blessing.

The Most Reverend Justin Badi, Primate of South Sudan, and Chairman of the GSFA responded, saying: “What the English bishops are recommending constitutes unfaithfulness to the God who has spoken through His written word. Their Response belies the loss of confidence by the bishops in the authority and clarity of the Bible as we have received it. They are re-writing God’s law for His creation; laws that are re-affirmed by Christ in the Gospel accounts.”

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury risks breaking up the Anglican Communion over same-sex marriage blessings which “rewrite God’s law”, conservative bishops from around the world have warned https://t.co/m7IWLigABA

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 24, 2023

“If we go any further [than blessings], it’s three years of legislative fighting, and quite possibly a defeat at the end of it. . . The Bishops together want to do something that avoids that — and the discussion continues.”

About 50 people attended the candlelit vigil, which was organised by Jayne Ozanne, an LGBTQ+ campaigner and member of the General Synod. It was timed to coincide with the arrival of about 90 parliamentarians for a Candlemas service in the chapel at Lambeth Palace.

Protesters sang hymns and prayed together, and held posters and placards calling for same-sex marriage to be permitted within the Church of England. “We just want to know that we’re the same as everybody else,” Ms Ozanne told Archbishop Welby.

The Labour MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw, joined the protest before going to the service, and was among several who challenged the Archbishop to show leadership on the issue.

“I have been very instrumental carrying it as far as I could, to get things to where we are today. I don’t have the votes to go further,” Archbishop Welby replied.

Read it all.

“Let’s do what we can now, and see what happens. To get something through for equal marriage would require legislation. And legislation has to carry by two-thirds in each house of Synod.” https://t.co/QxLHXmsoZq

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 24, 2023

I write to you with a heavy heart as we are hearing of the continued Crisis of Leadership and Faith coming out of the Church of England. Once again, our Western Anglican Provinces continue to ‘go their own way’ on matters of faith and practice without consultation or concern for the majority of Anglicans around the Global Communion. Their actions not only deny holy practice, but reject the authority of Scripture, the teaching of the historic church, and the consensus of the Body of Christ from every tribe, tongue, people and nation alive today.

The release of the recent statement “Bishops propose prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God’s blessing of same-sex couples”…is a clear rejection of Lambeth 1998, I:10, and cannot help but ask the question: “What is next?” We continue to find ourselves disillusioned with the incredible audacity of major unilateral decisions (e.g. changing the nature of what it means to be ‘male and female’ in his image (Genesis 1:27) that run counter to ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3).

What makes this current (and continued) Crisis of Leadership and Faith in the Church of England especially troubling is the clear and willful decision by the bishops to blatantly ignore the global Anglican consensus (as well as many more other Christian traditions) and ‘bless’ in the Name of Christ and the Church what God clearly calls sin. God does not bless sin regardless of the stamp of endorsement by church leaders, clergy, and bishops.

Read it all.

“Their actions not only deny holy practice, but reject the authority of Scripture, the teaching of the historic church, and the consensus of the Body of Christ from every tribe, tongue, people and nation alive today.”https://t.co/TYaboH6Ocg

— Clayton Hutchins (@claytonhutchins) January 19, 2023

On the other side of the debate, representatives of liberal and progressive theology and practice in the Church of England were even harsher in their critique.

One of its most prominent voices, member of the General Synod’s Laity House and LGBT campaigner Jayne Ozanne, said the measures announced were an “utterly despicable outcome”.

“We have had countless apologies over the years but no action to stop the harmful discrimination”, she added on Twitter. “It’s insulting to all who trusted the process”….

A harder tone had the advocacy group Christian Concern, whose cief executive Andrea Williams described the move as a “capitulation by the Church of England. The bishops have lost the courage and conviction to state clearly the beauty of God’s vision for marriage between one man and one woman”. The Anglican Church in the country would be “making way for the celebration of ‘same-sex marriage’ in all but name (…) This is a landmark moment and will go down in history as a turning point in the decline and fall of the Church of England – unless these proposals can be decisively resisted by the faithful in Synod”.

Read it all.