A robust defence of the Archbishops’ programme Reform and Renewal was delivered at a gathering of Evangelicals last week, addressing critics who have questioned everything from its theology to its methodology.
Organised by the Evangelical group Fulcrum, the event, which asked whether the Church of England was “drinking in the last-chance saloon”, was addressed by the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, and the Revd Dr Ian Paul, associate minister of St Nicholas, Nottingham, and lecturer at the University of Nottingham.
The audience heard an unapologetic defence of the drive to tackle numerical decline, and a frank dismissal of some of the programme’s most vocal critics.
I was quietly pleased to see this: Bishop Broadbent … confessed to being “allergic” to Rev (the television series had “depicted what I know to be heroic workers in the East End of London as though the people who were doing it were a bunch of complete fools”.) Thank you, Pete. My feelings entirely.
Which diocese, BTW, is the one where attendance fell sharply? And can such things really be laid at the door of episcopal transfer?
An eight does not have sails, at least not one I’ve ever rowed in.