Things don’t look good. Fewer than a million people go to CofE services on a Sunday now. Broke and short of priests, it can barely provide pastoral care in every parish ”“ its main reason for claiming to be the national church. Other faiths are upset that so many bishops automatically get seats in the House of Lords, and that will change. The Queen’s successor will not be crowned Defender of the Faith; Charles will swear to defend faiths of all kinds. Up to 1,300 clergy might leave if women are allowed to become bishops; a similar number could walk if the CofE accepts openly gay, non-celibate priests. Attendances will go on falling. That won’t mean the end of Christianity here: there are many other kinds of church, some of which are huge and growing fast. And some have very strong views indeed. That’s one reason for even unbelievers to care. For a long time, our state church was known for prizing moderation, unity, compromise and sensible behaviour. Take that away ”“ either by one group taking over the CofE or it dying off completely ”“ and some fear the empty space will be filled by extremism. The character of England will change (if it hasn’t already). But there is another very big question to ask: who will look after the churches?
The church in England and the world could yet be reborn. Or the future could look like this. It’s 2018, and the next Lambeth Conference is held in the student union bar, attended by a dozen bishops and a cleaner. The CofE is a busted flush: a property empire worth £5.7bn in 2008 has been decimated by recession. Dissident congregations fight over who owns their churches. Is it the Crown? Is it the local parish? The legal answers are horrendously complicated, but neither can afford to pay for the upkeep of 16,200 buildings. Roofs are falling in. The Church of England is too small and too poor to go on caring for these crumbling treasures, as its members have done so patiently and sacrificially for years. You may not care about the collapse of the CofE. You may rejoice in England throwing off its state religion. But in this vision of 2018, the loss of ancient churches that are jewels of our architecture and heritage will feel like a catastrophe. And looking back, the beginning of the end will have been the summer of 2008, when that bunch of bolshy bishops spilled out of the church disco to start up their own, singing: “I am what I am…”
As a cynical outsider’s perspective, this article isn’t pleasant to read. It’s incredibly shallow. What will the author miss if the C of E just implodes and dwindles away to nothing? The 16,000+ church buildings that will fall into disrepair! Hmmm. That would be a loss hard to bear, wouldn’t it?
If this is really how many outsiders view the state church, no wonder it’s in such deep, deep trouble. But of course, it’s not the whole story. Just look at how Holy Trinity, Brompton (home to the popular Alpha Course) continues to flourish and expand etc.
David Handy+
The line about “bolshy bishops” rings true however. Given that much of the push for change is based on dialectics, the Indy here illumines a philosophical parallel between 21st century Anglicanism and 20th century revolutionary ideology.
I think the author crossed the line between cheekiness and mean spiritedness (if that’s a word.) More to come over the next two weeks I’m afraid.
#2, I do think there’s a strong link between TEC, et al., and “20th century revolutionary ideology.” This author, however, seems to be calling the GAFCON bishops the “bolsheys,” if I’m reading him correctly. There are two competing ideologies in this battle: one, traditional Christianity in its Anglican form and the other, this-world focused liberation theology. I’m afraid that a good many Brits do view their state church as a nice anachronism they’d miss for some vague reasons if it were gone.
“For a long time, our state church was known for prizing moderation, unity, compromise and sensible behaviour. Take that away – either by one group taking over the CofE or it dying off completely – and some fear the empty space will be filled by extremism.”
This is the great loss we stand to suffer by the decline of the Anglican church: a hardy and thoughtful collection of beliefs and individuals willing to coexist in a state of mutual support and debate that engages with the difficulties of faith and multi-culturalism.
Pluralist organisations like an established church are able to reflect the challenges that faith offers us – on an intellectual and spiritual level – and promote tolerance towards others. Single-minded, doctrinally simplistic, and sometimes ‘extremist’ denominations can appeal with their all-answers-for-all-people, but cannot engender the same kind of reflectiveness on the difficulties we face when we read the Bible, consider our own experience or come into contact with those of other faiths.
The loss of so many wonderful buildings, an integral part of our country’s heritage, is sad indeed, but more upsetting is the loss of so many priests that play a vital pastoral role in the lives of many, especially elderly, parishoners. There is no one to replace them – no one paid to listen, care and sympathise with any who are vulnerable, unhappy or lonely, for free and regardless of age, wealth, mental state, and so on.
The Church of England remains a positive force in an ethnically diverse Britain, both with regards to Christianity and to caring for each other.
4 Katherine- you might be right; I read it the opposite way. The irony here is that this note (it isn’t an article…) was written so poorly so that ‘bolshy’ was ill used. It is such a implication laden adjective that the reader does have to see whose ox is being gored by the writer. I suppose that he does want to make the Africans appear authoritarian, though if he knew of what he wrote, he’d recognize that the true Stalinists are the TEC/ACC hierarchs, who frequently base their actions on dialectical necessity.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction, narrow the gate that leads to salvation and few there are that find it. The narrow way? the single-minded Truth that God gave us through His Son as the only way to Salvation, and through the Scriptures He gave us as a guide until His return. This truth has upheld the church for 2000 years. Perfectly? No, because humanness still gets in the way.
Churches that turn away from this single-minded Truth and replace it solely with social justice issues (sponsored by the UN it seems) — are dying.
Churches that re-emphasize this Truth are growing steadily, and as a result of their emphasis on this Truth, are also led by the Holy Spirit into social Justice issues — only from a Biblical perspective.
Why not accept the second view, and have the best of both worlds?
Peace
Jim Elliott <><
#2
That line struck me in exactly the same way. “Bolshy bishops” indeed. I think the Independent got it right on that score.