This week began with Katherine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC) of the USA, preaching in Westminster Abbey; it will end, we are told with Canon Michael Smith of York Minster blessing the York Gay Pride March. In between we have seen the Bishop of Buckingham describe doctrine that he swore to teach and pass on as \u201d\u02dclousy\u2019.<\/p>\n
Nowhere in any of this has there been the clear message of the Gospel that despite our rejection of his ways we are all loved by God and can find forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not surprising, then, that the majority of the world\u2019s Anglicans now look to the Primates of Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) for Leadership \u201d\u201c the only question is whether after weeks like this one, those in the Church of England who wish to proclaim this Gospel will be forced to follow the same path.
\u201cChristianity is based on revealed doctrine, enabling individuals to live rightly before a Holy God as followers of Jesus Christ. He tells us how to live in all areas of life, including in areas of sexual behaviour. No denomination is at liberty to invent its own doctrine or to sacrifice revealed doctrine on the altars of contemporary fashion. We cannot be authentically Christian whilst simultaneously rejecting the teaching of the one we claim to follow.\u201d\u009d<\/i>
\nRev Simon Austen \u201d\u201c Rector of St Leonard\u2019s Church, Exeter Diocese<\/p>\n
\u201cYork Minster\u2019s leading the way in the Gay Pride march is symbolic of what the Church of England\u2019s leadership is doing generally on this issue \u201d\u201c leading people away from the clear teaching of the Bible and the Gospel. It exposes the sham of the consultation process for what it is \u201d\u201c a means by which the church can validate homosexual activity. One would hope that the Archbishop of York would do his duty and speak clearly, upholding the Bible\u2019s position.\u201d\u009d<\/i>
\nRev Melvin Tinker, St John\u2019s Church, Newland, York Diocese<\/p>\n
\u201cI am deeply disappointed that Alan Wilson persists in undermining the teaching of the Church by his overt support of those who have gone against the clear rules governing clergy discipline. Describing the Church\u2019s teaching and doctrine as \u201clousy\u201d\u009d is quite breathtakingly arrogant and not language that one would expect from a senior leader in the Church. Were I in secular employment and so at odds with the leadership and core values of the company that employed me, I would resign forthwith as a matter of conscience.\u201d\u009d<\/i>
\nRev Will Pearson-\u00c2\u00ad\u201d\u0090Gee -\u00c2\u00ad\u201d\u0090 Rector of Buckingham, Oxford Diocese<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bishop of Buckingham courts publicity for his revisionist agenda and gets it. He has sadly become a figure of disunity in the Oxford Diocese and a cause of grief to many faithful Anglican Christians. The version of marriage he espouses is incompatible with Biblical Christianity.\u201d\u009d<\/i>
\nRev Will Stileman \u201d\u201c Vicar of St Mary\u2019s Church, Maidenhead and Chair of the Oxford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship<\/p>\n
\u201cSooner or later everyone in the Church of England will have to decide whether they have confidence in what God says about marriage and human sexuality in the Scriptures. If we are not willing to trust what God says is good for us and for our society then we lose the claim to be authentically Christian. And in the course of time God will make it plain that our claims to be Christian are hollow. Jeremiah 7:28 speaks of truth perishing and being cut off from the lips of God\u2019s people, and the prophet is clear about the disastrous consequences of that\u201d\u009d.<\/i>
\nRev Mark Burkill \u201d\u201cVicar of Christ Church, Leyton, Chelmsford Diocese<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bishop of Buckingham is a runaway train, and has lost the confidence of many of the clergy in the Diocese of Oxford who would have him nowhere near their churches. There is now a crisis of leadership in Oxford Diocese, shown in the fact that the Diocese was unable to appoint a Diocesan Bishop who can work with Buckingham. The Bishop of Buckingham thinks he can make up doctrine on the hoof to suit his own revisionist agenda. That is not how the Church of England does things\u201d\u009d.<\/i>
\nRev James Paice, Vicar of St Luke\u2019s Wimbledon Park, Southwark Diocese<\/p>\n