Just before Christmas 1919, George V signed the Enabling Act into law. This conferred on a National Assembly of the Church of England the power to adopt \u201cMeasures\u201d through a Legislative Committee, which would pass to an Ecclesiastical Committee of Parliament for scrutiny and rapid progress into law.<\/p>\n
This single piece of legislation still forms the bedrock of the Church of England\u2019s modern representative system. It came with a great fanfare of acclaim, led by a pressure group headed by the charismatic future archbishop William Temple. In consequence, it is often seen as a decisive and unexpected leap forward in the Church\u2019s self-understanding.<\/p>\n
Nothing could be further from the truth. The Enabling Act was a vital piece of legislation for the Church of England, and has good claim to be the most important piece of legislation passed by Parliament for the Church in the 20th century. But it was the result of a long evolution in church polity and ecclesiastical authority, and of the careful development of practical solutions to problems of governance by the Church\u2019s leadership. In its essential conception, it owed little to Temple.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> (registration).<\/p>\n “The real difficulty has been the wider failure of Temple\u2019s vision: declining numbers in the past 50 years have drained church governance of the chance of broadening and deepening its roots in the community at large”https:\/\/t.co\/bfffR7sb9E<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n