| THE COUNCIL of the conservative Evangelical group the Church Society has written a letter to “the Primates and faithful Anglicans of the Global South”, calling on them to break fellowship with the Archbishop of Canterbury because of his “false” teaching on homosexuality.
Speaking this week, the Revd David Phillips, the Society’s general secretary, who signed the letter on behalf of the council, said that it had no intention of divorcing from the formal structures of the Church of England. It would, however, support congregations who might consider themselves outside those structures.
The Bishop of Lewes, the Rt Revd Wallace Benn, is a vice-chairman of the Church Society, but is not on its council. He sought to distance himself from the letter this week, saying on Wednesday: “I have many friends at Church Society, but I think this is a very unhelpful letter at this time.” The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement has called for the Bishop’s resignation.
Mr Phillips said that he believed the majority of the Society’s members would support the letter. The Society is patron of 113 C of E parishes, but they had not been party to the letter, and not all would be in agreement, he believed.
The letter, published on Tuesday, but originally sent at the end of January to a number of Primates and Church of England bishops, states: “By any reasonable reading of the Bible, views held by the present Archbishop of Canterbury are such as to mean that sincere Christians should not be in fellowship with him.
“We therefore call on you, as leaders within the Anglican Communion, to break fellowship with the present Archbishop of Canterbury until such time as he renounces his published teaching.”
Attached to the letter is an article by Mr Phillips, “Overview of the teaching of Rowan Williams on Scripture and sexuality”. It is based on a report on the website of the Society for the Propagation of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine (SPREAD). The overview states: “Williams provided in his writings a theological justification for the Church’s approval of same gender sexual relations, despite Scripture’s prohibition of such conduct. . . Williams is still committed to [this] teaching.”
Mr Phillips said this week: “When I was on General Synod, I was happy for Dr Williams to be in the chair, but I would not take communion from him. That is what we mean by not being in fellowship, but we are still part of the Church of England’s structures.”
The Church Society had no plans to come under leaders from the Global South, he said, but its council felt it was time to make a public stand.
One of the current problems with the Anglican Communion, he believed, was that Churches that considered themselves in impaired communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States (because of its appointment an openly gay bishop) had gone to the Archbishop for help: “This has become rather difficult, as he basically agrees with the folk in the USA.”
Mr Phillips said that in his diocese of St Albans, where he has served as a General Synod member (although he was not re-elected in 2005), some churches have refused to attend services at the Abbey since the appointment of the Dean, the Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John. “This means they can stay within the Church of England with a clear conscience.”
He has had some polite acknowledgement from Primates from the letter, but so far there has not been a great response.
www.churchsociety.org
www.anglicanspread.org
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