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UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST: Bishops asked for help in pressing Christian claims

by Glyn Paflin, Bill Bowder, Margaret Duggan and Pat Ashworth. Photos by Geoff Crawford

Synod chamber, viewed from above © not advert

THE SYNOD has asked the House of Bishops to report on their under­standing of the uniqueness of Christ in the multifaith society of Britain, and to offer “examples and com­mendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none”.

Introducing the Wednesday-after­noon debate on his private member’s motion, Paul Eddy (Winchester) said that it was not “calling in any way for, or in any way encouraging, aggres­sive, confrontational ‘mission’” to convert someone of another faith. Nor was he suggesting that interfaith dialogue was not vital. All evangelism must be done with gentleness and respect.

As an ordinand about to start training, Mr Eddy had discovered that interfaith issues were the preserve of the few, and focused heavily on community cohesion; training was limited, and models of good practice were not easily avail­able. A document of best practice was needed, both on how to share the gospel, and how to care for those whose “conversion” brought danger and exclusion.

If the Church of England did not actively seek to offer Christ to people of other faiths, “could we be creating ourselves ‘no-go areas for the gospel’ by the sin of omission?” Arguments for diplomacy and social cohesion should not be allowed to detract from the primary calling to be Christ’s disciples and evangelists. A clear message needed to go out that the historic understanding of the uniqueness of Christ, as expressed in Dr Martin Davie’s background paper for the debate, was needed for the Church to articulate a prophetic as well as a salvific witness.

The motion called for an explicit understanding of the uniqueness of Christ by the House of Bishops as spiritual leaders. It was vital to signal clearly where the Church stood in relationship to its confidence in the “saving work of God the Son and the life and community-transforming work and power of the Holy Spirit”.

The uniqueness of Christ must not be compromised by Anglicans. Good-practice guidelines and models were needed to encourage sensitive and relevant evangelism. Huge sacri­fices were often needed when leaving behind a religion to become a dis­ciple of Christ. The Church needed to be “serious, accountable, and responsible” for their long-term nurture and discipleship, whatever the cost to local churches.

A “strategic, highly political mar­ginalisation of Christianity in the public arena” was being witnessed. “Dedicated citizens who offer them­selves in public or vocational life” were being forced out, if the faith that provided the motivation and com­passion for their work was in any way made public.

The Revd Nezlin Sterling (Black-led Churches) said that the Church of Jesus Christ could not allow itself to be marginalised. She believed that Christians were “so anxious to be politically correct” that they forgot to be “Christ-correct”. They had positioned themselves behind closed doors, paralysed with fear of being recognised as Chris­tians.

Why complain about a decline in membership? What measures were being taken to arrest it? Why should Christians walk on eggshells to achieve community cohesion? “Every person in my mind is a potential convert.”

Dr Chik Kaw Tan (Lichfield) testified to his own conversion at the age of 17 from Chinese folk religion to a discovery of the uniqueness of Christ which he described as “earth-shattering”. “Happy heathen” did not exist, he assured the Synod.

The Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, described his area as the most multifaith and multi-coloured in the country. The motion was helpful in concentrating the mind on what the Church was about, and he gave examples from his own diocese of the way the sensitive task of holding together the unique claims of Christ and engaging in a dialogue with other faiths was being carried out.

He was concerned that the House of Bishops had been implicitly criti­cised as not wanting to do evan­gelism. He would prefer a report to come from the grass roots rather than the House of Bishops, and commended a move towards good practice in helpfully proclaiming in respectful ways, not in unhelpful proselytising.

Canon Simon Bessant (Sheffield) spoke to his amendment, which sought to draw attention to a Synod resolution of July 2002, on the unique­ness of Christ, and not to repeat that debate, which had overwhelmingly affirmed it. The amendment would support the Presence and Engagement report as a continuation of that process.

Canon Andrew Dow (Gloucester) spoke to his amendment. The subject of the uniqueness of Christ was more crucial than ever, but the main motion spread it too wide in its reference to “other faiths and none”. The motion came across as “an attempt to OFSTED bishops” and “a heresy test of some kind”, he suggested. This was an issue not just for bishops, but for the whole Church to wrestle with. “We need to recover our confidence and our nerve in lovingly pressing their claim on our fellow citizens.”

He distinguished between “Evan­gelical” and “evangelistic”. Anglicans often seemed to go so far, but to drop short of “conversion”. He wanted to “refute the lie” that this was religious bigotry or fundamental fanaticism.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Timothy Stevens, said that it was important that the Synod recognised no essential incom­patibility between being passionate about evangelistic work and en­gaging in sensitive work of building relationships. Leicester’s interfaith groups engaged over a whole range of issues, such as Gaza, “but our friends in other faiths expect us to be clear about our commitment to Christ.” Dialogue was the route for the careful work of building friendships: it went hand-in-hand with witnessing to the reconciling work of Christ.

Alison Ruoff (London) said that all Christians were compelled to proclaim the uniqueness of Christ. Political correctness appeared to put Islam, and indeed “every religion and none”, before Christianity.

Professor Anthony Thiselton (Southwell & Nottingham) said that he was not concerned with the mode of dialogue, but with three presup­positions: the Trinitarian nature of Jesus Christ; the “foreign concept” that you couldn’t believe in media­tion unless you believed in the holiness of God; and the notion of spirituality — not the modern under­standing of spirituality as an innate capacity for religiosity, but the New Testament understanding of “the Holy Spirit, who witnesses to Christ”.

Professor Thiselton confessed he had resisted signing Mr Eddy’s motion for a year, out of a fear that it was polemic. But Canon Bessant’s amendment “dropped the bottom out” of the motion.

The Revd Richard Moy (Lichfield) cited many models of engaging with other faiths, particularly in his encounters as a Street Pastor. He had met one person who said that he hadn’t encountered a “committed Christian” in 22 years, and he would welcome the report as a great help.

Alison Wynne (Blackburn) was against all the amendments. She wanted the Bishops to give the lead as a focus for mission in those dioceses.

Justin Brett (Oxford) described himself as “a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, as dodgy as they come”. He felt he desperately needed assurance, theology, and a lead on the unique­ness of Christ, and urged the Synod to resist all the amendments.

The Revd Brian Lewis (Chelms­ford) believed that Presence and Engagement set out the ground. He was sympathetic, therefore, to Canon Bessant’s amendment. The hospi­tality of his own community centre had given many opportunities to wit­ness to Christ.

Canon Bessant’s amendment was lost.


The Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin speaking at Synod © not advert
“Live the witness”: the Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said that he was grateful to Paul Eddy for drawing attention to the importance of this aspect of the Church’s mission to the world, and he also commended the longer paper by Dr Martin Davie. He reaffirmed the biblical teaching of the utter uniqueness of the God who revealed himself to Israel, but also his universal significance.

The New Testament told them, and the creeds declared, that Jesus Christ entered into history, and that they came to know God in this par­ticu­lar person, but the particular became universal, because it was of God. Even in the midst of super­stition, people could know some­thing of God, because they were made in his image, the light of Jesus Christ illuminated their minds, and the Holy Spirit everywhere prompted them.

The history of salvation was the canon of scripture, by which they could recognise God’s providence. Dialogue was an essential aspect of mission. That meant engaging in the language, thought, and culture of those to whom they were sent.

The Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin (London) said that the Church seemed to have three obsessions: sex, women, and multifaith. With this motion, it felt as though they were targeting people of other faiths as the focus of their concern. But, she said, she was an evangelist, trained by the Church Army, and felt most alive not in Synod, but when she was wit­ness­ing to Jesus Christ in word and deed.

They should love the uniqueness of Christ themselves, and then they would be a better witness to their brothers and sisters of other faiths. “How many of your children are still worshipping, or your grand­children?” People said that they had not come for worship on a special day, because they were entertaining guests. Others would say that they did not involve their wife or their children or grandchildren in their Christian life. “What is that about?” she asked.

“When we live the witness, we will have the integrity to speak to others.” They did not need a report from the House of Bishops to tell them to witness to their faith. “It seems ridiculous to me.”

The Revd Angus MacLeay (Rochester) said that Evangelical Christians “often look at Christ and go straight to our soteriology”. But in the Gospel of St John, first the uniqueness of Christ was affirmed as it flowed into the triune God. The uniqueness of Christ undergirded all that happened. It was something broad and wide, and for that reason he supported Mr Eddy’s motion.

The Archbishop of York, Dr Sen­tamu, said that, according to the National Census, the majority in the country were Christian, “but we never see them in our Church”. They needed evangelising just as much as those who claimed no faith. “In the end, Christ will want to ask us where we were when he was hungry, thirsty, sick, naked, or in prison.” Everyone in England, those of faith and those of none, were all neighbours and friends. He said that when a Muslim greeted him according to his tradi­tion, he greeted him in return in the name of Jesus Christ, “for them, a prophet; but, for me, the Saviour of the World”.

Canon Dow’s amendment was lost. An amendment was then moved by the Revd Christopher Strain (Salisbury) that the Synod welcome Dr Martin Davie’s background paper. Mr Strain said that “we must be pro-active.” They should not be “short-sighted”, but fix their “vision on our glorious Lord”. Dr Davie’s paper would make an excellent starting place for the Bishops’ report. Other faiths should be approached “with humility, not with force or power”.

Mr Strain’s amendment was carried.

The Synod was then addressed by a woman member whom the chair­man had agreed not to name or identify for reasons that, he said, would become apparent.

The woman, from an ethnic minority, said that she had, after the last group of sessions of the Synod, been invited to go to a meeting, which she did. There she had been given a label with her name on, had sat at a table, and had introduced herself to those around her. “We said who we were. I got a reaction from some­one: ‘Oh, you are still alive then!’ The shock on my face showed it all. The person knew that they had stepped over the line and they tried to rebut the statement. I stand here fearful of the consequences of that,” she said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in his presidential speech, had spoken of the desperate needs of those who faced persecution for their faith. She called on members of the Synod to remember in their prayers those who were still facing persecution.

Viewfinder on a camera. And the glass ceiling of Synod chamber © not advert

The motion, as amended, was carried by 283 votes to 8, with 10 recorded abstentions. It read:

That this Synod warmly welcome Dr Martin Davie’s backround paper “The witness of Scripture, the Fathers and the historic formularies to the uniqueness of Christ” attached to GS Misc 905B and request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commenda­tions of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.



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