Holy Redeemer Streatham

By Alan

If I am honest, I was not fully convinced by the Confessing Anglican movement.  I agreed with the Jerusalem statement that came out of GAFCON but I was not clear what the movement was all about or why it was needed. However, the Be Faithful conference changed my mind.

The Be Faithful conference was held in Westminster Central Hall yesterday.  There were approximately 1600 people there from 300 parishes. The day was split into two halves: the first half was compered by Richard Perkins and Janice Whyne, the second half was introduced by William Taylor and Christine Perkins.  The schedule was packed with talks by leaders from the worldwide Anglican church; there were interviews and messages from well wishers, punctuated with prayer and songs from Stuart Townsend.

Four of us from the Holy Redeemer attended the conference and Lisa summarised how I felt afterwards: ‘I didn’t realise how important this is; I didn’t realise how much is as stake’, she said.

The main message of the conference was that Anglicans need to stand for the truth of the gospel and they need to stand together with faithful Christians worldwide who are being persecuted for their faith. There were too many talks to mention in detail.  But the following is my summary of some of the key messages from the day.

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How tripe and onion soup becomes bean and bacon soup

Bishop John Hind described how small changes in the Anglican tradition have led to something that is very different from its origins.  He used the analogy of soup. Add a few ingredients here, take away a few vegetables there and, before long, tripe and onion soup has become bean and bacon soup under a different name!  It is similar small changes in the Anglican Church over many years that has led to the crisis over morality and church order today.

‘You can’t be sure of anything anymore’

Archbishop Greg Venables of Argentina described the influence of worldly thinking on the church. On a plane journey once an air hostess chatted to him about her spiritual concerns and ended their conversation by saying, ‘You can’t be sure of anything anymore can you?’ ‘I hope the pilot does not share your philosophy!’ said the Archbishop in reply.  That same uncertainty marks the philosophy of our age. But the Bible says that this is untrue because ‘God has spoken’. His words are not relative, subjective, or a matter of interpretation; God’s revelation is ‘plain truth’ and we are called to stand on His unchanging message.

‘Jesus is our only runway’

The Archbishop went on to describe the dangerous effect of such philosophy.  He was flying to a remote area in South America once when the pilot turned to him and said ‘I have never been here before. Is that the runway down there?’  There was only one runway in the area and, luckily, the Archbishop had been there before! The gospel message is that Jesus is our only run way. He is our unique saviour; he alone saves us from sin, death and hell.   The great and real danger is that we will drift away from this message in the steady tide of false teaching in the church. The salvation of people is at stake. We must therefore reject the idea that the Anglican Church should include a diversity of beliefs on salvation.  Rather, we must pay more careful attention to the truth, he said (Heb 2:1).

Not a different community, leadership, or division of the church.

Archbishop Venables said that the Confessing Anglican movement had been misunderstood and misrepresented.  He explained that the movement was not the start of an alternative community, a different leadership or division of the church - this is what has been claimed and some have certainly feared in our church.  Rather than breaking away from the church, this worldwide movement is about standing with others Anglicans on the historic faith of the church within the church.

‘Doesn’t the Church want us anymore?’

However, the message of the conference was not just ‘stand up for the apostolic faith’; it was also ‘stand with Anglican Christians in need’. We heard first about the church in Sudan; it is growing rapidly but is in terrible need.  Baroness Cox spoke movingly of seeing the effects of the civil war, which displaced 4 million people and left 2 million dead, and Islamic militancy.  Islamic aid agencies, backed by £29M of Saudi money, are offering aid to desperate people - but on condition that they convert.  The choice for many Christians is therefore intolerable: either they convert to Islam or they see their children die of Cholera.   ‘We are trying to hold the front line, but we have nothing’, said one pastor to Baroness Cox. ‘Doesn’t the church want us anymore?’ he said.  How can we help practically? One way is to support AID (Anglican International Development for Relief and Change), said Baroness Cox. AID is a charity that helps support Christians in need through simple initiatives providing agricultural and business training and church pastors with bikes, for example.

‘I could paper any of your rooms with deposition papers’

After hearing about Sudan, we heard from Bishop Keith Ackerman about the needs of Anglicans in North America.   He described how 80,000 Anglicans in North America had been stripped of their position in the church for refusing to ‘sanctify sin’ (accept that sexual sin is right).  Litigation was routinely used in the church to keep vicars in line. ‘I could wallpaper any of your rooms with the number of deposition papers I have received’ he said. He described how the fundamentals of the Christian faith were being attacked.  The person of the God head – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – was rejected as ‘paternalistic’, for example. Instead, God was reduced to his function: ‘creator, redeemer and sanctifier’. ‘That is like me phoning up my mother and saying “Hello life giver, could I speak to my sperm donor please!”’, he said.  The marginalised Anglo Catholics and traditional evangelicals have formed a new province together, known as the Anglican Church in North America, which is yet to be officially recognised.

You are ‘a cancer on the body of Christ’

However, lest we thought that such suffering was not our problem, after the break we heard about the difficulties that Christians have faced in this country in seeking to pursue faithful ministry in the Anglican Church.   We heard from one ordination applicant who had to undergo three years of church placements and visits to ‘spiritual advisors’ in order to give him ‘an understanding of liberal theology’. His DDO report said, ‘He has a sincere but unsophisticated view of the gospel: that Jesus died for our sins to take our punishment averting God’s holy wrath’.  This person had a first class degree in theology and had the full support of his home church.  We heard from someone who had tried to plant a church in an area with few gospel churches. They were not granted permission to do the plant, but sought to do so anyway because of the need.  Having started meetings in a school, they were suddenly told they could no longer use the building.  The Head Teacher informed them that she had had a call from a senior member of the Church of England warning her not to let the vicar use the premises.  The Area Dean paid them a brief visit and described them as ‘a cancer on the body of Christ’.

‘The FSA is a gospel movement…will you join us?’

Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sidney, was careful to accept the breath of belief among Confessing Anglicans.  They do not agree on all ‘secondary’ issues; there are differences of opinion on women’s ordination, for example.  However, what is important is a deep conviction and unity about the gospel and salvation matters.   He also acknowledged that there are good people who are one with them in belief but who do not think that now is the right time to act.  Archbishop Jensen said that, given the recent events, we really have no choice but to act to affirm the biblical gospel and to stand against false teaching.  ‘We must not practice the policy of drift; the moment of decisive action has arrived’, he said. ‘The FSA is a gospel movement. The question is: will you join us?’

Where to now?

In practice, William Taylor of St Helen’s Bishopsgate explained that the movement was committed to supporting mission, ministry training, the finance of faithful ordinands where needed, fellowship with other confessing Anglicans and biblical oversight.  Vaughan Roberts, of St Ebbe’s Oxford said that the danger in going forward at a local level is compromise and division.  But his hope is for a united renewal movement that is committed to truth, breadth, grace, prayer and action.

Although we heard a lot about the difficulties facing the church, the meeting was not one of gloom but optimism.  There was a great sense of unity and sense that this may be the beginning of a worldwide movement of reform and mission. The Anglican church is strategically placed to reach our nation with the gospel, with churches even in remote rural villages. We will need to see what happens as a result of the conference, but I for one will be standing with Confessing Anglicans.

Suggestions for you

Here are some suggestions of what you can do in support:

1. Pray for the movement, that it will go forward faithfully in unity. And pray for those Christians who are suffering for the gospel in this country and abroad.

2. Share the gospel of God’s love in Jesus whenever and wherever you can.  The movement is not just about life in the church, but about reaching the world with the good news of Christ.

3. Find out more about the Confessing Anglican movement.  The DVD of the conference will be coming out (cost £10) and will probably be available through the website. I found the conference very moving and may be very significant in bringing about change. Why not get it, watch it and tell others about it? (To forward this article using the share button below).

4. Support the Confessing Anglican movement. The Holy Redeemer PCC has already voted to support of Confessing Anglicans.  Back the church, and why not register your support by signing the Jerusalem declaration and joining the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans on their website.

5. Support AID.  If you can provide financial and prayer support for Sudanese Christians, why not do so through AID.  You can find out more about them and get involved through their website, http://interanglicanaid.org/

Did you go to the Be Faithful Conference? Let us know what you thought and post a comment below.