Anglican Mainstream

Why I am an Anglican has contributions from 12 of today’s evangelical leaders (FWS Orthos booklet 23). The authors range from leaders of large and small churches, leaders of Anglican evangelical networks, a Bishop (Wallace Benn) and a theological college principal (Richard Turnbull). The collective conclusions should encourage a fresh commitment to Anglican Evangelicalism today as: a place for Gospel proclamation; a desire to reach the nation, under God, for Christ; a commitment to the godly reform of the denomination; and a network of relationships across the nation and around the world.

Working with each of them in producing this booklet has helped me reaffirm four key convictions which shape my understanding of the place of evangelicals in our denomination.

1. An Evangelical Church

To be an evangelical is to be committed to the evangel (the good news of the Gospel) and to proclaim it as God’s message of salvation in his sin-bearing Son. I consider myself to be an Anglican Evangelical. Much has been made of the order of those two words. Many of us would want to say that the Gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we are evangelical first because of our commitment to the evangel and our desire to work with Gospel-minded people across all denominations.

There are others who would want to reverse that word order, arguing that the Church of England, as the national denomination, is our first commitment, and only secondarily are we evangelical. However, the word order is surely right: the Gospel comes first. I am Church of England, largely because I am in England. But this is not just “best boat to fish from” pragmatics, as the following points demonstrate. However it does reflect the fact that a commitment to the Gospel supersedes a commitment to the denomination, if or when, there is a choice to be made.

2. A National Church

The marvellous vision of the Church of England is that every area of our nation is covered by a parish Church. This has given local incumbents a “patch” to work. Having just returned from speaking in a rural parish in Berkshire where the Vicar is an integral part of the community and the Church still retains a dominant position in the culture, I thank God that the Church of England is the only denomination where you still have a witness in every town. It is regrettable that more Anglican Evangelicals are not working in these rural places.

Nevertheless, we are appreciating that we all live more “networked” lives. In its wisdom, General Synod debated and commended Missionshaped Church (Church House Publishing 2004) as a model of how evangelism and Church planting may need to be done in a mobile, cyber-connected world.

It seems to me that we now have two models of being a National Church which are overlapping: the network model and the parish model. For the sake of winning the nation for Christ, we need to find a way for them both to co-exist.

3. A Global Church

The overlaying structures within the nation are writ large in the interconnected relationships within global Anglicanism. Evangelicals are particularly grateful for the role which the “Global South” has played. They are notself-appointed spokesmen, but rather are elected bishops and archbishops of their provinces unlike their counterparts in the Church of England. Their moral authority is undeniable — they represent vibrant, energetic and growing Churches and Provinces. But it is also worth noting that the Global South group originated in the South-South Encounter established by the Anglican Consultative Council in Kenya in 1994 and in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. They are aware of their indebtedness to the Church of England and they rightly feel interconnected with us. Those to whom we gave the Gospel throughout the empire look back at the faltering leadership in the northern and western provinces and ask: do you still believe the things which motivated you to evangelise us in the first place?

4. A Confessional Church

It is because of these things that many Anglican evangelicals want to affirm afresh the Confessional nature of the Church of England. It is not just that we are the national Church. We are a denomination which is rooted in, and guided by, the Word of God. What we believe unites us across denominational and international boundaries around the world. Yes, the 39 articles were polemical affirmations.

But the undergirding assumption is that all decisions across the denomination will be governed by the Word of God. They have a creedal authority for us. Do Anglicans still believe?

• Article 6 The Sufficiency of Scripture for salvation

Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation. Consequently whatever is not read in Scripture nor can be proved from Scripture cannot be demanded from any person to believe it as an article of the faith…

• Article 19 The church

The visible church of Christ is a congregation of believers in which the pure Word of God is preached and in which the sacraments are
rightly administered according to Christ’s command in all those matters that are necessary for proper administration.

• Article 20 The authority of the church

The church has authority to decree forms of worship and ceremonies and to decide in controversies concerning the faith. However, it is not lawful for the church to order anything contrary to God’s written Word. Nor may it expound one passage of Scripture so that it contradicts another passage. So, although the church is a witness and guardian to holy Scripture, it must not decree anything contrary to Scripture, nor is it to enforce belief in anything additional to Scripture as essential to salvation….

I certainly hope we still do believe these things which are at the heart of the denomination and are the reason why I am an evangelical in the Church of England.

There has been much discussion about the “Evangelical Centre”. Renewing the centre means making sure that the core is not rotten. It means ensuring that the word of God is at the heart of the denomination. And for that reason, whilst labels can be misleading, I own the label “Conservative Evangelical”. Whilst popularly referred to, the label “Open Evangelical” is misleading. Did not Jesus say: “Broad is the road that leads to destruction?” The danger of the open way is to do with boundaries. What are the outer edges? What will keep you on the straight road and the narrow way? Only the authentically Anglican narrow way offers that.

The Rev Dr Simon Vibert is Chairman of Southwark DEU, a member of CEEC and Chairman of Fellowship of Word and Spirit. He edited Orthos 23, “Why I am an Anglican”, FWS 2006. See www.fows.org for more details

AM Comments

The points at issue, as will be familiar to readers of these pages, include

The teaching of the Bible on matters of sexuality

Those in leadership who disagree with the declared teaching of the Anglican Communion

The current guidelines of the Church of England allow clergy to enter civil partnerships, which are now acknowledged to be an analogue to marriage. These arrangements by the state are contrary to the clear teaching of the Bible.

Legal advice that no discipline can be exercised on those who enter civil partnerships without informing or giving assurances to their bishops because such discipline is exercised through the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure which has never been successfully employed.

Bishops who are patrons of organizations whose stated goal is to change the practice and teaching of the Church on marriage and sexuality

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