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Reform Newsletter, December 2011

In this newsletter - 

• Rod Thomas reports on homosexual marriage and women bishops
• other news and events

Rod Thomas writes:

Homosexual Marriage

At our conference in October, I spoke about the real challenge presented by the present Government's desire to legitimise homosexual marriage. If this were to come into law, marriage would be undermined because society's understanding of what marriage is all about would be eroded. Marriage isn't solely a matter of commitment - as though it were just another form of contract, binding two parties. It creates a special bond between a man and a woman which is vital for the health of family life and the raising of children.

Getting Ready to Campaign

The Government plans to start a consultative process in the spring, so we need to be ready to make our views known, and to help others see the issues. In preparation for this we are actively discussing the way forward with a wide range of other Christian organisations - and Paul Dawson, our media officer, is representing us at meetings in London. Soon after the start of the New Year we hope to write to all members with:

• Briefing on why the proposal represents such an attack on marriage
• Suggestions for action by PCCs
• Ways of raising our concerns with MPs
• Details on how individuals can link into a national campaign

We expect to follow this up with further briefing for members once the Government consultations have started.

Defending the Biblical Position in the Church

I recognise that issues of this sort are normally the territory of bodies like the Christian Institute, with whom we are keeping in close touch. However, we know that in 2013 the House of Bishops will itself be starting consultations over issues related to human sexuality. It will be much harder at that stage to hold the Church to a biblically faithful position if the Government has managed to introduce homosexual marriage.

Women Bishops

There's a fair amount to report, much of it to do with what is going on at synods. This isn't because we're obsessed with synodical affairs. I hope that what really excites us is the prospect of more and more people accepting the salvation and lordship of Christ as local churches proclaim the gospel. However, until this issue has been resolved, we're inevitably having to focus on what is, to many of us, an unfamiliar and unattractive area of Church life.

Finding a Fresh Way Forward

It was a great encouragement to see so many members engaging with deanery and diocesan synods over the last few months. For some time our hopes were pinned on diocesan synods passing ‘following motions' calling on the House of Bishops to change the draft legislation to make better provision for those who cannot accept women bishops on grounds of theological conviction. However, as the various debates took place, a fresh initiative was taken which we immediately got behind - as did members of the Catholic Group. This initiative recognised that even if a good number of dioceses passed the following motion, the House of Bishops might still decline to amend the legislation. So an alternative ‘following motion' was devised which was directed at the General Synod rather than the House of Bishops. This promised to have more impact because the Standing Orders of General Synod require its Business Committee to give any motion from a diocesan synod special consideration for inclusion in the agenda.

The alternative ‘following motion' effectively asked the General Synod to put pressure on the House of Bishops to incorporate the amendments the two Archbishops proposed back in 2010 (which at the time were narrowly defeated). Five dioceses passed this motion, quite enough to persuade the Business Committee to put it on the agenda of General Synod next February - although at the time of writing news is still awaited. Since the present General Synod has a different make-up to the one which rejected the Archbishop's 2010 amendment, there seems to be a good chance that the General Synod will vote for this. The House of Bishops would then have every reason to change the draft Measure before the vote on final approval in July 2012.

The Results of the Diocesan Synod Debates

The final results of the diocesan consultations were that two of the forty-four dioceses voted against the draft Measure (London and Chichester). Five dioceses passed the original ‘following motion' (Sheffield, Blackburn, Chichester, Winchester and Bradford). Five dioceses passed the alternative ‘following motion' (Manchester, Exeter, Chichester, York and Wakefield). This means that ten dioceses - nearly a quarter of the total - have registered serious disquiet over the draft Measure one way or the other. There is therefore a strong case for further amendment.

A Reform Proposal

Since there seems every likelihood that the House of Bishops will be privately considering whether, and if so what, specific changes should be made to the draft legislation, we have been keen to feed in some fresh thoughts. To this end we have drafted a modest amendment which has been passed to the two Archbishops. The amendment would remove any reference to a female bishop ‘delegating' her oversight to an alternative bishop and introduce an arrangement whereby diocesan schemes provide for the bishops of a ‘recognised' society to provide alternative oversight. We were particularly keen to register this suggestion before the House of Bishops meets later this month.

On December 14th, Sarah Finch and I will be attending a consultation in Coventry Cathedral attended by members of WATCH (the pro-women bishops campaigning group), the Catholic Group in General Synod and members of the Cathedral staff. This is a Coventry initiative, designed to find out whether there is any possibility, even at this late stage, of agreeing a way forward for the Church of England and thus avoid what has been described as an impending ‘train crash' next July. We are very willing to play our part and would be grateful for your prayers as we do so.

As you'll gather, there's a fair amount of work going on behind the scenes. We've been keen to get the best outcome at diocesan synods, to encourage others to stand with us, and to try to win the ear of bishops. We hope that all this will bear fruit at the next General Synod in February.

Events

Women in Ministry, 23 -26 January 2012. A conference for women involved in local church, Bible teaching ministries. The women who come are a mix of full-time and part-time workers, paid and unpaid, married and single, mums with young children and mums with grown up children. For further details and online booking go to http://www.proctrust.org.uk/conferences

Sex-Proof your Kids:  Lisa Nolland equips and empowers parents and others who are concerned by how kids are being physically and psychologically damaged by their sexual experiences. She believes that kids deserve better and will listen when offered good reasons to be 'good', or sexually smart.  Topics covered include: present youth sex culture; the real dangers of pornography; the oxymoron of 'safe sex'; the innate differences between females and males; the sexual trajectory  - what is next on the horizon; and how to be sex-positive with kids.  Lisa is available for day or evening seminars or events which could suit Christian or secular groups. Please contact Ls.n@talktalk.net;  0117 924 4896 for details. 

The Lepers Among Us. Homosexuality and the Life of the Church with Dr Jim Reynolds. Coming to Belfast (Jan 20 &21, 2012) and London (Friday Jan 27th, 2012). Jim Reynolds - pastor, teacher, author and attorney at law considers compassionate ways of ministering to same-sex-attracted believers and seekers. He also explores neo-paganism, the religious underpinning of 21st century culture and how pastors and their churches can respond in clarity. (See the Core issues web site - http://www.core-issues.org/ or contact Lisa above. For the programme and brochure click here)