Report to the 2011 Reform Conference on 19^th October 2011: ‘From the Front Line' - Christ Church Wyre Forest

Since 2002 I have been leading Christ Church Wyre Forest without a bishop's licence. Many of you will know the circumstances, referred to as ‘the Kidderminster stand', which gave rise to the church and I don't intend to rehearse them again; suffice it to say that it was adherence to the historic formularies of the Church of England which led to our exile from the Church of England!

 The emergence of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) as a mission society earlier this year offered a means by which Christ Church could come back into recognised Anglican structures in England and so in July, I met Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya. He kindly agreed to grant me a licence, with episcopal oversight for Christ Church being delegated to the AMiE Panel of Bishops.

But, it might be asked, why should Worcester Diocese still be thought of as ‘on the front line'?  The current diocesan bishop is orthodox and has encouraged a new commitment to evangelism. He is someone I am personally on good terms with and he has been open to discussion about the future of Christ Church. So why go to Kenya for a licence? 

There are two reasons.

Firstly, problems persist in Worcester Diocese. For example, some two years a senior Diocesan official successfully put pressure on a Church of England school to reject a substantial donation from Christ Church for the purchase of bibles, saying that to take it would be like receiving money raised from tarot card readings! Similar attitudes can be found at parish level - we have recently initiated an outreach project, ‘The Lighthouse', on one of the most difficult areas in the Wyre Forest district and we are seeing people come to Christ as a result, but our presence has been subject to sustained opposition by the local incumbent.

The second and weightier reason for taking the AMiE option is that from a global perspective, the Church of England itself is ‘on the front line'.  I do not want to be misunderstood at this point. I am not arguing that if you are a really convinced  conservative evangelical you  should necessarily move into impaired communion and come under the AMiE forthwith. What I do maintain however is that the logic of a decision to step back into the Church of England is not simply the same as the logic of a decision to remain within. There is an asymmetry because the decision to go back in expresses a much stronger expression of confidence in the institution than the decision to remain.

 The essential question for a congregation within the Church of England is this - can we at the moment remain in full communion in the Church of England with a good conscience? In contrast, the essential question for an ‘extra mural' congregation like Christ Church is this - could we for the foreseeable future remain in full communion with the Church of England with a good conscience? If not, it would be irresponsible to go through what could well be a revolving door, and there are strong indications that the foreseeable future is not good.

 The most immediate concern must be the trend of voting at Diocesan Synods on the Women Bishops legislation. If this is sustained, we have in prospect the irrevocable marginalization of conservative evangelicals and their disappearance in a generation.  It is not of course guaranteed that the legislation will get the sufficient support in the current General Synod which has a slightly more conservative flavour, but if so only time would tell if that represented the turning of a corner or simply a breathing space. Moreover, the underlying logic of ‘rights' detached from faithful engagement with Scripture which has driven this innovation can very easily be adapted to argue the case for opening the episcopate to practicing homosexuals. 

And it is unlikely that there would be much resistance from the evangelical bishops. The latest example of their vulnerability to establishment consensus comes from Canon Tim Dakin, bishop designate of Winchester. The Basingstoke Advertiser reported that when ‘asked to comment on whether he opposed same-sex marriage like his predecessor, [he] said: "I do not have a line on this one'. 

Slowly but surely, the signs are that the Church of England is becoming an Anglicised version of The Episcopal Church in the United States.  In this situation, the AMiE has a vital role in providing a way in which Anglicans in England can be indisputably Anglican and indisputably orthodox. It would be strange if Christ Church Wyre Forest were to muddy the waters by turning back to the embrace of an institution where, practically speaking, biblical orthodoxy is being reduced to an opinion.

I have long been convinced that the solution to the Church of England's difficulties can only be found by working within a new global paradigm which recognises that the Anglican Communion is no longer a supposedly benign residue of Empire. This means a fresh understanding of what it means to serve in gospel partnership, giving precedence to the growing churches of the Global South. 

This conviction has now taken a very practical turn as I have been invited by Archbishop Wabukala to establish St Julian's, Limuru, a church guesthouse and retreat centre near Nairobi,  as a Centre for Anglican Studies to  promote and deepen understanding of orthodox Anglicanism, within the Anglican Church of Kenya and beyond, as embodied in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. My wife, Gillian, and I hope to be able to move to Kenya early next year. 

I am very grateful for the support and partnership we have had through Reform in the past and hope this new venture will find favour with many of you. There are leaflets available today which explain things more fully and please take as many as you need.

Charles Raven

¹ The Basingstoke Advertiser 9^th September.  It was subsequently drawn to my attention by the Revd John Richardson that Canon Dakin had clarified his position in correspondence with him as follows, quoted with permission:  "I affirm that sexuality is to be expressed in marriage and that marriage is between a man and a woman for life" and "We must work to make sure that this is not just "current" Church of England teaching, but that the Church remains faithful to this teaching for all time. That is, of course, part of the challenging task of being a bishop!" While this clarification is to be welcomed, I am probably not alone in feeling it would have carried greater conviction if the initial press report had been corrected by a proper press statement from Canon Dakin, rather than by going indirectly on the record through an email exchange.

² Copies of the leaflet are available for download from the Reform website.