Dropping the Word "Church"

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The First Amendment of the US Constitution prevents the government from creating or establishing a religion, and thereby guarantees religious freedom to all US citizens. The First Amendment protects the right of the individual to worship or to not worship. However, the separation of church from state does not require a separation of religious conversation, signs, signals or language from politics.

On the other hand, diverse religions have been protected by the state in many countries. Examples of state religions include The Church of England, Lutheranism in the Scandinavian countries, Roman Catholicism in Italy and Spain, Judaism in Israel, Islam in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran, and Buddhism in Thailand.

In the 16th century, Catholic and Reformed churches vied for state sponsorship. The principle Cuius regio, eius religio (state follows the ruler's religion) somewhat ameliorated the unrest, but rulers often put political interests above religious convictions. It was written that "an Established Church is only a political machine." (Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Chapter XVIII)

At best, the mutual support of Church and State can help to preserve a religious tradition. At worst, it can become tyrannical and exclusionary. This happens when the leaders of both Church and State do not uphold Church dogma or retain the meaning of words. Some suspect that the recent study called "New Things: A theological investigation into the work of starting new churches across 11 dioceses in the Church of England" reflects this condition. The study was conducted by the Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research in Durham. 

The Reverend Dr. Will Foulger is the main author of the report. He has been vicar at St Nicholas' Church in Durham since September 2023. His parish website identifies the church simply as "St Nic's Durham." Prior to September 2023, Foulger taught theology and mission in Durham, and gained experience in church planting in Nottingham.

According to the study, words like "community" and "congregation" were preferred over the word "church." Even though more than 900 new C of E congregations were established by 11 dioceses in the past 10 years, none of them used the word “church plant” or “church.”

According to Dr Foulger, the findings of the new report may suggest language change is “forcing us to redefine what we think a church is in the Church of England.”

Dr. Giles Fraser, vicar of St. Anne's in Kew, expressed to the Telegraph that the sudden drop of the term "church" reflects "a misplaced desire to be relevant and modern-sounding."

A Tempest in a Teapot?

Ultimately, it is certain that the Church of England will never change its name. It will never be called the "Community of England" or the "Congregation of England" because those designations are meaningless. 

Would the disestablishment of the Church halt the trend of seeking to be culturally relevant? If the USA experiment is a measure, the answer must be no. In the USA, there is no shortage of nontraditional names for Christian congregations.

Speaking of his Messianic Christian congregation, Ben Frostad, explains, "You may have noticed that I avoid using the word 'church' to describe the corporate body of believers in Messiah."

In New Hampshire, an example involves two congregations simply called "Converge." One is located in Lebanon and the other in New London.

"Gather Asheville" doesn't use the word "church" when talking about themselves, said the lead pastor, Rev. John Redwine.

Fr David Epps has observed, "in order to market the church, the very word, 'church' is often dropped altogether." Among the new nomenclatures are words such as fellowship, world outreach center, chapel, ministry, and tabernacle.

In a time when the indeterminate label "woke" is often applied to studies, proposals, theories, religious trends and politics, it is wise to investigate matters for oneself. Having done so, I conclude that the uproar over the "New Things" study will fade as quickly as the next uproar appears. 

Ms Cotton on behalf of WATCH

Female clergy of the Church of England

Back row, left to right:
Rachel Treweek, Nicola Sullivan, Annette Cooper, Joanne Grenfell

Front row:
Libby Lane, Jane Tillier, Vivienne Faull, Christine Wilson

Ms. Cotton on behalf of Women and the Church (WATCH) wrote:

"Anyone who ministers within the Church of England must be prepared to acknowledge that the Church of England has reached a clear decision on the matter; [Indeed this decision was a parliamentary one and there remains no real consensus on women priests and bishops.]

Since it continues to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and those provinces of the Anglican Communion which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops, the Church of England acknowledges that its own clear decision on ministry and gender is set within a broader process of discernment within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God; ..." [The church of England's decision to have women bishops has defined that Church as no longer having the "historic episcopate."]

Ms Cotton argues that the provision of alternative chrism masses for parishes that do not accept the decision of the Church of England emphasises division and is “a cause of much pain to clergy women and their supportive male colleagues.” The continuation of such events is “a thoughtless challenge to mutual flourishing.” [How can there be mutual flourishing? Only the Church that upholds Apostolic teaching, Patristic consensus, and the authority of Holy Scripture can flourish. The other will wither and fade away in time.]

The dispute arose over chrism masses. Chrism masses involve the blessing of holy oils and renewal of priestly vows, and "are an essential part of the sacramental ministry of the bishops concerned to the clergy and people who have been placed by the House of Bishops’ Declaration under their oversight and care." - Statement of Bishop of Wakefield, a bishop of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda, an ecclesial community dedicated to maintaining catholic teaching and practice within the Church of England.

Read more about this dispute here.


Related reading: Women Priests and the ACNA; The Question of Women Priests Must Be Addressed; C.S. Lewis on Women Priests; Why Women Were Never Priests; Alice C. Linsley's Address to the ICCA (July 2015)

GAFCON Primates Criticize Archbishop of Canterbury

A statement has been released by the Chair of the GAFCON Primates which expresses criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the direction of the Church of England. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya said:

While we give thanks for much that has been achieved, especially in the emergence of the Anglican Church of North America and our Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, we are painfully aware that the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada continue to promote a false gospel and yet both are still received as in good standing by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Furthermore, the Church of England itself, the historic mother church of the Communion, seems to be advancing along the same path. While defending marriage, both the Archbishops of York and Canterbury appeared at the same time to approve of same-sex Civil Partnerships during parliamentary debates on the UK’s ‘gay marriage’ legislation, in contradiction to the historic biblical teaching on human sexuality reaffirmed by the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
 Read the full statement here.

Anglicans Seek to Navigate Around God's "NO"

The Anglican Way has become the way of compromise, group process, and concession.

Women bishops in the Anglican circus

Alice C. Linsley
(Formerly the Rev. Alice C. Linsley, Episcopal priest)


In November 2012 General Synod of the Church of England did not to give approval to the proposed legislation to enable women to become bishops. Though the proposal seems to have widespread support, when it came time to vote it lacked the necessary two-third majorities in all three Houses of Synod. This after after much prayer and invocation of the Holy Spirit.

Those comfortable with compromise of the Gospel see no danger in departing from the tradition of the Church. They did not anticipate this development and were confident that the Holy Spirit was leading in the direction they wanted to go. The proposal having failed, they regrouped in December to produce a "new legislative package" to bring before the Synod in July.

This "working group" presented to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York a report in May which placed emphasis on simplicity, reciprocity, mutuality and the need to make rapid progress.

Progress. Rapid. Lord, have mercy!


What does this mean?  It means that the Church of England is not content with God's answer.  It insists on moving forward to the consecration of women bishops and once that is done, it will require all clergy to consent to that decision. The report is unequivocal on this point:

Once legislation has been passed to enable women to become bishops the
Church of England will be fully and unequivocally committed to all orders of
ministry being open equally to all, without reference to gender, and will hold
that those whom it has duly ordained and appointed to office are the true and
lawful holders of the office which they occupy and thus deserve due respect and
canonical obedience;

Anyone who ministers within the Church of England must then be prepared to
acknowledge that the Church of England has reached a clear decision on the
matter..

This will be the equivalent of an ethnic purge. Anglicans holding to the Tradition of the Church will be forced to leave, compromise their consciences and the Gospel, and/or incur "significant costs in defending themselves against legal challenges."

It will create even greater distance between Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics. It will mean no longer sharing the historic episcopate with those churches.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are fooling themselves if they think otherwise. Here is how they justify such disorder in the church: 

Since it will continue to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and those provinces of the Anglican Communion which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops, the Church of England will acknowledge that its own clear decision on ministry and gender is set within a broader process of discernment within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God;

This has become the "Anglican way" and it leads to disaster.  Dear Dr. Toon is rolling in his grave.

Related reading: Forward in Faith Response; Modernist-Traditionalist Divide in Anglicanism; Some Thoughts on Women Priests; Impressions of the New American Anglicanism; C.S. Lewis' "Priestesses in the Church?"

C of E Women Bishops to be "Re-started"

Statement on the Conclusion of the Meeting of the Archbishops’ Council


The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England met on November 27-28th to consider a wide ranging agenda. A substantial amount of time was given over to the discussion of the recent vote by General Synod on Women in the Episcopate.

As part of their reflections, many council members commented on the deep degree of sadness and shock that they had felt as a result of the vote and also of the need to affirm all women serving the church – both lay and ordained – in their ministries.

In its discussions the Council decided that a process to admit women to the episcopate needed to be restarted at the next meeting of the General Synod in July 2013. There was agreement that the Church of England had to resolve this matter through its own processes as a matter of urgency. The Council therefore recommended that the House of Bishops, during its meeting in a fortnight’s time, put in place a clear process for discussions in the New Year with a view to bringing legislative proposals before the Synod in July.

From here.

To me, this seems politically motivated. Official voting returns show that almost half of the lay members of the Church of England General Synod who voted down women bishops were women. Why no affirmation for them?

Atlantic Article on Women Bishops in C of E

Mollie Z. Hemingway


When the Church of England narrowly defeated a measure to allow women to be appointed bishops this week after a dozen years of legislative effort, many observers were surprised. After all, the group has ordained women as priests since 1994—what's the big deal with letting female priests become bishops?

The answer helps explain why the measure failed. The Church of England is known for the graciousness with which it accommodates minority theological opinions. Since the 1990s, parties that disagreed about female ordination merely had to tolerate each other's presence. Female bishops, on the other hand, would hold significant ecclesial and sacramental authority over everyone in the church, even over the minority who believe that female ordination is a theological impossibility. Mere toleration would no longer be possible.

Legislation in support of women bishops was debated by the church this summer, with a focus on whether to protect that group that views female ordination as invalid. Bishops asked members to trust that the Church would respect opponents of the change, even while some proponents of the legislation opposed protections. Traditionalists and their sympathizers doubted these pledges, remembering that promises made to opponents of female ordination in the 1990s were subsequently broken: They were told that there would be no damage to the careers of clergy who viewed female ordination as invalid, for instance. A simple look at the vote in the House of Bishops this week (44 for, 3 opposed) tells a different story.

Read it all here.


Related reading: Traditionalist Bishops Respond to Failure of Synod to Approve Women Bishops; Underdog Cults and Identity Studies

Bishops Respond to Gen. Synod's Failure to Pass Measure on Women Bishops

The failure of the General Synod to agree on the legislation to allow for the ordaining of women bishops reflects Synod’s lack of consensus over this matter. It has uncovered a stubborn unease, particularly among lay people, about the Measure that was presented.

Acutely aware of the profound anguish that will now be felt by so many, we believe that it is wise at this point to refrain from analysis of the past or speculation about what the future might hold.

These are testing times for the Church of England. We pray that we who, between us, have held different opinions on this great matter will be able to find in each other the wisdom and humility we shall need to build a common future.


+Tony Pontefract

+John Plymouth

on behalf of the Bishops of The Society of S. Wilfrid and S. Hilda


The result was:

In favour of female bishops

Bishops: 44
Clergy: 148
Laity: 132

Against

Bishops: 3
Clergy: 45
Laity: 74

Abstentions

Bishops: 2
Clergy: 0
Laity: 0

The legislation needed a two-third majority in all three houses of the General Synod to pass. It did not achieve this two-thirds majority in the House of Laity, and so the legislation was defeated.

Church of England on TEC's Civil War

The Church of England has declined to accept Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori’s assertion the Diocese of South Carolina may not withdraw from the Episcopal Church. Nor will Saturday’s vote by the South Carolina Special Convention affect the standing of its clergy with the Church of England at this time, General Synod learned today.

Speaking for the church’s Council for Christian Unity (CCU), Bishop Christopher Hill said the Church of England sought to maintain good relations with all sides in the Episcopal Church’s civil war and would take no“hasty” actions at this time.

Read it all here.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk to Bishop Welby

To the Right Rev. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham



Dear Brother and Lord Bishop,

I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 7th century.

You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit. 1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37).

The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 15th century. For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brotherly relations encouraged both by frequent mutual visits and established theological dialogue and certainly by a spirit of respect and love which used to accompany the meetings of our hierarchs, clergy and ordinary believers.

Regrettably, the late 20th century and the beginning of the third millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and ‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.

We hope that the voice of the Orthodox Church will be heard by the Church of England and Churches of the Anglican Communion, and good fraternal relationships between us will revive.

I wish you God’s help in your important work.

‘May the God of love and peace be with you’ (2 Cor. 13:11).



Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

From here.

George Conger, Peter Ould and Kevin Kallsen Discuss Justin Welby

Here is an informative segment on Justin Welby, whose mother was Winston Churchill's secretary.

Welby's Appointment and Women Priests

The Right Reverend Chandler Holder Jones has written a perceptive piece on the Justin Welby's appointment as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. He writes:

The Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby, has been appointed the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop-designate strongly supports the purported ordination of women and is pressing for the admission of women to the episcopate in the Church of England, and yet has opposed until now purported homosexual marriage, a profoundly inconsistent position.

It appears that his theological outlook may be loosely defined as liberal evangelicalism or evangelical modernism, an emphasis on personal conversion and faith and contemporary popular-culture based worship styles over received consensus, historic liturgy and sacraments and Sacred Tradition.


Read it all here.

Justin Welby's Olive Branch to LGBT Community

From The Telegraph


The new Archbishop of Canterbury offered an olive branch to the gay community despite reaffirming his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, pledged to examine his own thinking on homosexuality "carefully and prayerfully" and spoke out against "exclusion".

Be he said he supported the Church's current stance on redefining marriage.

"I support the House of Bishop's statement in the summer in answer to the government's consultation on same sex marriage.

I know I need to listen very attentively to the LGBT communities, and examine my own thinking prayerfully and carefully.

The worldly capitalist looking to spread the Word of the Lord 08 Nov 2012

"I am always averse to the language of exclusion, when what we are called to is to love in the same way as Jesus Christ loves us. Above all in the church we need to create safe spaces for these issues to be discussed honestly and in love."

In his first comments since being announced as the successor to Dr Rowan Williams, he insisted he was "utterly optimistic" about the future of the Church despite there being "many millions" of people outside its influence.

He disclosed that his initial reaction to being offered the job was to think "oh no" but spoke of excitement to be leading the Church at a "time of spiritual hunger".

And he laughed off his Eton education saying he hoped he would not be "pigeon holed".

Bishop Welby, 56, will take over as leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans early next year succeeding Dr Rowan Williams, who steps down after Christmas.

Read it all here.


Related reading: Genesis and Homosex: Beyond Sodom

UK Forward in Faith Response to Welby's Appointment

Nov 9, 2012


Forward in Faith is pleased to learn from 10 Downing Street that the Right Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, is to be the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. The appointment of a man with a proven track record of engagement with, and support of, traditionalists is most welcome and we look forward to working with him to achieve an equitable solution to the problems presently facing the Church of England. He can be assured of our prayers as he prepares for his translation.

Welby's Appointment: Banker Bashing as Usual

Sara Hey at Stand Firm takes this view of the New Archbishop of Canterbury:

A new Archbishop but no change at Canterbury: Justin Welby is just another Left-wing establishment
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/29662


Strangely harsh for a woman who remains in The Episcopal "Church" organization.

Uganda's Response to Welby's Appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8th November 2012
Contact: Rev. Canon George Bagamuhunda
Provincial Secretary, Church of Uganda
+256 772 450 019

Rev. Canon George Bagamuhunda, the Provincial Secretary for the Church of Uganda, has issued the following statement in response to the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Justin Welby as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

“The Church of Uganda welcomes the news of the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Justin Welby as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. We are pleased to hear that he is an evangelical and will pray for him to lift up Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life,” and to set the Word of God written as the authority for our common faith and morality. It is a challenging season not only in the Church of England, but also in the global Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion remains fractured due to the inability of the Instruments of Communion to restore the Communion to Biblical faith and morality. We pledge our cooperation and prayers for him as he takes on the mantle of leadership.”

Crown Commission Remains Divided

After three meetings the Crown Nominations Commission remains unable to present Prime Minister David Cameron with 2 names, a first choice and an alternate, for Rowan Williams' successor as Archbishop of Canterbury. Today the Church of England press office released a statement at the close of the three day meeting of the Commission that indicated it had not been able to agree upon a candidate.

Likely, the Commission will have to meet again. The names will be passed to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the II, for a final appointment of the 105th man to sit on the throne of St. Augustine of Canterbury.

This is yet another indication of how sorely divided the Church of England is, and many believe it will not be able to continue as a unified ecclesiastical body. There is disagreement on doctrine, women bishops, gay and lesbian clergy, and no shared vision of the future.

John Milbank has written, "What is essential is that the Crown Nominations Commission does not sacrifice vision to efficiency - lack of the former, at this juncture, could prove disastrous. I remain optimistic though, for . . . there are several able potential candidates, and more crucially, among the younger generation, real signs of Anglican revival, on both the Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical wings. All the while, whiggish liberalism in the Church of England continues its rapid and inexorable decline."

Milbank is Research Professor of Politics, Religion and Ethics at the University of Nottingham, Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy, and Chairman of the ResPublica Trust.


Related:  Crown Commission Deadlocked