Beware C of E free-for-all, new Gafcon bishop to Europe Andy Lines warns
by Madeleine Davies, Church Times:
THE Rt Revd Andy Lines, consecrated “Missionary Bishop for Europe” within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), has warned against a “free-for-all” in the Church of England.
Speaking on Wednesday, Bishop Lines, formerly an honorary canon with permission to officiate in the Church of England, said that he expected a “small number” of churches in England to seek his oversight. He rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury’s description of his move as a “cross-border intervention”.
[…] He will continue as CEO of the international mission society Crosslinks, and believes that his new position is contiguous with it. Since 2003, Crosslinks had engaged with churches who felt that there was no provision for them in the C of E, he said. This was a “provisional solution in times of turbulence”.
Some, he said, were discussing the possibility of Bishops’ Missions Orders, particularly through the Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas. Some had “lost patience” and become Free Churches. Others — about ten — had remained under the Crosslinks umbrella, a handful of whom had signed up as members of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), which Bishop Lines chairs.
It was “difficult to predict” how many of these would seek to benefit from his episcopal ministry, he said. One church had just joined AMiE on learning of his consecration. “But it is a small number, and the majority of the people with whom we share common convictions are within the Church of England.”
There was a “huge need” for the gospel in Europe, he said; but he was conscious of the complexities of “multiple jurisdictions” that he might work within.
He will continue to receive a salary and accommodation tied to his Crosslinks post and has already received “very generous donations” from individuals and churches, in addition to a collection at the consecration. “I don’t think we in England should be expecting the continued significant investment from America,” he said. “It would not perhaps be healthy.”
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