Is The End Nigh?

Some call it “terminal orthodoxy” and others “cut flower” Anglicanism.

Both terms express the idea that even if the position of the faithful in the Church of England in 2024 is currently tenable, the situation is unlikely to last beyond the present generation. And for that reason, it is also sometimes known as the “one generation strategy”- make hay while the sun shines or bricks while there is straw – but recognise that the end is nigh for the orthodox in the CofE – that the opportunities for orthodox ministry are withering and dying.

There are, of course, those who reject such “trajectory” arguments and will criticise this blog accordingly for being unduly pessimistic.

Such thinkers will point to a ‘blocking minority’ in the House of Laity, the numerical decline in liberal congregations relative to other traditions, a Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) that (depending on the local representatives) can weed out the worst episcopal candidates, the availability of funding for church planting and revitalisation, the absence of change in liturgy and, arguably, doctrine, “winning” the next Synod elections, local civic functions, an OK (or better) diocesan bishop and so on. The reader may well add their own grounds for hope.

Any optimism does, however, need to be balanced with the reality that many orthodox ordinands, at different stages, are questioning their futures and the possible lack of curacies for those who do enter the Church but are determined to resist liberalism. The odds of the House of Bishops being anything other than revisionist-controlled for the foreseeable future appear very long indeed, and the impact of that on the operation of General Synod has been all too evident. Few would regard the existing provision for prayers of blessing for same-sex couples as the end rather than the start of the process. Slavery reparations, cathedral Iftar meals, pronouncements on the definition of the family and Victorian missionary endeavours raise even more questions. In many dioceses, whatever the tradition, the number of clergy posts are reducing all the time and the options offered in multi-parish and multi-tradition benefices are all but impossible.  There is fear about the next rounds of episcopal appointments and the forthcoming arch-episcopal one. The next Synod elections are likely to present a stark and obvious divide between candidates, with little opportunity for quiet moderates or “clean skins”.

Read here