Seven Reasons Not To Despair About the Church of England
by Nick Gowers, Church Society:
Why I don’t despair about the C of E:
1. God’s sovereignty humbles human pride. I was preaching on the Magnificat on Sunday evening a few weeks ago. Looking through the Bible and history, God clearly brings down the proud and exalts the humble. He always ensures his message endures.
2. The cross-shaped nature of God’s working. God works most clearly through what looks weak and foolish. But I often want a “strong” church or denomination. Do I need the man-made documents of the denomination to be faithful? Do I even need the freedom to be faithful? Or do I just need to be faithful?
3. The power of the Spirit. 1 John 2:29 is an intriguing verse: the Spirit who powerfully created the universe is powerfully at work now. “Keep calm and trust the Holy Spirit.”
4. The marvel of grace. Thankfully, God doesn’t need our theology or our church or our denomination to be perfect in order to save and sanctify his people. Otherwise we’re all stuffed. We are called to maintain sound teaching, but we can leave the saving of individuals and the denomination to him.
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