The future of the Church of England: Synod, wider culture, and challenges for evangelicals

Sep 25, 2021 by

The future of the Church of England: Synod, wider culture, and challenges for evangelicals

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: Different wings of the Church of England have been mobilising to ensure sufficient representation of their distinctive points of view in the new General Synod, elections for which are currently taking place. While Synod candidates understand their responsibility for governance of the organisation in a broad sense, they are aware that if elected, their votes will affect crucial decisions to be made by the church, not just in matters of finance,...

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Australian and English evangelicals show different approaches to Anglican institutional revisionism

Jul 30, 2021 by

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: On the same day (19th July) that Gafcon Australia publicly unveiled their plans to establish an alternative Anglican jurisdiction in response to the trajectory of revisionism in the Church of Australia, the Church of England Evangelical Council issued a statement about the Bishop of Liverpool’s address to the MOSAIC campaign group, in which he called for same sex marriage in the Church of England. The difference in the two statements is symptomatic of more...

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Church in Wales Bishops endorse ban on “gay conversion therapy in all its forms”

Jul 29, 2021 by

Church in Wales Bishops endorse ban on “gay conversion therapy in all its forms”

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: The Bishops of the Church in Wales have made it clear that any Christian teaching, counselling or prayer which implies preference towards “heterosexual norms”, or which is not positive towards homosexual practice and gay or transgender identity, should be included in a legal ban. The UK government has already committed to “ban conversion therapy”; the definitions of the practice and the scope of the ban is due for public consultation in September and...

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Post-evangelical theologian reveals humanistic roots of LLF

Jun 25, 2021 by

Post-evangelical theologian reveals humanistic roots of LLF

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: Many theories begin as a corrective to other dominant ideas. This tendency to challenge existing generally accepted narratives is important, as it can lead to positive progress. From a Christian point of view it is an important trait in our human make-up – while Christianity is often seen as on the side of conservatism, its founder figures, Abraham, Moses, Paul and the other apostles, and supremely Jesus himself, often questioned and led people away...

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Bishop of Manchester threatens orthodox Anglicans

Jun 11, 2021 by

Bishop of Manchester threatens orthodox Anglicans

By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream: “If I was to stand up on a soapbox and start spewing hate speech, the fact that I might begin by saying ‘Dear God’, and end by saying ‘Amen’ wouldn’t protect me…” But what the Bishop of Manchester goes on to say in this interview in the Guardian, and the context of his comments, lay him open to the charge of doing what he condemns – using a position of influence to promote a divisive ideology, relying on emotion and appeals to groupthink rather than...

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Symbols of a new era

May 19, 2021 by

Symbols of a new era

From American Anglican Council’s ‘Anglican Perspective’: Canon Phil Ashey interviews writer and reporter, Rev. Andrew Symes, of Anglican Mainstream and the Anglican Network in Europe. This follows on from the blogs by Ashey and Symes setting the US Equality Act in the context of today’s cultural issues in the Western world, pitting the Church against a standard secular orthodoxy of the day. What is going on, and how is the Church to respond in this new era? Click here for podcast of the...

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