‘Going, Going, Gone?’ The Church of England and LGBTQ Part 1
by Lisa Nolland, Christian Today:
Much has been written about the latest development in the CofE. I speak of the prayers of blessing for same-sex couples to create a more ‘inclusive’ church.
On 9 October, we read the House of Bishops were pressing ahead, regardless of the opposition. This was countered by 11 brave dissenting bishops a couple of days later.. C of E General Synod members have since received papers on the implementation of Prayers of Love and Faith ahead of Synod meeting from 13 to 15 November. Only God knows how this will end.
I will not rehearse the various legal, theological, biblical and moral argument – you can find more of these at Anglican Mainstream and Anglican Futures.
Here, I would like to take my reader across the English border, to see how a similar situation has unfolded in the beautiful country of Wales. Though there are differences, the similarities are profound.
Sobering news from the ‘progressive’ Church in Wales
Earlier this month I received below from a Church in Wales [C in W] clergy, presently still in post. He writes:
“The C in W has been taking a revisionist position for a number of years and this has resulted in a haemorrhaging of good, Bible-believing orthodox clergy…
For the Evangelicals, 2016 marked the beginning of the end with the ‘Pastoral Letter’ from the bishops which commended some prayers for use with same-sex couples to ‘bless’ their relationships.
The Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales [EFCW] responded, challenging the bishops on their move away from the biblical and historical position on marriage. The bishops were unmoved, but their tone was conciliatory.
However, this was to change.
By September 2021 the Bill for the Blessing of Same Sex marriages went before the Governing Body and the tone of the bishops had significantly changed.
The meeting … was engineered to bring about the result the bishops wanted, which was approval of the Bill. It was passed by a very slim margin.
At this point a number of clergy resigned their positions, some retired, some moved to England and some started new churches which later joined the Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE).
Although a meeting was held with the EFCW Executive in November 2021, it was clear that the tone had changed and that any opposition to the revisionist agenda would be firmly rejected.
In some dioceses there has been a quiet campaign to get rid of any remaining orthodox clergy.
This has included blocking appointments of orthodox clergy alongside the ‘buying off’ of others (the offering of resources, position, profile in return for silence) and ‘suggestions’ that involvement with EFCW and Anglican Essentials Wales (AEW) hinders the cause of the orthodox and should be avoided.
At the same time some orthodox believers have changed their minds on the subject.
Clergy (including myself) found themselves removed from committees and responsibilities outside of their parishes.
There are now very few orthodox clergy, either Catholic or Evangelical, left in the Church in Wales and life feels like a struggle…
Evangelical leaders face difficult conversations all the time from the leadership and feel very much under attack.
It’s quite bleak, but a few of us are remaining for the moment. Should the Archbishop’s stated plan to bring in Same Sex Marriage by 2026 come to fruition, more clergy will leave.”
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