Why evangelicals in the Church of England need to talk openly

Aug 27, 2018 by

by Peter Sanlon,

One year before WWI broke out, Winston Churchill wrote a memo: ‘Timetable of a Nightmare.’

It predicted details of the coming war. Churchill frequently warned of the danger his country faced – the majority of his fellow leaders merely complained about him. Sir Henry Jackson spoke for many when he wrote that he ‘did not like the style’ of Churchill’s writing. Churchill’s warnings of danger were ignored and instead his manner, style and motivations were impugned. Trying to prepare the military and nation to defend itself felt like wading through treacle with chains of iron around his neck – because free and open debate about the actual issues was precluded by those in a position to act.

Crisis on the horizon

A similar problem weighs upon evangelicals in the CofE today. Crisis looms on the horizon, but leaders, organisations and churches are frightened even to debate the issues impartially. Over the past year I have been asked by three of the well-known evangelical parachurch organisations if I would speak in a debate about the spiritual state of the CofE? In all three cases the debates were called off because none of those evangelicals who privately defend the CofE were willing to have their arguments examined in public. Evangelicals are a constituency reputed to be courageous, idiosyncratic and counter-cultural. Why then are evangelicals in the CofE so frightened to debate the deep problems we face in our denomination? There are a number of reasons:

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