Those that follow the news of the General Synod of the Church of England are more than passingly familiar with Samuel J Margrave. The 39 year old entrepreneur and doctoral student is on his third elected term to General Synod. He represents Coventry Diocese. Margrave has gained notoriety for speaking out and questioning the status quo of the politically correct elements within General Synod. He routinely finds himself under attack on social media, particularly Twitter.
When the Archbishop of Canterbury publicly equivocated about his support of Lambeth 1.10 being reaffirmed at Lambeth 2022, Margrave said that he would introduce a “No Confidence” motion against Welby at the next meeting of the General Synod if he failed to support it. The criticism was immediate and intense.
We interviewed Margrave to get a better understanding as to what makes him tick.
First of all, he is exceedingly polite and not in a fake way—no sense of false humility about the man. The caricatures that portray him differently are not what we found. He knows what he is about and approaches the world from his understanding of the biblical view.
He is genuinely amiable and speaks as a man whose Christian faith is the most important
aspect of his being. He said, “My identity is in Jesus Christ. I don’t find it in my desires or who I was before I was a Christian. I’m a Christian and that is my identity is in Jesus. There’s been a redefinition of things like love. Love is used as an anything goes message.”
Margrave is deeply concerned over the promotion of PRIDE events by churches. He said, “Some of the stuff that is being done in the streets would not be allowed to be shown on television before 9:00 pm but it’s perfectly permissible in front of children on our streets.”
He is very concerned that bishops are failing to be guardians of the faith. He said “It is their calling to instruct me as one of the sheep and they’re failing to do that.”
Margrave did not pull any punches when he wrote an open letter to Archbishop Welby at the beginning of the Lambeth Conference. He wrote in part, “You should be admonishing and rebuking your brother and sister bishops, not facilitating false prophets and teachers. Those who won’t assent to God’s word should resign from God’s Church! You have chosen to submit to culture over Christ. You’ve chosen the World over witness.”
Is Margrave a gadfly or a faithful layman? He certainly is not openly making his opposition to gain popularity with the politically correct crowd. His life would be much quieter if he were to go along and get along. It would seem clear that he is a faithful layman who asks questions that people in the pews want answered.
