Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury and captain of the good ship Anglican, having steered the ship onto the rocks is bailing furiously in an attempt to stop the vessel from sinking. His officers meanwhile can only give one order ‘Full steam ahead’. Meanwhile most of the deckhands have taken to the lifeboats or jumped into the cold cold water, deserting the sinking ship however they can. The remaining tenacious few of the crew left behind are frantically trying to persuade the officers to alter course and patch the leaks.
A Shrinking Church Despite the crying need of the great majority of Brits to hear the unvarnished gospel. Despite the longing of those few continuing to attend services in the CofE for worship which connects with their lives rather than the concerns of the editors of the Guardian and Pink News. Despite all the evidence of danger to the church, the officers keep on insisting, ‘Those aren’t rocks, it is clear calm water ahead.’
And things continue to get worse. The last census indicated that 46 percent of the English population claimed to be Christian. Less than half the population but still a considerable percentage. However, at the same time normal Sunday CofE attendance for all ages represents just 0.9 percent of the population.
The officers are in a quandary, somehow ‘Pride Month’ celebrations in the local parish church and a helter skelter or pitch and put in the cathedral just don’t seem to be having an evangelistic impact on the unchurched of England. Membership in the CofE is in freefall. The future does not bode well, one in four congregations in 2017 did not have any children at worship services, will this have improved following Welby’s rigorously imposed church lockdown during Covid? What more can the church leadership possibly do? If only there was some method of attracting people to Jesus.
Something More Important Than The Gospel The latest issue causing widespread debate is that of the Anglican evangelical mission body, the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS). CPAS was founded with the ‘conviction that a primary calling of local churches is to enable those who are far from Christ to be reconciled to him, and that CPAS could help resource churches to that end.’ This they have been doing with considerable success for nearly 200 years. Countless lives have been impacted by the work of CPAS in and with local churches. Unfortunately today they are the latest casualty in the war against the Bible being mounted by ‘progressive’ Christians.
The help CPAS has given and continues to give the church is as nothing compared to the offence they have caused the self-regarding woke ecclesiastics who ferociously guard their reputation in the CofE as a leaders of progressive inclusiveness. The staff of CPAS had the temerity to align the organisation with the Evangelical Alliance’s (EA) statement on human sexuality. In particular it was CPAS’ endorsement of EA’s affirmation eight which caused the reaction, ‘We welcome and support the work of those individuals and organisations who responsibly seek to help Christians who experience same-sex attraction as in conflict with their commitment to live in accordance with biblical teaching.’
This brought the predictable accusations of ‘homophobia’ and ‘hate’ from progressive Christians, with the unfounded assertion that CPAS had endorsed conversion therapy. This despite the fact that affirmation eight goes on, ‘This help will involve counsel and pastoral support to live a chaste life and, as part of this process, some may seek and experience changes in the strength or direction of their same-sex attractions.’
When a comment appeared on social media the trustees of CPAS turned tail and had the offending endorsement deleted.
Read it all at A Grain of Sand
