Christian History Magazine on Anglicanism

The latest issue of Christian History Magazine is devoted to: ‘Meet the Anglicans: How the English State Church Became a Worldwide Church’.

From the blurb:

‘What is Anglicanism, and what does it mean to be an Anglican?

‘This issue of Christian History looks at the roots and branches of the Anglican story, beginning with Christianity’s arrival in the British Isles and its distinctive development in England’s Middle Ages. See how the English Reformation developed a Protestant branch separate from Rome, but not quite like its Reformed neighbors in Europe. From there we trace the Anglican faith’s dramatic expansion and change from the 17th century through the 21st-century world.

‘Join Christian History as we demystify what it means to be a state church, and what happens when you stop being one; the ways Anglicans can sound “Catholic lite” and why they do; how Anglican priests spread evangelicalism; and the pervasive influence of Anglicanism and the Book of Common Prayer on Western culture. Finally, join us on Anglicanism’s global journey – from once being an expression of Christian faith that was explicitly English, to its spread, expressions, and fractures throughout the world.’

The whole magazine is available as a 10.2 MB pdf here.

Zoomed Out?

Zoomed Out? is the product of a six-month research process involving over 600 worshippers from the Church of England. The report details Anglican experiences of church during Covid, and explores how lessons from the pandemic can inform the church’s practice moving forward.

The main take-away points are highlighted as follows:

• Online church did not function as a wholesale substitute for onsite church to the satisfaction of the majority

• Online communion was rarely experienced as communion

• Face-to-face contact was a lifeline for many

• Even online, it’s important to be face-to-face

• Anglican experiences of distanced church were incredibly varied

• The return to the church building threatens to exclude the many worshippers who are still shielding from Covid

• The poorest and the oldest are often the least well-equipped to engage online

Further information is available from here, and the report is available to download as a pdf here.

Everyday Faith Portal

‘Everyday Faith’ is a recently-launched portal from the Church of England.

According to its website:

‘Everyday Faith offers bitesize, yet in-depth, resources on topics relevant to you, that will help you help find and follow God in everyday life. These resources will inspire, equip and encourage you in your everyday faith. whoever you are and wherever this is.’

Journeys – featuring reflections, prayers, and guidance – are designed to help users work out and express their faith in everyday life.

This forms part of the Church of England’s ‘Setting God’s People Free’ initiative, seeking to facilitate a shift in church culture to ‘enable the whole people of God to live out the Good News of Jesus confidently in all of life, Sunday to Saturday’.

You can sign up from here.

Theos Report on Growing Good

A new report from Theos has recently been published:

Hannah Rich, Growing Good: Growth, Social Action and Discipleship in the Church of England (London: Theos, 2020).

Here are some paragraphs from the Theos website:

‘Over the past decade, the contribution that the Church of England makes to society through its social action has increased, reflecting an increase in the demand and expectation for it. At the same time, church attendance in the country has continued to decline; by most key metrics, attendance at Church of England services fell by between 15% and 20% from 2009–2019. This is the paradox facing the Church of England in 2020: the national church of a nation that is increasingly reliant on its social action and yet less and less spiritually connected to it.

‘This research, done in partnership with the Church Urban Fund… explores the relationship between social action, church growth and discipleship in the Church of England. It finds that social action can be a route to church growth in both numerical and spiritual terms. Further, social action is one of the key ways in which congregations can build wider networks of relationships resulting in people initiating a faith journey and joining the church.

‘Crucially, social action leads to church growth when it enables congregations to develop meaningful relationships with those they would not otherwise have done, or who might not otherwise have come into sustained contact with the church.

‘The report identifies key characteristics of churches that are growing in number and discipleship through their engagement with social action…’

A pdf of the full report is available here.

The Beautiful Story

Following on the heels of the Church of England’s ‘Living in Love and Faith’ (see here) is a 32-minute video from the Church of England Evangelical Council – ‘The Beautiful Story’.

According to the blurb:

‘Christians believe that the gospel is good news for all people and for all time. But since the narratives of our contemporary culture don’t always echo a biblical worldview, the church needs to be clear about how the gospel challenges and transforms human experience – including in our relationships and sexuality. The Beautiful Story is a 30 minute film that explains how a biblical vision for human sexuality is good for individuals, the church and society as a whole. It is intended to galvanise and support discussion in local churches around sexuality and relationships and to provide the case for what many call a traditional Christian viewpoint.’

Update: The CEEC has provided (here) some background on the video, along with a message to clergy and lay leaders about using it in parishes, with a promise of a shortened version of the film to come in the near future.

Living in Love and Faith

Several years in the making – and not without controversy – the Church of England has today released a set of resources on Living in Love and Faith, billed as ‘Christian teaching and learning about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage’.

The main website is here, which has more information about the project, and from where the Living in Love and Faith Learning Hub can be accessed (including access to the book, podcasts, a course with films and discussion questions, and other resources) in return for an email address.

Update: Andrew Goddard (a consultant on the Co-Ordinating Group of Living in Love and Faith) provides a very helpful introduction and overview here: ‘LLF for Dummies: 10 FAQs about the Church of England’s new teaching and learning resources on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.’

Further Update: A pdf of the full book can be downloaded here.

Church of England Evangelical Council on Human Sexuality

The Church of England Evangelical Council has produced a short-ish document – ‘Human Sexuality: Thinking It Through Biblically’ – available as a pdf here.

It seeks to offer brief responses to several questions and statements that are being raised by people in local churches, such as:

We all read Scripture from our own position – it does not speak ‘on its own’.

This is who I am. God made me this way – who am I to reject or change it?

Equality and justice demand recognition of non-heterosexual relationships.

Mission demands that we change our ‘out of date’ position.

Scripture isn’t clear on a number of issues regarding human sexuality.

Inclusivity is the Jesus way.

We must avoid schism – unity is the source of blessing.

Slaves/women/homosexuality... it’s a right and inevitable trajectory of increasing freedom and justice.

Martin Davie on Glorifying God in Our Body

Martin Davie, Glorify God in Your Body: Human Identity and Flourishing in Marriage, Singleness and Friendship (London: CEEC, 2018).

The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) has published the above book, written by Martin Davie with some collaborators.

I happily ordered the hard copy today, but have just discovered that the book has been made freely available in various formats from this page, with a pdf here.

The back cover blurb is as follows:

‘This study, written by Dr Martin Davie in collaboration with a representative group of other Evangelical theologians, is commended by the Church of England Evangelical Council as a resource in the discussions taking place in the Church of England in relation to the House of Bishops’ “Living in Love and Faith: Christian teaching and learning about human identity, sexuality and marriage” project.

‘It explores a Christian approach to human identity, marriage, singleness, friendship, sex and family life in the light of the worldview that is laid out for us in Scripture and the classical Christian tradition. It considers the current challenges to this approach arising from the sexual revolution and from technological developments in the fields of birth control and infertility treatment and looks at how Christians should respond to them in ways that will enable them to fulfil St. Paul’s injunction to “glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).’

Setting God’s People Free for… Monday to Saturday

This is an excellent short booklet, written by Mark Greene (my boss at LICC, though I’d still be recommending it even if he wasn’t, honest, guv...), outlining ‘seven small shifts that will make a big difference to the way we worship, pray and support each other in our everyday faith’:

1. Be curious

2. Visiting people in context

3. Sunday praying for Monday to Saturday living

4. This time tomorrow

5. What’s noticed on notice boards?

6. Commissioning people

7. Preaching matters

All seven flow out of a conviction that ‘the gathered life and worship of a church is a vital expression of our faith’, but asks how this time together can ‘better nurture our life of faith across the week’.

There’s a click-on summary for each point, but you’ll have to purchase the inexpensive booklet to get the fuller reflections. 

This forms part of the Church of England’s ‘Setting God’s People Free’ initiative, seeking to facilitate a shift in church culture to ‘enable the whole people of God to live out the Good News of Jesus confidently in all of life, Sunday to Saturday’.

Setting God’s People Free

‘It is only possible for the Gospel to reach the whole population through the active co-operation of all church people. We are convinced that England will never be converted until the laity use the opportunities for evangelism daily afforded by their various professions, crafts and occupations.’

That could so easily be a paragraph of promotional blurb from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, where I work, committed as we are to advocating a whole-life and comprehensive mission strategy through focusing on the ‘frontlines’ of all Christians.

Instead, it’s from a report by the Church of England Commission on Evangelism, published in 1945. Yes, 72 years ago. What was needed, according to the report, was a recovery of ‘the Apostolate of the whole Church’, where all – clergy and laity alike – are to witness to their Lord, and where such witness is seen as ‘the very essence of the Christian calling’.

It so happens that today – at the General Synod of the Church of England – a new report is being presented, one commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council and prepared by the members of the Lay Leadership Task Group.

It’s called ‘Setting God’s People Free’, and it’s available as a pdf here.

It speaks about us being ‘summoned... to a common vocation’, where ‘the whole people of God, clergy and laity, gathered and sent, are charged with continuing Christ’s priestly work of blessing, mediation and reconciliation on behalf of the whole of humanity, to bear witness to, and participate in the mission of God’.

Early on, the report identifies ‘the need for two shifts in culture and practice’ that are seen as ‘critical to the flourishing of the Church and the evangelisation of the nation’:

‘1. Until, together, ordained and lay, we form and equip lay people to follow Jesus confidently in every sphere of life in ways that demonstrate the Gospel we will never set God’s people free to evangelise the nation.

2. Until laity and clergy are convinced, based on their baptismal mutuality, that they are equal in worth and status, complementary in gifting and vocation, mutually accountable in discipleship, and equal partners in mission, we will never form Christian communities that can evangelise the nation.’

The report explores those shifts, looks at some ‘constraining factors’, and suggests eight ‘proposed levers of cultural change’. Unlike previous reports on this issue, going back to the one in 1945, this report offers some recommended next steps and priorities for implementation.

Talking Jesus

‘What do English adults know and believe about Jesus Christ? What do they really think of his followers? How often – if ever – do Christians talk about their faith in Jesus? How do both Christians and non-Christians feel about those conversations?’

A joint initiative by the Church of England, the Evangelical Alliance, and HOPE commissioned Barna Group and ComRes to conduct some research on those and similar questions, in order to investigate perceptions about Jesus, Christians and evangelism in England.

More information is available here, including a downloadable report here, and a short animated video here.

Use Words

A friend and colleague has drawn my attention to Use Words, an initiative launched today, backed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

According to the website: ‘The word “evangelism” means sharing good news. For Christians, it means sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ – what he has done for us, and what he continues to do in our lives.’

It’s being launched with a call to prayer for evangelism, but is careful to say that ‘this is not a one-off, or a campaign, or a PR stunt. It’s about praying continually that more and more people will become followers of Jesus Christ – and asking God to work among us to bring about this transformation in other people’s lives.’

Church Growth Resourcing Mission Bulletin

Church Growth Research & Development is a hub designed to ‘communicate and disseminate some of the Church of England's work on church growth research and development that aims to help the Church allocate its resources effectively to facilitate its mission and growth’.

I’ve recently started subscribing to the Church Growth Resourcing Mission Bulletin, which often contains some useful short pieces.

The October 2013 edition, available as a pdf here, includes the following:

Paper 1: Growth and Challenge in Liverpool Diocese

This is an edited version of a speech given by the Bishop of Warrington to the College of Bishops which met in September 2013 to discuss the mission and financial challenges facing the Church

Paper 2: Capital Vision 2020

By the staff of the (Resource) Strategy and Development Unit in conversation with Debbie Clinton, Capital Vision Manager, diocese of London

Paper 3: Partnership for Missional Church

By the Revd Canon Dr Nigel Rooms, Director of Ministry and Mission, diocese of Southwell and Nottingham

Paper 4: Developing Relationships in Mission

By Sandra Cobbin, Freelance Trainer and Mediator

Paper 5: Pioneer Ministry in a New Community: A case study on the first year of ministry in Cranbrook, Exeter

By the staff of the (Resource) Strategy and Development Unit in conversation with the Revd Mark Gilborson, Minister for Cranbrook, Exeter

The Church of England on Men and Women in Marriage

Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England, Men and Women in Marriage: A Document from the Faith and Order Commission Published with the Agreement of the House of Bishops of the Church of England and Approved for Study (London: Church House Publishing, 2013).

Earlier this week, the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England published a short report – Men and Women in Marriage – setting out the church’s view of ‘the long-established meaning of marriage’.

The report begins with a reminder that in 2005, the Bishops stated the Church of England’s position in these words:

‘Marriage is a creation ordinance, a gift of God in creation and a means of his grace. Marriage, defined as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman, is central to the stability and health of human society. It continues to provide the best context for the raising of children.’

What follows in the report ‘is intended to enlarge on that summary, drawing on what has been said by the Church of England historically and more recently, and especially on how the sexual differentiation of men and women is a gift of God’.

The full report is available as a pdf here.

The Reader Magazine

It’s worth checking out The Reader, published by the Central Readers’ Council and the Church of England, which seeks ‘to assist the ten thousand Readers in the British Isles and Europe in the exercise of their ministry by stimulating them theologically and encouraging them to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively in their dioceses’.

The issues contain short articles based around a particular theme. The Spring 2013 edition is devoted to work (highlighted here). Issues are made available online as pdfs approximately three months after the publication of the print edition. So, for instance, the Winter 2012 edition, devoted to ‘Seasons and Spirituality’, is now available here.

Theos and The Grubb Institute on English Cathedrals

Theos and The Grubb Institute, Spiritual Capital: The Present and Future of English Cathedrals (London: Theos, 2012).

Theos have produced another interesting-looking booklet, this one in partnership with The Grubb Institute, on Church of England Cathedrals.

There is more detail here, it’s available for download here, and here’s the back cover blurb:

‘Church of England cathedrals have a unique and widely admired position within English society. Praised for their architectural magnificence, aesthetic appeal and historical significance, this report shows that their impact on and significance for English life extends far beyond their role as tourist destinations.

‘Based on an extensive and detailed research programme carried out by The Grubb Institute and Theos over 2011–12, Spiritual Capital looks at cathedrals in contemporary England, assessing the breadth, depth and nature of their activity and appeal, with the objective of helping those who run and work in them to understand and respond better to the challenges of the 21st century.

‘Visited and enjoyed by millions, research shows that cathedrals are also uniquely able to reach beyond boundaries, to communicate a sense of the sacred, and to enable and sustain a range of connections – between the tourist and the pilgrim;

between people and the traditions from which modern life cuts them off and between the diverse organisations and communities that share the same social and physical space and infrastructure yet rarely meet.

‘At the same time, cathedrals are recognised as Christian institutions. As such, they have their own distinct logic – of generosity and grace, of hospitality and holiness – on which they draw in order to serve their communities, and live out the message of Jesus Christ. Rather than alienate people who are not Christians, however, this authentic Christianity is widely respected and appreciated.

‘Spiritual Capital shows how cathedrals stand at the heart of contemporary English life – geographically, socially, civically and spiritually – and hopes to help those connected with them to identify and respond faithfully and fruitfully to the opportunities of a new century.’

Anvil 28, 2 (2012) on Englishness and Britishness

The August 2012 issue of Anvil is available online, with essays on Englishness and Britishness:

Stephen Backhouse

Benign Indifference: Patriotism, Protest and the Theological Politics of Romans 13:1-7

Christians on all sides of the debate regarding place of patriotic affection and national allegiance invariably find themselves wrestling with Paul’s injunction to submit to the governing authorities in Romans 13:1-7. Patriots read in this passage a clarion call to civic participation in the best interests of their nation. Radicals see instead a moral judgement on all states and an ethic of suffering submission to evil that effectively pits Christians against their countries. The paper argues that when it comes to the question of the earliest Christian attitude towards nations and states as found in Romans a controlling motif can be discerned, and that motif is best described as benign indifference. As such Romans (and the indeed the wider New Testament) does not endorse the family of feelings best known as patriotism (love for country). At the same time, neither does it endorse a radical attack on national forms of life (hatred of country). The political ethos of Romans is socially subversive. However, this subversion is not the goal, but a secondary by-product of the sweeping re-orientation of values and Christian identity that Paul works out in Romans. Both the patriotic and the radical approaches to 13:1-7 make much of the passage as a guide to government and to the citizen’s towards their countries, yet both camps fail to consider the wider context of Romans and the Pauline corpus, which is remarkably sanguine about these things. The paper reads Paul’s treatment of submission to authority in light of his treatment of submission to evil and to the weaker brother. In each case, Paul is far less concerned with those on the receiving end of right Christian action than he is with the Christians themselves. Christians are to submit to state authority, but this submission derives from priorities other than those of the life of the state itself. Any reading of this text that focuses on states and nations distorts the ethical injunction of the passage, which is only secondarily concerned with the effect that submission might have on a country (positively or negatively), and primarily concerned with the attitude of Christ-like submission in its own right. Christian submission springs not from the supposed superiority of the state and its natural created function, as the patriots would maintain; rather the reverse is true. No longer bound by the old cultural and national markers, in effect Paul is telling the Christians that they can condescend to abide by the old system for a time, because these things are ultimately a matter of indifference. Yet this newfound ‘Christian superiority’ is not directed against the state either. Paul is not seeking to eliminate one’s country any more than he wants to wipe out one’s weaker brother. A theo-political ethos of benign indifference charts a new course between the traditional forms of protest and patriotism.

Sam Jackson & Charlie Pemberton

Patriotism? A Set of Questions...

This paper presents patriotism as a set of stories about national identity and loyalty rather than as something with an essential substance. Utilising presentations from a conference on patriotism, we provide three divergent understandings of patriotism and consider their theological basis. We then consider the issue of otherness as it relates to the theoretical construction of patriotism and in the creation of a political other, questioning the effect of simplistic patriotic sentiment on international conflict.

Doug Gay

On Englishness

In this article, Scottish practical theologian Doug Gay offers a personal and theological perspective on Englishness, tracking his own changing knowledges of it since childhood, before reading it in terms of a theological case for celebrating and protecting cultural diversity. The article offers trenchant criticisms of how Englishness is performed in public rituals and popular culture, while appreciating the dilemmas posed in the necessary work of reclaiming and decontaminating English identity. It challenges English theologians and churchpeople, in particular those within the Church of England, to accept responsibility for forging a new ‘ethical’ English nationalism, which can promote the common good internally and generate external relations of peace, respect and co-operation.

Martyn Percy

Ministering to the English? Sketching Some Challenges for Mission and Ministry

This article explores the interface between spirituality, religion and Christianity in England with particular reference to the Church of England. Martyn Percy argues that the secularisation thesis is more nuanced than we are often led to believe and that there never was a Golden Age of church attendance. He claims that religious observance is part of the ‘English cultural DNA’, that the clerical ministry is enduring and necessary and that religion continues to provide ‘enchantment’ for our contemporary world.

Hugh Kemp: Book Review

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, by Kate Fox

Hugh Kemp: Book Review

The Faith of the English: Integrating Christ and Culture, by Nigel Rooms

Rowan Williams on the Person and the Individual

Kudos to Theos for their excellent fifth annual lecture yesterday evening, when Rowan Williams addressed a large gathering at the Central Hall Westminster in what will probably be one of his last public appearances as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The title of the lecture was: ‘The Person and the Individual: Human Dignity, Human Relationships, Human Limits’.

Taking his cue from Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky’s 1955 essay, ‘The Theological Notion of the Human Person’, the Archbishop gently but persuasively presented a case for a ‘personalist’ as opposed to an ‘individualist’ view of what it means to be human.

None of this will be news to those aware of the turn towards ‘relationship’ in recent discussions about personhood, but it was a delight to hear it articulated so compellingly, so unashamedly theologically, in broad strokes, taking in Richard Sennett (sociology) and Patricia Gosling (psychotherapy) along the way.

The range of questions afterwards allowed him to reflect, albeit briefly, on the implications of a ‘personalist’ perspective for education, apprenticeship, business, sexuality, abortion, tolerance, earth care, human rights, and more besides.

I was struck by his graciousness in responding to these and other fairly ‘loaded’ questions not directly related to the topic of the evening (most of which were posed, to the obvious chagrin of some fellow punters near me, by the BBC’s Mishal Husain who chaired the lecture and Q&A time). He was able to move almost imperceptibly from academic to churchman to pastor, as adept at citing lines from Father Ted as from Vladimir Lossky.

Asked about his ‘favourite’ Archbishop (where I suspect the questioner was trying to draw him out on who his successor should be), he replied that it would be a tie between St Anselm and Michael Ramsey!

Asked, right at the end of the evening, whether he leaves the Church of England in a worse state than when he took on the role of Archbishop, he replied, ‘No, I don’t think so’, adding – to the apparent delight of most of those gathered – that if God has called this community into existence, God will be faithful to it.

The audio of the lecture is available here.

The Economist on the Rise of Evangelicalism in the Church of England

There is an interesting short article here, published in The Economist (10 March 2012), about the rise of evangelicalism in the Church of England:

‘As the number of people who are actively committed to the Church of England falls, the proportion of churchgoers who are serious about their faith – and its implications for private and public life – is growing. Peter Brierley, a collector of statistics on faith in Britain, reckons that 40% of Anglicans attend evangelical parishes these days, up from 26% in 1989.’

The piece ends with a comment from Simon Barrow (Ekklesia) who points out the ‘mixed bag’ nature of evangelicals in Anglicanism, noting that ‘Evangelicalism, like Anglicanism as a whole, is a fairly broad church’.

Tom Wright on How the Church of England Can – and Will – Endure

Tom Wright, ‘Keep the Faith’, The Spectator (20 August 2011).

Tom Wright’s recent Spectator article – ostensibly on the Church of England – is now online.

Wright reminds us of William Temple’s line about the church being the only society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members. He claims that ‘this vision is alive and well, and that the Church of England, though not its only local expression, is in the middle of it’.

‘This is the real “Big Society”. It’s always been there; it hasn’t gone away. Check out the volunteers in the prison, in the hospice, in charity shops. It’s remarkable how many of them are practising Christians. They aren’t volunteering because the government has told them we can’t afford to pay for such work any more. They do it because of Jesus. Often they aren’t very articulate about this. They just find, in their bones, that they need and want to help, especially when things are really dire. But if you trace this awareness to its source, you’ll find, as often as not, that the lines lead back to a parish church or near equivalent, to the regular reading of the Bible, to the life of prayer and sacrament and fellowship. To the regular saying and singing of prayers and hymns that announce, however surprising or shocking it may be to our sceptical world, that God is God, that Jesus is Lord, that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and active in a community near you.’

What follows are some familiar Wrightean themes, all wonderfully put, about Jesus being ‘in charge’ as ‘king of the world’, and about the church – like Jesus – being commissioned ‘to bring healing and hope, to rescue people trapped in their own folly and sin, to straighten out the distorted pictures of reality that every age manages to produce, and to enable people to live by, and in, God’s true reality’.

I try not to be too polemical on this blog, and I deplore the Tom Wright-bashing that goes in some quarters, and I know it’s a short piece and it’s in The Spectator, etc... but I wish he’d been able to say some more about all this ‘Big Society’-type activity on the part of the church flowing out of what lies at the heart of the gospel, the things of ‘first importance’ – Christ died, buried, and risen again, according to the Scriptures. I know the lordship of Christ is at the centre of the gospel – and Wright is up front here in asserting the lordship of Christ – but it is as the crucified and risen Lord that he is ‘in charge’.