The Church of England (also called the CofE or Anglican Church) just appointed a new archbishop of Canterbury. This is highest religious office in the church.
She is Sarah Mullally, the first woman archbishop of Canterbury in the church’s nearly 500 years of history, which is controversial with many in the church.
But this pales in comparison to the other things represented by this appointment. She is a through and through liberal. Admittedly, she’s not the first in going down this path. Her predecessor, Justin Welby, approved of prayers for blessings of same sex relationships. One wonders how long it will be until the church authorizes gay marriages.
The CofE has been on a downward slide for many years. I’m not just talking about the number of people attending church. I’m talking mainly about their faithfulness to God.
The church has been trying for some years to be inclusive, engaging in dubious attempts win people over. About 25 years ago they had an outreach campaign featuring Che Guevera (a racist, murdering communist revolutionary) wearing a crown of thorns. This was desperation to the point of blasphemy. Plus, it didn’t seem to work.
Another attempt to be trendy/inclusive came up in the news just this week: the interior of Canterbury Cathedral, an old, beautiful church, was plastered with graffiti. This was not the work of vandals but was an officially sanctioned art exhibit done to show “partnering with marginalized communities.” Another attempt at outreach.
When we visited England five years ago, we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Inside this beautiful place was a huge ugly cross. It was not ugly in the way cross of Jesus was ugly–rough and blood-stained as a means of our salvation–but ugly, in a weird, modernist way. I guess they were trying to show sympathy or reach people within modern society. But one wonders what kind of outreach they are doing. Are they reaching out to convert people to Christ? Sadly, that is not the impression being made.
The church needs to remember that it is called to do, not to give vague religious feeling to diverse communities, but to proclaim the life-changing and soul-saving gospel. As Paul said: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” (1 Timothy 1:15).
The decline of the Church of England hits me a little bit personally. I’m ordained in a denomination that came out of the Methodist movement, which came out of the Church of England. Both Methodism (at least in its biggest part, the United Methodists) and the CofE have badly faltered in recent years.
The CofE had so much going for it. It is the official church of England, with the monarch as the ultimate (humanly speaking) head of the church. It has a great history, with many great churchmen, including two of my heroes: John Wesley and C.S. Lewis.
And now it seems to be destroying itself through liberalism. How the mighty have fallen!
Calvin Robinson, a cleric with ties to the CofE and who has consistently spoken prophetically to it, said: “The wider Anglican Communion has now renounced the Church of England or CofE as having broken communion with orthodox provinces by teaching a false gospel, thus becoming apostate.”
Some have tried to maintain their consciences and stay within the Church of England. An example of this is the Anglican Church in North America. This has allowed enough distance from the liberal hierarchy to keep a biblical faith without fully breaking with the CoE and all its rich history and traditions.
African members of the Church of England, traditionally biblical and conservative, are wondering what they are going to do now. African bishops have called upon the hierarchy to repent of recent unbiblical rulings concerning sexuality.
It raises the question: why can’t church leaders be faithful to the scriptures? This is their calling. To put it in a grittier way: this is their job! They need to do their job. If they can’t do it, they should step aside for those who will.
It isn’t hard to know what church leaders should do, for we are told plainly: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear,” (2 Timothy 4:1-3).
I believe the CofE fell prey to the temptation of saying what itching ears want to hear.
Pressure to conform to worldly trends has always been there. It reminds of when Israel brought idols into the temple. It made things more cosmopolitan, maybe more popular, maybe even more inclusive, but it was grave sin. We should remember that after Israel brought idols into the temple, the Glory of God departed (Ezekiel 9-10), then the temple was destroyed in judgment (Ezekiel 33).
Today, the idols brought into the church are not made of wood and stone but are the idols of re-writing of God’s moral laws, conforming them to fit what we think modern audiences want to hear.
We should remember that God will not long tolerate sin, especially among clergy who should know better. They are the worst offenders because they have no excuse. To whom much is given much is required.
Popularity is irrelevant. Faithfulness to God is everything.