The
following are questions by independent church minister Stephen Kneale to Church of England
ministers in the light of recent developments, along with a first attempt at answering
them.
1.
How do you
understand the term ‘faithful’ and does your current situation help or hinder
your being faithful?
Faithfulness means
loyalty to Christ and his body. This includes devotion to the apostles’
teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers (Acts 2:42).
It covers attitudes and behaviour as well as speech.
For me, as an
ordained minister in the Church of England, it also means devoting myself
wholly to the service of God, daily following the rule and teaching of our Lord
and growing into his likeness so that God may sanctify the lives of all with whom
I have to do. (From the Liturgy of Ordination)
Among other,
equally important but perhaps less contentious, things this involves faithfully
ministering the doctrine and sacraments of Christ as the Church of England has
received them, proclaiming the good news of salvation, and defending the people
committed to my charge against error.
(It also means submitting
to the authority of the British Monarch and my Bishop in all things lawful and
honest, and using only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by
Canon.)
My situation is
both help and hindrance. The Church of England declares and formally asks of
his ministers belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and
set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the
Church of England bear witness, but it tolerates clergy that openly contradict
the Scriptures and teach contrary to the Christian faith.
While many in this
country worship Christ outside the Church of England, no other denomination,
with the possible exception of the Roman Catholic church, has a better claim to
catholicity, in the sense of seeking to hold together the body of Christ in a
given place. Being in the Church of England is a help in terms of faithfully
serving the body of Christ in my place. (It may well be different in other
parts of the country.) I cannot have this close fellowship without having also
fellowship with many who in word or deed deny Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
This is a hindrance.
I can speak the
truth freely but the lies of others compromise the message that is proclaimed.
This would not altogether change by leaving the Church of England for a
smaller, more faithful denomination. The background noise would not thereby go
away.
Lest this be
misread, I must add that my situation does of course include myself and I
recognise that there are threats to faithfulness within me as well as from without.
2.
How can you remain
faithful whilst in submission to those who, minimally, apologise for orthodoxy
and are entertaining those who wish to undermine it?
As far as I can
see, my submission to my Bishops (in all things lawful and honest) does not at
present compromise my faithfulness to Christ, as far as my own actions are concerned.
The
apology to which Stephen Kneale alludes was not for orthodoxy (or
orthopraxis) as such but for stating orthodoxy (or orthopraxis) and
maybe for doing so in a clumsy or untimely way. Still, the apology hinders rather
than helps faithful Christian ministry. It does not, however, prevent it
altogether.
I agree with the observation
that our Bishops, on the whole, want us to keep company with people, including
clergy, who wish to undermine the historic Christian faith (and by no means on
matters of sexuality only), pretending that people are fellow servants in the
gospel for the sake of the kingdom of God who in reality serve a God of their
own imagination, perverting the gospel of Christ. This is a grievous ill, even
allowing that most, maybe all, false teachers have persuaded themselves that
they are promoting the Christian faith.
This does undermine
my ministry. But, in some sense, it undermines all faithful Christian ministry in
this country and beyond. It makes it harder to remain faithful but not
impossible.
3.
How can you remain
faithful while remaining in formal communion with those who openly want to
reject historic orthodoxy?
I am not sure that
there is much difference between this and the following question. See below. Celebrating
Holy Communion alongside false teachers has elements of both joy (because it is
not communion with false teachers only but with Christ and his body) and pain
(because it includes an element of falsehood, apparently recognising some as
fellow servants who are not in fact submitting to Christ).
In the current
context absenting myself from events like the Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday at
which ministers from across the Diocese gather and clergy renew their
ordination vow would not effectively signal to false teachers the dangers in
which they are. But the presence of those who openly want to reject historic
orthodoxy devalues the renewal of vows and makes the Eucharist less joyful than
it might be otherwise.
4.
How do you remain
faithful staying in whilst taking seriously the biblical call to separate from
those who depart the faith and partaking in the sins of those with whom we
commune?
Knowing (in
principle) how to respond to the instruction to keep away from those who call
themselves Christian but are idle (2 Thessalonians 3:6), or sexually immoral,
or greedy, or idolaters, or verbally abusive, or drunkards, or swindlers (1 Corinthians
5:11) was arguably more straightforward when the number of those who were
Christian by name only was small.
Today there are
many who bear the name of Christ but do not know him, do not acknowledge Christ
as their Saviour, and do not submit to him as their Lord. Some of them are in
open rebellion to Christ and the teaching of his church, others are confused, still
others oblivious to their state. (And I am, of course, not necessarily in a
position to judge.)
We need to be mindful
of a double risk. Keeping close to ‘false Christians’ makes it more challenging
to heed the call of Christ not to participate in the unfruitful works of
darkness but rather to expose them, not least if we come to know them as
friends whom we love, respect, and in parts admire.
But keeping a clear
distance to ‘false Christians’ makes it more challenging to share the good news
with many in our post-Christendom society. There are two broad differences
between our situation and that of the early church: (a) those from whom the
early Christians were to distance themselves had heard the gospel and the
separation would have communicated to them a call to mend their ways in order to
be re-integrated; (b) the separation would have helped those outside the church
to see more clearly the meaning and significance of the Christian faith.
Today those outside
the church see a multiplicity of denominations that tells them little more than
this: Christians are not agreed about what it means to be a Christian. And separating
ourselves from those whose lives or doctrine betray the faith in all likelihood
communicates ‘we think ourselves better than you’ rather than ‘the way you live
or teach is incompatible with being a faithful disciple of Christ.’
We partake in the
sins of others by committing them ourselves or by endorsing them (which 1 Timothy
5:22 may have in mind). But this is not inevitably the case by staying in the
Church of England.
It is a fair
question whether faithful Christians staying in the Church of England helps to
preserve nominal and false Christianity, thereby promoting confusion about the
Christian faith. Would it not be better to let the Church of England die?
Maybe, but this is a matter of carefully weighing up a range of factors, not a
matter of simple obedience to a straightforward command.
5.
How can you remain
faithful to the official historic teaching of the church when liturgies and
practice, with guidance issued, now affirm what is unbiblical? Can one stand on
a constitution that is not applied?
The fact that the
constitution is not applied in other parish churches makes life and ministry more
difficult but it does not mean that I cannot apply it in our parish church.
The Guidance for
Gender Transitioning Services is a grave error (cf. this
post) but I am resolved to remain faithful to the official historic
teaching of the church and to use any liturgy accordingly. I am dismayed but
not (yet) unable to remain faithful, except for my own weakness.
6.
What is your actual
plan to change the situation? How are you ‘contending’ in a way that has any
hope whatsoever of effecting change?
My plan is to truly
preach the word and rightly administer the sacraments, as best as I can. My
contending is a matter of faithfulness to Christ, whether or not it makes any
difference. Only God’s Spirit can bring repentance and submission to Christ. I
try to play my very small part. For now, I don’t think that leaving the Church
of England would ‘change the situation’ for the better.
