Respected evangelist Rico Tice has left the Church of England over its decision to introduce blessings for same-sex couples.
Tice, who co-created the Christianity Explored course, told Evangelicals Now that he left after failing to receive a satisfactory answer from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in regards to the concerns of evangelicals towards the Prayers of Love and Faith.
“We called upon the archbishop to withstand the influence of cultural values once they are in opposition to those of the Bible, and did this since it was harming our ability to work with orthodox people from other denominations – how could they trust us? We received no substantive response from him, and that was a key moment in my decision to depart,” he said.
Tice is a number one evangelical voice and spent a few years as associate minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, in London, the church of the late evangelist John Stott. He now worships at the International Presbyterian Church (IPC), Ealing.
He has retained his permission to evangelise in order that he can proceed to talk in Church of England churches but said it was “vital” that he display a “clear separation from a church that not affirms Biblical orthodoxy, especially with regard to preaching repentance”.
Asked whether he might ever rejoin the Church of England, he suggested there can be no considered returning as long as the CofE stays on its current course.
“In one sense I even have never left, for I consider myself a cradle-to-grave Anglican and I remain deeply committed to the Global South model of world Anglicanism. But the sad fact is that the Church of England has left Anglicanism,” he said.
“For me the current situation is utterly heartbreaking. In retrospect I used to be naïve about our current culture within the Church of England, because I never thought I might see such a transparent, pervasive denial of the Christian’s must repent of every sin they commit.”
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