The Alliance coalition of orthodox Anglicans against same-sex blessings within the Church of England says it has begun to establish its own structures in a “de facto parallel province”. But the sensible reality is that the powers-that-be within the C of E are in a position to shoot this “parallel province” down before it even gets off the bottom.
Writing to the House of Bishops ahead of its meeting on October 23, the Alliance, which represents conservative evangelicals, charismatic evangelicals and traditional Anglo-Catholics, declared: “We try to combat the schism that a de facto change of doctrine (on sexual morality) and a disregard of due process is creating throughout the Church.”
The letter, signed by the seven directors of the Alliance, reported: “Sadly, many across the Alliance are already experiencing discrimination towards those that hold orthodox views, with curacies being withheld, funding withdrawn, promotions denied and being told there isn’t any place for you inside the longer term Church of England.”
It said the refusal of the bishops to back down on the same-sex blessings “has resulted in us being forced to start organising a de facto parallel province throughout the Church of England in response to the de facto change in doctrine”.
It continued: “There are some who’ve sought to portray the Alliance as schismatic and have stated that we’re on the lookout for the widest possible separation within the Church of England. Nothing might be farther from the reality. The creation of a de facto parallel province is with the aim of enabling clergy to remain within the Church of England who might otherwise feel they’re being forced to go away.”
But this “parallel province” is a de facto non-entity. The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), a major constituent within the Alliance, can commission as many “overseers” because it likes but this move to create a parallel leadership structure cannot change the legal reality within the established Church.
CEEC commissioned its first 20 overseers in July at All Souls Langham Place, the conservative evangelical flagship church in central London, to “provide informal oversight to clergy and PCCs (Parochial Church Councils) who feel a lack of confidence within the spiritual leadership of their bishop(s)”.
But so long as a clergyperson stays within the C of E, she or he holds their licence to take services and to evangelise from the local diocesan bishop. All licensed clergy are subsequently subject to the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) under which the diocesan bishop plays a significant role in adjudicating over complaints.
The reality of the CDM signifies that it just isn’t practically possible for licensed clergy to declare unilateral independence from their bishops.
If, for instance, a clergyperson were to refuse to attend a ministry review with their local bishop or with a member of his or her leadership team, within the overwhelming majority of cases they might be subject to a CDM motion.
Clergy who held the Parson’s Freehold, which the General Synod voted to phase out in 2006, had more independence from their bishops than those under the Common Tenure arrangement. Whereas ministry reviews were voluntary for Freehold clergy, Common Tenure clergy are legally required to attend regular ministry reviews.
Most parish clergy at the moment are under the Common Tenure arrangement and subsequently in the event that they refused to attend a ministry review as mandated by their bishop, they might face legal motion under the CDM.
Among the signatories of the Alliance letter were: Ade Adebajo, lay chair of the London Diocesan Synod; Rev Canon John Dunnett, CEEC national director; Fr Adam Gaunt, chairman of the Catholic Group on General Synod; Rev Canon Paul Langham, a member of the national leadership team of the evangelical charismatic network, New Wine; and Rev Sarah Jackson, General Synod chair of the Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) Network of evangelical charismatic churches.
They definitely took pains to emphasize the scale of the Alliance’s membership of their letter to the bishops:
“The Alliance continues to grow numerically with 2360 clergy whose churches currently represent 42% of the Church of England’s average Sunday attendance and 53% of all under eighteen-year-olds throughout the Church of England. The Alliance representatives in all 42 dioceses reflect the broad diversity of orthodox networks we’re supporting, including traditional Catholics, New Wine, the HTB Network, CEEC, Living Out, Renew, the Church Society, 200 orthodox ordinands, the orthodox archdeacon group, the orthodox female clergy group and the orthodox global heritage majority group.”
But the numbers of clergy and the range of orthodox churches and networks make no difference to the sensible reality that each single licensed clergyperson within the Alliance is subject to the CDM. The “de facto parallel province” is in point of fact a de facto dead duck.
An excellent escape, nevertheless, of biblically orthodox Anglican churches from the C of E into their very own province with their very own bishops could prove to be the phoenix out of the ashes.
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire.
