republished, with permission, from
The Church of England Newspaper, 22 March 2007
Dear Fulcrum Friends,
The traditional phrase used to describe the Church of England is 'Catholic and Reformed'. Too often the middle word 'and' passes unnoticed. Connecting words are crucial, humble and worth contemplating. They introduce links between polarities by contributing 'threeness' to 'duality'. Try replacing 'and' with the word 'or' and you will see its significance. Maybe we could capitalize on the word 'and' by giving it a capital letter 'And'? But that would detract from its humility and deflect its distinction.
Perhaps we have three patron saints of this little word 'and' in the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer, in The Book of Common Prayer, reshaped patristic prayers in the light of renewed evangelical theology; Richard Hooker, in his Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, countered both Roman and Puritan demands with God's layered wisdom; and George Herbert, in his temperate prose and allusive poetry, expressed profound spirituality in subtle rhetoric. All three, it seems to me, were more than evangelical but not less. Maybe that is the calling of the Church of England.
What could it mean to be 'more than evangelical but not less' today?
First, being 'less than evangelical' would mean ignoring the intrinsic dynamic of God's life in Trinity. The eternal interweaving of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (note again the 'and'), in love and openness, is foundational to our own personal and ecclesial life. When one is overlooked, demoted or forgotten, balance is lost.
Second, to be 'less than evangelical' would be to put Scripture, Reason and Tradition, to follow Hooker's usual order, on a level with each other, which he never did. This would lead to the unhelpful analogy of the three-legged stool. Some would even add 'experience', with a capital 'E', to these three, to form a four-legged chair. However, this would reduce the supremacy of God's authority through his holy Word. Reason includes, amongst other things, biblical scholarship, philosophical hermeneutics and God's revelation through the natural order, which we attempt to discern through scientific enquiry. Tradition has been called 'the democracy of the dead', by G K Chesterton. Both are indeed important aids in interpreting Scripture, and experience (small 'e') does give us our context in which we study, but Scripture should be on a level above them, not with them.
Third, to be 'less than evangelical' would be to transform our good works from a 'thank you' addressed to God, for salvation freely received by faith, into a plaintive 'please' directed at him, for a so called 'place in heaven when we die'. Too often people who unthinkingly designate themselves 'C of E' have this tendency to confuse 'thank you' with 'please' in their attitude towards God, and thereby lack assurance.
Fourth, and following on from this, it would be to lose the movement of sharing this good news with others. Integral evangelism, which is patient and attentive, is earthed in community involvement and develops from refreshing relationships with God. If we have nothing to share, and do not encourage new ways of evangelism, then we are indeed less than evangelical.
What would it mean to be 'more than evangelical' today?
First, it would be to recognise that our doctrine of the Church is authentically part of the good news we share. To discover that we are not mere individuals, but people beloved by God, adopted into his family, with links beyond our locality, and with roots before our time, really is good news. Isolation becomes incorporation. Bishops become 'connecting people' rather than 'people who collect'. The Church becomes more like a bunch of grapes, than a bag of marbles. Catholicity, in the sense of Universality, becomes real.
Second, it would rejoice in the 'givenness' and breadth of our lectionary and our liturgy. Perhaps this is a strange suggestion to some - I remember hearing it from David Watson in the 1980s - but it is nevertheless deeply Anglican and related to our concept of the Church and to how we learn. For sure, there are various schemes for Bible reading, but in following the lessons set for Morning and Evening Prayer, we join together with what others are reading and pondering, we cover four passages of Scripture a day and delve into parts of God's Word that we, in our weakness, may well prefer to skip.
Following the rhythm of Common Worship: Daily Prayer includes Benedictine roots, Cranmerian shape, Herbertesque devotion and contemporary consequence. From experience in Islington, I would suggest that it really helps to pray physically and regularly in the church, with the door open, so that people from the parish can join in. Private prayer at home is with the door closed: common prayer in church is with the door open.
Third, being 'more than evangelical' would mean recognising God speaking to us from beyond our particular tradition. The Catholic, Liberal and Evangelical streams within the Church of England have lineaments of lineage, in that they have distinctive features which may be traced way back in time. A dedicated desire to drive out one or more of these streams seems to me to be petty and partial. Questionable theology and practice do indeed need warning against, but dialogue and renewal are different from defamation and deformation. So where is the authentic Liberal stream to be found in the phrase 'Catholic and Reformed'? Perhaps it may be another sense of that little connecting word 'and', which invites dialogue, rather than that word 'or', which demands exclusivity.
'Evangelicals in Search of Catholicity' is a phrase which reverberates for me concerning these matters. I used it as a title for an Anvil article, published in 1990, when reflecting on the international evangelical consultation, Lausanne II in Manila, in 1989. Perhaps the words 'in search of' may be seen as representing the Liberal perspective?
Fourth, being 'more than evangelical' would involve recognising the breadth and depth of the Anglican Communion world-wide. Christ comes to Africa from the Father not from Europe; he speaks to people in their vernacular language; and new light is still breaking out of God's Holy Word in continents far from Canterbury.
What of the future of the Church of England within the Anglican Communion?
'The shrewdest attitude towards both the past and the future is that taken by Chou En Lai [Chinese Prime Minister 1949-76] who, when asked how he assessed the French Revolution, replied, "It's a little too early to judge."' Thus, with characteristic wit and insight, John V. Taylor concluded his essay 'The Future of Christianity' in The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners (1990).
We are living in times of great moment, between the Primates' Meeting in Tanzania and the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. Half way between is the crucial date of 30 September 2007, by which time 'with seriousness and dispatch' (the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury in his recent letter to the Primates) the bishops of The Episcopal Church have to respond to the challenge of the Primates' Communiqué.
From a Fulcrum perspective, the Communiqué is very encouraging and is along the lines of the hopes set out in my previous article, 'To Cleave or To Cleave: The Primates' Meeting in Tanzania' (CEN 9 February, and Fulcrum February Newsletter), with the particular emphasis on the principles worked out by various 'Windsor compliant' bishops at Camp Allen for interim measures. Similarly, the draft Covenant for the Anglican Communion is heartening and reflects many of the features mentioned above concerning 'more than evangelical but not less'.
The response of the bishops of The Episcopal Church to the Communiqué - and Dr Rowan Williams has made it clear that it is appropriate that the response is asked from them, since they authorise liturgy and confirm the election of bishops - may well affect invitations to the Lambeth Conference. Similarly, the response to the Covenant will ultimately affect the 'associated' or 'constitutive' status of The Episcopal Church in the Communion.
Some conservatives and liberals have been willing to reduce the concept of 'Communion' to 'federation' status, but 'Communion' is a crucial word and the concept is important to keep. Developing out of the word koinonia in the Greek New Testament, it includes the disciples' 'partnership' in drawing in the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11); Paul's 'sharing in' the gospel with the Philippian church (Philippians 1:5); and the 'fellowship' of the Holy Spirit which Paul links with the grace of Christ and the love of God (2 Corinthians 13:13). It is central to both The Virginia Report and The Windsor Report and implies organic relationships and responsibilities which are interdependent. Without it, fissiparousness will follow.
Others have been very wary of the Communion developing a Roman style 'curial' focus in response to the present crisis. This also is to be avoided, although it has been noted that the Primates' Meeting has, in effect, become the policy making forum of the Communion. This, combined with the 'Primates' Pastoral Council' for overseeing the 'robust scheme of pastoral oversight for individuals and congregations alienated from The Episcopal Church', seems to me to be suitable and likely to be effective. We shall see.
It may be that the seed of this Primates' Pastoral Council, for a particular purpose, may develop into a small group of Primates, one from each of the six continents, who would coordinate Communion meetings. Just as the 'Associated Churches' concept, in the statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury 'Challenge and Hope for the Anglican Communion' (June 2006), may be seen to introduce a slight federal ethos, so this could be interpreted as developing a light 'Anglican' ethos of the 'curial' model.
What now of the so called 'Covenant for the Church of England', in the light of the phrase 'more than evangelical but not less' and of the Primates' Meeting? It was launched precipitately, without due process, in November last year. Many, including Fulcrum, saw it more as a declaration than a Covenant. It appears to be shrinking and partial: 'shrinking' because the more it is defended the smaller it becomes - it is now being talked about as 'a discussion starter'; and 'partial', because it is not really for the whole of the Church of England, only for some who, for various reasons, are having particular problems with church planting and relating to bishops. If particular extreme cases are to have suitable oversight then what is needed is detailed, clear strategy and careful ecclesiology.
In the Church of England, one of the ways forward seems to me to take bishops seriously as leaders in mission - including, hopefully in the not too distant future, women bishops. When the constitution of the Church of England Evangelical Council was first written in the 1960s there were few evangelical bishops. Now there are nearly thirty and the constitution needs revising to include adequate episcopal representation as well as authentic representation of groups across the range of the tradition.
Mission which is infused by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, earthed in reality, attentive and attractive to young people, and freshly proclaims the Kingdom of God, develops Anglican ecclesiology, rather than ignores it. The measured process of the 'Mission Measure', in General Synod last month, encouragingly received almost unanimous approval.
Fulcrum's vision of 'renewing the evangelical centre', refers both to the nourishing, hospitable centre of the evangelical tradition and to the historic centre of the Church of England. In this article it has been elucidated by the phrase 'more than evangelical but not less' and we have seen how this relates to the Anglican Communion and to the Church of England.
To conclude this Church of England Newspaper series on 'Turbulent Times', by various writers, let us reflect again on the little word 'and'. There are 'ands', as in 'the flesh and the Spirit', which agonisingly antagonise. But there are also 'ands', such as 'Word and Spirit', 'Catholic and Reformed', which invite and express 'threeness', and intriguingly interweave.
Yours in Christ,
Graham
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings is Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.