Church of England bishops are not known for their transparency - but sometimes there is a rare glimmer of honesty, particularly when a journalist is prepared to ask the right question.
This week, Dave Piper, a radio journalist, used Facebook to ask Rt Revd Martyn Snow, the Bishop of Leicester a simple question and wonderfully he received an honest answer.
But first, some context: it is generally recognised that Bishop Martyn, pulled the short straw when he accepted the role of Co-Lead Bishop for the Living in Love and Faith process, and that it got even shorter when a few weeks later, his Co-Lead Bishop, Rt Revd Helen-Ann Hartley stood down.
Yet, he remains unswervingly positive.
In a piece he wrote for the Church of England Newspaper, Snow outlined the idea of creating, “Three spaces within one Church,” to provide for those with different theological convictions on whether the church should bless same-sex relationships. He was even hopeful that porous-but-firm, well-defined-but-flexible boundaries could somehow be created between these spaces, which would thus allow both freedom of conscience for all and an expression of the unity of the body of Christ.
It is not clear whether the decision to create three spaces, rather than two, was to avoid a divisive ‘binary’ approach to managing disagreement, or if it was a nod to the commonly held misconception that the unity and diversity of the Trinity is a model for good disagreement. As if the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have ever disagreed about anything!
Whatever the reason, Bishop Martyn is clear that he wants to prioritise the unity of the Body of Christ, because, while he concedes that contending for doctrine is important, “unity matters – it really matters.”
Wishing to share the article widely, Bishop Martyn posted it on his Facebook page, and to his credit, he also responded to some of the questions he was asked, including one from Dave Piper.
The question is not a new one – but timing is everything – and the answer reveals both the crisis that faces the bishops of the Church of England and the reason for their lack of discernment.
The bishops are stuck because they cannot agree on the answer to a simple question – “Is same-sex sex sinful?”
And they have been stuck for a long time. Readers may remember when Alastair Campbell asked Archbishop Justin Welby the same question in 2017 – and his painful answer:
“You know very well that is a question I can’t give a straight answer to. Sorry, badly phrased there. I should have thought that one through.”
Justin Welby sought to avoid the question – but Bishop Martyn is prepared to be honest and in doing so reveals the real problem. The bishops can’t make a decision because the only criteria they have for discerning the truth is the subjective sense of how 'genuinely' those speaking hold their beliefs. They are not interested in weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of different arguments - favouring instead the 'feelings' which people attach to them.
Listening in to the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA) Assembly this week provided a helpful insight into how the Anglican Communion got into this mess and also hope for a way out.
First the way into the mess.
When Archbishop Titus Chung, the Primate of SE Asia, addressed those gathered for the GSFA Assembly, he began with the picture of marriage. “As much as the two are now united as one", he said,"the husband and wife are diversely different and remain as they are, uniquely created in the image of God.”
It seems that Archbishop Titus would agree with Bishop Martyn that unity matters and he may also go along with Bishop Martyn’s ‘Three Spaces,’ because, as he told the GSFA, “unity does not compromise or weaken diversity.”
Archbishop Titus’ theme was that God has created the diverse cultures found in the global Church and calls us to maintain unity by ‘deep listening’ to one another.
Those who espouse ‘deep listening’ suggest that as we talk and listen to one another, the truth will emerge. Yet, in practice, the opposite happens – far from finding common ground across cultures and experience, the different cultures and experiences are used as a reason for why people interpret the bible differently. Without deep engagement with God’s word and a shared understanding of its authority, the range of ‘deeply held convictions’ just grows exponentially, with no way of determining the value of any one perspective.
It did not go unnoticed that Archbishop Titus was one of the few GSFA bishops to attend the Primates Meeting in Rome, and his reference to the need for ‘deep listening’ raised alarm bells for many. It is possible that Archbishop Titus may need to re-consider his views in the light of the Cairo Covenant, now that he has been elected to the Steering Group of the GSFA’s Primates’ Council. In theory he should reject any “hermeneutical scepticism that commits the Church to a near-infinite deferral of decisions on matters of faith and morals.”
Followers of the LLF process in the Church of England are certainly used to the "near-infinite deferral of decisions", and some may remember the term ‘deep listening’ from the motion passed at the February 2023 General Synod – which began,
“That this Synod, recognising the commitment to learning and deep listening to God and to each other of the Living in Love and Faith process, and desiring with God’s help to journey together while acknowledging the different deeply held convictions within the Church:”
Ten years of 'deep listening' has merely resulted in a College of Bishops who cannot tell right from wrong.
So, what’s the way out?
Step forward, Revd Sam Ferguson, the Rector of The Falls Church Anglican in Virginia, USA, who also addressed the GSFA gathering.
Revd Ferguson does not see the current controversies as a threat, or something to be managed, or put to one side – instead he explained that the controversy was a gift and an opportunity. “If you look at the history of the Church”, he said, “Christian doctrine is typically produced in the pressure of heresy and controversy, not in a vacuum.”
He described the LGBTQ movement as, “a flower on a tree, that is a completely a new way of understanding what it means to be human - so underlying the whole LGBTQ movement are a whole different set of assumptions about being human.”
His thesis was that to address these assumptions, which affect us all, the Church needs to discover an ever more compelling vision of biblical anthropology, which will then shape our response with compassion and clarity. Compassion for individuals who experience pain. Clarity because the truth is not subjective.
Living up to the challenge, in less than an hour, he set out three of the unarticulated assumptions which shape the world in which we live and are seen in the LGBT movement. He then offered a glorious, biblical alternative to each one.
I am a self-made individual, answerable to no-one
My sense of self is located in my feelings rather than any objective reality
I find my hope in happiness (and sex) and my healing in transition
As he travelled from creation to the new creation, Ferguson showed compassion for the fallen world and pointed to the resurrection hope for hurting people. He challenged those present that the church needed to offer “a thick enough ecclesia, Christian community, to come around people who are hurting – but it is a Spirit-shaped community and a Spirit-shaped transformation.”
The presentation was steeped in his own American culture, yet his biblical exegesis landed with those from all nations. The Q&A just kept going and when time was eventually called, he was surrounded by delegates from all over the world. There was no ‘deep listening’ – but those listening wanted more.
The talk can be accessed here [starting at approximately 1:02:00]
It would be nice to hope that the bishops of the Church of England would watch this video and reconsider their lack of decision in the light of it. But the objective reality is that the vast majority of bishops in the Church of England are not interested in what the Global South think. They proved that in February 2023, when they rejected Mrs Busola Sodeinde's amendment and ignored Archbishop Samy Shehata's pleas.
The majority are also not interested in finding a clear and compassionate biblical anthropology. If they were, they would have listened to Bishop Keith Sinclair and numerous others who have gone before.
The fact is, each of the bishops already has their own, unique set of genuinely held beliefs, and although they may disagree about many things, they are all agreed that others should unite around them. They may graciously allow other bishops to minister under them in plural spaces, which embody plural truth, but woe betide anyone who seeks to undermine their personal jurisdiction.
And what is happening at a local and national scale in the Church of England, is being offered to the global Anglican Communion through a process of 'deep listening' by IASCUFO. In ten years, or so, the Instruments of Communion may decide to re-describe the nature of the Communion - but there will be no movement of power to where the people are.
So, it is unsurprising that the GSFA, and their friends at Gafcon, are not going to wait around for old, mainly-white men (and women), who ignore objective truth and rely on their feelings to make decisions. They are not convinced by 'deep listening' and would prefer to get on with the mission.
And if you are interested, the GSFA has no difficulty in answering Dave Piper's question.
“Though Canterbury says, ‘Let us walk together, listen to each other and have good disagreement,’ the GSFA Primates and I say, ‘We cannot walk together in sin, unless there is repentance by those who have gone astray, we cannot have unity at the expense of God’s life-giving truth.”
Archbishop Justin Badi Arama
Re-elected Chair of the GSFA Assembly
With thanks to the GSFA YouTube Livestream for image of Rev Sam Ferguson
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A lot has been written by Westerners (especially at the American Anglican Council) calling into question the teaching of the Primate of SE Asia. (Would it be uncharitable to say that all the talk of Westerners being humbled and learning to be led by Global South Primates has been quickly forgotten? https://www.anglicanfutures.org/post/servants-of-all)
In much of the Global South and in the East, calling out a respected leader publicly in this way on fairly tenuous grounds is a shameful and presumptuous thing to do.* Has Archbishop Titus been approached privately? Has he been given the opportunity to clarify his remarks? Has he been afforded the respect due to someone in his position of leadership? Has he been treated like a…