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Is this a schism?

A very significant ordination took place at Christ Church, Surbiton, Surrey, in the diocese of Southwark on November 2. Bishop Martin Morrison from the Church of England in South Africa ordained three of the staff members of the Co-Mission partnership, whose Senior Pastor is Richard Coekin.

Richard Perkins pastors Christ Church, Balham. Andy Fenton pastors the evening congregation from Dundonald in Wimbledon. Richard and Andy were both trained at Oak Hill College. The third ordinand was Loots Lambrechts, who was trained at George Whitefield College in Cape Town. Loots pastors an Afrikaans congregation in Wimbledon.

It was a wonderfully moving, simple and gospel-focused service, attended by more than 500 people, with over 30 Anglican clergy taking part, including ministers from as far away as Hull, Plymouth and Newcastle, as well as Canon Andrew Lines (Crosslinks), Canon Chris Sugden (Anglican Mainstream), David Banting (Reform), Simon Vibert (Fellowship of Word and Spirit) and David Phillips (Church Society).

It was a totally valid ordination as, in the admittedly rather quaint details of Anglican polity, Bishop Morrison is validly consecrated as a bishop, and therefore in a position to ordain. It was completely legal and all the necessary affidavits were sworn. But, it was irregular, as the Diocesan Bishop of Southwark had not given his permission for this ordination service, and he threatened reprisals against Richard Coekin. As EN went to press, the news has broken that Richard Coekin’s licence to preach has been revoked by the Bishop of Southwark. The Bishop accused Richard of schism by this act of ordination, and said that these three men have no authority to claim to exercise ordained ministry in the Church of England in the Diocese of Southwark.

Two-fold reasons

The good reasons for which the ordination took place — and why it has widespread support — are two-fold.

Firstly, despite pleas over the last two or three years for the Bishop of Southwark to ordain Richard Perkins and Andy Fenton, the Bishop had been unable to find a way to do this.

Secondly, and more seriously, it is because the Bishop of Southwark refuses to distance himself from the bishops’ statement in Some Issues in Human Sexuality, which allows homosexual practice between laymen (not clergy) in certain circumstances, and has also endorsed the bishops’ recent statement following the Civil Partnership Bill which also tacitly accepts homosexual practice. [See also further details in the Anglican update on page 5 of the December EN.]

Richard Coekin has very understandably declared himself in temporary impaired communion with the Bishop of Southwark. Richard, therefore, had no other choice but to accept the ministry of another bishop. Very regrettably, no other English bishop, despite personal reservations on the homosexual issue, has been willing to put his head above the parapet and come to our aid.

This was not, in fact, the first such ordination, as a few years ago there was a similar legal, valid, but irregular ordination in the Diocese of York conducted by the retired Bishop Howell Davies. However, this recent ordination in Surbiton represents a landmark, showing that a growing number of evangelicals are not prepared to accept the false teaching of some bishops, and have realised that letters of protest have no effect, and action has to be taken. These ordinations may prove to be highly important in showing us the way ahead.

According to a report in The Times, Richard Coekin is likely to appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Jonathan Fletcher

We encourage EN readers to give prayer support to Richard Coekin (Ed.).