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Why I stay in

A few months ago, a writer who reported in EN about 'Reform' expressed his wonder at why Anglican evangelicals stay in a compromised denomination. Steve Donald writes here in response to that comment.

The Rev Steve Donald

To leave or stay?

This question has been my dilemma over the last two years and it is not set to go away. I am unhappy about the moral confusion in our denomination over issues like that of practising homosexuals. At the moment it is permissible for lay people in the Church of England but not for clergy. This is an intolerable fudge. While a higher standard is expected of ministers, it is making a false separation between two things that should stay together, namely, if it wrong for leaders it is wrong for lay people. Whatever the outcome of the debate about homosexuality going on within the church, it has raised for me the issue of what circumstances lead to someone leaving a church. I use the Bible as my authority and I have been seeking to see what it has to say on this matter.