Valiant for truth

HOW THE INCONCEIVABLE WAS
CONCEIVED:
Sinking the Church?
By Steve Donald
Day One. 128 pages. £7
ISBN 978 1 846 257 872

‘There is a huge majority in the wider Anglican Communion and a sizeable number in the Church of England who find the recent votes in the General Synod as “inconceivable” .’ As he surveys his own lifetime in Church of England ministry, and the current situation, Steve Donald asks how this inconceivable situation came to be, and what might be done now.

Part of his diagnosis is that, for many, ‘persecution is to be avoided at all costs and false teaching is to be tolerated and even embraced so we can “go along to get along”.’ On the contrary, Donald contends, persecution does not destroy the church, but false teaching does.

Yet Christians will always have to ‘walk a tightrope’, since Scripture tells us to contend for the faith, at the same time as seeking unity and not being disputatious. How might this be resolved? Calling on Martin Lloyd-Jones, Donald argues that a ‘good fight’ will always focus on Jesus, and caring for the souls of others, not on winning one’s argument. But contending must be done, following the examples of Jesus and His apostles, while depending on God to overcome evil, and holding onto a passion to live holy lives.

Donald calls upon loyal Anglicans to work together. Following Carl Truman, he suggests the way forward is ‘firstly, to acknowledge the serious nature of the threat to the church in the West because of the radical shift in culture; secondly, to hold onto its core beliefs; and thirdly, to build community.’ It is good to see the third point added. It is too easy for evangelicals to be individualistic.

Donald also writes positively of our hope. ‘God has brought reformation and revival to His church in the past and He can do it again’. That is what we should be praying for: that UK Christians will united in a vision for evangelism of the UK.

The book is polemic, and strong. Donald pulls no punches, and names names. There are some factual inaccuracies. However, the content is important and not all that surprising to those who have followed the path of Church of England politics lately. It is sad that such a book has cause to be written at all.