Two new AMiE churches

‘Thanks be to God’, as us Anglicans like to say, two brand new Conservative Evangelical Anglican churches have opened in the last few months: one in Salisbury and another in Guildford.

Both have been started under the auspices of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) where they join a good number of other churches already identifying with AMiE’s remit and, wonderfully, there are many more churches in the pipeline.

The work of AMiE is the practical outworking of the issue currently dividing global Anglicanism: what does it mean to be an Anglican at all? The default answer, for many decades, has been that a ‘true’ Anglican, whether in England or anywhere elsewhere in the world, is someone who regards themselves as ‘in communion’ with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tail wagging the dog

That such a definition of being ‘Anglican’ has gained traction is one of the perversities of modern Anglicanism. As theological liberals have declined numerically their efforts and have been ever more focused on securing their position by inhabiting the Church hierarchy and then building the hierarchy’s supposed authority. It is a fine example of the tail wagging the dog.

Evangelicals have never really assented to this definition because, whatever else may have happened in the CofE, they could always point to the simple, majestic words of Article VI and Canon A5, as foundational to all they did: ‘Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

‘The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures.

‘In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal’.

It is unsurprising that evangelicals, even of the most Reformed persuasion, have found it not just possible but desirable to minister and worship within such a framework. But life’s become rather more complicated for evangelicals. First, the Pilling Report on Human Sexuality reveals the way many would redefine Canon A5 by saying that the Canon ‘...makes Scripture the touchstone for the things necessary to salvation’. To treat Scripture as merely the touchstone is not only to sit in judgment upon it but, in reality, to make Scripture merely the starting point for disagreement. This is seen in forthcoming discussions on Scripture, Sexuality and Mission, which, despite evangelical protestation, appear to be based on the premise that Scripture is neither clear nor authoritative.

Secondly, in amending the Canons of the Church to permit the consecration of women as bishops, the doctrine of the Church of England, for the first time, directly rejects the teaching of Scripture: making the Canons internally contradictory.

As grim as it is, it has made Evangelical Anglicans explicit in their rejection of being defined as Anglican merely by their relationship with a bishop. Rather, they are convinced that Anglican doctrine as historically understood remains the best theological expression of the Protestant Reformation. It is assent to that theology which alone properly defines a person as Anglican, not an episcopal relationship.

Wonderfully, it is this conviction which is causing people ‘to go in peace to love and serve the Lord’ in new mission initiatives. How very Anglican!