CofE complementarians ‘extremely concerned’

Evangelicals are reacting with “extreme concern” to the launch of a new campaign aiming to eliminate the provisions included in the 2014 women bishops’ legislation – claiming it may leave complementarian Church of England evangelicals “unable to continue in ministry”.

The provisions, known as the Five Guiding Principles, accommodate those who for theological reasons cannot accept women’s ministry – allowing for pastoral and sacramental dispensation. They have been in place since the legislation was made over a decade ago. However, according to the Church Times, organisation Women and the Church (WATCH) now hopes to bring a motion to all diocesan synods, asking “whether it is right for the 2014 House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests to continue in perpetuity and, if not, to set a date for it to come to an end.”

The motion was announced at WATCH’s ‘Not Yet Equal’ conference at the end of March. Addressing those present, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a member of the committee that drafted the 2014 legislation, stated that the Principles “help to reinforce” the “unequal and iniquitous gendered culture of the current Church of England.”

“With hindsight, we never really thought through how this agreement would… cement in both official and unofficial practices in churches a perpetuation of women’s unequal treatment and the continued discrimination against women,” she added.

To change the provisions, a two-third majority is needed across all three houses – the House of Bishops, House of Clergy and House of Laity.

Responding with apprehension to the campaign, Ros Clarke, Associate Director of Church Society, declared: “Over the past ten years, the Principles have largely protected the ministry of complementarians … But without them, complementarian ministers would not be permitted to remove themselves from the authority of a female bishop. Churches would not be able to specify that they needed a male pastor. Should the Principles be revoked, many complementarian evangelical Anglicans would be unable to continue their ministry within the Church of England in good conscience.

“We are, therefore, extremely concerned. If [WATCH] were to succeed, the consequences would be disastrous. Complementarian evangelicals and traditional Anglo-Catholics leaving would tip the numbers sufficiently to ensure the liberals could get what they wanted with respect to same-sex blessings and marriages.

“It would not be difficult to find one out of the 42 Diocesan Synods which would pass a motion that then went to General Synod for debate on this issue. There are certainly not enough complementarians that our votes alone could prevent this change. We must pray and work together with all evangelicals and other orthodox members of the synods to fight this battle for the good of the whole church.”

The first diocesan synod to hear the motion from WATCH will be the Southwark Diocese. Southwark Diocesan Evangelical Union Chair, Jonathan Macy, stated: “Since the vote in Living in Love and Faith in February 2023 we have seen membership of our diocesan evangelical union continue to grow, from around 30 to in excess of 100 members. We are witnessing a unity between evangelicals that we have never experienced before.

"Several of our members, female and male, who hold to differing theologies concerning women in ordained ministry, have voiced their deep concern about what has been reported about the campaign.”

Rob Munro, the conservative evangelical bishop serving on the Bishop’s Commission for the Five Guiding Principles, commented: “WATCH’s call to abolish, within ten years, un-time-limited promises safeguarding legitimate Anglican theological convictions and ensuring ‘mutual flourishing’ … risks diverting us from our primary calling to make the good news of Jesus’ saving love known.”

Wallace Benn, former Area Bishop of Lewes, stated: “Graciously holding to Biblical convictions about equality and difference in the ministry of the church, which has been held for best part of two millennia, does not need to be apologised for, nor should the more traditional view be excluded from the Church as WATCH seems to want.”