Southern Cone bishop 'alarmed' at English Evangelicalism

“Life after Lambeth - taking stock of the position of Evangelicals in the Church of England”

Bishop John Ellison spoke at the Ripon and Leeds Diocesan Fellowship’s Day Conference, Saturday October 4th, 2008, at St. George’s Leeds with Dr Andrew Goddard (Trinity Bristol),  and Martin Wallace, Bishop of Selby. David James, Bishop of Bradford, (who was also present in the morning), joined us in the afternoon question time chaired by Martin Wallace.

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Some final observations.

1. I was again struck by the widespread misunderstanding and in many cases, ignorance, of what is happening in the wider Anglican Communion.  There seemed to be little awareness that what has happened to orthodox believers in North America could well happen here.

2. I was equally alarmed that some of those present were already assuming that we simply had to get used to being a church where widely divergent views and lifestyles were permitted.  Questions and comments betrayed the extent to which an Evangelical understanding of Scripture had been compromised and how the prevailing cultutral attitudes were exercising strong influences within the life of the church.

3. I came away deeply concerned to see that we are indeed "drifting away" (Hebrews 2:1) from biblical and historic orthodoxy.  The challenge particularly from within Anglican Mainstream, is to work with new vigour and understanding on the promotion of the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement, so that English Anglicans become part of this movement  for the renewal of our Communion.

John Ellison, formerly bishop of Paraguay, Southern Cone, now. hon. assistant bishop in Winchester diocese.

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