Leading clergy and lay people in the Church of England have launched a campaign “save the parish” which they believe is under threat.
The campaign follows a new scheme, Myriad, involving the planting of 10,000 new, predominantly lay-led, Church of England churches in the next ten years, with the aim of achieving one million new converts.
Dave Male, the Church of England’s director of evangelism and discipleship, said in a recent press release that Myriad is not a national Church of England project. But he also said: “Myriad is a self-funding initiative aiming to support the planting of 10,000 new, predominantly lay-led churches. It comes from the Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication which supports leaders, church teams and diocese across London, England and beyond as they multiply disciples, churches and networks. It is part of the CofE but works with many denominations and networks.”
However, many Anglicans are increasingly concerned by what is regarded as managerialism and a newly aggressive form of evangelicalism. They fear what they regard as an increasing centralisation of resources at the diocesan and national level, combined with perceived hostility towards traditional forms of Anglican worship, with an embrace of both church “planting” and attempts to move Anglicanism outside of conventional church settings altogether.
Coming as proposals are in front of the upcoming General Synod that would see dioceses given the power to close down churches without giving parishes the ability to challenge or appeal the decision, the campaign to save the traditional Anglican parish, launched at St Bartholomew the Great in London earlier this month, is an attempt to address these concerns.
The Revd Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew’s issued a call to action, asking defenders of the parish to seek election to the Synod in order to fight back.
Speaking in front of a large and enthusiastic audience, and live streamed over YouTube, Mr Walker said: “This is your church. This is not the Archbishop of Canterbury’s, nor the House of Bishops’, nor the clergy’s, not even the General Synod’s. It belongs, in a broad sense, to the people of England, regardless of your faith or lack of it, which is why parliament is still its ultimate decision-making body, and very specifically to the laity of the Church of England. You have a say.
“There are about to be General Synod elections. So, stand. Stand and write in your manifesto that you are standing to ‘Save the parish’. Stand whether you are an evangelical or an Anglo-Catholic or a high churchman. Stand if you’re a female priest or a woman who doesn’t think women can be priests. Stand if you want to save the parish, because these are your parishes and this is the only important question for the next five years. Stand because this might really be the last chance to save the church we love.”
Also speaking at the event were the the Revd Alison Milbank, Professor of Theology and Literature at Nottingham University, Canon Theologian of Southwell diocese, and co-author of For the Parish, and the Revd Stephen Trott, Rector of Pitsford, in Peterborough diocese, who has been a member of both the General Synod and the Church Commissioners for more than 20 years.
Dr Milbank addressed the growing managerialism in the Church of England, tracing a trend that began with the 2004 report Mission-shaped Church. She said: “The Church of England has totally capitulated to market values and managerialism. . . There has been a tendency to view the parish like some inherited embarrassing knick-knack from a great-aunt that you wish were in the attic.” Meanwhile the pandemic had been “an opportunity to expedite further the demise of traditional church”.
Dr Milbank suggested that despite claims to the contrary resources would again be diverted from traditional parishes into this new scheme and others like it.
She noted that although, in theory, a “mixed ecology” was operating, “resources are being drained from the parish system”. Most of the strategic development fund money had gone on resource churches, “without any appreciable benefit or sharing with the parish around”. (A General Synod question last month revealed that about 30 per cent of funding had gone to churches supported by the Church Revitalisation Trust, a charity based at Holy Trinity, Brompton, in London).
“We are at crunch time,” she said. “Are we the C of E with its reformed Catholic character, its sacraments, orders, and liturgies, and its parish witness, or are we a nonconformist sect? There are hard decisions to be made in a Church during a period of secularisation and atheism, but they should be taken by those who love the Church of England. Indeed, even marketing will tell you that you cannot promote a product in which you do not believe.”
Since the launch of the event over a week ago, a website with resources for those seeking to run for synod has been launched, fierce debate has been sparked and press attention attracted. The event was covered in the mainstream media and BBC Radio 4 is planning to run a feature on the issue.
Endorsements include one from former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton, who said: “The current trajectory of our church is a huge mistake, and the leadership is out of touch with ordinary churchgoers. It is time to rally the troops.”
Conservative political advisor and academic Adrian Hilton tweeted:“Irritating that #SaveTheParish is being framed as a traditionalist/progressive conflict. It actually unites people across high, low and broad church traditions: it is 'traditionalist' only in the sense that it seeks to conserve something that all value.” He also blogged about the controversy on his website ArchbishopCranmer.
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