Of renegade vicars and irregular ordinations...

Both the Times and Telegraph online versions did pieces last week on the highly unusual (not to say downright unique!) events that unfolded in a Surbiton church under the leadership of Revd Richard Coekin and against the authority of his Diocesan Bishop, Tom Butler. [The photo on the left here is of two of those "ordained" in the service.]

I won't repeat it all here (the newspapers above give the key details pretty well as far as I can see), but it does raise some big questions for a church in our particular "wing" of the CofE - i.e. described as "Evangelical" (fundamentally, a church known as having a particular commitment to the reliability and authority of the Bible and the centrality of the Good News of Jesus to all of life).

On the face of it, the "David vs Goliath" story is very appealing - a seemingly classic case of "right" vs "might": one "right-minded" Vicar against a "liberal" Bishop, standing up for "biblical morality" in the face of "politically correct fuzzy thinking".

The astute amongst you will have (rightly) guessed my feelings on this from my rather liberal(!) use of ""s...

The bottom line is that, as far as I can see, not only does this particular incident have little to do with the issue of the Church of England and homosexual practice (although that's an issue that's not going to go away in a hurry), but it reflects really rather badly on the particular church in question and its leaders' attitude to fellow believers - including towards fellow Evangelicals (let alone their Bishop!).

Two articles combine to unlock the details here: one in the Church Times neatly outlines some of the hidden details that were missed by the secular press, but the clincher is this article on a different website by a vicar who might have been expected to have more than a little sympathy for Revd Coekin, but makes a strong case for seeing his actions as political manoeuvering of a rather unhelpful kind. Do read those articles before ploughing into my (rather hurried and provisional) comments below...

The bottom line in all this is, I think, that we are all too easily trapped into a campaigning stance that makes us feel good by invoking the martyrdom complex ("the world's against me, therefore I must be right and God must be pleased with my courage") without being willing to go down the often harder route of "speaking the truth in love" [Eph 4:14-16] and "doing everything with gentleness and respect" [1 Peter 3:15-16].

There is, I believe, a right respect for authority and order that doesn't look for an excuse to build our own empires, nor to have the arrogance that we are the only ones with an "inside track on truth". That's not to say we don't stand up and speak what we believe is true - but it is to say we don't cast "into outer darkness" self-confessed Jesus-followers who might disagree.

I'm yet to find a single passage in the New Testament that tells me to leave a church (or group of churches) because of heresy/apostasy amongst its leaders. If I were to get thrown out of the Church of England for preaching/practising what is right, then so be it (and, who knows, that may come in time?) - but I won't be leaving of my own volition to form my own more comfortable group of the like-minded ;o) I don't believe the Bible gives me that sort of escape route!

Comments

[Jamie]

I think you are spot on, Richard. The issue itself is not the issue here. Reading about Coekin's actions, I felt a sense of sadness. I get the sense that he's missed the point - he's taken a confrontational, political stance that seems to have left the path of other-centred love - even if the other in this case is your boss who you feel is making wrong decisions.

I couldn't agree more with your thoughtful, insightful and wise analysis of the whole episode.

[maggi]

well said richard

[hopefulamphibian]

Good stuff.As someone who was sponsored for ordination by Southwark, I've been following this story with sadness. Thankyou for your helpful words.

[Kathryn]

Thank you for posting this Richard (I arrived via maggi, just so you know)...As one who would probably been seen as belonging on the "other side" of the evangelical/liberal divide, it was reassuring and helpful to read such thoughtful comments. Recently on my blog I aired my ambivalence about the impact of the Reformation, in that it was, istm, a launch pad for this progressive migration to ever purer church, with all the attendant pain, a situation which you've reflected in your final sentences above.