The actions of the Church this week have demonstrated a far deeper issue than what women are allowed to do, it has revealed that the Anglican church is an organisation which has forgotten its bodyhood. The discussion of church splits, Anglo-Catholic priests leaving for Rome and Evangelical Anglicans refusing to let their ministers train in England shows, frankly, that we have forgotten Romans 12:5's lesson that "in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others". We are a united body of believers, a brotherhood in Christ and just as we can't pick our families and yet we love them anyway, so it must be with the church. Similarly, if we think of how Christ said we would be recognised, how people outside of the church would come to realise the salvation offered by Jesus, it is not by our outstandingly correct doctrines but, in our Saviour's own words : "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”(John13:35). If the Anglican Church wants to be recognised as a body of Christ's disciples then a drastic change of heart is required.
Why, then, is women Bishops such a contentious issue? I am certain that the general reaction of those looking in from the outside is that this debate only goes to prove that the church in this country is irrelevant, outdated and, at least in part, misogynistic. That is not the message that we want to proclaim, the article I read on the BBC made no meaningful reference to the debated passages of scripture, the only concern was to outline which groups lie in which camps.
This is not, however, a reason why we should be swayed towards those who desire female Bishops in the CoE. To conform to the world's expectation of us is, again, not what we were called to do. If we support female headship then it should be because of the excellent reasoning put forward by Rev Stephen Kuhrt that it is scriptural. Sadly, this does not appear to be the motivation for the change which is, rather, motivated by liberalism and a desire to keep up with what society defines as normal. Romans 16, and the many prominent women in the Church, to my mind, clearly demonstrates that not only is female teaching permissible but actually harmonises with the Biblical model handed down to us.
This entry is not intended, however, to examine that issue but, rather, to consider the heart of the Anglican Church. If we have a heart for Jesus then the only question we should have when ordaining any person or placing someone in a position of authority is "Will this appointment further the preaching and mission of Christ's kingdom?". Any other question requires placing a matter of secondary importance ahead of the sole purpose of the Church's existence. The church is not a club that exists for its members to sit around and debate theology but an army with one mission: fighting a war to save lost souls for Christ.
This may indeed mean we fail to have a perfect theology. But, actually, I'm ok with that. We will never achieve a perfect understanding of God and His will on earth and we would be foolish to maintain that every element of our own theology is perfectly flawless and unquestionable. There is room in the message of Jesus for mistakes. If we seek him honestly and fail to understand or interpret his word correctly then that is covered by God's grace. What may be lost in these debates, however, is of far greater significance. If we lose our unity in Christ, we have failed to act as the Church is supposed to. but, more importantly still, is that all this effort and the combined minds of all these ministers could have been put towards saving lives for Christ.
I believe that to waste time around the debating table, arguing with our own side, is counter productive whilst the spiritual battle rages on. If the time wasted arguing about petty doctrinal issues could have been spent saving lives then the Church has truly lost sight of its purpose. I hope and pray that this will not happen.
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