Edited by Lee Gatiss
Church Society / Lost Coin Books, 2014
The book is based on a series of talks at the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference (JAEC) and comes from the conservative evangelical part of the Church of England.
The chapters are:
- Shamelessly suffering for the gospel – Lee Gatiss.
- Unashamedly standing by Paul – Lee Gatiss.
- Reclaiming the good news in sexuality – Sam Allberry.
- Positive Complementarianism – Ben Cooper.
- Why stay in the Church of England? – Simon Austen.
- A Church capable of evangelism – John Richardson.
- Staying keen for evangelism – John Richardson.
Chapters 3 and 4 are the most controversial, because they go against a ‘modern’ trend of views within the Church of England.
As regards sexuality, an example of the ‘modern’ line is this statement from the organisation One Body One Faith: https://www.onebodyonefaith.org.uk/about-us/what-we-believe/:
“It is the conviction of the members of OneBodyOneFaith that human sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity in all their richness are gifts of God gladly to be accepted, enjoyed and honoured as a way of both expressing and growing in love, in accordance with the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Therefore it is their conviction that it is entirely compatible with the Christian faith not only to love another person of the same sex, but also to express that love fully in a personal sexual relationship;”
By contrast, Sam Allberry in Chapter 3 writes from the conservative evangelical perspective that we are all sinners and need to repent, and that this applies to our sexuality as much as any other part of our lives, p.42,43,53:
“Jesus calls all people everywhere to repent and believe and that means that for anyone there is a cost and a blessing in following him.
[…] since I’ve become a bit more open about my own issues of same-sex attraction, I’ve lost count of the number of times a Christian has come up to me after a talk and said, “Yes but it’s harder for you, isn’t it? The gospel is harder for you because it really goes against who you are, doesn’t it?” I’ve got two problems with that kind of response. The first is, my sexual attractions are not who I am. That is a dismal way to try to sum up a human being. But secondly, the gospel calls all of us to do that. If someone thinks that the gospel has slotted neatly into their life, then it is probably not the gospel they have received. Jesus turns everything upside down, for all of us.”
“I think the Church, if we take the teaching of the Bible seriously, will be the best place in the world to be someone who experiences same-sex attraction. And if we foster that sense of true community it means that we are not making singleness a life of unbearable isolation.”
The other controversial topic is Chapter 4. Ben Cooper give the “complementarian view” of roles within the church. He looks at Genesis 1-3 and Ephesians 5:21-33 and challenges some of the recent interpretations of these passages. I felt that the chapter was too short to be properly persuasive of his arguments, given that these are complex matters of Biblical interpretation.
Chapters 3 and 4 having challenged the liberal consensus, in Chapter 7 there is a challenge to their own conservative evangelical constituency.
John Richardson begins by writing some things that his audience will probably enjoy, p.89, 90, 98:
“My theological training at St John’s Nottingham did not help. […] I came out basically thinking that the way to help people was by counselling, by digging down to their past problems including their birth experiences. And the way to change people’s spirituality was through liturgical innovation. What I found, or course, was that counselling like that didn’t help people and that the congregations didn’t want liturgical innovation, although they got it.”
“I’m not saying that there is no mileage in counselling people […] But what I didn’t get […] was training in how to apply theology to those problems […] ‘How can I bring the word of God – either the Bible or a principle from the Bible – to bear on this issue?”
He then challenges his own constituency which places such a high value on preaching ministry, p.94-99:
“our attitude to the pulpit […] has been, ‘Preach it and they will come.’ And they don’t! They do if you’re in a town centre and you’ve got students. […] If these people who are used to learning by listening, or used to sitting through lectures and so on […] Preaching is not teaching. Preaching is not personal. […] they don’t put their hand up and say, ‘Excuse me, that is really speaking to me and I want to talk to you about that.’ It can’t happen and it’s not possible. You don’t address the questions they may have and you don’t clear up the misunderstandings they may have. […] Think of yourself as ‘Spiritual Director’ to all the people in your congregation under your care […] somebody who is supposed to help you keep growing spiritually, and particularly to be available when you’re confronting big issues that need advice, reflection and guidance.”
Adrian Vincent, January 2019.