Is the idea of a "Broad Church" sustainable?

Human beings are all created by God, but they have a wide variety of personalities, spiritual gifts, physical and mental abilities, knowledge and experiences. In this broad Church each person can develop faith, and worship the Lord, in ways which reflect that individuality, while he or she remains faithful and obedient to the gospel. The early church was made up of people from many backgrounds - Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, fishermen, tax collectors, preachers, teachers, evangelists and pastors. They worshipped and spread the good news in synagogues, in homes and in public places. Sometimes they disagreed in their theology, but the debates on these conflicting ideas were fruitful when they were seeking God’s will in a spirit of Christian love. In the restrictive practices of some present day churches there are limited opportunities for growth of individual spirituality, especially among the laity.

The authority of the Church of England originates from God. Through the Holy Spirit this is mediated to men and women from four main sources. These are Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. They have moulded the church over the centuries. Anglicans reject the centralised or pyramidal authority which emanates from a person ie the Pope. They can find no scriptural reference for this. A synodical system has been developed in which laity, clergy and bishops together seek God’s will for the Church. A report of the 1948 Lambeth Conference is a classic description of this disseminated authority:

‘Authority as inherited by the Anglican Communion from the undivided Church of the early centuries of the Christian era, is single in that it is derived from a single Divine source, and reflects within itself the richness and historicity of the Divine Revelation, the authority of the eternal Father, the incarnate Son and the life-giving Spirit. It is distributed among Scripture, Tradition, Creeds, the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, the witness of the saints and the consensus fidelum (that is the consensus of practising Christians), which is the continuing experience of the Holy Spirit through His faithful people in the Church. It is a dispersed rather than a centralised authority having many elements which combine, interact with and check each other; these elements together contributing by a process of mutual support, mutual checking and redressing of errors or exaggerations to the many sided fullness of the authority which Christ has committed to his Church.’

This sharing of the responsibilities given by God to the church on earth seems to have led to a stability which is sustainable.

The common beliefs of the Church of England are found traditionally in the Book of Common Prayer, the ordinal and the catechism. Each member does not have to hold to each one but those who are ordained as priests or deacons and those licensed to be Readers must agree to these standards of belief. They are summarised in The Declaration of Assent in the service for the ordination of bishops:

‘The Church of England is part of the one, holy and apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In the declaration you are about to make, will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith as your inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making him known to those in your care?’

‘I, N, do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorised or allowed by Canon’ (Alternative Service Book 1980 pp 387-388)

The Declaration is intentionally wide. The universal creeds of Christendom are accepted, but mysteries which are beyond human comprehension are not defined. Montefiore (1995) says that the Church of England’s doctrinal position has been rightly described as a very broad channel of belief, but with buoys marked to show the limits on either side beyond which it is dangerous to travel. The width of the channel allows communion with many other Christian churches throughout the world. This appears to be consistent with the great commission of Christ (Matthew 28:19,20). If Anglicans were preaching a narrow way to salvation, with lots of Phariseean rules this would not be sustainable.

Worship in the twentieth (and twenty-first) century is probably the area in which the ‘broad’ Church of England is most obvious. The ingredients of praise, confession, absolution, readings from scripture, sermon and blessing are to be found in most services. The quantities of each, the ways in which they are mixed and the decorations used vary widely. This allows each congregation of Anglicans to communicate with the Lord using their particular talents and in the ways which reflect their personalities. Problems do arise when various members have very different views on worship. This may be overcome by having different types of service at different times in the same church. In some inner city areas and in some rural churches this may not be possible due to limited resources. When enthusiasm for variety in worship is sustainable this will maintain breadth in worship and may encourage more young people to be involved in the Church of England of the future.

The moral teaching of the Church of England basically follows the two commandments to love God and to love our neighbours. When specific moral issues are being considered, guidance is sought through the scriptures, but many twentyfirst century issues did not arise in biblical times. The will of God in these ethical matters evolves through prayerful debate in local churches and through the synods. On many subjects, such as divorce, remarriage and homosexuality, sincerely held beliefs vary. Allowing open debate on these matters seems to be more sustainable than a regime in which didactic statements are made and debate is stifled. In all moral comments we must ask whether our remarks are made in love, or whether they are biased judgements.

My conclusion is that the Church of England can be sustained as a ‘broad church’ as long as the base on which it is standing is the gospel that Jesus is the Son of God, and that, through his death and resurrection, people who repent can be saved from their sins and can be brought to eternal life. The divinity of authority, the common beliefs of members, the variety in worship and the moral teaching have all evolved through the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. That same Spirit will sustain it as long as members remain in God’s will and have Christian love for each other.