Evangelical free churches, The Salvation Army (TSA) and the Church of England (CofE) have been major influences in my faith journey. For many years I attended and preached at free churches. Basically it was a diet of biblical fundamentalism and conservative evangelical doctrine. However over time I became convinced that the most important element was to follow Jesus and love your neighbour. And so I slowly drifted away from the free churches and landed in the CofE.
What a glorious mish-mash of theology and ecclesiology! High church, low church, Anglo-Catholics, liberals, and conservative evangelicals rubbing along with the odd elements of friction and yes, loathing. Unity in diversity. The CofE found a mechanism (flying bishops) to preserve an uneasy peace when it decided to ordain women.
Now battle has been joined on the issue of church blessings for couples in same-sex civil marriages. There is an orchestrated campaign afoot for the creation of a new province within the CofE, not based on geography, but on an opinion that to permit such blessings is a fundamental breach of the CofE's doctrine and tradition and a refutation of biblical truth.
There is the threat of schism and departure from the Church. How much of this is mere sabre-rattling is hard to tell. Loss of homes and church buildings will doubtless make clergy think very carefully. The issue is having a debilitating effect within the Church which it can well do without given falling congregations, deteriorating revenue and major safeguarding issues. The vicar of the Church I attend has stated support for the blessings.
To follow: The Salvation Army. Also my theological shift.
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