Whose Church is it anyway?
I love the way we end November with the Feast of Christ the King. It is a month of falling leaves, reminding us of death and dissolution, and this month those who value traditional Christian faith within the Church of England are being made to feel like those leaves; no longer fit for purpose in ‘an inclusive Church’. Not so! Thank God we are the Church of Jesus Christ. He is the living Lord of the Church, not General Synod! His vitality can’t be extinguished by any amount of democratising, renegotiating or innovating though all of this risks rebellion against Christ the King! Jesus is Lord!
It’s great to think of England having an established Church but not great to see its established status moving it away from submission to Christ’s teaching – something will have to give soon. Forgive, listeners, this salvo! I love my Church and I want to conserve my position in it to death, but I hate it when she lacks the courage to illuminate the confusion of our culture and falls so readily into a re-modelling to accommodate it. The Church of England is a conservative church. Does this mean she likes to conserve her position in contemporary society? No, it means she conserves loyalty to Christ the King!
I realise there aren’t easy answers to my thoughts, and I am grateful to belong to a Church engaging with female empowerment, same sex unions, genetic engineering and the like. Christians must dialogue, but we must know where we’re coming from and to Whom we are ultimately accountable.
John Twisleton
Broadcast by Fr John Twisleton (Rector of St Giles, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex)
on Premier Christian Radio DAB Digital Radio
Freeview 725/ Sky digital 0123
in London on 1305 1332 1413 MW