Evangelicals poised to take over the Church

The Telegraph ^ | August 25, 2003 | Jonathan Petre

[Mr. Mulliner]

Evangelicals poised to take over the Church

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 25/08/2003)

Evangelicals, dismissed as a vociferous minority by senior liberals during the Jeffrey John affair, are now poised to take over the Church of England.

A new study suggests that, if current trends continue, evangelicals will make up more than half of all Sunday church worshippers in 10 years' time, up from about a third now.

As they grow quickly, Liberals and Anglo-Catholics continue to decline, says Dr Peter Brierley, a former government statistician who heads Christian Research.

Moreover, all but a tiny proportion of the new breed of evangelicals will be theologically conservative, viewing sex outside marriage, including homosexuality, as outlawed by Scripture.

According to the new analysis, they are consolidating their grip on the Church's income, contributing a significant amount of money to church funds.

Also, half of all ordinands training to be the next generation of clergy are attending evangelical colleges.

The combined effect could be to provide the evangelical wing of the Church with an unprecedented power base as long as their numbers are reflected in the membership of the General Synod and the Church's leadership in future years.

Dr Brierley's projections are expected to alarm liberals, who have portrayed them as fringe fundamentalists whose influence is out of proportion to their numbers. His analysis indicates that, based on several national surveys by Christian Research, about 35 per cent of churchgoers in 1998 were evangelicals and that proportion could rise to half by 2010.

Of this, he estimates, just eight per cent will be "broad" or "liberal" evangelicals, who are relaxed over issues such as homosexuality. The remainder will be mainstream or charismatic hard-liners.

Another survey, detailed in this year's Religious Trends handbook, indicates that the total giving of evangelical churches is already about 40 per cent of the Church's national income.

The latest Church statistics show that for 2001 the total income of parishes was £650 million. Evangelical worshippers put an estimated £250 million of that into the collection plate.

Their financial muscle was demonstrated during the crisis over Canon Jeffrey John, the openly homosexual cleric who was forced by evangelical pressure in June to withdraw as the Bishop of Reading.

Many evangelical parishes, which include most of the largest and wealthiest in the country, were planning to withhold a significant proportion of the quotas they pay to central funds if Canon John had been consecrated.

"These figures show that mainstream evangelicals are a larger group than most others already, and they are still growing," said Dr Brierley. "If these trends continue, they could become the largest group in the Church within a decade."

His findings belie comments by liberals like the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee, who said in July that Canon John had been forced to stand down by a minority who made "a noise out of all proportion to their size".

The Rev Giles Fraser, the vicar of Putney, admitted that liberals could have underestimated the influence of "fundamentalist" evangelicals, and it was worrying for the future of the Church.

"The truth is that they have learned the techniques of marketing, how to sell something," he said. "It's a very simple message. But it's like selling soap powder. I think that way of simplifying and marketing is verging on idolatory - putting God into a box."

Gordon Lynch, a theologian from Birmingham University, said that Dr Brierley's analysis was too simplistic and did not allow for shades of opinion and people's changing views. He conceded, however, that socially conservative evangelicals were becoming a "considerable influence".

"They represent one of the few groups in society where people who are drawn to that kind of social conservatism can actually find a home," said Dr Lynch.

"Perhaps the Conservative Party used to provide a kind of structure for those people, but it seems to do that less and less now. So there is a danger that the Church does drift towards an increasingly conservative position."

[Libertina]

Big BUMP as it says in the Bible - every knee shall bow down. LOL Hope I haven't upset that other 65% gain ;) God Bless.

Oh, here is a little Christian humor...

Pity the poor insomniac dyslexic agnostic. He stays up all night wondering if there really is a dog. ;)

[TEXOKIE]

"...This is exactly what the liberal/gay coalition has done in the United States. Of course, no mention is made of that, because we wouldn't want anyone in the US to catch on. "

LOL! Excellent point!

[Delbert]

Looks to me like the bride is getting ready for the groom.

[bd476]

Forgive the expression, but AnAmericanMother... you absolutely rock and roll! Awesome post, great review, only quibble I have is from your earlier post. I've attended "low" churches where doctrine isn't lazy or even hazy and Eucharist is celebrated every single week, usually at the early service.

As a kid, one needed to know these things so one could have breakfast prior to church. My Mom insisted everyone had to fast before Holy Communion. We would stall her to go to a later service, eat breakfast, knowing that if we went to the later service there would be no Holy Communion and we would have no major hunger pangs. Hey, I was confirmed, but still a growing kid, ha ha. It was hard to take Holy Communion on an empty stomach.

Again, great post! Bells and smells, yes that's it! Thanks for the links and thank you many times for mentioning Alan Rickman in a Trollope based movie !!!! Wow. I wonder if it's available for rent.

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanx! I meant no offense to the "low" churches, I'm not as familiar with them because our family has always been up in the rafters with the bats . . . . :-D The last "low" church I attended was St. Dunstan's, when they were using the local Catholic church's gym and celebrating on a folding table. They now have a beautiful little church in the woods about 2 miles from the Catholics.

Re breakfast -- that's what Tiger's Milk and Instant Breakfast were for . . . . :-D

These folks say they have "Barchester Chronicles" for rent in VHS. I have no idea if they'll rent trans-Atlantic!

He does his hair right, but I don't think he's red-faced, oily or sweaty enough per Mr. Trollope's description.

[BnBlFlag]

Also, traditionally, many "Lower" churches place less emphasis on Communion than the "Higher" ones. We had Communion one week with Morning Prayer the next. (In 5 Sunday months, Morning Prayer and Sermon 3 times).
We used Rite 1 because it was closer to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

[bd476]

LOL, haha, the rafters indeed, very funny!

Our family went to both, sometimes low-to-middling services then over to "high" services. We made several inter-state moves back then. The incense was intriguing, the bells were pretty, but I labelled the extra kneeling exercise or worse, "bobbing and dipping" because it was hard on my knees. :-)

My Mom strictly interpreted fasting as nothing but water prior to Holy Communion.

Lovely, lovely Alan Rickman, and close enough, no need for oily, red-face. It's Rickman, that's all that counts, right? (grin) Thanks for the link!

[D Rider]

...lost of the house of Israel were the 10 missing tribes...

There have never been any missing tribes. Believers of all the other tribes moved to Judah (where the temple was). When Israel made a golden calf. This is clearly outlined in Kings/Chronicles.

[bd476]

Remembering my feelings as a kid: you were lucky. Our church celebrated Holy Communion every week.

I like Rite 1, and I miss the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

[RnMomof7]

Bump for an interesting take on the church in England

[xzins]

I do not mean this argumentatively, but it is real curiosity.

Do you have any indication if the conservative opponents in the Anglican movement who are resisting the retreat from orthodoxy are closer to the old calvinist wing of anglicanism?

[altura]

You're so high you've gotta be within hailing distance of Heaven.

[hellinahandcart]

LOL

[hellinahandcart]

That's Alan Rickman? Yikes!

[rwfromkansas]

The local PCUSA church in Sterling, where my college is located, had a meeting last night on whether to leave the PCUSA. I heard the majority are in favor of leaving the church and joining a more conservative Presby denomination. I have not heard what has happened.

If they don't stay, it will be an Earthquake because my college is PCUSA and that means there will not be any PCUSA church in town! That will be huge and could trickle down to the college affiliation.

If they do stay, it could mean a lot of new members in my RP church.

[Humidston]

Hey, lookie here! Interesting read.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's Alan Rickman? Yikes!

A very young Alan Rickman, dressed up as one of Tony Trollope's more unpleasant characters.

Here he is delivering the sermon that so offended the clergy of Barchester Cathedral . ..

He gets his, though, falling into the toils of the Signora Vesey Neroni . . . . :-D

[AnAmericanMother]

Do you have any indication if the conservative opponents in the Anglican movement who are resisting the retreat from orthodoxy are closer to the old calvinist wing of anglicanism?

Many of the old Calvinists went into the REC (Reformed Episcopal Church) when the prayer book was revised and women ordained.

The orthodox bishops that voted "no" run the gamut from very high quasi-Catholic to Biblically-based evangelical, but there is no Calvinist emphasis that I am aware of. The orthodox bishop that I know personally is a Southerner of the old school, and is rather a "broad churchman" than anything else.

[sheltonmac]

"So there is a danger that the Church does drift towards an increasingly conservative position."

You know something is changing for the better when a conservative shift is considered dangerous.

[thackney]

from the the Website of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida.

Episcopal worship styles include some basic categories. The following is a brief lexicon:

Anglo-Catholic
This style of worship is sometimes referred to as "high church." The worship can be more chanted than spoken and might involve more sensory elements -- incense, bells, rich religious images, candles, highly stylized choir hymns or even Gregorian or Anglican chants, colorful vestments -- and prayers invoking the saints and the blessed Virgin Mary. The church may refer to its service as the "Mass." The "Gospel" reading and the "Eucharistic Prayer" (the consecration) may be chanted or sung. You may note extensive use of devotional acts (crossing oneself, genuflections, etc.) among the worshiping parishioners.

Evangelical
This style of worship is sometimes referred to as "low church." The term "low" is not meant in a derogatory way; it simply implies that the service is less formal and "emphasizes scripture and a sermon based on the texts of the day with some kind of invitation to change your life and the sense that the communion is more like a supper with a friend than an audience with the King." (The Rev. Hugh Magers, Office of Evangelism for the Episcopal Church.) This style of service may not use incense, or candles, or have a vested choir or lay readers. There is typically a minimal amount of ceremony.

Broad Church
"Broad Church" is really a mixture of "Low" and "High" church elements. It will often interpret Anglican formularies and rubrics in a "broad and liberal sense," neither "high church" nor "low church." The majority of Episcopal churches fall in this category. This style mixes the informality of the "low" with the formality of the "high" in different configurations. For example, some may use incense, but not have a vested choir or lay readers. Some smaller parts of the service may be "sung" but the majority of the liturgy will be said. Some worshipers may use devotional acts, while others may not. There may be a mixture of "chant" with the more "heartfelt and evangelical" hymns. The sermon will typically be based upon the scripture reading of the day.

Charismatic
"Charismata," the gifts of grace bestowed on Christians to fulfill their vocation as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10 are: speaking of wisdom, speaking of kowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues.

Innovative
Innovative liturgical styles are those that have moved beyond the prayer book or added to it. Some congregations have reordered their worship space, rearranged their liturgies, given lay readers greater roles, chosen new and sometimes unauthorized music, or added elements borrowed from other denominations. This style of worship is probably the rarest but on occasion one will find it.

For more information:
http://www.cfdiocese.org/whowhat/intro/styles.htm