When is a church not a church?

I wrote recently about the experience I had with apparent evangelicals who turned out to be gospel deniers. It seems inevitable at the moment that gospel-denying surrounds the issues around gender and sexuality, although I would argue that the roots of the denial usually go back to something more fundamental - often the attitude to the Bible and the doctrine of God.

But that previous blogpost suggests an increasingly pressing question. When is a church not a church? In recent days the GAFCON conference in Kigali has separated quite firmly from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the direction of travel of the Church of England that he leads. This follows the General Synod votes to accept blessings within the context of homosexual relationships.

There remains much discussion about what has been agreed and what will be agreed. However, it will do us well to consider what happens when a church gives up the gospel. This was the sad trajectory of the Methodists in England and the episcopal or Anglican churches of both Wales and Scotland. It will surprise no-one if the Church of England follows the same path.

If so, as I described in the previous blogpost, the Church of England will have changed their gospel. Given that this is not, to my mind, a biblical innovation (given what the Bible teaches in e.g. Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 6:9-11; Revelation 21:7-8), I would suggest they have surrendered the gospel to a false gospel.

Now the Church of England defines the church in Article XIX:

“The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.”

A church that has decided to redefine the gospel and whose bishops have led the way can’t really be consider either to be a congregation of faithful men or to preach the pure word of God. In that sense, it seems it will be hard to see the Church of England as part of the visible Church of Christ!

It is true to say that Article XIX concludes:

“As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.”

And perhaps those orthodox Anglicans who want to remain in the church will prefer to see their denomination as a church in error. That said, I think the purpose of this phrase isn’t to argue that the Church of Rome is a true church, but rather that it is capable of error which is why the Church of England has separated from it!

I think there will be two related questions as a consequence.

• What do we do with a denomination that rejects the gospel?
• What do we do with an orthodox church that remains within such a denomination?

I think it will take a further post or two to unpack the answers to those questions.