The Archbishop and Why Movements Fall
The Church of England has appointed Stephen Cottrell as Archbishop of York, the second most senior position.
Bishop Cottrell has … warned that the Church’s stance on same-sex relationships means that it is ‘seen as immoral by the culture in which it is set’ and has suggested that prayers of thanksgiving for these relationships — ‘perhaps a eucharist’ — should be offered.
In a diocesan-synod address in 2017, he warned of the ‘missiological damage that is done when that which is held to be morally normative and desirable by much of society, and by what seems to be a significant number of Anglican Christian people in this country, is deemed morally unacceptable by the Church…
The soon to be archbishop’s approach to sexual ethics is an example of why movements fall. They become more concerned with being out of step with the culture than faithfulness to the Scriptures.
At its best, Christianity is often out of step with whatever culture in which it finds itself. That’s the example of Jesus, the Apostles and early church, and the martyrs down through the ages.
Movements rise and fall as they move towards, or away from, the life and ministry of Jesus — obedient to the living Word, dependent on the Holy Spirit and faithful to the core missionary task.
