RESOLUTION C ROUTE - PROBABLY NOT FOR SHEFFIELD

A PCC decision to pass Resolution C, allowing for oversight by a flying bishop who does not ordain women, has many advantages but Cranmer's Curate, for what it's worth, has decided not to push ahead with it.

Proponents of Resolution C may not find his reasons convincing but here they are:

* Local churches have the responsibility to ensure they adhere to biblical principles of male headship in the ministry of Word and Sacrament that they are prepared to accept. That applies whether or not there are legislative provisions for opponents of the ordination of women both to the presbyterate and the episcopate. Local parish churches cannot afford to get into a habit of excessive dependency on institutional molly-coddling. They need to be taught to stand on their own two feet - in humble dependence on God's grace in Christ.

* Dioceses do vary in the theological quality of their leadership and therefore for Reformed Evangelicals like cc there are close-call judgements to be made in relation to individual bishops. Your curate has come to the decision that Sheffield now has a diocesan who is both willing and gifted to work positively with front-line clergy in leading local parish churches into gospel growth. Dr Croft is in favour of the ordination of women - cc has a serious and principled disagreement with him on that - but the judgement cc has made is that that is less problematic that some of issues surrounding Anglo-Catholic Eucharistic theology and attitudes towards the Book of Common Prayer and some of the key Reformed 39 Articles.

* Your curate is unconvinced that the Resolution C route is the best way to get a Conservative Evangelical bishop, flying or otherwise. Your curate may be naive on this, but he believes that if the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans plays its cards right with the House of Bishops, then it could effectively lobby for the appointment of a bishop to look after our constituency. That seems to cc to depend on FCA-supporting churches being seen to use their financial and numerical muscle to support smaller parish churches with as few strings attached as possible, other than a requirement that they have orthodox Bible-teaching ministry.

A generosity of spirit by FCA churches, cc believes, could achieve a surprising institutional result, fuelled to a large extent by the desire to avoid the ructions raging across the Atlantic. But if the FCA is seen to be a special interest group for large gathered churches and their homogeneous church plants in affluent areas, then cc believes there will be a growing fissure between orthodox Anglican churches in the Church of England and those growing outside the institution. Such a fissure is not fertile ground for the appointment of a Conservative Evangelical bishop.

The youth group may well find cc's reasons unconvincing but he invites public discussion.