REVISIONIST BISHOP OF DONCASTER WOULD DAMAGE GROWTH

To the Archbishop of York, The Most Reverend Dr John Sentamu:

Your Grace,

I am writing as a parochial incumbent in Sheffield Diocese to express the hope that the next Bishop of Doncaster to be consecrated will clearly and unequivocally uphold Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10.

The reason for focussing specifically on that Resolution is that a refusal to affirm it as the biblically faithful statement that it is involves a hermeneutical approach to the Bible that is fundamentally anti-Anglican.

Article 20 of the Church of England's 39 Articles of Religion declares that 'it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another’.

Revisionists who deny the enduring validity of New Testament teaching on faith and morals on the basis of claims that such texts are trumped by others about Christian liberty are treating Holy Scripture in precisely the way Article 20 forbids.

There is another reason in our context why the consecration of a bishop with a revisionist approach to Holy Scripture would be so very damaging.

In a diocese where the majority of parishes are net-receiving in terms of parish share and have fewer than 65 adults on a normal Sunday, our Diocesan Bishop Dr Steven Croft has been rightly promoting the Diocesan Strategy for Growth. Indeed this week in our deanery there is a meeting for PCC members with Bishop Steven entitled ‘Growing the Body of Christ’.

In the Anglican tradition, the Bible is absolutely central and essential to the growth of the Body of Christ. That conviction is reflected in the fact that in our Ordinal (whose biblical faithfulness is affirmed by Canon A5) the Bishop being consecrated is handed a Bible by the Archbishop and exhorted: "Give heed unto reading, exhortation and doctrine. Think upon the things contained in this Book. Be diligent in them, that the increase coming thereby may manifest itself to all men."

A bishop who took the revisionist approach to the Bible involved in the rejection of Lambeth 1.10 would not be contributing to the spiritual 'increase' that our Ordinal asserts will flow forth from faithful adherence to God's Word written. In fact, he would be a false teacher and so it would be incumbent upon Christian people to respond to his ministry in the way that the New Testament commands in relation to false teachers (see Romans 16v17-20; Galatians 1v6-9; 2 John v8-11).

I therefore respectfully appeal to you to consecrate a suffragan bishop of Doncaster with a Confessing Anglican approach to the Bible as opposed to a revisionist one.

With all Christian good wishes,

Julian Mann
The Parish Church of the Ascension
Oughtibridge
www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk