One of the responsibilities that I accepted in my early days as an incumbent in the 80s was the role of a diocesan ecumenical officer.   I would not claim that I was overburdened by this task.  There were a number of invitations from deanery synods to be responded to.  At the time, the person taking the ecumenical role was expected to guide clergy and lay people towards an understanding of ecumenical documents like Baptism Eucharist and Ministry and the ARCIC reports.   All these discussions were encouraging us to believe that there was a real possibility of Christian unity in our lifetimes. 

At some point after 1990, the impetus towards church unity lost its energy and momentum so that today, any interest in reconciling theological differences between the denominations seems hardly to exist. 2026 sees many of the old divisions as intractable as ever.  Alongside the differences noted in the past, there are new divisions which exist.  These are in a completely different place from those we struggled with in the 80s.  The possibility of bringing unity to the Churches seems as far away as ever.  However, there are cracks and fissures that now appear to separate Christian bodies in 2026 that were not typically found in old theological debates or disagreements on how to interpret classical doctrines.  The current differences that are found are often those that exist within denominations.  These are the contrasting styles of culture or worship style.   Two neighbouring CofE churches might each officially claim to belong to the national church, but the differences between them are now so marked that members of the first church find it hard or impossible to worship in the second.  One church has opted for what they believe to be a ‘seeker-friendly’ approach to worship with long periods of time given to singing and attractive worship songs.  The other church may have clung to a traditional formula of hymns and Anglican liturgy.  This way of maintaining the words and familiar music from early childhood is to communicate and maintain a sense of the timelessness and beauty of God.  It is difficult to see how these different approaches can ever be reconciled as they are so radically divergent from each other. 

A recent book by John Leach, Anglicans Who Don’t Like Liturgy, gives us an enormously helpful insight into understanding this new pattern of church division.  What we find today is that, while many churches have not totally abandoned their search for Christian unity, they have become so far wedded to their particular cultures of worship that they have little incentive to look elsewhere.  Leach’s research seems to confirm the existence of real division among Christians in their radically different choices of worship style.  Many Anglican Christians, through being attracted to the vigour and exuberance of charismatic networks, have been swept up into this new style of worship.  This style originates from the work of John Wimber in the 80s and his workshops in London and Sheffield.  Leach’s study focusses on two current strands, that of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) and the network known as New Wine.   Some have characterised this music style as ‘soft rock’.  Culturally, aesthetically and theologically we can say that this style is a long way from traditional Anglican liturgical styles of worship. Not only do we have diverging styles and cultures for worship, we find, according to Leach, a conscious and deliberate intention by some advocates of the new charismatic styles to reject the liturgical traditions of the Anglican past. We can describe many such Anglican congregations today as ‘non-liturgical’ or even ‘ex-liturgical’.

Leach’s study looks at three worship styles within Anglicanism that are current today.  Two of them come from the ‘modern’ worship song tradition and are demonstrated within New Wine circles and the HTB network.  The third strand is the classical Anglican pattern of worship.  Worship in this pattern may involve a highly trained choir, as in our Anglican cathedrals, but the main feature of liturgy is the careful use of liturgical texts which have been composed with enormous care by generations of skilled liturgists.  Although Leach himself places himself within the charismatic culture, it is clear that he has enormous sympathy for the tradition within Anglicanism that is responsible for current texts and liturgies.   His aim, revealed right at the end of the book, is to see if there is any way that the positive features of the liturgical traditions can be woven into the energy and vibrancy of charismatic worship.  For that ever to be a reality, there would have to be a far greater knowledge of the opposite traditions of the Church of England than there is at present.  It would not be wrong to suggest that currently little such mutual comprehension exists.

To return to Leach’s detailed study of the worship song style of New Wine churches and the HTB network, I learnt many intriguing details.   One difference that he was able to note in listening to hundreds of songs used in these two distinct strands of charismatic-style worship, was that HTB is prone to a constant revising of the musical repertoire.  In other words, it appears that the organisers of music at HTB invest a huge amount of time (and money) in listening to and presenting songs that have only just been released.  New Wine churches on the other hand tend to use older musical material suitable for the purposes of evangelism.  All these churches in the charismatic tradition regarded singing as the most important ingredient of the service.  In Leach’s words, ‘Worship, understood as extended periods of singing, has the function of taking worshippers on a journey towards a moment, or a state, intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit.’   It is in reflecting on this sentence that we begin to recognise how charismatic worship is in contrast with more traditional understandings of worship through the use of liturgy. 

I want at this point to stand aside from Leach’s discussion about the relative merits and appeal of the non-liturgical charismatic traditions, especially for young people, and attempt in my own words and from my experience to make a case for Anglican liturgy.   When I attend a traditional Anglican service, I do not expect necessarily to have an ‘experience’ of God, whether or not it is described as a moment of intimacy.  The purpose of liturgy is to allow me to be part of a pattern of prayer that is far larger than my individual  prayer.  Church worship uses traditional words and phrases which have a force and familiarity given them through their repetition.  When I am using ‘common prayer’ I am drawn into a dimension that unites me with my fellow worshippers.  I am also united with Christians the world over who are praying at the same moment.  My sense of connection also extends across time.  Anglican liturgy draws us into an activity that has been going over many centuries, and, in the service, we are also given a sense of connection with a glorious past.  Time and space are eclipsed and for a moment we may have a powerful sense of how all things, including ourselves, are connected in God.

Leach’s book is one that is worth studying for its positive appraisal of the meaning of worship, whether in the charismatic or liturgical style.  The new ecumenism of worship, if such a thing were to exist, would require us to move forward in seeking to teach Christians to value the worship experiences of others.  At present, if we examine the contrasting styles of charismatic worship alongside liturgical, we will probably have no difficulty in understanding the reasons for wanting to reject it – the one we do not use.  Of course, liturgical patterns are rejected because they can become dry and over-formal to the point of meaninglessness.  Equally, charismatic music can be criticised for descending into a cultivation of feelings which are self-indulgent to the point of selfishness. What Leach has done in his writing is to demonstrate clearly that instead of choosing one approach or the other, we can move towards this new ecumenism of worship.  At present in the Church of England, we are divided because of our preferences in the area of music and worship.  Perhaps with some proper study and intelligent appreciation of all these traditions we can learn to respect the styles of other people and move towards an ecumenical reconciliation that seemed to become too difficult for the generation that came before us.