Fourth in a series of guest articles detailing the unhappy situation in the Church of England with regard to its failures in the management of Safeguarding.

By Anon & Friends

No. 4: Redefining ‘Independent Review’

Trust and confidence in the Archbishops’ Council and National Safeguarding Team is broken beyond repair. The statements made on safeguarding and issued by both Archbishops, senior staff and Lead Bishops seem designed only mislead both church and public. Yet ordinary members of the church seem to be powerless in the face of the lack of accountability and competence over the ways in which safeguarding policy and practice is being operated.

Recently, the Archbishop of York was found to have deliberately lied to General Synod over progress on reviews and the closure of the ISB. Victims of abuse are now writing to their MPs and calling out the deceptions, incompetence and cover-ups. In a short series of five extracts of letters sent to Members of Parliament, the case for root and branch reform is set out.

These short extracts detail the deceptions fed to General Synod, the wider Church of England and general public. On the scales of justice, we find that statements from either of the Archbishops cannot be trusted and have little weight. Furthermore, little, if anything, that the Archbishops’ Council says to General Synod about safeguarding is likely to be true.  The scales of justice can no longer be balanced, and victims are now calling upon Parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

In five brief extracts taken from letters to MPs, the issues now being put to Parliament are carefully set out, and the call for independent statutory regulation of church safeguarding is made. Victims of abuse and injustice have no confidence in the Church of England’s leadership being able or willing to address the abuses it continues to perpetrate. Only external legal independent intervention can right these wrongs, and finally put a complete stop to all of the continuing injustices that the Church of England’s safeguarding policies and practices perpetuate.

….this is not the first time that Archbishop Cottrell has deliberately misled General Synod.  On 30^th May 2024, the Church of England’s NST issued the following press release (Christ Church, Oxford: Safeguarding practice review suspended): 

The review group overseeing the independent review into the handling of alleged safeguarding issues regarding the former Dean of Christ Church, Oxford has announced that it is suspending its work.

The Safeguarding Practice Review was announced in November and commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council and Oxford Diocese. Members of the review group were to consider evidence relating to the alleged safeguarding issues with a view to appointing and instructing an independent reviewer with relevant expertise and experience. That has been unable to happen despite the efforts of the review group members. This has meant no further progress can be made on the review. Stakeholders have been informed of this and support offered.

Victims are unlikely to accept unregulated, non-professional and non-independent “support” from their abuser. That notwithstanding, it is worth recalling what Dr Percy was seeking. As set out in the unaltered text of Martin Sewell’s questions 40 and 41 at GS in July 2023, it is Dr Percy’s 

“complaint into the deliberate weaponisation of safeguarding allegations, with intent to cause harm to [him], perpetrated by senior clergy, church lawyers and church PR.” [see page 3 of the Appendix to the Report of Proceedings, July 2023]. 

In answers to these questions, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell said (see Report of Proceedings, July 2023, pages 80-82; our emphasis):

“…. the Archbishops’ Council recognises the importance of this Review into the handling by the Church of safeguarding allegations made against Dr Martyn Percy and is giving it active consideration proposing to work jointly with the Diocese of Oxford. We hope, in the near future, to be in a position to consult all interested parties on a proposed way forward. 

Synod members will understand that we should consult all of the interested parties first before making further details public…it is my strong view and my consistent view that it is in everyone’s best interests and to everyone’s benefit – obviously especially Martyn Percy himself – that an independent review takes place of the issues and concerns that have been raised and I look forward to that happening.” 

Despite the promise made above, the Review Group (RG) was set up without any consultation with Dr. Percy who raised the following issues:

1. The RG membership had not been at any stage discussed with Dr. Percy. The RG would not engage directly with Dr. Percy, and would not address concerns expressed by him about potential loss of impartiality due to perceived conflicts of interest in their proposed terms of reference with consequent risk of bias.
2. Dr Percy put to individual RG members concerns about their previous professional connections with those complained about, which created reasonable perceptions of conflicts of interest.  Even when these were pointed out, one declined to reply in substance, and the rest declined to reply at all to the points made.
3. In the light of this, the RG was not demonstrably independent, or even competent. Yet again, General Synod were presented with an inevitable (but avoidable) perception of the Church of England ‘setting and marking its own homework’ on safeguarding.

In these circumstances Dr Percy did not consider it possible to safely engage with the RG, both in his own interests and, as a matter of principle, on behalf of others being offered similarly unsatisfactory reviews or complaint resolutions.  His decision is entirely congruent with Professor Alexis Jay’s conclusion that responsibility for safeguarding should not remain with an institution where there is little trust in its ability to perform key functions with unquestioned and unquestionable impartiality. 

General Synod and all interested parties were promised an “Independent Review”. The Archbishop of York promised that to General Synod. But this was not delivered. Not for the first time, it appears that the concerns of a complainant have not been recognised or action taken to address them. Independence and impartiality are inseparable concepts in the secular world. We must now ensure that they are also embedded throughout Church Safeguarding and its underpinning culture. 

There was no consultation. The membership of the group and its Terms of Reference were non-negotiable, and no attempt was made to consult with Dr. Percy until after these conditions were imposed on him. In July 2024, the Archbishop of York was asked this question by Mr. Sewell to address what he had told General Synod in July 2023. He was asked to explain why the review of Dr. Percy’s case had not gone ahead. He stated:

“Accepting entirely the good faith of that expressed commitment, can you please make enquiries and set out with particularity the extent to which that promise of consultation was actually delivered in practice?”

The Archbishop answered:

“As Synod will be aware, a review group was formed to oversee an independent review into the handling of alleged safeguarding issues involving the former Dean of Christ Church Oxford. Its terms of reference and membership can be found at the link here.

The Group consulted extensively with interested parties. Whilst some progress was made, it became clear that it was not possible for all parties to reach the necessary level of agreement to allow the review to proceed. Accordingly the review group suspended its work. This is deeply regrettable as it leaves various voices unheard, many of whom would welcome a review on the lines that was suggested. For ease I have reproduced the latest statement from the review group below.

The review group overseeing the independent review into the handling of alleged safeguarding issues regarding the former Dean of Christ Church, Oxford has announced that it is suspending its work. The Safeguarding Practice Review was announced in November and commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council and Oxford Diocese.

Members of the review group were to consider evidence relating to the alleged safeguarding issues with a view to appointing and instructing an independent reviewer with relevant expertise and experience. That has been unable to happen despite the efforts of the review group members. This has meant no further progress can be made on the review. Stakeholders have been informed of this development and support offered. It will now be for the Archbishops’ Council and Oxford Diocese to consider any next steps.”

None of the above is true.

Third in a series of guest articles detailing the unhappy situation in the Church of England with regard to its failures in the management of Safeguarding.

By Martyn Percy

Part 3 Lies and Damned Lies

Trust and confidence in the Archbishops’ Council and National Safeguarding Team is broken beyond repair. The statements made on safeguarding and issued by both Archbishops, senior staff and Lead Bishops seem designed only mislead both church and public. Yet ordinary members of the church seem to be powerless in the face of the lack of accountability and competence over the ways in which safeguarding policy and practice is being operated.

Recently, the Archbishop of York was found to have deliberately lied to General Synod over progress on reviews and the closure of the ISB. Victims of abuse are now writing to their MPs and calling out the deceptions, incompetence and cover-ups. In a short series of five extracts of letters sent to Members of Parliament, the case for root and branch reform is set out.

These short extracts detail the deceptions fed to General Synod, the wider Church of England and general public. On the scales of justice, we find that statements from either of the Archbishops cannot be trusted and have little weight. Furthermore, little, if anything, that the Archbishops’ Council says to General Synod about safeguarding is likely to be true.  The scales of justice can no longer be balanced, and victims are now calling upon Parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

In five brief extracts taken from letters to MPs, the issues now being put to Parliament are carefully set out, and the call for independent statutory regulation of church safeguarding is made. Victims of abuse and injustice have no confidence in the Church of England’s leadership being able or willing to address the abuses it continues to perpetrate. Only external legal independent intervention can right these wrongs, and finally put a complete stop to all of the continuing injustices that the Church of England’s safeguarding policies and practices perpetuate.

We write in relation to an issue that has comparable seriousness to that of the plight of the sub-postmasters and the Post Office scandal. In 5^th July 2024, members of the General Synod gathered at the University of York. The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, spoke to give his presidential address, which are on the record. But before doing so, he made the following statement, publicly to Synod, off the record: 

“Just before giving the address, Synod, I’d like to make a small correction to the record. Since the last meeting of the General Synod, and following publication of the Wilkinson Report, it has come to my attention that when I spoke in the ISB debate at the July Synod in 2023, I mistakenly said that the decision of the Archbishops’ Council to terminate the contracts of the two remaining members of the ISB was unanimous.

In fact the Wilkinson Report states, of those voting 11 voted in favour, four voted against, four chose not to vote. I’m sure we will all remember, those of us who were here, it was a heated and difficult session. I spoke incorrectly and since it has been pointed out to me I wanted to apologise and put the record straight.”

This is what he said in July 2023, answering a question from Synod member Robert Thomson, from the Diocese of London:

“I think I just want again to reiterate something that I said earlier: the decision that was taken, painful though it was, was taken because we believe, in the medium term, it will be the best way of providing what the Church needs in terms of scrutinising and overseeing the safeguarding of the whole Church in its ministry to everyone. But this was a collective decision, and it was a unanimous decision. As I think has come out, there may have been some disagreements around timings, because this was a sensitive issue, but they were not disagreements about the decision itself.”

It is easy to misspeak when you are speaking off the cuff in answer to a question you were not expecting. But the questions followed a scripted, prepared and rehearsed presentation by some members of the Archbishops’ Council, including Stephen Cottrell.

This is what he said in his introductory remarks and presentation in July 2023, and well before the session could be described as “heated and difficult”:

“I will make a few final comments at the end of this short presentation before we open up for questions. But the other thing I want to emphasis is that we do take collective responsibility for this as the Archbishops’ Council. Yes, yes, we wish we weren’t here, but we have proceeded all along in the knowledge that we are working with people of good will and in the belief that we all want the same thing. But we acknowledge that we have failed to get there. And the decisions we took in getting here were unanimous.”

Questions about the disbanding of the ISB were first formally raised at the Synod during “question time” on Friday 7^th July 2023. In a supplementary question to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Sam Margrave from Coventry asked:

“Your response says that it was the decision of the Archbishops’ Council and not the two Archbishops personally. As a statement of fact, how did the Presidents vote on this issue at Archbishops’ Council?”

Why was the Archbishops’ Council so determined to portray the decision as unanimous? That has not been explained. The claims began in a June 2023 paper from the Archbishops’ Council’s Secretary General, William Nye, to members of the General Synod. The paper, GS Misc 1341, was penned to provide background to the decision ahead of the “heated and difficult” session the following month. In it, he writes: “It is the considered judgment of the council, as a whole, that it is necessary to reset the process in order to get to the destination.”

Since disbanding the ISB, the Archbishops’ Council has spent more than one million pounds of charitable funds to defend its actions, including commissioning two reports from lawyer Sarah Wilkinson into the “creation, work and termination” of the ISB”; and by Professor Alexis Jay, the former Chair of IICSA – the statutory Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – which found appalling behaviour by Church of England officialdom, into how an independent safeguarding structure for the Church of England should be established and how it should operate.

Sarah Wilkinson’s report sets out the vote in Archbishops’ Council on the decision to disband the ISB. Rather than being unanimous, 11 members of the Council voted to scrap the ISB; four voted against; and another four abstained. So why the continuing insistence by the Archbishops’ Council and its staff that the decision was unanimous? In his apology, Stephen Cottrell sought to explain his “speaking incorrectly” on the heated and difficult nature of the session in which he spoke. This, however, does not stand the test of scrutiny, and must be regarded as deliberate deceit.

First, he made the comments twice: (a) in his pre-prepared and scripted opening comments; and (b) in answer to a question.  Second, it echoed the comments from William Nye that the decision was that of the Archbishops’ Council “as a whole”. Third, following Justin Welby’s comments that both archbishops wanted to wait before a decision to disband the ISB, the Archbishops’ Council’s communications staff proactively briefed the media to say that the decision was unanimous. This was untrue, and all members of the Archbishops’ Council knew that to be the case. None spoke up.

In setting out why he was “correcting the record”, he said that it had come to his attention that he had misspoken, “following the last meeting of the General Synod and following the publication of the Wilkinson Report.” The Wilkinson Report was published in December 2023. Since then, there was a meeting of the General Synod in February 2024. So why has it taken until now, a year later, for Stephen Cottrell to realise that he had misled the Synod?

Second in a series of guest articles detailing the unhappy situation in the Church of England with regard to its failures in the management of Safeguarding.

by Martyn Percy

No. 2: Marking Their Own Homework

Trust and confidence in the Archbishops’ Council and National Safeguarding Team is broken beyond repair. The statements made on safeguarding and issued by both Archbishops, senior staff and Lead Bishops seem designed only mislead both church and public. Yet ordinary members of the church seem to be powerless in the face of the lack of accountability and competence over the ways in which safeguarding policy and practice is being operated.

Recently, the Archbishop of York was found to have deliberately lied to General Synod over progress on reviews and the closure of the ISB. Victims of abuse are now writing to their MPs and calling out the deceptions, incompetence and cover-ups. In a short series of five extracts of letters sent to Members of Parliament, the case for root and branch reform is set out.

These short extracts detail the deceptions fed to General Synod, the wider Church of England and general public. On the scales of justice, we find that statements from either of the Archbishops cannot be trusted and have little weight. Furthermore, little, if anything, that the Archbishops’ Council says to General Synod about safeguarding is likely to be true.  The scales of justice can no longer be balanced, and victims are now calling upon Parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

In five brief extracts taken from letters to MPs, the issues now being put to Parliament are carefully set out, and the call for independent statutory regulation of church safeguarding is made. Victims of abuse and injustice have no confidence in the Church of England’s leadership being able or willing to address the abuses it continues to perpetrate. Only external legal independent intervention can right these wrongs, and finally put a complete stop to all of the continuing injustices that the Church of England’s safeguarding policies and practices perpetuate.

We have recently been made aware of the Interim Support Scheme being weaponised against victims trying to secure help and support whilst their reviews and compensation are being worked out. Some victims report that payments are late, reduced or withheld if they complain. Others have discovered that their interim support is being covertly means-tested, and their family is expected to contribute to the financial support the Church of England may provide….

This is an unconscionable situation, in which the Church of England is now:

1. Constantly delaying independent reviews on abuse.
2. Consistently deceiving the public over what is “independent”.
3. Continuing to withhold funds and support from its victims.

Paragraph 24.3 of the General Synod Terms of Reference v3 (October 2023) for the Interim Support Scheme says that the Panel dealing with claims can require the following information:

Where financial support is requested, provide details of the survivor’s means on an income and expenditure form, supported by evidence, including likely sources of additional income (including income which the survivor is reasonably likely to receive in the twelve months following the request and if there is a joint income from a spouse or partner) and financial support which may be available to the survivor from any other source;

However, these Terms of Reference do not say the gross joint income but must only consider a joint income and must therefore consider the disposable joint income after reasonable deduction of reasonable expenses including expenses incurred by a partner in providing joint income. This might involve travel, business clothing, a motor vehicle, food when at work etc as well as debts, fines etc. There may also be children therefore the expenses related to those children must also be taken into account.

There is a legal judgement on this going back to 1990 – Delaney vs Delaney ([1990] EWCA Civ 14) in which Nourse LJ and Mr Justice Ward held that in considering joint incomes, all expenditure had to be considered and taken into account to allow the recipients of the joint income to live to a proper standard, and that any accusation of ‘living extravagantly’ levelled against the joint parties should be approached with caution.

Therefore if the ISS Panel have requested details of the income of a spouse or partner who has been abused by the Church of England, or in order to treat it as ‘joint income’, they should also have taken reasonable steps to establish what expenses she might be incurring and to be very cautious about accusations of extravagance.

Appeals against decisions by the ISS Panel(s) are decided by Mrs Maureen Cole (Chair of the Archbishops’ Council) Audit Committee. There clearly has to be very strong objection to Maureen acting in this manner due to a conflict of interest especially since during the past twelve months her Audit Committee has considered a report into the operation of the ISS which will require a follow-up and this will potentially lead her to be auditing her own actions.

Ms. Cole is a trustee of the Archbishops’ Council. So any Appeal run by her will in effect amount to her investigating herself. Ms. Cole has no professional accreditation in auditing, so is also outside any sphere of external regulation.

The Headline here is that Church demands that spouse or partner is expected to pay for abuse against their partner at the hands of the Church of England. Furthermore, if there is an Independent Appeal against the financial decision made, those who made the decision will be reviewing their original decision.

This is how the Archbishops’ Council define “independent”. They keep it inhouse, and mean by the term “compliant third party who continues to endorse the original decision”. The ISB, countless numbers of reviews on safeguarding incompetence and cover-ups have been subjected to similar “independent” processes. This is the church marking its own homework, again and again.

Proposed Actions:

In view of the above, victims are no longer to believe or trust statements made by the Archbishops, the Lead Bishop for Safeguarding and Archbishops’ Council to members of the General Synod on safeguarding. The situation has now become intolerable. Our concerns as victims and stakeholders can now be summarised under three headings:

Archbishops and the Archbishops’ Council:

1. Repeated delays in reviews.
2. Refusal to commission properly independent reviews.
3. Continued cover-ups of abuse.
4. Weaponisation of safeguarding against others.
5. Cease and Desist letters sent to victims complaining.
6. Deliberate lies told to General Synod in public.
7. Dishonest and libellous gaslighting of victims.

The National Safeguarding Team:

1. Gross incompetence.
2. No conflicts of interest policy.
3. No register of interest for staff.
4. Repeatedly dishonest processes and procedures.
5. No accountability or transparency.
6. Complete lack of professional standards.
7. No external regulation.

Lambeth Palace and Church House Westminster:

1. Largely exempt from Freedom of Information Act, 2000.
2. Constant non-compliance with data law.
3. Exempt from any external regulatory body.
4. Extensive conflicts of interest in senior management.
5. Audit Committee controlled by Archbishops’ Council.
6. Opaque patterns of expenditure.
7. Gross mismanagement of charitable resources.

We believe that the time is ripe for bringing legal proceedings against the Archbishops’ Council.  In the meantime, we wish to draw to (MPs) attention what the Archbishop of Canterbury has stated about the plight of the “ISB-11”, who have been left without any support over the past year. He says they are being well supported. This is untrue. These deceptions will not change whilst the present arrangements for oversight at Lambeth Palace and Church House Westminster are allowed to continue. The CofE keeps marking its own homework, and awarding itself top grades. It is time to end this fiction of fairness and competence. Safeguarding in the CofE, whenever weighed, is always found wanting. The injustice and incompetence cannot continue.

First in a series of guest articles detailing the unhappy situation in the Church of England with regard to its failures in the management of Safeguarding.

by Martyn Percy

No. 1: Who Pays?

Trust and confidence in the Archbishops’ Council and National Safeguarding Team is broken beyond repair. The statements made on safeguarding and issued by both Archbishops, senior staff and Lead Bishops seem designed only mislead both church and public. Yet ordinary members of the church seem to be powerless in the face of the lack of accountability and competence over the ways in which safeguarding policy and practice is being operated.

Recently, the Archbishop of York was found to have deliberately lied to General Synod over progress on reviews and the closure of the ISB. Victims of abuse are now writing to their MPs and calling out the deceptions, incompetence and cover-ups. In a short series of five extracts of letters sent to Members of Parliament, the case for root and branch reform is set out.

These short extracts detail the deceptions fed to General Synod, the wider Church of England and general public. On the scales of justice, we find that statements from either of the Archbishops cannot be trusted and have little weight. Furthermore, little, if anything, that the Archbishops’ Council says to General Synod about safeguarding is likely to be true.  The scales of justice can no longer be balanced, and victims are now calling upon Parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

In five brief extracts taken from letters to MPs, the issues now being put to Parliament are carefully set out, and the call for independent statutory regulation of church safeguarding is made. Victims of abuse and injustice have no confidence in the Church of England’s leadership being able or willing to address the abuses it continues to perpetrate. Only external legal independent intervention can right these wrongs, and finally put a complete stop to all of the continuing injustices that the Church of England’s safeguarding policies and practices perpetuate.

We write to inform you that victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church of England are now receiving ‘Cease and Desist’ letter from Farrer & Co., stating that complaints about the conduct of the Archbishops’ Council and other officers amount to acts of harassment. At the same time, the Archbishops claim that Non-Disclosure Agreements’ have no place in the Church of England in safeguarding disputes. Yet they continue to be used.

Attempts made to discover how much the ‘Cease and Desist’ letters have cost the charity, how many victims are being persecuted with threats of police action, legal costs if they persist in complaining, and whether or not all the members of the Archbishops’ Council are even aware of who is writing in their name as trustees, have been firmly rebuked. Audit Committee members have been told to mind their own business.

Recently, Andrew Selous, a former Member of Parliament and a Church Estates Commissioner responsible for answering other MP’s questions about the Church of England, faced some testing questions on safeguarding matters in mid-December 2023. In response to questions raised by Sir Ben Bradshaw in the House of Commons over serious concerns relating to the conduct of the Archbishops’ Council in safeguarding and Mr. William Nye’s treatment of victims of abuse, the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council and General Synod responded to Mr. Selous as follows: 

Dear Andrew

You passed on some further questions received from Sir Ben Bradshaw about the Archbishops’ Council’s interim support scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.

The Scheme was developed to assist victims and survivors in urgent need and at point of crisis. It is operated by the Archbishops’ Council (AC), and responds to urgent requests from victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.  Neither the AC nor the Church of England more widely can support victims and survivors indefinitely; and it would be unhelpful if victims and survivors become dependent on financial assistance for the Church of England in the long term…the AC nor other Church of England bodies can take the place of the statutory benefits system. However, each application is reviewed by the Scheme panel…assessed, and awards made on an individual’s needs and circumstances on a case-by-case basis applying the terms of reference.

The National Safeguarding Team provide regular updates to the Archbishops’ Council about the Scheme, including management information.  The Scheme does not have specific performance targets in place.  The Scheme staff are developing an applicant feedback form but that is not currently in place. 

All complaints against members of staff of the National Church Institutions are logged and monitored by the Director for the business area.  Any complaints against members of the National Safeguarding Teams are monitored by the senior leadership team for recurring themes and, where necessary, to improve working practices and service delivery.  

The Scheme staff have collected feedback from applicants who have provided it, and this is also acted upon to improve the scheme delivery.  An example of this is that feedback from applicants to the Scheme have informed the recent review and amendment to the TORs, and an increase in resources in the team to manage the demands.  

I am not aware of a commitment to record and publish satisfaction levels.  We have no plans to publish this data.  Feedback on the Scheme will be used to inform and improve working practices as part of our continued commitment to listen and act on victims’ and survivors’ voices. 

Sir Ben posed various questions relating to the Archbishops’ Council’s Audit and Risk Committee (ARC).  I should note that the roles of the ARC, and of AC management are distinct. The role of the ARC is to support an organisation in fulfilling its governance and oversight responsibilities in relation to financial reporting, internal control structure, risk management systems and internal and external audit functions. It acts as a strategic oversight function that should be independent from the management functions which are responsible for the design, operation, and monitoring of the internal control structure.

The AC ARC Terms of Reference reflect that independent role of the committee. Whilst the ARC could request that an internal audit review of the Interim Support Scheme be undertaken, it would not be appropriate for the ARC to become involved in the management of the Interim Support Scheme, including any monitoring activities and decision making.  For all AC internal audit reviews that are carried out, the findings of these audits are presented to the AC ARC for review and consideration, and to note and consider potential further actions as may be appropriate based on the audit conclusions.  

I hope this is useful. 

Best wishes for Advent and Christmas, 

William Nye LVO
Secretary General.

The risk and the responsibility in safeguarding, as Mr. Nye describes it, is therefore to be passed on to the taxpayer and government, and back to the victims. Mr. Nye, as Secretary General, confirms that Church of England policy is to ultimately pass on the costs, risks and responsibility for victims of sexual abuse and harmed by its actions and processes to HM Treasury and the taxpayers. The context for this note might be treated as an unfortunate one-off lapse, were it not for a number of Diocesan Directors of Finance in the Church of England reportedly briefed by Mr. Nye that they did not need to be setting aside contingency funds in their diocesan budgets and forward planning for legal claims made by victims of abuse, as such accountability for any likely financial compensation will never happen.

As a model of governance, the Church of England has lost the trust, confidence and respect of the nation. A recent social policy survey for the University of London found church leaders to be amongst our least trusted public figures. No amount of spin, PR or propaganda can re-set this. There will be no reform or renewal of the church until the endemic truth-decay is properly addressed.

I am sure that many of us can remember important conversations we have had which made possible significant changes of direction in our lives.  I can remember one such conversation which took place in the early 80s. Those who have read this blog over a period will know that, long ago, I completed a university thesis connected with my interest in the Greek Orthodox liturgy.  The detail of this research is unimportant here.   However, there was a dilemma I faced that comes with getting involved with any information of a very specialised kind.  This will be familiar to any of my readers who have undertaken post-graduate research.  The problem in essence is this.  Unless you are able to pursue a career of academic research and teaching, the information gathered over two or three years of academic research becomes rapidly out of date, especially if one has no access to university libraries.  What does one do with research which may be of interest to only a handful of people who happen to be interested in your chosen topic?  Was it all a massive waste of time to get so involved in a single specialised area of knowledge? 

The conversation I had was with a distinguished academic who understood both the substance of my research and the dilemma of my being unable to take it further.  What she said to me at the end of our conversation was a moment of liberation.  I had described to her my then fairly recent interest in healing and the way that this dimension of activity seemed to embrace almost every Christian culture that was around at the time.  I was meeting it in a New Age context right across to the charismatic.  My academic mentor was interested in this exploration and made a fascinating observation.  She pointed out that I, in the process of absorbing the highly visual culture of the Byzantine Orthodox faith, had also developed a facility to penetrate other value systems and cultures.  Struggling to understand the assumptions of the Byzantine writers for two years had been, effectually, an initiation into thinking within an alien culture.  This ability to live inside another culture in this way had demanded skills of imagination and intellectual flexibility which would always be useful.  My new interest in Christian healing would draw on these same skills of understanding, imagination and flexibility of thought.  In summary, my academic research had prepared me for an immersion into Christian cultures that were not my own.  The word I use to describe this process is rather an old-fashioned one, the word ‘indwell’.   One tries to live inside the thinking of another in order to understand better what the other is experiencing and talking about, while not necessarily agreeing with them.  Indwelling the culture and thinking of other Christians has become a core activity of mine over the past 40 years.

The attempts, on my part, to indwell other people’s thinking have been partly successful in my professional work as a clergyman.  For a time in the 80s I acted as an ecumenical officer for a diocese when the possibility of achieving Christianity unity seemed an achievable goal.  My later work as a part-time adviser on the healing ministry was also undertaken with a background of a substantial generosity of spirit between Christians from quite different backgrounds.  The emergence of a spirit of division and intolerance among Christians which seems to be a feature of this present century, is reflected in the current bitter disputes among Christian bodies who cannot agree on same-sex relationships.  The deeper issue is that Christians fail to understand one another or agree how to read and understand the Bible.   And it is on this point that my own skills and ability to indwell the thinking of others seems to fail.

 ‘Bible-believing Christians’ present us with a model of truth which allows no compromise.  The problem I have with this group is not the tenets of their belief system which are in continuity with certain beliefs from the past.  My problem is the way that the word ‘true’ in the context of the Bible is defined.  When the word ‘infallible’ is also introduced into the discussion, I desperately feel a sense of shutters coming down, precluding anything resembling true dialogue.  It is only since the eighteenth century that ideas of truth and falsehood in the scientific sense have been circulating.   The definitions of truth that existed before had to accord with the dictates of those in spiritual or political power, not in the language of scientific reasoning.  The contortions that some biblical ‘scholars’ get into to accommodate the ‘plain meaning’ of God’s Word when reading the text of Genesis are tortuous and insulting to anyone of basic intelligence.  Answers to simple questions are needed – how did the creation of sun and moon take place after the creation of light in the Genesis narrative?  What were the numbers of animals entering the Ark? These questions cannot be answered with the pseudo-scientific formulae of many Biblical conservatives.  The answers that exist in reasonable discourse belong to the world of symbol and metaphor not scientific measurement. I recognise that few Christian teachers in the UK spend much time on these questions.  In the scheme of things, they are trivial.  More important is the possibility that ordinary Christians, reared to accept ideas of scriptural infallibility, secretly spend a great deal of time worrying about such issues.  Only allowed to have a single version of the meaning of truth, these Christians are deprived of any insight as to how things can be true in a whole number of ways that are more glorious, more life enhancing than a narrow concentration on scientific fact.  One quotation from Scripture draws us back to the richness of beauty in our understanding of God ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’.  The truth encountered in beauty takes precedence over the truth contained formulaic barely understood doctrinal formulae.  The latter matter but they never engage the human spirit without the former.

To return to my important conversation with my academic mentor, which had the effect of releasing my imagination and my aesthetic sensitivity into my spiritual and intellectual journey, I am grateful for one special gift.  I am deeply grateful for the fact that in my reading, learning and discussions over the years I have never been encouraged to think I have arrived, in respect of truth.  The discovery of aspects of truth on this journey only urges me on further to explore new things.  Paradoxically the more of truth one learns, the more truth yet to be discovered emerges.

by Martyn Percy

Part 2 of Martyn’s assessment of Alpha

Alpha courses appear to be a phenomenal success.  My copy of Church Times seems to take on the proportions of the Sunday Times whenever there is an Alpha News insert.  Their own publicity suggests that hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in a course in this country, the Commonwealth and beyond.  Alpha News is full of good reports and self-publicity, smattered with quotes from ‘academics’, Bishops, and the like.  The Alpha Course itself has now become a business operation, with its own staff, teaching materials, sweat shirts, videos and books.  Of its type, it is one of the slickest commodifications of the gospel.

I ought to state now that I have not attended an Alpha Course; but I have seen much of the Alpha material.  To my mind, it has a number of features that are commendable.  First, it is a course, not a ‘hit and run’ exercise in evangelism.  A number of evenings, a weekend away and a final supper can facilitate the building up of community relationships.  Second, because it is designed to be locally-based, and from the church, it avoids the pitfalls of some itinerant evangelists who might not relate easily to local contexts and churches.  Third, there is a wealth of supportive literature to aid enquirers.  It is well-marketed, and written and presented in a ‘light’ apologetic style, formed from an evangelical-charismatic basis.  A sort of David Watson Jesus Then and Now for the 90’s, but with much more emphasis on the individual, the therapeutic, and a very personable Holy Spirit.

People who attend an Alpha Course seem to enjoy the fellowship and find their faith refreshed.  Amongst most, if not all charismatic-evangelical churches, the Alpha Course has now become obligatory; a logo that makes a statement about being in the vanguard of fashionable evangelistic techniques.  Yet I do have quite serious reservations about the style, content, approach and results of Alpha.  How though, can something apparently so successful be flawed?  Three reasons immediately come to mind.

First, there is very little attempt to present the Church as the body of Christ which is the initial repository for the Gospel.  The assumption Alpha appears to make – common to a good deal of evangelical apologetics – is that people become Christians first, then think about joining a church.  The disassociation is highly problematic.  Whilst individual evangelists and various agencies target the millions beyond church structures, the majority of conversions often fail to be properly inculcated in to the church.  This is, in part, because these same people are embarrassed by the church, and offer a Gospel that barely mentions it, if at all.  Evangelicals tend to have little theology of place, or an appreciation of directional plurality, regarding the church as a collection of people who are in agreement with one another.  A focus on the church and sacraments would deepen the course, and ensure the material was more firmly rooted as an arm from within the church, rather than an external agent being used as a go-between.  Some Roman Catholic and liberal Anglican churches have ‘tailored’ the course in this way, although the authors forbid this.

Second, the genius of Christianity lies in its contestability.  In the relentless appeal to ‘basics’, the course obviates the implicit and explicit paradoxes in the Gospel, as well as its breadth.  It offers Christianity as a simple, uncontextual, boundless project that is ‘learned’ through a course offering certain types of knowledge and experience.  Any group that offers a course on ‘Basic Christianity’ needs to address who chose the basics, and why certain ‘basics’ were selected and not others.  In Alpha, the basics turn out to be an appeal to a largely innerrant Bible, attenuation of a homely and powerful Holy Spirit, and expression of an Evangelical atonement theory.  They are not, interestingly, the Trinity, baptism, communion or community, which might be more appropriate for other groups.  Moreover, the authors apparently do not like the course being adapted or enculturated.  This suggests that a ‘package’ of truth is being sold.  Yet Christianity is arguably not something we ‘possess’; like God, it possesses us, but is beyond us too.

Third, the focus on the Holy Spirit is one of over- emphasis.  The Spirit on offer obviously arises from a personable, therapeutic, home-counties context that is concerned with the individual.  The dynamics of the Spirit’s work in creation, justice, peace, reconciliation and the wider church receive scant attention.  This is because the authors of the course reflect an elite, upper-middle class outlook (Eton, Cambridge, Brompton), which, quite naturally, has also enculturated the Gospel.  In introducing the Gospel from here, there is inevitably no real social mandate, no prophetic witness and no serious appreciation of theology or ecclesiological breadth and depth. 

It is true that the Gospel is free to all.  But it does not follow that it should be sold and marketed as a cheap package deal – a bargain-break weekend for two in eternity.  Alpha offers a highly successful ‘trial pack’ (a ‘nice’ version of Christianity), yet one that does not actually relate to what is ultimately on offer, namely the complexity of salvation from within the church.  As a locally-based evangelism programme, it is seriously flawed.  True, it does recognise that ‘lasting conversions’ are made through local church connections and friendships, with less coming from hyped-up rallies or events that are outside the church.  But the weaknesses lie in its theological foundations.  It sets its own ‘questions’, and then offers the ‘answers’ to them: a classic technique in apologetics – caricaturing ‘objections’ to faith, then demolishing them.  There is little space for people to actually reflect on and vent their own serious social, personal, moral or theological concerns.  The appeal to ‘basics’ seems to assume that all Christians are more or less the same underneath, and that their ecclesial expressions are merely cosmetic.  They are not: for many they are matters of theological and aesthetic substance. 

As a course, it is therefore somewhat prescriptive, a package rather than a pilgrimage.  Participants are locked into a hermetically-sealed hermeneutical circle, that keeps more issues out than it actually addresses.  It is a confident but narrow expression of Christianity.  It stresses the personal experience of the Spirit over the Spirit in the whole church, in all its plurality and depth.  It attempts to transform course members in to converts, and then again into church members.  Ironically, the skeleton of the course does provide a good template that parishes could adapt and deepen according to need and context.  A number of parishes I know have adapted the middle-class presuppositions of the course for their own situations where ‘supper parties’ are not easy formats in which to discuss life and faith.  It is odd then, that the authors of the course are against this.  Presumably, this is because there is a real bias in the material that is not to be ignored, and is to be protected from dilution.  So here we have a technique with fundaments, Patent Pending.

My hunch is that Alpha ultimately does to churches what any revival does.  Mostly, it excites and galvanises existing believers, and encourages them to ponder (briefly) the world outside the church.  Then to engage with it more openly than they might otherwise, albeit temporarily.  However, although this form of apologetics is to be preferred to some itinerant evangelism or mass rallies, insofar as it is locally-based, it has still done little to address the theological vacuity of its parent missiological models.  It is still more monologue than dialogue.  People are still mostly ‘sold’ a Gospel that is independent of the church – and then the course organisers wonder why the attendees don’t translate into members.  It also offers a version of the Gospel that is weak on sin, suffering, atonement, sacraments and sacrifice.  True, people have to start somewhere with the claims of the Gospel: milk precedes meat, and you learn to walk before you run.  But does the presentation have to be so sugar-coated, crude and narrow?  People’s previous experience of the church is deemed to be peripheral, and the selected ‘basics’ presented as central.  For example, one cannot imagine receiving any reasonable answer to a question like this: ‘What did God do for me when I was baptised as child?’  Such issues are omitted from the agenda.  They are just too complex to form the basis for a discussion about divine action and the graciousness of God.

The danger of a therapeutically-tuned version of the Gospel that is intentionally socially relevant is that it will itself become a fashion-victim.  The course comes from the same church – Holy Trinity, Brompton – that introduced John Wimber’s ‘Signs and Wonders’ (miracles are the best form of evangelism: 1984-86), the ‘Kansas City Six’ (1988-90: a group of strange American ‘prophets’, now widely discredited) and the ‘Toronto Blessing’ (RIP, 1994-1996).  In their own way, all these phenomena were rather ordinary within the econtext of revivalism and enthusiastic religion, yet they were marketed and sold well, particularly by Holy Trinity, Brompton.  They have a shelf-life of between 18-24 months, and in spite of some of the same Bishops and ‘academics’ who promote Alpha (one is placed in this category by virtue of being a Principal of an Anglican Theological College) giving each of these movements their full impramatur, they fizzled out.  So what they actually point to, ironically, is the lack of a deeply-formed ecclesial identity and enduring spirituality in these faith-expressions.  Without something new to sing about, punters in the pew eventually become bored.  ‘Success’ is therefore about being at the forefront of spiritual fashion, riding along on the crest of the latest wave or craze. 

A key to this is the singling out of the spiritual as an ‘event’ which can be transformed into a commodity.  This means that Miracles and Blessings suddenly acquire an identity that makes them stand out from the crowd, like a designer label on a handbag or a pair of trainers.  An ordinary blessing won’t do anymore: it must be the ‘Toronto Blessing’.  Prayer for healing is old hat: ‘Signs and Wonders’ is where the action is, and God is deemed to be.  Prophecy is interesting, but have you heard the Kansas City Six perform?  So it is with Alpha.  An ordinary catechetical course will no longer suffice – evangelical-charismatic consumers are buying a name and an identity.  And the Alpha authors will not tolerate imitations or adaptations of their Gospel: it is salvation by copyright.

It will be interesting to see how many attending the courses, then ‘making a decision’, or having a numinous experience, are actually members of their local church in two years time.  My guess is that for all the hype, triumphalism and talk, this course is mainly about ‘refreshing’ charismatic-evangelical identity.  It does not address the world in all its pain, ambiguity and profusion – so it won’t actually change it, in spite of the claims.

Revd Dr Martyn Percy,

by Martyn Percy

Part one of a two part examination of the Alpha Course

By any yardstick, Alpha Enterprises – courses, books, conferences and other programmes – is one of the more impressive missional developments to have emerged in the last 50 years.

The original course began in 1977 under Charles Marnham, a curate at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). John Irvine, Marnham’s successor, developed it further, before Nicky Lee and eventually Nick Gumbel completed the evolution under Sandy Millar, the Vicar. The course is now available in over 100 languages, half the countries of the world, and its is estimated the total number attending the course exceeds 25 million in its near 50 year history.

I wrote a reasonably prescient critique of Alpha in 1997 for Reviews in Religion and Theology.  This was at the high-point of Alpha, when 10,500 courses were running in the UK. Stuck for a title for the tongue-in-cheek review article, the publishers rang and asked me for a view.

I plucked ‘Join-the-Dots Christianity’ out of thin air, and the label has stuck ever since. It is faith given the painting by numbers treatment.  Alpha is to mission what a Lego version of what Michaelangelo’s Statute of David might do for fine art. Once you have this in your head, you cannot unthink it.

Of course, Alpha is not Christianity. And Christianity is not Alpha.  Alpha is a form of packaging that has been attractively branded, and so it should be treated as any wrapper might be. The goodies are inside. The envelope is not the point of gift, any more than the accent of a preacher is integral to the gospel.

That said, the more one might laud the wrapping, the lesser the stress on the contents become. Here, I suspect that one of the reasons Alpha resonates is that the leadership culture of the Church of England has decomposed into one where appearance matters more than reality. How the church wraps its news, sometimes to try and manipulate the media, and tries to bury uncomfortable truths is a resonant feature of its communications and public relations.

The underlying culture that gives credence to this resonance has been cooking for a very long time.  For example, consider this conundrum.  Are sermons and talks for training and equipping (i.e., skills, techniques, etc.) congregations?  Or, are they, following Paulo Freire, for education and liberation (i.e., critical questions of belief and praxis, and the fostering of wisdom, etc)?

I instinctively recoil from the idea that sermons, talks or even church itself is a training-centred institution. But I accept that in times of duress and distress – and the churches are surely living in such contexts – a training-based focus is almost bound to emerge. Education and wisdom ceases, and its replaced by instruction and coaching.

But Alpha is, as I say, packaging. It is not the gospel, and it does not claim to be.  Yet the underlying culture of Alpha does carry some assumptions about faith, God and Christian life that make it a particular type of pedagogy that the majority of Christians find uncomfortable (i.e., the number left globally when you subtract 25 million, which is around 2.5 billion), but cannot quite put the finger on why. 

First, Alpha gives a free pass to pragmatism.  If it looks like it works, it must be good. If we can’t see results quickly, it will almost certainly be time-consuming and expensive. This is not a helpful fundament to adhere to for valuing theology, which is a slow, slow discipline that takes decades for the seed to gestate into good fruit.

Second, Alpha is inherently mechanistic. The Bible itself is treated as a kind of instruction manual or guide book – there to fix matters when things go wrong, and to make sure other things work better. A vision for pedagogy founded on such assumptions will provide training and apprenticeships, but be suspicious of education and questions that the manual doesn’t address. Being on an Alpha Programme is a bit like being walked through a Haynes Car Manual over the course of ten weeks. I’ve nothing against Haynes Car manuals, by the way. I just don’t think I’d enjoy these being preached from the pulpit. Like the vast majority of Christians, I don’t go to church to be trained and equipped.

Third, if the goal of Alpha Programmes is training and equipping for greater growth and effectiveness, then of course, education – a pedagogy schooling students in the art of constructive dissent – will be largely unwelcome, as conformity to a blueprint is bound to be preferred to critical thinking. Sermons in training-based ecologies school congregations in compliance.

Fourth, sermons that flow from a revolutionary pedagogical model or dissenting educational ecology will challenge and disturb listeners. But hearers will learn to think, and engage in the tradition critically.  The mechanistic training model won’t do that; it would be like trying to argue with the instruction manual for a broken gas boiler. My advice? Don’t.

Fifth, salvation is packaged as an individualistic, quasi-Pelagian faith. I am with the present Pope, however, who in paraphrasing Saint Francis of Assisi has often remarked that “no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together.” (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 32). We cannot be judged alone, and we cannot be saved alone.

I’ll concede the difference between training and education is a characterisation. That said, the training model will deliver mechanistic instructions and techniques, based on its assumptions of revelation and the relationship between divine and human agency. The educational model will see revelation as complex, requiring critical interrogation, imagination and interpretation.

At present, the vast majority of Church of England bishops are locked into supporting the mechanistic training model. The long-term consequences for such short-termism are yet to be seen, but are likely to result in a thinner grasp of the richness of faith amongst congregations, and a sense amongst the laity that they are only being “equipped” with “tools and techniques” to achieve certain ends, which are nominated by bishops in strategies, plans and visions.

Whilst teaching that offers techniques that are orientated in mechanistic, pragmatic, restorative, overhauling and expansive aspirations for the faith, an enormous range of teaching is excluded by such prioritisation. Perhaps this is inevitable given the pragmatics. After all, many clergy are now ordained after studying for two years, which in fact turns out to be around twenty months.

I might add they work very, very hard, and at considerable cost to them and their families/partners/supporters and friends. But this is hardly akin to the seven years of education and formation required of Jesuits. The Christian life, rather like Christmas or Easter, is not something you can learn from a Haynes Manual (see illustration below – a humorous book, obviously). The Christian life needs to be lived. We are always becoming Christian. Conversion is present and future tense, not one date to be marked up in the past tense.

The graduates of Alpha Programmes are now emerging. The courses that began almost fifty years ago have produced clergy, not all of whom have stuck with the blueprint. Some have recognised that their Alpha-Mater left them with holes in their Christian knowledge. The exclusions that will sometimes crop up in sermons and teachings are the fruit of mechanistic-pragmatic training models would cover, but not be confined to, critical thinking, imagination, wisdom, desert spirituality, analogy and poetry, deeper journeys into contemplative prayer, loyal dissent and authentic revolutionary theologies. These seek to resist oppression, confront oppressors, and transform the church with liberationist thinking. The job advertisements in the Church Times are instructive here. For the most part they focus on equipping and growth – the twin concerns of mechanistic-pragmatic paradigms in training ecologies.

Alpha hasn’t caused any of this, by the way.  There is no blame being apportioned here. The success of Alpha Programmes is merely a symptom of where the Church of England has got to and where some other denominations have arrived at in the 21^st century. But if the church is to survive, it might need to ask what pedagogical assumptions programmes like Alpha carry. And whether this packaging is, in fact, at some risk of veiling the revolutionary power and gift of the gospel.

Revd. Prof. Martyn Percy

The word Anglican is one of those words in the English language which has to be combined with another one, to allow us to know what group within the wide range of manifestations of Anglicanism a speaker is referring to.  It is used by a range of disparate and contrasting Christian groups which do not routinely agree with one another.  The reason for using the word descriptively may have more to do with the group’s history than with its current theological position.  The bodies which together make up such networks as ACNA (Anglican Church of N America) or GAFCON (Global Anglican Futures Conference) are groupings which may have members with little or no engagement with the classic expressions of the Anglican spirit.  Many come together to express a fierce biblical fundamentalism and an almost obsessive preoccupation with sexual ethics.  The two examples I have mentioned bring together Christian bodies that use the Anglican designation while simultaneously attacking other more mainstream Anglican groups for their believed ‘apostasy’ and deviation from a very conservative brand of ‘biblical orthodoxy’.

  Not long ago, the badge of being Anglican was invariably a claim to something which involved membership of a cross-cultural international Christian body reaching across the world.  That vision does, of course, still exist and is given some sort of expression at the Lambeth Conferences held in England every ten years.  Sadly, this inclusive vision of what it means to be an Anglican Christian has become less dominant over the past decades.  The fierce struggles to allow a conservative understanding of Christian marriage to define ‘true’ Anglicanism have weakened the wider Anglican vision which seeks to hold together a variety of Christian beliefs within a single body.  That struggle continues, but the casualty of this struggle has been a serious weakening of the wider church.  It is hard to share a Christian message of peace, healing and reconciliation when the main energy for your existence comes from a bitter, even obsessive, objection to the way that one minority group in society wishes to express and live out their understanding of marriage.

Among the many Anglican groups which exist in an impaired or broken relationship with the main body of Anglicans, which look to Canterbury for leadership, is a body called the Free Church of England (FCE).  This group maintains links with many other Anglican networks through its membership of the GAFCON organisation. The origins of the FCE in the 1840s do not concern us here, but it is sufficient to say that the debates among Anglicans about authority were then every bit as passionate as today.   My current interest in the FCE is sparked by news of serious power struggles within this tiny church which has only a few hundred members in the whole of Britain. The bishop Primus, John Fenwick, is facing some serious challenges to his leadership and there has been talk of financial/property irregularities as well as doctrinal disputes. 

Like other people taking a current interest in the FCE, my curiosity has also been piqued by the succession of unhappy members of the C/E who have found, for a time, a spiritual home in the FCE having made well publicised exits from the national Church.  Recently three well-known dissident Anglicans, Brett Murphy, Calvin Robinson and Matthew Firth have all received a welcome in the FCE after loudly protesting their failure to agree with their bishops and the discipline of the C/E.  The task of overseeing the ministries of these men cannot be easy, since each of them arrives at the door of a new church with a powerful, somewhat overwhelming, sense of their ability to know the will of God both for themselves and for their new church.  Calvin and Brett are also highly skilled and accomplished communicators.  Watching the YouTube of Calvin debate at the Oxford Union about marriage is to be impressed at his fluency and intellect.  Even though his politics and theology, coming from an ultra-right wing stable, are to be resisted, few would win arguments in the face of such eloquence.  All three possess gifts of conviction and rhetoric.  The problem is when those same gifts of rhetoric are used against authority.   A bishop in any church will find it hard to assert episcopal authority in the case of such powerful individuals.  Two of the three have, in fact, already parted ways with the FCE.  Calvin has moved on to the Nordic Catholic Church where he functions as a priest.    He had received Deacon’s orders at the hands of Bishop Paul Hunt of the FCE in 2022.  Something similar seems to have happened to the highly gifted Peter Sanlon who, for a short period, had taken his congregation in Tunbridge Wells into the FCA in 2019.  Sanlon’s congregation are now, since 2021, part of the Presbyterian denomination.  Brett’s sacking from the FCE and his position at Morecombe is a very recent development.  It is not clear whether this suspension will hold as the congregation, not the FCE, apparently owns the church plant and can, in theory, seek episcopal oversight wherever they wish.  Whatever the precise reason for this parting of the ways, I suspect that Brett’s influence through his social media presence will always prove a threat to any who claim canonical jurisdiction over him.  Whatever the reason, it does not bode well if the FCE cannot harness the abilities of such talented individuals to the plough of making the FCE whatever it is meant to become for the future of the Church.  Meanwhile, the last surviving member of the trio of recent recruits, Matthew Firth, has been put in charge of the work of planting churches in the north of Britain. The city of York has been mentioned as a possible centre for his future work.

My direct knowledge of the FCE is based on current internet discussions but I also have had some past acquaintance of both the men who are the current bishops in this Church.  In the case of John Fenwick, the FCE Primus and Bishop of the northern Province, we knew each other as students.   Both he and I had tapped the same source of scholarship funding to study the Orthodox Church.  His interest and later doctoral studies on the liturgy of St John Chrysostom were, at the time, somewhat novel for an evangelical (late 70s).   His continued interest in the Fathers of the Church still pervades his theology, as a YouTube of one of his sermons makes clear.  His exposure to Orthodoxy will undoubtedly have left its mark on his theological outlook.  Conservative and authoritarian forms of Orthodox theology of course exist, and these may have been imbibed by the young Fenwick.  They would not, in my judgement, find it straight-forward to co-exist easily with the conservatism of an evangelical Anglican like Brett Murphy or the distinctive Anglo-Catholic conservatism of Calvin Robinson.   The falling out with Brett may be a clash of theological outlook or more simply, an attempt by the individual with institutional power (John) to regain control over the one (Brett) who has considerable articulate and charismatic power.

 Para removed as I have got Bishop Paul H confused with another of the same name

It is clear from discussions on X (Twitter) that the FCE is going through some challenging times at present.  It remains to be seen if John (and Paul) can hold things together for the distinct and unusual brand of Anglicanism that he oversees and seeks to promote.  The culture wars at present raging among conservative churches must, anyway, be exhausting for leaders and weaken the ability of their congregations to flourish. Both FCE bishops are now in their 70s and one wonders what thoughts have been given to succession planning.  They both joined the FCE as fully trained C/E clergy.  Unless other clergy with gifts of episcopacy appear, the church may shrink back into being yet another cluster of local congregations lacking direction or sense of purpose.  Vision and potential for growth can only exist when there is imagination combined with strong leadership skills among those in charge. 

by Susan Hunt

Editor writes: The legal system in Britain has many strands; in particular there are two tasks it tries to perform well in delivering justice for our society.  The first thing is to apprehend and punish malefactors, those who break the law and cause harm to individuals and institutions in our society.  A second fundamental task is to determine when an accused person is in fact innocent. If anyone is declared ‘not guilty’, he/she can continue their life acquitted and free from the accusation made against them.  Justice systems are course not infallible and get things wrong on occasion.  Individuals may spend years in prison accused and sentenced for crimes they have not committed.  The police, courts and officials who work for the cause of justice, however conscientious, sometimes allow things to go awry.  Fortunately, we have in this country a further institution which may, on occasion, protest the guilt or innocence of individuals even after legal processes have apparently been exhausted. Despite its foibles and failures, the free British Press does sometimes act positively to promote the role of delivering justice.  Many miscarriages of justice, like the Post Office accusations, have been exposed because a journalist has been prepared to burrow away to uncover evidence that the professionals, the police, lawyers and judges, have somehow missed.

The administration of justice in Britain is an expensive enterprise.  Courts and prisons represent a huge investment of resources and personnel to provide a system that provides justice most of the time to serve the people of our society. It comes as surprise to many people to discover that the Church of England operates its own justice system. It does not operate prisons, but it has procedures and can make decisions which have force and authority, being backed up by the State. I hesitate in claiming to understand exactly how secular law and church law intersect but we have seen over the past week an illustration of the way that the alleged behaviour of one ordained individual, Canon Andrew Hindley of Blackburn Cathedral, interacted with the legal processes of both church and state.

The damage to the entire Church of England, and especially the cathedral and diocese at Blackburn, because of this Hindley affair has been considerable.  For reasons that are shrouded in mystery the prosecuting authorities of the state refused to involve itself with the case, despite numerous police investigations into Hindley’s behaviour. The church’s internal legal processes have faced an uphill task in taking action. In the end, the departure of Canon Hindley was only secured through the payment to him of a considerable sum of money. It is enormously expensive to force a high-profile church employee to resign and the saga of the former Bishop of Winchester comes to mind. The pay-off for Canon Hindley will also have been prohibitively high.  One questions as to whether these costs of possessing such an in-house legal structure are justified.  A further problem is that, at the local level at least, the skills and expertise to determine the guilt and innocence of accused employees/volunteers are frequently absent.  Would it not be cheaper, as Professor Jay suggested, to hand over the entire safeguarding process to be overseen by a secular body with the skills and authority to deliver reliable justice?  This would be in accordance with the norms and protocols developed for employment law.

While the application of church law is problematic at the national level, it also, not surprisingly, encounters issues of professional competence at the local/ diocesan level.  Surviving Church has for some years championed the cause of ‘Kenneth’, accused of sexual abuse by a church Core-Group appointed by a C/E diocese.  No proper examination of the facts of the case has ever been undertaken and the unqualified opinions of the group have declared him guilty.  The group has refused even to consider the possibility of his innocence. When justice is determined without legally competent methods being applied, the potential damage to an institution is considerable, quite apart from the pain suffered by the accused person.

 Susan Hunt takes up this story of highly damaging and legally incompetent behaviour.

Let us remind ourselves about the treatment of ‘Kenneth’ whose advocate,  I, Susan Hunt, have been, in relentlessly supporting his case for more than four years. This is a saga which is well documented, using objective information including Subject Access Request (SAR) documents.

Kenneth, an elderly ailing man of 79 years, was accused in March 2020 of sexually touching a chorister, an accusation he vehemently denies. He was refused not only an investigation but also the consideration of five pieces of significant evidence and a further one from the cathedral’s own records which might have exonerated him.

Kenneth’s case, is still, four and a half years later, without investigation or any scrutiny of evidence.  Such a serious accusation has led to the gravest of injustices.

For the details see: https://survivingchurch.org/2023/11/02/searching-for-truth-how-kenneth-has-been-failed-by-the-justice-system-of-the-church-of-england/

THE PROBLEM INCLUDES MANY OTHER PEOPLE

One case which bears similarities to that of Kenneth is that of the London priest, Father Alan Griffin.  He committed suicide because of the way he had been treated in a safeguarding case. Of him his close friend, the Revd Peter Mullen, spoke of “the nonchalant cruelty of the officials who destroyed his life.” In Kenneth’s case there are nine parallels to the case of Father Alan Griffin. The  Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser (DSA) in Kenneth’s case did not even bother to acknowledge the chart I made of the similarities; surely another case of ‘nonchalant cruelty’.

Martin Sewell wrote an open letter to the Chair of the Charity Commission, Mr. Orlando Fraser KC: 13 Dec 2022 signed by 51 others. A relevant paragraph reads:

‘We are all witnesses to a highly dysfunctional church culture – one lacking in care, wisdom and responsibility – uniformly poor in responses to allegations of abuse, and subsequent complaints about corrupted, cruel and inhumane processes. These have led to despair, suicides, travesties of justice, all perpetrating much longer term pastoral and personal damage on a colossal scale. Yet nobody in the Church of England takes any responsibility for this. We have no functional leadership in safeguarding.’

THE DIOCESAN SAFEGUARDING ADVISER

The blame for the bungling fiasco of Kenneth’s case seem to lie with the DSA.  Although she claimed she was following procedures in the House of Bishops Guidance, she failed to follow fifteen procedures relating to respondents in that document. Neither would she ever give a reference to any of the claims she stated even though asked many times. These were:

1.“Our role is to believe the complainant whatever he says and any evidence to the contrary is inadmissible”:

2. “Our role is to weigh the balance of probabilities. This essentially means that we are weighing up whether, ‘more likely than not’ there is a risk based on the allegation that has been made”:

3.“Our role is not to seek the truth”:

4.“Our role is not to investigate the allegation”:

5.”Our role is not to assign guilt but to manage risk for the safety of the church  and in so doing it is victim/survivor led”. 

There are many contradictions in the above statements, as the DSA seems to have pursued her own version of the truth. This ‘Alice in Wonderland’ situation of ‘verdict first, judgement afterwards” that has been arrived at after four years cannot easily be resolved. Neither can the mantra ‘the child must be believed’ . The Diocesan Safeguarding Core Group (DSCG) members were persuaded that they could trust the DSA on this and they have now found themselves in a corner from which there is no obvious way out.  In the same way that they trusted her judgement formed on a false assessment that Kenneth is High Risk. Now in that too there is no way back – the result of amateurs making professional decisions.

A piece of evidence from the choral registers which might well have exonerated Kenneth has been deliberately suppressed by the DSA. Although she knew it was legal to give Kenneth the information we learn that her most recent excuse for not giving it was that she said she looks at the case “through a safeguarding lens” (from SAR).  It is strongly suspected that not giving it for more than four years  is a cover-up to avoid divulging information which might exonerate Kenneth and incriminate one of their own.

The DSCG boast they instigated an ‘Independent Review’. Independent it was not: the reviewer had already worked alongside the DSA and he was only allowed to work within parameters laid down by the DSCG, which did not include any independent investigation of the allegation. Even so he strongly criticised the approach of the DSCG to the case.

Lord Carlile said of Safeguarding DSCGs that they are ‘undertaking legal work for which they are not trained’. Leaving the administration of justice to a group of legally unqualified amateurs taking the law into their own hands needs to be countered by a system of proper challenge and appeal. Professor Jay also found this a weakness in the system.

An example of illegal practice by amateurs is Kenneth’s Risk Assessment when he had been designated ‘High Risk’. This had been based on incomplete and false information including the DSA admitting they had confused Kenneth’s information with that of another person; even so it was still included in his assessment. The result was that he was ‘HIGH RISK’ – the same level as a convicted paedophile.

On July 22nd 2024 I asked the Diocesan Secretary ‘Could you tell me please what professional body, if any, regulates the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser?’ There has been no answer to this simple yes/no question. So presumably she is not accountable to anyone. Even three bishops and a dean claim they ‘cannot intervene in the processes of a DSCG’.

INFORMATION FROM SAR

From SAR there is strong evidence that the conversations in DSCG were inappropriate and unprofessional. They made cruel and disparaging remarks about Kenneth personally, his life, friends and interests. They speculated about important issues regarding Kenneth which they should have known as part of the case. The speculation often led to downright lies which Kenneth could not challenge or dispute because he did not know they were being said.

From SAR In the privacy of their meetings they even try to blame Kenneth for the impasse for ‘not engaging with the process‘. By this, they mean he would not sign a document admitting his guilt. Although Kenneth insists he wants me and my husband to be present at meetings, that was refused because I am frequently criticised for my ‘interference’ which has ‘obstructed process’. We even find advice given to the Dean to hold meetings with Kenneth in his office as that is his territory with him in control of the space. Thus he can refuse us the right to be present to support Kenneth. In an attempt to resolve this problem from their point of view there have been DSCG discussions as to what to tell Kenneth so he refuses further help from me.

In an email found in SAR to an outside person written by the Dean, he claims that the DSCG had ‘made considerable efforts at justice, honesty and compassion for the victim’.  In the context in which it was written, ‘victim’ refers to Kenneth. So, it would seem that the Dean now realises that it is Kenneth who is the victim, but he can do nothing about it without the DSA’s agreement.

PROBLEMS FOR THE CATHEDRAL

The frustration for the cathedral in Kenneth’s case is that he has never signed any agreement plan admitting guilt. Without that final jigsaw piece, the case can never arrive at any complete resolution. So, although he can now attend the cathedral under certain conditions, he has been treated as though he accepts the DSCG’s judgement. Kenneth, however, does not believe that there is any intention to move towards his full and final rehabilitation.

I continue the task of supporting Kenneth with the encouragement of those who have followed this saga on Surviving Church.  Recently, Stephen and his wife watched an online service from St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh where there was a public adult baptism.  This included a promise by the candidate to ‘work for justice and peace, honouring God in all creation’.  This promise is stated more strongly than in the words of Common Worship where the baptismal pledge is to ‘seek peace and justice’.  For me, working for justice and peace through my efforts to obtain the complete rehabilitation of Kenneth, is part of my attempt to live out my Christian identity and vocation.

This story of Kenneth casts a shadow over the safeguarding processes, not just of one diocese, but through it, the entire C/E. By resisting the official institutional version of the truth, I, as an independent advocate, am challenging the competence and professionalism of many important church people,  They come to be seen as unsafe.  The only conclusion I can draw is that currently worshippers need to be warned that the C/E is a basically an unsafe organisation.  It is unsafe because because its much-vaunted safeguarding procedures are not themselves safe.

In Friday’s Church Times we read the story of the ‘commissioning’ of seven men to positions of leadership in conservative evangelical congregations opposed to the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process.   This commissioning is one that authorises an individual, congregationally trained, to preside over a quasi-sacramental breaking of bread and perform other tasks associated with priesthood.  It took place at St Helen’s Bishopsgate and it clearly defies the canons of the Church of England. My own take on the events at St Helen’s Bishopsgate (and All Soul’s Langham Place) is not to repeat what others have said about the schismatic nature of these actions.  Rather I want to think about the young men, the Bishopsgate Seven as I shall call them, who are occupying a position of ecclesiological ambiguity for the present.  Their position within the structure of the C/E may eventually be regularised, but meanwhile their situation and status are outside the structures, legal and theological, that define our church.  How this conundrum is resolved, whether by a formal split or some other formula, is not for me to determine.  Only time will tell how this issue is to be played out.

Returning to the Bishopsgate Seven who occupy centre stage in the current drama, it is natural for us to observe how much they are all being placed in a situation of vulnerability as the result of this commissioning.   Although, currently, they have the institutional blanket of All Souls and St Helen’s to protect them from challenge, the fact remains that their situation is irregular and outside the statutes and legal structures that govern the Church of England.  They have allowed themselves to be clearly identified with an illegal action.  Their status as commissioned quasi-ordained church leaders is not, at present, recognised by church (or state) law.  The authority awarded them through the act of commissioning is entirely dependent on a protecting group of church leaders who are linked to the St Helen’s network.   These churches and their leaders appear to believe that their position of being extremely wealthy and ‘orthodox’ gives them the right to usurp the lawful authority that exists in the Church.   If this authorising group is challenged and the status quo of episcopal order restored, the Seven will lose whatever authority they had been granted by the commissioning event.  It is not surprising that, so far, the Bishopsgate Seven have not been named.  Congregations in the future may think twice about employing or appointing individuals who have been so clearly identified with an act of canonical defiance.  Anonymity serves as a necessary protection for the moment, but, realistically, it can only be a matter of time before the names of the Seven leak out into the public domain.

Allowing oneself to be party to an historic act of canonical defiance carries with it risk.  If you are a retired bishop, like Rod Thomas, or the Rector of a wealthy prestigious church like William Taylor at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, the risks are clearly less.  You have substantial institutional power, having arrived in a position where few would dare challenge your authority, even if you are seen to be acting to undermine the integrity of the Church of England by defying its structural and canonical norms.  The risks to the group of anonymous commissioned leaders, the Bishopsgate Seven, are, by contrast, substantial.   If their names become associated with this canonical act of defiance, one that may be declared invalid by both church and state, these young leaders will be seen to have made, right at the start of their ministry, a poor decision and one that may blight their entire careers.

I want to think here about the motivations of the Bishopsgate Seven which allow them to accept an irregular form of commissioning at the start of their ministerial careers.  Their association with St Helen’s or one of its satellites during training is likely to have given each of these men a unique sense of spiritual privilege.  There was inevitably for them a considerable buzz and energy from being part of one of the most important conservative parishes in the world.  They have been trained in a church which hosted the ministry of such preaching luminaries as Dick Lucas.   The current Rector is also widely known and clearly possesses considerable institutional influence within many C/E conservative networks.  The Seven may each hope that this being close to such heroes, past and present, will somehow rub off on their own ministries.  The presence of this kind of hero worship as a dynamic of church life appears to be a significant factor in conservative evangelical circles.  Conspicuously, the now discredited Jonathan Fletcher does seem to have excelled at the art of captivating and impressing large numbers of followers (groupies?), young and middle-aged, right up to the end of his authorised ministry in 2017.   With his ability to exercise charisma alongside considerable patronage power right across the structures of the con-evo world, Fletcher possessed a powerful influence, one not granted even to Diocesan bishops.  This institutional power was also enhanced because the theological system he operated within was always prioritising the need for inerrant truth.  Theological systems which promote infallibility and leaders who claim to promote such ‘truth’ are, for their followers, very powerful indeed.  Those who attach themselves to the holder of such power believe they share it in some way and are thus protected from external challenge.

The Bishopsgate Seven have each attached themselves to an institution (St Helen’s) and the leaders in the network who exercise the power that is possessed by the group.  We can name two.   The first is the Rector, William Taylor, and the second is the commissioning Bishop, Rod Thomas.  Each of these leaders has openly identified with this act of institutional and theological defiance.  Their actions will be challenged but nothing will happen to either of them in terms of their current status.  Each of the Seven, on the other hand, have allowed themselves to be party to this act of defiance, confident in the power of their admired leaders to protect them.  Is this trust in the leaders justified?  There is something to suggest that, while both leaders named do still have considerable institutional and patronage power, their current reputation and status as respected leaders in and out of the network is being subjected to challenge.  Back in June 2019, when the Jonathan Fletcher scandal erupted into public consciousness via the Daily Telegraph, there was enormous consternation in the circles where Fletcher had been such a dominant figure.  Taylor, as Rector of the most prominent church in the con-evo network had little to say about the scandal of power abuse and homo-erotic behaviour at Emmanuel Wimbledon.  His subsequent silence on the matter lasted over a year. He claimed at the time that he had himself heard of Fletcher’s activities only in February 2019.  Rumours of improper behaviour had been flying around since 2017 and Fletcher’s PTO from the Diocese of Southwark had been withdrawn the same year.  Another salient fact which challenges Taylor’s account of events, was the removal of Fletcher from the Iwerne camp in the summer of 2017.  We are asked to believe that neither fragment of news had reached Taylor in 2017, even though he was actively involved with Fletcher through their common trusteeship of a charity known as St Peter’s Canary Wharf Trust (known as St Peter’s Barge).  If we do accept Taylor’s testimony that, as the unofficial leader of the entire con-evo network in England, he had heard nothing of the rumours, we are led to conclude that his leadership fell short.  His style of leadership evidently did not include keeping his ear to the ground and making sure, as good leaders do, that he knew what was going on in the constituency over which he had considerable control and oversight.

The part played by Rod Thomas also does not inspire us with confidence.  He had entered the charmed circles of con-evo ‘royalty’ via a different route from the majority of ex-public-school Iwerne men who are prominent in these circles.  He had been a member of Fletcher’s congregation in Wimbledon from the time before Fletcher arrived in 1982.  He was thus able to be mentored by Fletcher as a teenager, student and ordinand right up to his appointment as bishop.  We are asked to believe that Thomas saw and heard nothing untoward about the behaviour of the older man all through this long association.  It is unclear whether Thomas was acting as an innocent/dupe. Whatever explanation is brought forward for his inability to see what was going at Emmanuel Wimbledon during Fletcher’s 30 year ministry there, we are not given confidence to believe that Bishop Thomas is a good observer or judge of character.   Complete failure of curiosity is the most generous interpretation of the facts we can give to justify the leadership lapses shown by these two men.  Other interpretations could be offered.  Has the long-term identification with the St Helen’s brand, as represented by these individuals, really been a rational choice on the part of the Bishopsgate Seven?

My focus in this blog has not been about the canonical issues involved in the Bishopsgate commissioning.  It is about the apparent public weaknesses in two leading men involved in the irregular commissioning that puts at risk the welfare of seven individuals. An illegal event has taken place to further a political agenda.  There is a long-term struggle to make the Church of England conform to an agenda of ‘biblical orthodoxy’ which flies in the face of Anglican history and tradition.  Seven idealistic young men appear have allowed themselves to be identified with this struggle.  They cling to an institution and to its leaders even though there is evidence of serious past failings in this leadership.   When we learned in 2020 that Taylor, as a young adult, was himself a victim of John Smyth in the notorious garden shed in Winchester, there were immediate questions as to whether Taylor could have used his direct knowledge of these events to help prevent subsequent victims in England and Africa suffering harm.  Is this yet another example of the institution prevailing over the interests of individuals?  Important abusive leaders, like Smyth and Fletcher, both remained unchallenged for a long period because in the conservative culture the cause of institutional power took precedence over the pain of individuals.  The recent events in a London church may be a manifestation of a further example of this indifference to the true needs of ordinary people like the Bishopsgate Seven.  The real goal seems to be the ambitious plan to take over the Church of England in the name of ‘biblical orthodoxy.’   The needs and welfare of individuals perhaps will always take second place to such a grand scheme and the political demands of powerful organisations.