Regionally, the Commitment urged Anglican evangelicals to work together 'to pioneer, establish and secure healthy Anglican churches'. 'To this end we will work to recruit, train and deploy men and women for Anglican ministry in local churches,' the Commitment declares.

The Commitment includes a doctrinal statement. 'Knowing that unity is a work of the Holy Spirit which can only be established through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we rejoice in the fellowship of all those who subscribe to the 2008 Jerusalem Declaration.' it begins.

But the Renew doctrinal statement goes further than the Jerusalem Declaration on women's ordination to the presbyterate and episcopate. It includes an affirmation of the classic evangelical doctrine of male headship in the church and the family: 'We affirm that men and women are equal as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. We also affirm that God created male and female differently, in order for them to complement one another...Within the church there is a divinely appointed order in which elder/oversight roles are given to men only.'

The Doctrinal Statement also affirmed matrimony as 'the lifelong union between one man and one women' with sexual relations outside that context being 'sinful in God's eyes'.

The Commitment pledged Anglican evangelicals to support Reform, Church Society and AMiE in creating a national database of Anglican evangelical churches, clergy and laity, providing advice and training on political and legal issues and ensuring the provision of authorised episcopal oversight.

Julian Mann is vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, UK - www.oughtibridgechruch.org.uk

*****

Reflections on ReNew 2014

COMMENTARY

By Julian Mann
Special to virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 24, 2014

ReNew chairman, the Revd William Taylor, in commending the 2014 Commitment and Basis of Faith at this week's conference of Anglican evangelicals in England, seemed to succeed in striking the right balance between clear leadership and direction and ownership and engagement among the movement's supporters.

Mr. Taylor, Rector of St Helen's Bishopsgate in the City of London, told delegates that the Commitment had been agreed by the leaderships of Reform, the Church Society, and the Anglican Mission in England (AMIE) as the culmination of the consultation process launched at the 2013 ReNew Conference. With the backing of two senior ministers not on the executives of those organisations, the Commitment and Basis of Faith thus had the full support of all the leaders delegates had nominated in 2013.

The potential fault line in the movement would seem to run along the respective situations of ministers in the Anglican Mission in England and those in Reform and the Church Society. The latter two organisations comprise licensed clergy in the Church of England, often though not always living in tied accommodation. The AMiE leadership generally comprises clergy who are more independent of the Church of England. Some of them are licensed but generally they do not live in CofE property.

There may be some justice in the Dean of Sydney the Very Revd Phillip Jensen's observation cited by one of the AMiE speakers at ReNew that English conservative evangelicals are 'gutless', though men such as Jesmond, Newcastle Vicar the Revd David Holloway and Mr. Taylor himself have been very notable exceptions. But in urging conservative evangelicals in the Church of England to be prepared to sacrifice their homes in contending for the faith - which confessional Anglicans formerly in TEC have done for Christ - this speaker is unlikely to be called upon to make that sacrifice himself, at least not at the hands of an ecclesiastical court.

Also, it is important to stress that sacrifices do not earn God's blessings. When we make them for the Lord Jesus, they demonstrate that we have already received his blessings in the heavenly realms by grace alone through faith in him alone (see Ephesians 1v3-10). Godliness is evidence that Christian believers already stand in God's grace in Christ, as the Rev. Rupert Standring reminded delegates in his exposition of 1 Timothy 4.

God willing, ReNew will be an effective force for revitalising local Anglican churches and planting new ones in England. The 2014 Commitment and Basis of Faith represent a tremendous step forward in the movement's aim to establish healthy local Anglican churches on a firm biblical and confessional basis. The Commitment has also sent a very strong signal that among Anglican evangelicals loyalty to confessional Anglicanism must trump institutional loyalty when there is a clear conflict.

But empire building tendencies, ministerial competitiveness and lack of servant-heartedness and humility no less than risk-averseness and lack of courage surely need to be guarded against. Contending for the faith against false teachers cannot be divorced from personal discipleship which includes the willingness to repent of my own sin and pride.

Julian Mann is vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, South Yorkshire, UK - www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk