VIRTUEONLINE: What is REFORM?

HOLLOWAY: It is a grass roots movement and a network of individuals and fellowship of churches within the Church of England whose overall goal is to win the nation of England for Christ. We are committed to the reform of ourselves, our congregations and our world by the gospel. The Church of England seems to have lost confidence in the truth and the power of the gospel, and we believe that responsibility in changing this must belong to the local church. We believe in the teachings of the ancient Church Fathers and counsels of the church as are agreeable to the Scriptures in particular the doctrine found in the 39 Articles of Religion, the BCP and the Ordinals.

VIRTUEONLINE: Do you think the Church of England will split if the homosexual agenda and women bishops become mandatory?

HOLLOWAY: Ruth Gledhill of the London Times predicts that the Anglican Communion won't split because the opposing sides will love with each other and muddle along with homosexuality becoming a secondary issue. But most of the clergy for the last 30 years have not subscribed to the 39 Articles.

My reading of the Church of England is that it will continue its decline, down in the 90s by 20 percent, and there is no evidence that it is going to change if it carries on unless a miracle occurs. It will go into virtual extinction and survive as a shell but it will not be an effective Christian presence in England. This is true sadly of mainstream Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church as institutions in England.

VIRTUEONLINE: Where do you see growth?

HOLLOWAY: The growth of the church in the 90s was evangelicalism which must be classed as mainstream, not broad or charismatic Anglicanism.

In the 90s there was an overall decline in the C of E. but evangelicalism grew slowly overall by 2% as a whole, but that was averaged from charismatic Anglican evangelicalism which declined by 21%, broad Anglican evangelicalism which declined by 23% , but mainstream Evangelical Anglicanism grew by 320% - that is reformed Evangelicalism. The encouragement is coming from those who follow the lead of groups like the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA) who are willing to, where necessary, operate as a system of principled irregularity - in the cause of both maintaining and promoting the English reformed catholic tradition which we know as Anglicanism.

VIRTUEONLINE: How has the advent and acceptance of Civil Partnerships affected the life of the Church of England?

HOLLOWAY: Civil Partnerships is a watershed issue in that it is a step too far for many Anglicans and people outside of the C of E. For all the bishops qualifications it is seen by the outside world as gay marriage by another name. The gay Anglican community seems confident that there will be little opposition in real terms from the bishops. They identify only two diocesan bishops, one in the north and one in the south as being willing to oppose them strongly. We in REFORM are encouraging diocesan bishops to be clear that Civil Partnerships are very wrong.

NOTE: Colin Coward of Changing Attitudes says at their website: "There are two bishops, one Northern, one Southern Province, with whom we haven't talked because their views are predictable and dangerous for gay clergy. You will know who they are and you would be advised not to register a partnership if you serve in either of their dioceses." VirtueOnline was told that the two bishops are Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester) and Tom Wright (Durham).

VIRTUEONLINE: Do you think the Anglo-Catholics will get the Third Province they seek?

HOLLOWAY: My own view is that it is unlikely to happen on the grounds that it is a call for their opponents to vote them a range of privileges. Humanly speaking this seems unlikely knowing the nature of the General Synod of the Church of England.

VIRTUEONLINE: What will happen if women bishops are approved of by Synod?

HOLLOWAY: Hundreds of clergy will leave the C of E if there are women bishops. REFORM stands opposed to the consecration of women bishops. Reform will operate in a state of impaired communion and people will call for alternative oversight and restructure accordingly. In the history of the C of E this is nothing new. For example in the time of Bishop Barnes of Birmingham in the 1940s Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals would not accept his spiritual oversight and ministry. Since then there have been other churches that are in state of impaired communion, not least in the time of the Bishop of Durham, and today over gay issues in certain dioceses over the ordination of women to the presbyterate, extended oversight was experimented with in the C of E. This is now seen to be inadequate. The only solution will be fully alternative oversight. Your Visitor bishop will be the bishop. For evangelicals the issue is not the sacraments but male headship and why this is so concerning is because of the issues of succession in the parish. Anglo Catholics are not growing in England.

In any organization for it to survive you need an agreed agenda, competent leadership, enabling structures and an awareness of your publics. That is true of churches, hospitals, schools or businesses. The C of E and the Anglican Communion no longer have an agreed agenda. It is useless to think that solutions can be found to its problems by focusing on structures.

VIRTUEONLINE: ECUSA Presiding Bishop Fran k Griswold says we find truth when we find consensus.

HOLLOWAY: The C. of E has to find its agreed agenda in Scripture and nowhere else. The revisionist bishops want to find it in the contemporary world or in parts of the tradition they like.

The issue in Europe is more serious than probably anywhere else. It is now recognized that worldwide there is a process of desecularization happening. The one exception is Europe which is marching in the opposite direction, and there is a deChristianization going on, witness the exclusion of Christianity from the Draft European Constitution. It is therefore very important that Christians and Christians of our persuasion who have the great heritage of the English reformers are faithful in sharing that tradition of God in the public square.

VIRTUEONLINE: What impact is ISLAM having on England?

HOLLOWAY: This is a serious issue for Europe which is caught in a culture of depopulization. Currently in the UK fertility for women is 1.8 whereas replacement population is 2.1. This is not unrelated to the breakdown of marriage which has been promoted by the homosexual agenda over the last 30 years, nor is it unrelated to what the Roman Catholics call the 'culture of death', abortion, artificial birth control and in fact safe sex campaigns amongst the young which results in further abortions. Inevitably immigration is required to sustain European economies (including pensions). Unlike America where those immigrations come from South America where there is a strong Christian tradition, in Europe we should expect there to be significant immigrants from poorer neighboring Muslim countries.

VIRTUEONLINE: Do you see a Muslim plot to take over the country and impose Sharia Law?

HOLLOWAY: There is no Muslim plot at all, but simply demographics that will mean that if the church declines, it will not be impossible that Islam will replace Christianity.

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