But as a general principle, if a minister has already been serving a local church for some time and his church family is with him in wanting to join AMiE, should not the process be made as straightforward as possible? Surely long interviews and lengthy deliberations are going to put local churches off and drive them to look elsewhere for their wider accountability?

In which case, what is the point of AMiE?

At the other end of the age scale there is some positive improvement. For the first time in decades there are more men and women in their 20s and 30s coming through the Church of England training institutions than there are in their 50s. In particular there is a positive explosion of those in their 30s who are being ordained, but this is not yet enough to counter the large exit of priests at the other end of the career lifecycle.

Canon Tutu, the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Dr van Furth were married in a civil ceremony in Holland in December, and held a religious ceremony in South Africa this month before a congregation of some 80 guests, with exchange of rings, vows, Scripture readings, prayers and a nuptial blessing from Ms Bannister-Parker that concluded: "We now recognise you as wife and wife. You may kiss each other," local media reported.

The Lord Jesus Christ does not need the active support of secular governments or secular cultures to build His Church. Clearly though, if Britain did fall to political Islam in, say, the middle of this century, then that would create serious difficulties for public Christianity in what was this country.