Rod Thomas on the Church Society, Reform, FWS merger. from Church Society on Vimeo.
Three separate reform groups within the Church of England are joining forces to resist dangerous trends in that Church. Reform, Fellowship of Word & Spirit, and The Church Society, announced the triple-merger and published a series of brief videos preparing church members for the upcoming change.
Anglican Church members are dismayed at the inroads of same-sex relationships in the Church. David Virtue writes, “Many conservative evangelicals feel the Church of England is on a liberalizing trajectory towards accepting same-sex relationships.” Dr. Lee Gatis, who will preside over the organization after the May meeting merge, stated “This is a huge story and counters the fiction that orthodox groups are fragmenting and leaving. We’re not. We’re coming together like never before, as the times demand.” Another piece of the picture is movement within the Church of England toward appointing women bishops, a practice opposed by many church members. Libby Lane was consecrated as bishop in 2015 although a clergyman raised his protest:
Libby Lane describes in the closing minutes of the below video how many of the most recently appointed bishops are female. (Lane was “appointed” in 2014 and “consecrated” in 2015.)
The church should be immersed in Scripture, but the trends of culture are drowning the church. The final movements will be rapid ones.
Additional information and videos are available at these links:
https://vimeo.com/churchsociety
http://www.virtueonline.org/three-evangelical-groups-merge-uk