Another 'Voice of Experience' considers the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, in the light of Scripture and calls the church to prayer rather than preferment lists.
We have lived through difficult times with the Archbishop's resignation and safeguarding scandal. We now face the challenge of appointing somebody to lead the church into growth.
I was recently reading Luke 6, where Jesus chose the 12 apostles, and it has something powerful to teach us. The passage says.
"One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." (Luke 6:12-15 NIV)
In his commentary on the passage, JC Ryle reminds us of the profound significance of Jesus praying before he chooses the 12 apostles. It's not just a passing prayer; it is a whole night in prayer.
When the Church of England is looking for a new archbishop, why is there never a call to prayer for every parish? Why is there no time set aside for fasting and prayer? It is, after all, what our brothers and sisters in the ACNA were called to, earlier this year.
Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, we are told very little about the worldly position of the first ministers of the Christian church. But we do know they were not the most promising propositions to lead the church. They were a mixture of fishermen, tax collectors and general nobodies. This is quite different from the people we select for the high office of 'archbishop' or shepherd of the flock. Again, JC Ryle draws an interesting conclusion from this, and I quote directly from his commentary.
"There is something deeply instructive in this. It shows us that our Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom was entirely independent of help from this world. His church was not built on might or power but by the spirit of the living God."
If you look at the selection of archbishops in the Church of England, many are selected from an existing pool of diocesan bishops, who themselves are chosen from the existing suffragen bishops. In 2001, the Church of England's review into the selection of diocesan bishops, "Working with the Spirit", noted:
"2.2 In the five years 1996–2000, nominations to 19 (43%) of the 44 diocesan sees were announced. Of the 19 men nominated, 17 (89%) were already in episcopal orders (two diocesans and former suffragans, one a professor and former suffragan, and the other 14 current suffragans). Of the two who were not in episcopal orders already, one was an archdeacon and the other a parish priest.
2.2 Of the other 25 diocesan bishops in office at the end of 2000, by contrast, only 14 (56%) were already in episcopal orders when they first became a Church of England diocesan. Of the remaining eleven, four first became diocesan bishops in the five years 1991–95 (together with the Bishop of Rochester, who had been a diocesan bishop in Pakistan but had not been bishop of an English see), five in the five years 1986–90, and two before 1986." (page 16))
In 2024, little has changed, despite attempts to widen the 'talent pool'. Of the nineteen diocesan appointments made over the past five years, four were existing diocesan and twelve were suffragans. Of the other three, one was a Dean of a Cathedral, another Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons and another the Principal of a theological college.
It is remarkable that in the first century, a group of lowly and educated fishermen and tax collectors turned the Roman Empire on its head through their preaching and achieved more than our talent-spotted bishops have achieved in the last 50 years. Why is this the case? They relied on Jesus as the Lord and Saviour and preached a simple gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.
I know the system is changing, but I feel we are a long way away from a process that allows the movement of God's Holy Spirit. We are not only looking for men and women who are open to the movement of God's spirit and entirely reliant upon him.
Instead our bishops are seen as those who are responsible for managing people in an organisation. Just like managers in secular organisations, they must ensure employees know what they're doing and that organisational operations run smoothly. But we need more than managers - it's not enough to be good at setting objectives, making decisions and reviewing past mistakes. Canon C18 tells us what we need:
"Every bishop is the chief pastor of all that are within his diocese, as well laity as clergy, and their father in God; it appertains to his office to teach and to uphold sound and wholesome doctrine, and to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange opinions; and, himself an example of righteous and godly living, it is his duty to set forward and maintain quietness, love, and peace among all men."
Until we stop appointing managers and start appointing teachers and shepherds who are entirely dependent on God and who do not come from a preferment list based on competencies, we will see ourselves managed to extinction.
I therefore make a plea that there be a national call to prayer and fasting during the time of discernment that God might send these isles somebody with the character of Nehemiah;
"As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, "O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned." (Nehemiah 1: 4-6)
Please like this blog if you would like to see such a call.
With thanks to Amauray Guiterrez from Unsplash for the image
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