The Church of England Evangelical Council commissioned 20 people July 12 to fulfill some duties of bishops, mostly of pastoral guidance, temporarily. Just as the Church of England has created blessings for same-sex couples while claiming not to change the doctrine of marriage, the CEEC has commissioned semi-bishops without consecrating them.
The commissioning service met at All Souls, Langham Place, which for decades was led by the Rev. Dr. John Stott. The late Stott, a widely published theologian known for urging evangelicals in the Church of England to “pray, stay, and obey,” founded CEEC in 1960.
The group of overseers includes five bishops retired from diocesan ministries, plus active Bishop Rob Munro (who provides alternative oversight to parishes based on their conservative theology about women in ministry). Another retired bishop is among four overseers to be commissioned later. Unlike bishops, the overseers will not administer confirmation.
“In this service, bishops and priests are being commissioned to offer alternative spiritual oversight,” said an order of service that included both the commissioning liturgy and background material. “This liturgy makes no pretence to be a service of ordination or consecration. Those being commissioned are clergy who have been interviewed for the role on the basis of recommendations and references. … Together, they will be commissioned by the congregation here present on behalf of CEEC and its partners to provide spiritual care and counsel to those who are now bereft of the oversight that should properly be offered by their bishop.”
CEEC described the creation of overseers as a temporary step toward an alternative structure for those within the Church of England who affirm the church’s historic doctrine of marriage.
The order of service said CEEC’s overseers are meant to help “clergy and congregations to stay in the Church of England at this time. This is a provision which is temporary, pending the structural differentiation that CEEC has for some time argued will be necessary if a change in doctrine and practice is pursued.”
The 20 new overseers are Christabel Ager, David Banting, Bishop Pete Broadbent, Kieran Bush, John Coles, Paul Darlington, Ian Dowsett, Paul Harcourt, David Heath-Whyte, Bishop Julian Henderson, Angus MacLeay, Jane Morris, Bishop Rob Munro, Paul Perkin, Mark Pickles, Vaughan Roberts, Bishop Henry Scriven, Bishop Keith Sinclair, Mike Smith, and Bishop Rod Thomas.
Bishop Mike Hill is among four clergy who will be commissioned later. The other three are Anita Colpus, Paul Jump, and William Taylor.
Bishop Broadbent told the Church Times that being an overseer did not mean pretending to be a bishop, but “offering advice and prayers where they were requested, and ‘helping people who are thinking about leaving to stay in the Church of England.’”
Douglas LeBlanc is an Associate Editor and writes about Christianity and culture. He and his wife, Monica, attend St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Henrico, Virginia.
