Pentecost - Welsh revival!

Bishop Andy John, the lead bishop on evangelism                                         Source: Church in Wales

From a Church in Wales Provincial press release: Church launches £10m fund to inspire new Welsh revival.

+Andy has drawn the short straw as the lead bishop on evangelism. Perhaps it is not surprising since his Easter messages have made the rest of the bench look like amateurs but is it good news?

There is more to evangelism than saying the right things, a problem exemplified when bishop Michael Curry preached about love at the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle earlier today.

Many thought he preached a powerful sermon, drawing attention to the need to love God and one's neighbour. But the US Episcopal Church and Anglican bishops in Great Britain have distorted scripture, using 'love' as a password to permit virtually any permutation for sexual freedom.

A passionate supporter of same sex marriage, Curry's beliefs are curiously at odds with the beauty of the marriage service, clearly intended to apply to the union of one man and one woman for the procreation of children.

Easter messages reached rock bottom in 2014 when Archbishop Barry Morgan spoke of solidarity and forgiveness. He said: "Solidarity and forgiveness sum up the meaning of Easter and when one sees these values exemplified, one begins to realise the significance of what it means to believe in the God of Jesus."

He expanded his message in a newspaper article at the time. Lecturing politicians on ethics Morgan suggested that "people of all parties could work to bring something of the generous spirit of the governing body to wider politics and work to build a society in which are neighbours are not just tolerated but loved."

That 'generous spirit' led the Governing Body to show a complete absence of love for traditional Anglicans when it voted for a code of practice that abandoned the faithful. Instead it ushered in a feminist cult hell-bent on feminising the church and allowing same sex marriages.

So what of the Evangelism Fund? The chair of the committee overseeing the Fund said, “We are keen to give grants to effective, well-constructed projects and to ensure the Church’s money is well spent. We will be looking for ideas, for example, that create growth among people in age groups under-represented in our churches, create new forms of ‘church’ to appeal to people not currently going, and projects which lead to changes in culture or provide teaching and learning in faith all over Wales.”

Over represented in terms of numbers are elderly women. Traditional Anglicans have been made unwelcome while every effort is being made to accommodate more LGBT people by pretending they have been unwelcome in church despite their disproportionate presence in many congregations and especially among the clergy.

'More of the same - but faster', as the new archbishop put it, can only quicken the eventual demise of the  Church in Wales which in 2015 was given a potential extinction date of about 2040.

What most congregations now lack are traditional Christian families with children in the choir, Sunday school, youth club, Scout and Guide organisations, etc, looking forward at Pentecost for their annual Whitsun treat.

That women were more in evidence was not a problem as there were sufficient men in the choir and serving at the Altar to carry out essential tasks. If not, willing husbands and non-church people would often help-out.

To correct the imbalance today is a near impossible task. The Anglican church is no longer about 'otherness', just more of the same in vestments. A failed strategy that has resulted in empty pews because mystery has been replaced by what is commonplace in society.

As for new forms of ‘church’ to appeal to people not currently attending, there are toddler groups,  'messy' church, cafe style worship, animal blessings, LGBTQI+ eucharists. Everything in fact but repentance.

How much better it would have been at no extra cost to appoint Welsh speaking bishops in the  Church of Wales to make Welsh speakers feel welcome as outlined in the Welsh Language Guidelines published by the Church in Wales: "In general, what is expected is a positive and imaginative approach to extend the use of the Welsh language in the life of the Province".

The Welsh bishops like to lecture others but rarely practice what they preach beyond enforcing their secular agenda. They have ignored consultations and used positive discrimination to achieve their objectives, alienating many to gain a few.

As for a Welsh revival, dream on. Thanks to liberal minded bishops Anglicanism hangs by a thread. They are stretching it to breaking point.

From the press release: "The Evangelism Fund is being launched on Pentecost Sunday – May 20 – the day traditionally regarded as the Church’s birthday when Christians focus sharing their faith and growth."

Received faith has been abandoned resulting in constant decline. Tradition has been thrown out of the window while appealing to the faithless.

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place"  (Acts 2). Those were the days.

Easter message

The bishops of the Church in Wales,                                                                                                                                                             Source: Church in Wales

The first of the Church in Wales bench of bishops to issue her Easter message was ♀Joanna. Her opening paragraph was straight out of the feminists handbook:

"Women, weeping and numb,  came to the tomb determined to do the last thing they could for the teacher and Rabbi they loved and revered and in whom they had put their hope for renewal and change, justice and hope."

The women did what women did. That was that. A completely different interpretation to Joanna's from a Catholic woman's point of view can be read on the Les Femmes - The Truth blog here.

Jesus did what He did, not what feminists today think He should have done for renewal and change, justice and hope.

The Easter messages from June and Gregory suggest that the other half of the bench will have nothing better to offer the spiritually assassinated. Those poor souls robbed of the very core of their being. Women who have given a lifetime of service to the church only to find that the renewal, change, justice and hope spoken of by Joanna is not for them. It is for those who regard the Resurrection is an opportunity for political advancement.

Update

At last, bishop Andy's Easter message puts Christ firmly at the centre with no frills, no modern comparisons, no do-gooders.  Very well done.

Church in Wales Bishop's Easter Message prizes

He and his diocese have been the subject of some criticism by commentators on this blog but, for me, despite some reservations about his views on the "refugee" crisis, the outright winner is the Bishop of Bangor who poses the question "Can I be different?" in this imaginative Easter Message video:

The loser taking the booby prize is the Bishop of Llandaff who as Archbishop of Wales has urged in his Easter message: "Do not show fear after 'tragic' Brussels attacks".

The myopic views he expresses will result in the death of Christianity. There is a time to turn one's cheek and a time to follow Christ's example and oppose injustice and wrong doing. Jesus cleansed the Temple and He healed the sick on the Sabbath after being angered. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

Jesus told Peter to put his sword back into its sheath because Jesus had to drink the cup that the Father had given Him, glorifying the Father's name. For what has been accomplished Christians must spread their faith in Christ crucified.

In his Easter message Dr Morgan calls on people to exhibit the Christian values of 'forgiveness, compassion, mercy and grace' in the face of fear by 'turning the other cheek' and 'valuing those who are least valued in society'. The least valued in Islamic society are Jews and Christians but the blind can't see.

As we approached Easter an innocent, peace loving Muslim shopkeeper who wished his 'beloved Christian nation' a Happy Easter was "stabbed 30 times by a 'fellow Muslim' who sat laughing on his dying victim's chest". The assailant will have found authority for his actions against 'errant' Muslims and non-Muslims in his holy book, as have members of al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS and any Muslim who is prepared to do so.

Dr Morgan is deluded if he thinks turning the other cheek to his Muslim friends while other Muslims are fighting for Allah is going to save us. The evidence is everywhere, even in his backyard. In news from a regular worshiper in a Cardiff church I was told that after their Good Friday service when the crucifix was carried to the church porch as is their custom, there were shouts from across the road of "Allah is greater!"

He is not. The other cheek was turned but just as Jesus was angry we should not be afraid to be angry when justified, exposing false doctrine for what it is while we can. The consequences of following the Archbishop's example are already grim. A court order was made in Great Britain banning a father from taking his son to church because his mother is a practicing Muslim.

He said his son 'is being fed the same lies I was as a child' and I want better for him. "I was taught that Christians were heartless and immoral, that only Muslims have a peaceful faith and all others are evil. It was only when I began mixing with Christians that I learned this was nonsense."

Dr Morgan was right about one thing, we must not show fear. We must expose the truth about Islam not endorse it blindly. There is no other way to defeat its threat to Christianity.

Well done +Andy for some Christian witness. More please.

"A force for good"

The Prime Minister is a communications man through and through. He has the ability to turn just about any event to his political advantage. His Easter message was an example of words that few could disagree with and no doubt earned him some useful votes. 

Christian reality was better expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he dismissed the Prime Minister's "why-can’t-we-all-get-along" brand of Christianity as "moral claptrap". See also "David Cameron's wonky cross" here. 

From 'Citizen Go': "With an ever-growing list of threats to religious freedom at home, including attacks on the ethos of faith-based schools and assaults on the freedom of conscience, especially as pertains to the living of one's faith in and outside the workplace, British Christians need the support of the new Conservative Government to protect their right to have a different point of view and way of life where faith and morals are concerned." The Prime Minister is in a position to put his words into action. 'Citizen Go' has launched a Petition for Protection of Religious Freedom and Freedom of Conscience. You can help to reach their goal of 5,000 signatures by signing their petition here. (H/T Anglican Mainstream).

The "why-can’t-we-all-get-along" brand of Christianity is a real threat. It is the basis of many 'anything goes so long as we are happy' comments which have been received but not published because they are wholly anonymous or are linked to gay and commercial sites for advertising purposes - see Introductory notes in the right-hand column. 

Loving one another is at the heart of Christianity but there is more to being a Christian than that.