General Synod 2010 Election address

2010-12-02T18:05:00.002Z

GENERAL SYNOD
ELECTION 2010

Christopher
Corbet

Proposer: Mr David Beswick
Lay Chair, Eccleshall Deanery Synod

Seconder: Mr John Clark
Lay Chair, Stafford Deanery Synod

Preston Hall
Preston Brockhurst,
Shrewsbury SY4 5QA
Dear Elector,

This election is important for the character of the Church of England. The public image of the Church of England is increasingly that of a supplier of social value. This image is promoted in and outside our congregations; it is an easy option to equate the meeting of others’ material needs with being a Christian. This image is incomplete, misleading and desperately uninspiring, compared with God’s glorious calling for the church “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4.12) The Church of England downplays its spiritual identity as a community of faith that publicly puts its trust in a crucified and risen Lord; as a community that proclaims reliance on Jesus (and not money or power or the market economy) as Lord and Saviour and as a community that only through the infinite power of Jesus has been transformed and is able to be used to transform its own members and others both spiritually and socially. A result is that the Anglican Church is becoming weak and inarticulate in its Gospel of compassionate good works; it is becoming spiritually powerless in its evangelism and in both its spiritual and social presence; except in its liturgy, it appears secular and untransformed by its relationship to Jesus; it offers a precarious secular hope that is dependent on the market economy; it offers no resurrection hope; it is selective and becoming cut off from the whole Jesus, the True Vine and source of growth.

I am 61, happily married (to one wife, Leila) for 32 years, with 3 children and 2 grandchildren. I was a barrister for 25 years and a farmer for about 10 years. Only in about 2000 did I begin to feel excited by the Gospel. In 2004 I was licensed as a Reader, and since that time I have been increasingly moved to spread the Gospel by word and by faith and obedience. My call towards evangelism has taken me to Mongolia and to East Asian visiting academics studying in the UK. I shadow the chaplaincy in Shrewsbury prison about once a week and I run (with others) a Christ-centred Recovery course in a church in Shrewsbury. Twice a month I preach in our parish church. I can adjust all these roles to accommodate membership of General Synod.

I also promote policies whereby the Church of England may be known for its spiritual identity as well as its social identity. To this end I work as lay chair of Wem and Whitchurch Deanery Synod, Secretary to the Salop Area Mission and Pastoral Committee, assistant secretary to the other Mission and Pastoral committees in the Diocese. Also, to this end, I am for a second term a member of Bishops Council, where I speak up for the Biblical calling of the Diocese to promote in the parishes spiritual transformation through faith in Jesus.

This Biblical calling of the church affects my thinking on how we should respond to many current issues. What I say below on these issues is of course generalisation. There are, of course, many glorious exceptions.
PARISHES The Church of England rightly was proud of its welcome to unbelievers. But then the congregations had a core of active Christ-reliant believers and confident preaching. Now it is different. There is little or no such core in many parishes, and so the core consists of those with little confident faith in Jesus and little or no testimony of Jesus’ transforming power. These offer a good secular welcome to seekers, but, if they have not been transformed by faith in Jesus and have no testimony, they will not readily be used by God to attract and transform seekers into new believers. A change in direction is needed.

GROWTH AND MISSION The Diocese has not grown, despite all the money and time spent in the last 5 years on “Going for Growth” . Most other English dioceses have not grown either. Faithful churches will grow. Our leadership is seeking to grow the church without sufficient consideration of the faith or the spiritual transformation of the parishes which it seeks to grow. This is now recognized as a reason for lack of growth and lack of mission. Instead of addressing the absence of faith in particular parishes, our leadership has been mainly promoting the easier but, by itself, ineffective option of compassionate good works for much of its internal teaching and public image. The Anglican Church must concern itself with the faith and spiritual transformation of its own congregations, if it is to survive and grow and become what God wants for His church.

MINISTRY OF THE WORD The Church of England has almost lost sight of the Ministry of the Word which was considered by the Apostles as the most important of all ministries. The Ministry of the Word involves a reliant faith and a holiness on the part of the preacher and teacher such that people hear not just him but God when he preaches. When God is encountered, lives are changed. Our leadership, in contrast with many other denominations, does little to promote an inspired Ministry of the Word as a context for such an encounter.

HOMOSEXUALITY I support the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution. If the Church of England were encouraged to show more passion for Christ, then earthly passions might be a less significant topic.

YOUTH Evangelising youth is important but is not a substitute for evangelising and preaching to the more mature. In each case, the Lord will use those who are confident in their faith and in the power of the Spirit. If any evangelism is to occur, the Church of England must promote this confidence.

RESOURCES I agree with recent Lichfield diocesan policy to make the parish the focus of the work of the diocese. I believe that this is appropriate for all the church. This should now include assessing the particular spiritual needs of parishes to the end that each parish congregation is more visible as the Body of Christ.

BISHOPS Bishops exercise limited pastoral care and oversight of parish churches. Bishops need to be apostolic. We need Bishops who, like St Paul, are confident in their divine calling to be true spiritual leaders relying on a spiritual discernment so that they can, with the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2.15f), recognize, remedy and admonish faithlessness and unbalanced or non-existent teaching. If a woman is called by God to be a true apostle to our church, she should not be refused. We also need true spiritual discernment in the choice of clergy and other appointees, if growth is to occur.

I believe that every issue will need to be prayerfully addressed. I will need to be very humble before the Lord. Sometimes a bold and articulate stance must then be taken when the Church of England’s character and survival is put at risk by fashionable policies which appeal to “itching ears”. I believe that I have been blessed with a certain articulacy and boldness. I believe that, under God’s guidance, I am well placed to serve God in the Church of England, and I pray that, God willing, I will be able to do so. So I do ask you to use a FIRST VOTE (or a high preference vote) for me. Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Corbet
If you wish to discuss anything further, please call me on 01939 220312 or corbetchri@btinternet.com