THE CHURCH ~ THE GENERAL SYNOD

We believe that a new form of government in the Church of England offers us the Opportunity of making a new beginning in the 1970s.

The new General Synod will not be the answer to all the difficulties of our Church. It will not ensure spiritual revival; it will not remove doctrinal uneasiness or end our divisions; it will not of itself assuage the cynicism felt in church and nation alike about institutions. But if its members work together in hopeful dependence upon God, and in a spirit of mutual trust and realism, the tasks confronting the Church can be approached whole-heartedly and undertaken with more hope of success.

The General Synod is new in the way in which it brings together bishops, clergy and laity in the government of the Church, in the way it relates government at the national level to the diocese and deanery, and in the provision for election of lay members of the General Synod by the members of the Deanery Synods. It will be a smaller body than the Church Assembly and need not, indeed should not, be bound in all respects by the traditions of the Church Assembly and the Convocations. For these reasons we believe that the 1970 elections to the General Synod may prove to be a turning point in the life of our Church and can affect other churches and the nation as a whole. In this manifesto we appeal for deep and open discussion in the whole Church of the issues which the Church must face and the Synod decide; and we offer our own convictions about some of them to the Church as a whole and to the electors in particular.

BELIEF

A report by the Archbishop's Commission on Christian Doctrine said:

"The Church of England is part of the Church of God, having faith in God the Father, who through Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour calls us into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This faith, uniquely shown forth in the holy Scriptures, and proclaimed in the catholic Creeds. she shares with other Christians throughout the world. She has been led by the Holy Spirit to bear witness of her own to Christian truth in her historic formularies-the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, and the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Now, as before, she has a responsibility to maintain this witness through her preaching and worship, the writings of her scholars and teachers, the lives of her saints and confessors, and the utterances of her councils." (Subscription and Assent to the 39 Articles, p. 74, July, 1968.)

We affirm our loyalty to this inheritance of faith as our inspiration and direction, under God, for bringing to light the truth of Christ and making him known to this generation. We believe that the Church of England has been right to pursue its ideals of comprehensiveness and freedom. We think it a strength and not a weakness that there are among us, loyally in one Church, some who feel affinity more with Rome and the Orthodox than with the Reformed and the Pentecostals and vice versa, and others again who care more about science, or culture, or social action. Surely our best contribution to the unity of Christians is our tested experience that love and obedience to our Lord can mean that apparently irreconcilable positions can be held together in one Church.

The basis for this attitude is not indifference to theology but the conviction that God is greater than our divisions, and that our definitions, even at their best, can do no more than point to his truth; they cannot comprehend him. In the history of our Church when Anglicans have kept their heads, they have withstood the shock of new knowledge or new ideas and have been able to absorb what is true. When, more rarely, they have embarked on persecution (whether of Puritan and Methodists, or of Ritualists, or of Broad Churchmen) they have weak~ ened the Church and made their successors ashamed.

We welcome all those, whatever their 'label', who are ready with openness and courage to seize the new opportunities which God is offering. We seek to understand and learn from other Anglicans, especially those of different but deep convictions and holiness of life; and we repudiate a central Anglicanism that is marked either by fear of excess, or indifference to theology. Thus we would seek together with those of differing views from our own to receive and demonstrate more the fulness of Christ into which he longs for his Church to grow.

We are, however, aware that in recent years those who represent the extreme wings of churchmanship in our church, have put up candidates for election to the Church Assembly and elsewhere with the support of a party organisation. They have thus been over-represented, in comparison with people who are, we would claim, of a more forward-looking and open mind, and who care no less for the Gospel and for the Catholic and Evangelical heritage of the Church of England.

We believe that the great majority of church people would be inclined to share our beliefs and aims. And it is for this reason that we feel it right to encourage particular candidates to stand for election to the new Synod.

ISSUES BEFORE THE CHURCH ~ 1. The Church in the Modern World

In a world characterised by the demand of the under-privileged—the coloured, the poor, the homeless, the hungry—for justice, Christians are called upon to play a more active part with other men of goodwill in redressing the growing imbalance between rich and poor nations; in ending racial discrimination and in fostering positive community relations; in concentrating a larger share of the personal energies and resources of the community on the homeless, the lonely and the socially inadequate; and in closing the gap of mutual misunderstanding and the resentment between the young and the middle-aged. If the Church is to respond to this call with speed, sensitivity and efficiency there must be reform of Church machinery and finance.

2. Ecumenical Action in Mission

Unless the Methodist Conference in 1970 reverses its 1969 approval of the Anglican-Methodist Scheme, or another detailed plan is produced without delay which obviously secures wider Anglican and Methodist support, the Unity Scheme should be introduced in the New Synod. If it is introduced surely it must receive the required majority. The way forward recommended by the Intercommunion Commission (and where the Commission was divided, the recommendation of the majority) should be adopted as soon as possible. In this way too, full advantage may be taken of the Sharing of Churches Measure and the Pastoral Measure. As we work together in local situations with other Christians the Church will grow more and more united, more truly national, and, at the same time, both more deeply catholic and evangelical.

3. Partners in Ministry

There are areas where our present system of care, payment and deployment of the clergy still seems to work; there are others where it is under strain or has broken down and where the security of the present benefice system prevents the Church meeting the needs of a rapidly changing pastoral situation. Though the worst financial inequalities have been ironed out, the present system is haphazard and difficult to defend; and the inequality of security between the beneficed and unbeneficed is indefensible. Nor is there at present proper provision for the employment in the parishes of those who have worked outside the parochial system or in the church overseas. The Commission on the Deployment and Payment of the Clergy accurately described the problems and many of us would accept the solution they proposed. If, however, these proposals do not in the end prove entirely acceptable. they cannot be pressed. But the problems will remain and the General Synod will have to face them and find realistic solutions.

4. Worship

We welcome the progress made since Parliament gave the Church freedom to pursue liturgical experiment. Now for the first time clergy and laity together will be able to consider the worship of the Church. Experiment and revision must continue with the aim of producing alternative ways of worship which recognise the need for holiness and the value of tradition, but which can be used in freedom and spontaneity in widely different circumstances and by congregations who have a varying acquaintance with the traditions of prayer and worship of the Church.

5. Church and State

There are few who would consider the present relationship between Church and State entirely satisfactory. We look for modification which would not involve complete disestablishment. In particular changes are still needed in the ultimate control of worship by Parliament and when the Archbishops Commission has completed its work we look for alterations in Parliament's control over Doctrine. There are aspects, too, of the appointment of bishops (and others) by the Crown, on the advice of the Prime Minister, which need to be changed.

A TIME FOR DECISION

These are all matters that will be before the Synod in its early years. Others will arise whose shape cannot now be foreseen. On some of them the Church and the Synod will come easily to a common mind. Others will call for difficult and costly decision, to be reached more quickly than we might wish. God's time is always good, and he gives his people enough of it if they will only respond to hrm. 8ut he does not give them all the time in the world, and he often confronts them with a time of judgement and opportunity, which they can seize or miss. We believe that in the life of our Church the birth of the new General Synod is such a time.

AIM

The aim of the New Synod Group is that people who share the convictions we have expressed should be able to vote for people who also share them. We shall. therefore, ensure that in every diocese there are candidates for such people to support.

We invite anyone who shares these views to associate themselves with the Group by writing to the New Synod Group, 134 Lower Richmond Road, London. S.W.15.

E. S. BISHOP, M.P. for Newark
Father HUGH BISHOP C. R. (Wakeheld)
The Rev. ADRIAN ESDAILE (Southwark)
R. C. W. GOOCH (Winchester)
Mrs. B. E. HAWORTH (Blackburn)
Miss CHRISTIAN HOWARD (York)
Canon Eric JAMES (Southwark)
Sir JOHN LAWRENCE (Bath and Wells)
The Ven. JOHN LEWIS (Herford), Archdeacon of Ludlow
The EARL of MARCH (Coventry), Chairman
Canon W. J. MONTAGUE (Wakefield)
Canon GWILYM MORGAN (Manchester)
Canon BERNARD PAWLEY (Ely)
Mrs. B. RIDLEY (London)
Canon STEPHEN VERNEY (Coventry)
W. R. VAN STRAUBENZEE, M.P. for Wokingham (Oxford)