If I could tell faithful English Anglicans one thing, it would be this: Hit the lifeboats. Run for your spiritual lives, preferably in an orderly fashion. Rally around faithful voices in the Church of England that are formulating their response even as we speak, or otherwise join the current breakaway groups. Much of this depends on what the local situation looks like for you. Plug into a parish that forthrightly champions the faith and Christian holiness, that doesn’t play around with spiritual newspeak, and that militates against departure from the Holy Scriptures and the historic Anglican Formularies.
The laity must wake up to this. Don’t stick your head in the sand. Do not be the kind of somnolent pew-sitter who, upon seeing yet another display of detestable enormities, says to himself, “If they take this just one step farther, I’m out of here.” This is how the frog is boiled in the pot. Get out, for the sake of your soul and the souls of your children. The Church of England has crashed into the iceberg of heresy and apostasy and the cancerous rot has aggressively exerted itself.
To the clerics, I say this: It is not enough to be free of the tyranny of unfaithful hirelings. The much harder task is to prove ourselves good under-shepherds, fulfilling all those duties laid out so clearly in St. Paul’s pastoral epistles and reiterated in the Ordinal. You may face lawsuits. You may pull your hair out trying to teach, feed, and guide sheep that suffer immense spiritual malformation. You will surely face social opposition and ostracism. Dig deeply and hew closely to the good deposit you’ve received. Plant and revitalize churches. Establish schools. Evangelize the lost. Catechize God’s children. Preach the gospel. Be vigilant in prayer. Suffer like a good soldier. Pour yourself out as a living sacrifice, as your fathers in the faith before you, and as your brethren in foreign lands do even now. Quit yourselves like men. Stand fast, and, having done all, to stand. Obtain an incorruptible crown.
Much like what we saw in the United States, a rag-tag ecclesiastical flotilla is forming. Many faithful Anglicans are still on the mothership, sabotaged as it’s been by captain and crew. These orthodox folks are discerning what to do next. Newer groups committed to biblical orthodoxy have hit the water, running alongside craft of older vintage. If you desire perseverance in faithfulness, hop into the queue. Don’t flop into a deck chair, basking in the afterglow of a departed glory.
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St. Jude's Anglican Church
We are a parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church. We have been worshiping together in the greater Richmond area for over a decade. We’d love to have you join us for Christian worship in the rich Anglican tradition.
