The Evangelical Alliance is urging evangelicals within the Church of England “not to cop out too early” in their dispute over same-sex blessings.
Since the General Synod vote to ban same-sex marriage in church but allow blessings, several large evangelical Anglican churches objected loudly, saying the move was against biblical teaching. They have withheld money to the central church organisations, and threatened to break away, seeking oversight from bishops who share their views.
Gavin Calver, who leads the multi-denominational Evangelical Alliance, says it is supporting evangelicals who find the CofE stance challenging.
But speaking to Roger Bolton for the Religion Media Centre Big Interview, he cautioned that it was too early to make a move because the pastoral guidance, including words for prayers of blessing, has not been issued yet.
“We’ll probably find that a number of Anglican churches join the Evangelical Alliance, because it’s actually a time where they want to be in unity with wider evangelicals, as well as continuing in their space, which is challenging,” he said.
He was not sure it was the role of the alliance to issue guidance as to whether to stay or leave: “We have on our council bishops and others who would be better at leading on that. But we will provide support and help to those who are finding this difficult, who don’t know where to go, who don’t how to move forward.”
His own views, expressed in a recent blog, are that he is “saddened, pained and a little shocked at the proposals” which “appear to dramatically compromise the church’s teaching and practice on relationships and sexual ethics”.
In our interview, he said he believed that marriage was for one man and one woman. “The theology is quite simple — I think the pastoral implications are incredibly complicated.” He wanted to see a brave and kind church, compassionate in response, adding “there is no doubt in my mind that we have much to repent for, not least our treatment of people including the LGBT community”.
He has friends who are attracted to the same sex, but who are celibate. So, did he believe people were born gay and, if so, was he against conversion therapy? “This is a complex area”, he said and he accepted that those friends were never going to “wake up in the morning and suddenly find a woman attractive, necessarily”.
He was against all abusive practices done in the name of conversion therapy: “Conversion therapy is one of the most loaded terms. The bill that the government is seeking to bring in is seeking to go further than most of us would feel was OK, in terms of restrictions of prayer in a church setting”.
Evangelicals base their objection to same-sex relationships on interpretations of seven verses in the Bible. For the record, they are listed here.
Mr Calver confirmed that he believed every word of the Bible was true, though he conceded there was often a wider meaning in the various languages of ancient texts. For him, the controversy about same-sex relationships had, at its core, a particular approach to the Bible.
“All scripture is ‘God breathed’ and I believe in the strength of it as the trustworthy written word of God. However, every year, every day, when I’m opening the scriptures, you are finding a greater richness and finding your own understanding growing. But I don’t question the content, the validity and the divine inspiration and authority of scripture.”
He said there was a trajectory in scripture on certain issues, and a development on ideas, with teachings in the New Testament superseding some of the old.
There was always contextualization when preaching from scripture into culture: “The context is always important. What people knew or had at that time will shape some of the content, but for me, that does not question or diminish the authority of the word of God.”
He explained that an evangelical believes the Bible is the inspired word of God, that the death and resurrection of Jesus is the single most important thing in human history, that conversion is arrived at by a decision not osmosis and in the duty to be active in the world making it more like the kingdom of God.
The Evangelical Alliance represents 80 streams, networks and denominations, with 3,000 member churches, 500 organisations and 19,000 individuals. Its target is to reach 50,000 individuals, and in the past 12 months it has seen the biggest growth in individual membership in 25 years.
He said he has days when he believes there will be a big movement of God, especially in today’s challenging society when lives are falling apart. But he thinks Christians will be in the minority in the UK “for a fair while”, though a growing minority in the years ahead.
Unlike evangelicals in America who, by a large majority, support Donald Trump, there is no block Christian vote in this country. He said the Evangelical Alliance has spoken out, for example, in opposition to the Illegal Migration Bill.
He said it was important to speak up for the least and the lost, for the dignity of every individual. Speaking truth to power is something the church should always do, but not all the time, he said. “We do have to be selective when we need to make sure that we speak up on the issues that that really matter, because politics can take over your life.”
Asked for his views on whether all faiths led to heaven, he said: “I believe in the exclusivity of Christ, the need to surrender your life to Christ and to follow Jesus. I do not believe that all paths lead to heaven. The only way that I believe that you can live with assurance of where you are going, is to know Jesus.”
On the recent cases of financial and sexual abuse scandals among powerful male global evangelical leaders, which had led to their downfall, he said it was a danger in all parts of society when people became too powerful, as had happened in politics, and there had been some awful stories from within churches.
“I’m not for a minute going to defend people that have abused positions of power and things. It’s awful. I think that as leaders, we must never be untouchable. I think the key is to get people around us and around leaders to hold you to account and to keep you right.”
Mr Calver is the latest in a family dynasty to lead the Evangelical Alliance, having followed his father Clive and his grandfather Gilbert.
He acknowledged that the job could be really hard and he coped by “running with Jesus” for an hour every morning, when he said God spoke to him and renewed his conviction. “If I’m not digging deeper roots, I won’t survive. Disciplines and habits really, really matter.”
He also spends two hours a week escaping from it all watching AFC Wimbledon: “One Jesus, one football team, one wife. If I can stay loyal to all three, I’ve done my bit.”
Listen to the Big Interview on our podcast platforms here
