EA

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE United Kingdom

PRESS STATEMENT 7 July 2003

CANON JEFFREY JOHN A STATEMENT FROM THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE

The decision by Canon Jeffrey John to withdraw from the post of Bishop of Reading has been welcomed by the Evangelical Alliance UK. Following the announcement yesterday (Sun July 6), the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, the Rev Joel Edwards, said Canon John's decision was in the interests of the Church.

'We are grateful to Canon Jeffrey John for exercising sensitivity in this matter and we are relieved that his actions have averted a situation which might have had catastrophic consequences for unity within the Anglican Communion and for Christian witness in the United Kingdom.

'This was indeed a crisis for the Anglican Communion but had wider implications for the Christian Church in general. Commentators who have suggested that pressure on Canon John came from a small but vocal and belligerent minority within the Church have got it wrong.

'We are grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his intervention and subsequent statement, and we agree with him that Canon John's appointment highlighted unhappiness among people who could by no means be described as "extremists", and that the divisions which arose were not only at diocesan and national level but also international. Dr. Williams also expressed concern that the issue was likely to estrange Anglican churches in developing countries, and jeopardise links with other denominations and shared ministries. Historic Christian thinking on homosexual partnerships, and particularly homoerotic sexual practice, is held by at least one billion believing Christians world-wide. The damage that might have occurred if Canon John had taken up the Bishopric of Reading was a major concern to many people, not just evangelicals.

Canon John's decision to step down from the Bishopric should not, Joel stressed, be seen as a 'triumph' and he hoped that Canon John would not be taken up as a martyr to a gay cause.

'We are also sad to learn from the Archbishop's statement yesterday that much of the opposition to Canon John's appointment was "unsavoury" and displayed ignorance and even hatred of homosexual people. Homophobia and prejudice are not compatible with Christian witness.

'We understand that Canon John's decision is not the end of the story and that the Anglican Communion now faces the difficult task of reconciliation within the context of a wider debate on the issue of homosexuality. We pray for the Anglican Communion, for the Archbishop of Canterbury and for Canon Jeffrey John and trust that, as Dr. Williams said, there will now be time to reflect and to seek God's leading in this matter. We must seek Christian unity in this, but not at any price. It has to be a unity that is rooted in scripture, biblical truth and sound Christian doctrine.'

Ends Media enquiries: Cathy Le Feuvre Evangelical Alliance 020 7207 2117

NOTES TO EDITORS: The Evangelical Alliance UK was founded in 1846 and today represents over one million evangelical Christians in the UK, with nearly 7,000 churches and organisations in membership or affiliate membership. The Evangelical Alliance is a founding member of the World Evangelical Alliance, which now has 120 member Alliances, together representing 160 million evangelicals world wide. An evangelical is someone who believes that Jesus is both God and man; that the Bible is the ultimate authority in all that it addresses; and that the traditional beliefs of the Church such as the physical resurrection of Jesus are true. An evangelical owns a commitment to Christ as their personal saviour and a desire to live out that faith in the community.

-------------------------------------------- Press Department Evangelical Alliance email: http://www.eauk.org