You are here
Church Society Director says Archbishop Justin Welby should Resign
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
November 7, 2023
The Director of Church Society, the Rev. Dr. Lee Gatiss, an evangelical Anglican charity established to promote and uphold the biblical foundations of the Church of England, told Archbishop Justin Welby to his face that he should resign for his failure to uphold biblical standards of sexual morality.
Gatiss was at a meeting on Friday with about 25 evangelical and Anglo-Catholic leaders who met with Archbishop Welby and his staff at Lambeth Palace Library in London, to discuss the proposed blessings for same-sex couples.
"He asked what we thought about some clergy teaching a view which we considered to be a threat to people's salvation; I said they ought to leave and they ought to be disciplined by the bishops who promised to banish error at their consecration services," said Gatiss.
"That's not rocket science. What has been proposed is a heresy. I don't use the word lightly. It's a heresy against the teaching of the Scriptures, the early church fathers, and the formularies of the Church of England."
The church has authority in controversies of faith, said Gatiss, but it cannot ordain anything contrary to God's word written. "That's what our Articles say, Article 20. So, bishops who are not disciplining those who are teaching in error, in accordance with our formularies and Scripture, are in contravention of their own consecration oaths, and they ought to repent as well. Whatever their personal opinion might be on the issue, they need to repent of not disciplining those who are in serious, soul-destroying error."
"When asked if we had confidence in his leadership or whether he ought to resign prior to his planned retirement in 2 years, both I and one colleague raised our hands to say he should resign."
Later, Archbishop Justin Welby met with 34 progressive Anglican leaders who vehemently argued that the archbishop was not doing enough to push the Living in Love and Faith Report (LLF) proposing the blessing of same-sex unions.
Church Society is a fellowship contending to reform and renew the Church of England in biblical faith. This doctrine is clearly expressed in the Church's formularies: The 39 Articles of Religion, the Prayer Book, and the Ordinal.
