Following the news that evangelicals and other theological conservatives captured key committees in the Anglican Church of Australia, votes for a key committee in the Church of England (CodE) appear to indicate a knife-edge victory as well.
The Crown Nominations Commission is the body that provides the UK Prime Minister with a list of two candidates for diocesan Bishops. Six members elected from the Houses of Clergy and Laity in a recent election will form part of the 14 voting members that decide on whom to nominate. The new members of the Crown Nominations Commission will serve until 2027.
According to observers on the progressive Thinking Anglicans website conservatives won most of the positions in a 52% to 48% vote. If this percentage is accurate, it also reveals how the members of the General Synod may lean. One long-time observer described the result as “shockingly conservative.”
The Church of England is facing key decisions on human sexuality within the life of the General Synod, elected in 2021, which met this week. A major project on the topic, Living in Love and Faith, will come before this synod. This vote is a possible pointer to the balance of forces on the synod.
This updates earlier reports about the make-up of the CorE General Synod. Church Psepsologist Peter Ould (twin to prominent Sydney Anglican, David) analysed the results in October last year
House of Clergy
Orthodox – 79 (40%)
Revisionist – 83 (42%)
Unknown – 34 (17%)
House of Laity
Orthodox – 73 (37%)
Revisionist – 69 (35%)
Unknown – 55 (28%)
Ould made the important point that even with the unknowns both his revisionist and Orthodox groups have a blocking minority able to block change in doctrine or church law.