Vaughan Roberts, rector of St Ebbe’s, Oxford, and co-director of the Alliance movement of traditionalist Anglicans in the Church of England, recently attended the Lausanne 4 Congress in Incheon, South Korea, where he called on churches in the West and the Majority World to unite in opposing the sexual revolution. Christian Today spoke to Rev Roberts about why he felt this was an important message for Lausanne, and his hopes for the UK.
At the Lausanne 4 Congress, you said that the global Church must work together to confront the sexual revolution, and that the Western churches and Majority World churches need each other. Why did you want to bring this message to the congress?
We need to engage globally because while every part of the global Church will have natural areas of strength or weakness in respect to this, and although we might be in different cultural contexts, the reality of globalisation means that we are all increasingly facing similar issues. Quite simply, we need one another.
On the one hand, the Western Church is in danger of moving away from what the Bible says on issues of marriage and sexuality – it’s losing its nerve and clarity, and that is disastrous all round. On the other hand, churches in the Majority World have been very strong and clear on this issue, and that is a huge encouragement to us in the West to stick with what the Church has always believed. But by the same token, those of us in the Western world who have been facing these issues for quite some time now can be of help to those in the Majority World as they grapple with increasing numbers of young people who are being discipled by the global media and all kinds of messages.
It’s important to help people recognise that this is an issue that affects them; it’s not just a political issue. So often, we only engage with it politically, but it’s also a pastoral issue. And the other thing to recognise is that the people facing these issues are not just non-Christians or liberal Christians in the world; they are also orthodox committed Christians in the West and in our very churches.
So, I’m really grateful to the Majority World for encouraging us in the West to stand firm. But I also want the Majority World to think about how the people affected by this issue are in our churches and how we can engage pastorally.
What do you think about what’s happening in the Church of England with the introduction of same-sex blessings?
The reality is that this is being pushed by a margin of just over 50 per cent in the General Synod when, in fact, very large numbers of the Church of England still hold to what is, for now, its official teaching – which is also where the global Anglican Communion stands on this issue. Many in the House of Bishops are trying to lead us in a different direction but there are many other Anglicans who are saying: no, this is not authentic Anglicanism, it’s not what the Bible teaches, and we’re not just going to hand over the CofE to this teaching; we’re determined to stand.
It’s been very encouraging to be part of the Alliance standing against these changes. It brings together quite a breadth of charismatic and conservative evangelicals and traditional Anglo-Catholics who are saying together: no, we can’t go along with this. We do need to engage wisely with this issue but that doesn’t mean changing our doctrine. We’ll see what we can do.
What do you think are some of the biggest obstacles to effective witness and evangelism in the UK context?
I don’t think it’s out there in the culture; it’s in the hearts of Christians. When we realise the wonders and beauty of Christ and His Gospel, that’s when we will get out and tell the world with confidence that He’s the Lord and the risen Saviour. But I think we’ve allowed too much discouragement to enter in and there is some hesitation to speak out about this, when our brothers and sisters in much harder settings take much greater risks than we do when they speak out. The worst we might face is being cancelled or regarded as a bit odd or extreme, but they face prison and big penalties. So why do they keep speaking out? It’s because they have a vibrant relationship with Christ.
So I think the challenge for us in the West is to remember how beautiful Christ is and how wonderful the Gospel is. When we are gripped by that, nothing will stop us. We’re too often focusing on the problems out there rather than praying that the Spirit would massage the Gospel into our hearts again.
It’s easy to think about how much harder things are now than they used to be, and be focused only on external hardships. Looking around us, it’s easy to think it’s impossible and we can get into a minority mindset, but when we look up and see the light in Christ and remember His power, then it doesn’t seem so impossible. Just think of Britain before the Gospel came. It was a very dark place. Christ’s power is amazing and that, God-willing, will inspire us to keep going with confidence and joy.
Were you encouraged by your time at the Lausanne Congress?
When we get out of our little bubbles and see the Church of Christ in very different contexts, it puts things in perspective. We think we’re going through a hard time in the UK and that things are tough in the Church of England but that’s nothing compared to our brothers and sisters in some contexts who risk their lives and yet have a vibrant faith and witness. To see that is hugely inspiring. We can be very, very small in our little denominational bubbles, let alone national and cultural bubbles, so it’s inspiring to see that we are one in Christ and to see the joy in believers who are in very hard settings. It’s inspiring and wonderful.