Telegraph reports, 24/06/2008 "The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed the declining importance of the church was creating a "double jeopardy" situation where faith was being challenged at a time when society would most benefit.
He said believers needed to "recover their nerve" and spread the Gospel again.
The outspoken bishop, who earlier this week told those who tolerate homosexuality in the clergy to repent, also said he was "frustrated" that decisions which had been made in the church had not been stuck to.
Dr Nazir-Ali was greeted with a standing ovation as he gave a speech to a breakaway summit in Jerusalem of more than 1,000 traditionalists from across the Anglican Communion who oppose gay priests and the blessing of same-sex unions.
He did not say that divisions over sexuality would lead to a schism in Anglicanism, and referred to unity being a "very precious thing".
Instead he called on those in the church to concentrate on mission – trying to convert those of other faiths and with no faith to Christianity.
Dr Nazir-Ali, who earlier this year claimed the decline of Christianity had led to a collapse of Britishness, said: "The greatest challenge is that of militant secularization, which is creating a double jeopardy for western cultures.
"It is losing its Christian discourse at the very time when it needs it most.
"Let us pray that we are able to recover our Christian nerve in the west and make sure the Gospel is not lost, and that all that is valuable in western culture – much of which comes from its Judeo-Christian background – will survive as a way to enhance cultures in the west and renew them once again."
He said he could not apologise for wanting to explain Christianity to Muslims and to great laughter he added: "That's not the only thing I want to do to them."
The Pakistan-born bishop repeated his claim that the church began its decline in influence when parents stopped passing the faith on to their children.
"Don't blame anyone else," he said.
Dr Nazir-Ali said when changes took place in society they must be assessed against the Bible to see whether they should be accepted, and should not just be waved through.
He said those who were attending Gafcon, many of whom like him are boycotting the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference gathering of bishops because of their opposition to liberals over homosexuality, were at the forefront of a revival of Anglicanism.
"You are the miraculous beginning of a movement for the renewal of the church."
The bishop suggested that the current structure of Anglicanism was not good enough to deal with its divisions over sexuality, which have seen American liberals consecrate an openly gay bishop in defiance of church rules.
"In the crisis that is facing us we have found this [structure] to be not enough. In the end it was based on English good manners and in our world English good manners are simply not enough."
He went on: "I believe there are some things that do need attention.
"We need to have councils that can make decisions that stick. In the last few years I have been frustrated by decision after decision after decision that has not stuck.
"We cannot have this in the future for a healthy church."
Later the bishop said militant secularism often came from the state in Britain.
He said: “Christian ideas about the sanctity of the human person at the beginning and the end of life are being denied either on the basis of scientific progress or crude utilitarianism, which speaks of the greatest good for the greatest number, or leaving the 'yuck’ factor to decide what is permissible for people.”
Dr Nazir-Ali added, returning to the theme of parents not passing on religion to their chlidren: “Many of society’s problems particularly in young people are related to the fact that so many have not experienced a stable family life. So many have grown up without a recognisable father figure.”
The bishop also disclosed that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been in touch with him to discuss his refusal to attend Lambeth and said: “He regrets my position.”
He also said that Anglicanism needed a covenant “with teeth” to make sure there is not another crisis if one church breaks the accepted rules.
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