Evangelical response to the new Bishop of London

The Church Times reports -

'Bishop Mullally indicated that she would strive to complete the work of her predecessor, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, in increasing the number of church-plants in the diocese of London, fulfilling the C of E target, under the Renewal and Reform pro­gramme, to have 100 new wor­shipping communities in the city by 2020. “We are almost there,” she said, citing the work of Holy Trinity, Brompton, and St Helen’s, Bishops­gate, as advocates of church-planting and growth.

St Helen’s offered its congrat­ulations to Bishop Mullally in a Twitter post: “The Church of Eng­land is committed to ‘mutual flour­ish­ing’. We look forward to Bishop Sarah working for this within the diocese of London.”

It came after the Rector, the Revd William Taylor, announced earlier this month that the church would not be taking part in certain deanery activities, because it had an “impaired relationship” with the deanery chapter over its own refusal to “agree to disagree” over same-sex marriage (News, 15 December).

When questioned about her views on human sexuality, Bishop Mullally said: “The Church of England is clear in its teaching of marriage and I support that. It is a time for us to reflect on our tradition and scripture, and together say how we can offer a response that is about it being inclusive love.”'

So do I deduce that the centre of reformed Anglican evangelicalism in London is happy with female leadership in clergy and episcopate as long as it does not embrace the LGBTQ agenda? De jure “The Church of England is clear in its teaching of marriage'. True, but de facto it is not. The gaystapo will continue to be active and hearing, "and together say how we can offer a response that is about it being inclusive love.” they must be rejoicing. 

   The C of E is all about inclusivity and ambiguity. As someone who believes in the principle of the purity of the visible church I could never join it. I know enough history and Englishness to believe it will never significantly split. Most evangelicals always compromise. However the worldwide Anglican communion is another matter. I believe it will fragment.