Yesterday, the conservative evangelical network in the Church of England - Reform - closed its annual conference held in Swanwick, Derbyshire.

During the 3-day conference, the 200 delegates overwhelmingly expressed their opposition to the liberal agenda in the Church, which accepts homosexuality and allows the ordination of homosexual bishops. They also sternly criticised the leadership of the Church and in particular Archbishop Rowan Williams, the head of the worldwide Anglican Church.

The briefing paper for the conference, “Ways Forward” outlined the crisis of the Anglican Communion in the wake of various cases of homosexual bishop ordinations around the world. The document stated that homosexuality is not compatible to the teachings of the Bible, and the Anglican Communion is “impaired” due to the difference in biblical belief in the Church. They proposed a radical nationwide initiative to exercise discipline on pro-gay churches and priests.

All the delegates voted to welcome the document. Under the proposal, parishes could refuse liberal bishops entry to their churches and instead invite in like-minded evangelical bishops, possibly from Africa or Asia. Parishes would be encouraged to stop sending their church “taxes” to central diocesan funds and instead set up their own schemes for training clergy independently of mainstream theological colleges.

Some sources reported that Reform members are already beginning to demand answers from their diocesan bishops about where they stand on the gay issue before deciding whether to continue to support them.

In the run-up to the publication of the report from the Lambeth Commission on 18th October, Reform highly recommends that the Commission disciplines the U.S. Episcopal Church, or at least those of its bishops who supported the gay Bishop Gene Robinson’s appointment, until they repent. For England, their targets include the eight diocesan bishops who publicly supported the appointment of the gay cleric Dr Jeffrey John as the Dean of St Albans.

The religious correspondent for the Telegraph newspaper commented, “Although the network’s [Reform] membership is relatively small, its actions will resonate with many of the Church’s evangelical clergy, which make up between a quarter and a third of the total.”

In addition, Reform members openly challenged the leadership of the Church and the head, Archbishop Rowan Williams, which may stir up anger among conservatives and destabilise the Church further.

Rev Phillip Jensen, the controversial Anglican dean of Sydney denounced Dr Williams as a “theological prostitute”. The dean reserved his strictest condemnation for Dr Williams, because he holds liberal private views about homosexual relationships, even though he has struggled to uphold the Church’s unity by maintaining its traditional opposition to ordained gays.