Feed my Sheep!
Michael Print reports and reflects on this year’s Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference (JAEC), a conference with a difference
Evangelicals have a surprising ability to subdivide into tribes within their denominations, whilst at the same time joining with similar tribes from other denominations. Witness, for example, the grouping of charismatic evangelicals under the banner of New Wine, or the grouping of conservative evangelicals under the banner of the Proclamation Trust.
As a result, conferences have sprung up that cater to these tribes and have seen evangelical Anglicans united with evangelical nonconformists (something to be celebrated), but sadly separated from other evangelicals within their denomination.
The Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference (JAEC) seeks to bring together young evangelicals from across the tribes to win the Church of England and through it the nation. Since its launch in 2011, JAEC has grown into a network of evangelical Anglicans with a wide variety of additional identifiers (including charismatic, open, and conservative), who are at various stages within their ministry. Some have only begun thinking about vocational discernment, whilst others have begun their first incumbency, with the vast majority somewhere between these two.
Such was the background and vision that I had encountered in the active Facebook group, as I arrived in Northampton for the fifth meeting of this panevangelical Anglican conference entitled ‘Feed My Sheep: The Anglican Ministry of Word and Sacrament’.
Beginning at lunchtime on the first of three days, the conference made sure it began with, and was regularly punctuated by, preaching from the Bible. This centred on expositions dealing with the subject of Jesus’ charge to Peter to ‘feed’ his ‘sheep’. These expositions where always of a high standard, and where delivered by people from different positions within the evangelical Anglican camp, as well as different pastoral charges; including an excellent overview of ‘feeding’ in John’s Gospel by Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn (pictured).
Nigel Atkinson, Vicar of St John’s, Knutsford, gave us a challenging and inspiring talk on Richard Hooker’s view of ordination. Nigel had spent his sabbatical this year rereading the entire works of this great Anglican divine, and his depth of understanding of this key Anglican figure was clear to see.
Nigel dealt with the subject of ordination under three headings: the necessity, the purpose, and the power of ordination to the presbyterate, and used these to challenge a modern evangelical habit of downplaying ordination.
On day two, Andrew Atherstone from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, opened up Cranmer’s work on the liturgy of Holy Communion. He helped us to think through how evangelical Anglicans might best express their theology of the Lord’s Supper within the rubrics of the Church of England and the Common Worship ‘menu’ of Eucharistic prayers.
This was followed by optional seminars, covering a wide range of areas including ‘How to get through a BAP’, ‘Multi-Parish Ministry’, and ‘Cross Tradition Ministry’. All of these were led by experienced practitioners in their fields, and enabled people thinking through these areas to ask questions, as well as bring their own experiences to the discussion.
The second day’s programme ended by hearing from delegates across the UK, and at various stages in their vocational journey, about their experiences in local churches, including the challenges and encouragements.
Throughout the day there were substantial periods of ‘free time’, which provided one of the highlights of this conference, a chance to meet new people, and to share experiences of real-life Anglican ministry.
The final day’s programme began with an excellent talk from Tim Ward, Associate Director of the Cornhill Training Course, on ‘Preaching and the Church of England.’ Anglican preaching will ‘unfold the Scriptures’, he said, and will have a right sense of the preacher’s delegated authority from the national Church, as well as being properly disciplined by the ordination liturgy.
Tim’s talk also challenged what he felt was a growing tendency to downplay the Lord’s Supper: Zwinglianism had crept into the Church as a reaction against AngloCatholicism, but it often resulted in a lack of any meaningful encounter with Christ in the Communion.
Tim challenged us to look back to Calvin as our evangelical forbear, who held Communion in the highest regard, second only to the preaching of the word, and ensure we properly exercise our ministry of both word and sacrament.
The final session was given over to Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, who raised our eyes from our national Church to the Anglican Communion worldwide, taking us on a tour of the Communion’s history, as well as contemporary struggles.
As I reflect on the conference, I have been encouraged by the general atmosphere of seeking to unite evangelical Anglicans and equip them for their distinctive calling within the Church of England. Here is a network that seeks to put aside secondary differences and to encourage one another to use their Anglican-shaped ministry for God’s glory.
Here is an evangelical conference unashamed of its Anglican heritage, including BCP Morning Prayer each day, and committed to holding the national Church to its evangelical roots.
Time in lectures was nicely balanced with free time, as well as time to laugh together, not least in a ‘Have I Got Church for You’ pub-quiz.
I come back from my time in Northampton encouraged, challenged, and better equipped for evangelical Anglican ministry in the 21st century, just in time for the busyness that erupts in September for Anglican parishes across our nation. Michael Print is Assistant Curate of St Leonard’s,
Padiham, and St Margaret’s, Hapton