I recently sat with a friend in a wonderful tea house – you can find it on the Christian Economy App; and as we chewed the cud on many issues; accompanied by some fine Assam Tea and deliciously homemade cakes, he mentioned that his Church St Helen’s Bishop Gate was about to organise a Church plant in Waterloo.
Immediately this started a tangent of conversation; as I tried to persuade him this was a bad idea and that there was a better way forward. Church planting – is the wheelhouse of Churches that are Reformed Evangelical (with or without a sprinkling of charismatic theology. The idea is, that when the mother church is bursting at the seams; and filled to the brim; the church encourages a part of its congregation to move out; and set up a church in a new area. Now I will leave aside that these areas – are often affluent – weird how these brave Church plants are never called to plant a Church in the heart of Tower Hamlets; or in the poorest areas of London.
However, that is not the main thrust of where I am going with this article; as you will see. St Helen’s Bishopsgate recently planted a Church in Clapham Junction; and is now planning of planting a Church in Waterloo; whilst being embroiled in a battle for the life and soul of the Church of England; it is a key member of The Alliance a network of Christian Churches – faithful churches – trying to capture the Synod of the Church England. Waterloo; is already an area well served for churches, and indeed; the area is served by Grace Waterloo Church; to which St Helen’s Bishopsgate; hardly has a theological difference (apart from a sprinkling of charismatic theology). So why plant another Church in an area served by a faithful church already. Grace Waterloo Church; is itself a plant from Westminster Chapel; and GOD knows if there was a or still is another Church in this area that already was in keeping with Westminster Chapel theology. I suspect there probably was – but I can’t say I know what it is; so let’s be charitable and assume that they did the research and found that there was not. Grace Waterloo has also recently planted a Church – in Holborn; another reasonably affluent area; and who knows, if there is a Church of similar compatible theological outlook in the Holborn area. I suspect there probably is, but I do not know for sure – GOD knows best.
However, St Helen’s Bishopsgate – should know – about Grace Waterloo; which begs the question – why set up a very similar Church in that area. The answer will of course be to do mission, to reach the lost; and because we are called. To which there is no reasoning or possibility of discussion; in my experience. The argument will be – that there are plenty of lost unchurched folk for both Churches to reach – which of course is true.
However, in our consumerist society – with each new Church established; what usually ends up happening is we encourage Church swapping; and that in the end encourages apathy towards the Church; and viewing life in the Church as a consumerist project of finding the right fit – rather than building with the people of GOD – GOD has given you; in the Church you are in.
I want to be clear – I am not against planting Churches; but I do want to suggest that in an age – where there are an abundance of churches; church temples, and a real battle for the soul of England; that perhaps there is a better way of evangelising that planting yet another Church in areas with churches already.
I want to introduce you to the idea of militant entryism; an alternative to Church planting! Here is the idea, take a Church like Westminster Chapel, Grace Waterloo, or St Helens Bishopsgate; or church planting networks like Acts 29, or Co – Mission; if they reach a point where it is time for the amoeba to divide and replicate; rather than planting another church, as they think to do. Why not take the two hundred souls or whatever the number; and do one of the following: a) find a small liberal church in the target area; and flood it with faithful Christians; with a view to taking, it over for Christ; or b) find a faithful Church – but one that is struggling and send reinforcements. This strategy should particularly be aimed at taking over the parishes of the Church of England; because the resources of the Church of England are vast and should be contended for.
The Church of England has assets valued at the level of 11.6 billion and between 180 million to 200 million in cash reserves. These are resources worth fighting for. We all see how they are being squandered and waisted in the hands of progressive apostates and grifters, with ridiculous ideas like project spire, which aims to give away 100 million in reparations for a slave trade no one alive today suffered from or participated in. Imagine if this Church with all its resources – was captured by faith Christians – with missionary purpose.
If the Churches mentioned above and the networks, focussed on militant entryism – rather than starting Churches in school halls; very soon, these networks would own, run and increasingly influence the Church of England – for the gospel. Liberal Churches, do not really do Church planting; they rarely grow with missionary purpose. The Liberal Churches of the Church of England would one by one be taken over. Here is why, if 200 faithful Christians with Missionary Purpose suddenly started attending such Churches, who had congregations between 20 – 50 people; the faithful Christians would soon be the majority in those congregations; and that matters for the following reasons.
A parish is governed by a parochial church council, Is elected annually or every two years, based on people who appear of the Church Roll; the members eligible to stand and be elected and vote. The Parochial Church Council oversees financial affairs of the Parish; the maintenance of the building and working with the Parish priest.
Even more importantly – members of the PCC become elected to attend the Deanery Synod – which sits with all licenced clergy in the diocese. The deanery synod – is supposed to help coordinate the Diocese, to deal with issues that affect the Churches in that area. It also acts as electoral college to the General Synod.
The General Synod is the parliament of the Church of England – its canons, automatically become the law of the land. This body meets two or three times a year – and is made up of all Bishops, Priests elected by other priests in their Diocese, and lay members elected from the Deanery Synods.
In other words, if through militant entryism; faithful Christians – start capturing parishes, they started to fill up the government of the Church; which means they can become an effective blocker to the progressive agenda, and in time, begin to set the agenda, in a more faithful Christian direction. This also means, that by capturing parishes, you can deny roles to increasingly to Liberally minded priests; as the parish representatives; have a right of veto in the interregnum process of recruiting a new priest; known as the Shared Discernment Process.
Once the Church is captured; you can then start recruiting into the clergy – more faithful Christians; as the Parish priest – needs to agree with a candidate that they feel someone is called to the priesthood; and refer them to the Diocesan Director or Ordinands, (who is recruited within the Diocese or without; and if you capture more parishes eventually you can potentially capture this office as well).
The other effect of this – is that Progressive Christians will be effectively evangelised; or will simply leave in a self-entitled huff; thus, leaving the parish and over time the Diocese in the hands of faithful Christians.
Faithful Christian Churches like St Helens Bishopsgate are currently following a strategy of creating an alternative evangelical ecosystem; that sits in broken partnership with the CofE; I believe this is the wrong strategy; and what should be adopted is a more aggressive colonisation of the Church of England. This is a strategy, that can be adopted by Christians who are not even Anglican; but broadly Protestant. I once worked for a CofE Church that had essentially been captured by a Pentecostal Congregation. Repeat this enough; and eventually; you will not just be a major player in the life of the CofE, but you will eventually control it, its resources and its buildings.
We need an alliance of Christians – who see the Church as a mission field; as an ideological battle ground; and who organise to capture it; rather than compete with it; why allow its vast resources to be squandered – when you can capture them instead. The only – fair (I admit) objection to this idea; is that it would be mean being unevenly yoked with the unbeliever; which; if such a movement was birthed – without a deliberate cultivation of the knowledge of CofE structures, could lead to such a development. However, money which comes with numbers, and demographics – which comes with large numbers performing deliberate targeted entryism; does speak; and together, these two things would mean we are not unevenly yoked with Liberal Progressives, but that they would be unevenly yoked with us, and soon and very soon – we would be in control. Once you successfully start taking over parish after Parish; in time, the bishops would find themselves forced to work with more and more faithful priests – who would be evangelising them and other weak and progressive clergy; and so would have to adjust to the Christian Church back in control of the Church of England.
So, I want to invite every Church that believes in Church planting – to replace this strategy with militant entryism; and start taking over the Diocese that they are in – one parish at a time.
