Theological Theology: Sydney Anglicans VI: An evangelical episcopate

The diocese of Sydney has been extraordinarily blessed with faithful leaders throughout its history. Many of these have been ordained; many of them have not. The eleven Archbishops (at first merely ‘Bishops’) of Sydney have included some of the most effective evangelical leaders in global Anglicanism. With very few exceptions, the Archbishops and Bishops of Sydney have been determinedly evangelical, theologically motivated and personally engaged in evangelistic mission. We have had much for which to give God thanks.

Evangelical Anglicans, and not just Sydney evangelical Anglicans, have been much better at saying what a bishop is not than at saying what he is. Recoiling from grandiose views of the episcopate, from their eccentric regalia, grand palaces and autocratic powers, evangelicals have sometimes satisfied themselves with reductionistic summaries of the nature and function of bishops as ‘mere denominational administrators’ or else pursued alternative models of leadership on analogy with what is seen in business or democratic politics. Even to spend time reflecting theologically on the nature of an evangelical episcopate, some might suggest, runs the risk of attributing to them an importance that is unbiblical and ultimately a danger to evangelical ministry. And yet not to do so leaves the field open for others to redefine the role and responsibility of the evangelical bishop in ways which distort or simply obscure the concerns of the New Testament.

We in Sydney are genuinely grateful for the bishops and archbishops God has given us. We recognise that God has used their prayerful and godly ministry to maintain and strengthen an evangelical witness in this city. We look at Anglican dioceses around the world which once were evangelical and are now far from it and we understand that the decisions of their bishops and archbishops have had a great deal to do with that. None of our bishops did what they did single-handedly, of course. Godly men and women worked alongside them, quietly exercising faithful ministry, sometimes in the face of extraordinary challenges. Nevertheless, our bishops were active too and never mere puppets of powerful political forces or determined ideologues. Frederick Barker and Howard Mowll undoubtedly left their stamp upon the Diocese of Sydney. So too did Marcus Loane and Donald Robinson. Our current Archbishop (Peter Jensen) has been energetic in personal evangelism, in promoting evangelistic engagement with the community (witness the diocesan mission adopted by the Sydney Synod in 2002), and in providing thoughtful, confident evangelical leadership on the world stage. Even in anti-authoritarian, iconoclastic Australia, our bishops have proven difficult to dismiss altogether. Even those who do not believe in any notion of ‘office’ find it impossible to hide the respect they have for men like these. Read more