Missionary clergy

On Wednesday 21 May 2025, the Archbishop of York received notification from the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH SA) of their plans to ordain “missionary clergy” for ministry in England. “A group of churches from various Church of England dioceses”, declared Bishop Martin Morrison from Gauteng, “have approached us with a request: that we consider ordaining a number of emerging leaders, all of whom are appropriately selected and theologically trained.” Following the commendation of the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) in December 2023 by the Church of England’s House of Bishops, these young leaders found themselves unable “in good conscience” to pursue ordination through the normal channels, and their congregations were deeply concerned that “no clear or lasting pastoral provision has yet been made”, especially in terms of “legal and permanent structural protections or future ministry pathways”. Therefore, Bishop Morrison explained to the Archbishop, REACH SA had decided to accede to their request for ordination. He emphasised: “This decision has been made with the aim of sustaining and advancing faithful Anglican evangelical witness and to ensure we do not lose a generation of gifted gospel workers to ordained ministry.” Morrison’s letter was copied to the Bishop of London (in the absence of an Archbishop of Canterbury) and to the Bishop of Leicester (lead bishop of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project until his sudden resignation in early June).

REACH SA is part of the glorious array of global Anglicanism. Known officially as the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), it was rebranded in 2013 and its mission purpose, as its new name suggests, is to “Reach South Africa with the good news about Jesus”. It is a growing, evangelistic branch of the Anglican family. There are currently 137 REACH parishes in South Africa, plus over 100 parishes in neighbouring Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its theological college, George Whitefield College in Cape Town, attracts Anglicans from across the continent of Africa. The Church is organised as a single diocese covering the whole of South Africa, currently with 11 bishops (8 black, 3 white), six of whom are area bishops, each overseeing between 20 and 30 congregations. Apart from the Presiding Bishop in Cape Town, all the other bishops remain as parish incumbents, rooted in local church ministry, a very different model of episcopacy from that practised in the Church of England. There are only two Houses in their synod – Laity and Clergy – because bishops are reckoned to be senior clergy, not a separate class. REACH SA also has a global outlook. At an earlier stage of its history in the mid-twentieth century, when in an isolated and vulnerable position as a church, it was particularly helped by evangelical bishops from England and Australia. Therefore, it now has an established policy of helping evangelical Anglicans anywhere in the world who request assistance with ordinations, not as “a takeover”, but as “a rescue mission”, prioritizing matters of faith over matters of order.

Martin Morrison (born 1955) was consecrated in 1993 as Bishop of Gauteng, and the following year planted Christ Church, Midrand, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, which he served as rector until 2022. It is a multiracial congregation of about 1,500 people. He now pastors Christ Church, Nokuphila, planted in 2023 in a school on the edge of Tembisa township, known as Soweto’s “poorer cousin”. It has grown rapidly to 200 people, with about 80 children, 60 teenagers, and 60 adults on Sundays. Morrison has a particular passion for the poor and is founder of The Love Trust, a South African charity helping to educate vulnerable children as a means to lift them out of poverty. In recent decades, Morrison and his REACH SA colleagues have ordained a steady stream of clergy for ministry in England, beginning famously with the three Dundonald deacons ordained at Christ Church, Surbiton, in 2005.

The other major expression of Anglicanism in the same region is the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of South Africa), which has 26 dioceses and approximately one thousand parishes across South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini. Parallel and overlapping Anglican jurisdictions are therefore very familiar to South African Anglicans, stretching back to the old disputes of the 1840s in the era of Robert Gray, first Archbishop of Cape Town. But these Anglican siblings have long since learned to live together cordially in the same geographical space. Among the guests at the recent consecration and installation in February 2024 of REACH SA’s Presiding Bishop, Siegfried Ngubane, three bishops represented ACSA and its primate, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, a leading figure within the Anglican Communion. In the current realignments within global Anglicanism, as the tectonic plates shift, and the old boundaries and structures of the Communion are reimagined, many are looking to South Africa as a viable model of overlapping Anglican jurisdictions functioning happily side by side.

Of the seven English candidates presented to REACH SA for ordination, some have been through the Church of England’s standard discernment process (Bishop’s Advisory Panel) and trained at Church of England theological colleges. Others have been recommended for ordination via an “alternative” advisory panel and studied at the Cornhill Training Course, under the auspices of the Proclamation Trust, which offers seminary-level theological education in a six-year “mixed-mode” programme alongside parish placements. The “alternative” discernment process is explicitly designed to mirror the best features of the Church of England’s standard procedures. Each panel is staffed by six advisors (three clergy, three laity), working in pairs, who interrogate candidates in three 1-hour interviews in the key areas of personal character, theological maturity, and pastoral wisdom, and score them against the same criteria used by the Bishop’s Advisory Panel. They are looking at introducing psychotherapeutic tests, following the Church of England’s national practice. But the days of a “Shared Discernment Process” across the Church of England appear to be numbered, shattered by the pressures of LLF.

REACH SA’s discernment process is similarly rigorous, though its application form is not designed, of course, for English missionary clergy. It includes questions such as: “As a curate you might be placed in any congregation in South Africa. Will this be a problem for you?” Candidates are asked to respond to the denomination’s “Ten Distinctives”, which summarise its ecclesial identity as Word-centred, Evangelical, Protestant, Reformed, Missional, Confessional, Covenantal, Episcopal, Liturgical, and Anglican. They are also required to write their theological views “as briefly and concisely as possible (no more than half a page each)” on seventeen theological topics ranging from Christology, soteriology and eschatology to sacraments, ecumenism, and church discipline. There are further questions about the charismatic movement, homosexuality and same sex marriage, and the ordination of women. Candidates promise to resign from REACH SA if they subsequently change their doctrinal stance. Prior to ordination, all clergy must declare their assent to the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, and take an oath of canonical obedience to the Presiding Bishop. The seven English deacons all made these solemn undertakings.

The ordination service

On Friday 23 May 2025, two days after being notified of REACH SA’s intention to ordain missionary clergy in England, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London wrote back to Bishop Morrison in a joint letter. They declared:

“While we understand that you may feel you are responding to a pastoral need, the course of action you describe would not be a helpful act at a time when we are in the process of discernment in the Church of England. At the very least we would consider your proceeding in that way ecumenically discourteous. It could also be inflammatory and we consider it to be unnecessary. In the Church of England we are keen to keep all shades of Anglican church tradition valued and active within the Church, and are exploring how we can do that within our own Church.”

They went on to explain to Bishop Morrison that although the orders of REACH SA are “recognised and accepted” by the Church of England, it should not be assumed that anyone ordained in these circumstances would be granted permission to officiate under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967. Furthermore, the ordination service was not covered by the Church of England (Ecumenical Relations) Measure 1988, so if it took place in a Church of England building the incumbent of that church would be “liable to ecclesiastical discipline”. In conclusion, Archbishop Cottrell and Bishop Mullally urged: “what you propose is not welcome and we request that you do not proceed with a step that would be contrary to the unity of the Church of England and detrimental to ecumenical relations between the Church of England and REACH SA.” But this appeal arrived too late. The ordination had already taken place.

On the previous evening, Thursday 22 May 2025, the seven deacons (a number with strong biblical resonance, Acts 6) were ordained at the East London Tabernacle, a Baptist church in Mile End. It is the same venue chosen by the Anglican Mission in England (AMIE) for the ordination of their first deacons in December 2017. Clearly the Archbishop’s legal warning about not using a Church of England building had been anticipated. Although held in the capital, it was a national event with participants from across the country. The service was entirely under the auspices of REACH SA, but the congregation of about 150 were mostly members of the Church of England, including senior incumbents, retired bishops, and members of General Synod.

It was a joyful, celebratory occasion. The service order was remarkably simple, as was the dress code, with no cassocks or surplices in evidence. The congregation sang three classic hymns and heard two Bible readings, from 1 Timothy 3 (on the character and competence of deacons) and Luke 12 (on being ready for the return of Jesus). Bishop Morrison preached from 1 Peter 5 on the importance of servanthood in ordained ministry, warning especially from an African perspective about the dangers of a false “prosperity gospel” which tempts ministers to line their own pockets or promote their own glory.

The seven candidates were formally presented to the bishop by the deputy director of the Cornhill Training Course, where several of them had studied. They made diaconal promises closely parallel to those in the Book of Common Prayer, including their sense of vocation, their desire to live “according to the teaching of Christ”, and their belief in the whole Bible (“Do you unreservedly believe all the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament?”). At the point of ordination, after the laying-on-of-hands, they were each given a Bible – both Testaments, not just the New Testament – the English Standard Version, currently the best-selling translation in the world. In a departure from the Book of Common Prayer, there was no Holy Communion. The service was followed by tea and cake, a typically English way to celebrate.

This event was positioned as “public but not publicised”. It took place quietly, without fanfare or press releases. Surprisingly – although ordination is a public entrance into public ministry – the names of the seven deacons and their congregations have not been broadcast. This protective measure has been described as regrettable but sadly necessary, to shield them from online trolls or ecclesial recriminations.

The new deacons have now returned to their Church of England parishes, where they will continue to minister in a lay capacity, in dioceses nationwide. Some of them are planting new Church of England congregations. Others are ministering in small churches and in economically deprived communities. Next year it is expected that Bishop Morrison will return to ordain them as presbyters. In a Church of England context, they will not exercise any of the functions reserved for the clergy – such as Baptisms, Weddings, and Holy Communions – but will pastor and teach the Scriptures as lay people. Why then get ordained? Their primary rationale is that it connects them with global Anglicanism and gives their ministries a form of public recognition. REACH SA orders are valid, and legally accepted, throughout the Anglican Communion. These new “missionary clergy” intend to visit Southern Africa to learn from Anglicanism in an African context, engage in mission, and preach in REACH SA churches. Bishop Morrison will provide episcopal oversight from South Africa (including quarterly meetings with each deacon), though he has delegated some responsibilities to Alternative Spiritual Overseers (ASOs) in England.

Pastoral provisions and permanent pipelines

Much can, and probably will, be said about the significance of REACH SA’s ordination of “missionary clergy” for ministry in England. Space here permits only a few initial reflections.

First, the Church of England is currently haemorrhaging ordinands. The national target is for 600 ordinands to enter training every autumn. This year there will be 350. Most theological colleges are running a deficit, some are on the brink of bankruptcy and face permanent extinction. Empty colleges now means empty pulpits later, and a precipitous fall in the number of clergy bodes ill for a national church with a national mission. Many causes have been suggested, such as a decline in clergy wellbeing, poor pensions, and torrid scandals concerning the Church of England’s many safeguarding failures. But a major contributing factor is the House of Bishops’ LLF programme. Many potential Anglican ordinands, especially in evangelical and catholic congregations, are declining to enter the discernment process because they cannot see an assured pathway to ordination. Others, duly recommended and trained for ordination, are declining to go any further.  Still others are moving into Presbyterianism and Independency, or giving up on church leadership altogether. The long-term implications for the health of the whole Church of England are grave. REACH SA emphasise that their intervention is not aimed to draw young leaders away from the Church of England, but on the contrary to hold them within the Church of England. They seek to provide a clear route to Anglican ordination, for troubled evangelical consciences, albeit as a temporary measure until the Church of England finds a better solution. Where the first seven deacons have pioneered a path, others are eager to follow. More ordinands are already queuing up for REACH SA’s next visit. Rather than provoking an ecumenical incident, it might encourage the Church of England to reflect upon how it can best embrace potential ordinands instead of chasing them away.

Second, the REACH SA ordinations are further indication that proposals for “Delegated Episcopal Ministry” (DEM) will not provide the necessary “Pastoral Reassurance” promised to opponents of the House of Bishops’ LLF project. The concept of DEM has been robustly criticised on all sides of the debate, for either offering much too much or much too little. It satisfies no one. “Delegated” provision, by its very nature, is temporary. It remains in the gift of the diocesan bishop and can be withdrawn at any moment. Furthermore, even if the ordaining bishop is personally on the side of the angels, they operate always as the diocesan bishop’s proxy. This is one of the chief reasons that the seven deacons appealed to REACH SA, rather than to a friendly bishop with delegated powers in the Church of England. The have added their voices to wider calls for the House of Bishops to come to the negotiating table and begin a serious national conversation about Transferred Episcopal Jurisdiction.

Third, there has been extensive talk in recent months about building “alternative structures” in the Church of England. The REACH SA ordinations represent a significant shift from talk to action. Their aim is to construct a viable “alternative” pipeline through discernment, training, and ordination. Like all prototypes, it needs a lot more work to function smoothly. The pioneers of this pathway have been widely rebuked as young idealists and perfectionists, not willing to countenance ordination unless the conditions are exactly right. On the contrary, these events reveal them to be pragmatists, not waiting for alternative structures in the Church of England to descend from heaven completely formed, like the New Jerusalem, but willing to build them piece by piece. Like Martin Luther in the sixteenth century, and reformists in every generation who are first into the field, they need others to come along afterwards to straighten the structure and give it more resilience and clearer rationale. As the House of Bishops’ LLF project reaches a crunch point in 2026, it is likely that wider coalitions, such as the Alliance, will join this construction project, taking practical actions to ensure sustainable pathways for all “orthodox ordinands”, evangelical and catholic, women and men, charismatic and conservative. For such an ambition to succeed, they will need to persuade a broad range of episcopal allies to intervene, not only REACH SA, who have provided the initial catalyst, but also bishops from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) and the GAFCON movement, and from within the Church of England’s own House of Bishops. The first seven deacons have launched a grand experiment, designed to stress-test a prototype pipeline, not yet knowing what the ultimate result will be. They cannot boast a finished product, but they have made a bold beginning.

Andrew Atherstone is Professor of Modern Anglicanism at the University of Oxford and tutorial fellow in Church History at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He is a member of the Church of England Evangelical Council, the Church of England’s General Synod and the Anglican Consultative Council (one of the Anglican Communion’s four “instruments of communion”). He was raised as a child in KwaZulu Natal, where his father and grandfather were both clergymen in the Church of the Province of South Africa.

**********

This article first appeared in Law and Religion on 25 June 2025 and can be viewed here.