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The
President of the Baptist World Alliance has urged
evangelicals in the UK to make more of an effort to be
united and warned that the present disunity was
weakening the potential for “thoughtful and effective”
evangelism in the country.
The Rev David Coffey argues in his new book, 'All one in
Christ Jesus,' that evangelicals are losing the ground
gained in the 1970s and 1980s “when we honoured and
accepted one another with greater grace across the
denominational and organisational divisions.”
“It grieves my spirit that evangelicals cannot find a
greater gospel unity, and I fear we are in grave danger
of missing the fullest expression of evangelical
cooperation to face the demanding missionary
opportunities here in the UK,” he said.
The President of a community of 105 million members
worldwide said the spiritual needs of the world “command
a greater unity” from evangelicals, and warned that the
present disunity was weakening the potential for
“thoughtful and effective” evangelism in the UK.
“Unity amongst evangelicals has never been as threatened
as it is now, with the apparent divisions that have
developed over the last decade,” he said. “The
evangelical church must take their own disunity more
seriously and put their house in order - the current
disunity is of critical importance.”
He said some were ashamed of the name 'evangelical', and
criticised others who claimed to speak on behalf of
evangelicals but whose “graceless spirit and hectoring
tone are a stain on the family name." Turning his
attention to broken relationships between some leaders
and organisations, he said evangelicals needed to
address their divisions and seek “with urgency the fresh
consensus on the essentials of evangelical faith which
could contribute to a deeper expression of our unity."
Rev Coffey said a pattern of “disinformation,
denigration and discrimination” akin to that found in
despotic states had developed in parts of the
evangelical world. He chided evangelicals for choosing
to meet only with likeminded evangelicals and called for
the creation of an ongoing forum to come up with an
answer to one of the most important questions facing
evangelicals today: 'What is an evangelical?'
“If we meet in our 'enclaves of separateness' then we
lack a broad forum to debate the substantive issues of
the day,” he said. “What is lacking between the tribes
at present is agreement about core evangelical
commitments. We need to find ways of articulating what
is primary and what is secondary … These debates need to
take place in a forum which includes all the tribes.”
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