Sydney Diocese has announced its support for a British clergyman whose licence to minister was revoked by the Bishop of Southwark last month.
The Rev Richard Coekin, senior pastor of Dundonald Church in Wimbledon was stripped of his licence because he organised for three ministers to be ordained by a visiting bishop from the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), a church not in communion with the Church of England in Britain.
At its final meeting of 2005 the Sydney Standing Committee passed two motions instigated by the Rev Dr Mark Thompson, Academic Dean of Moore College and President of the Anglican Church League.
The first endorsed the Rev Richard Coekin and fellow ministers in the Co-Mission Initiative of south west London in "their stand for biblical truth'.
The second motion requested the Diocesan Secretary, Robert Wicks, to write on behalf of the Standing Committee to the Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, asking him to "reconsider his removal of Mr Coekin's licence to minister within the diocese and to seek reconciliation with him'.
A copy of the letter will be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.
The root of the dispute
The ordinations of Andy Fenton, Richard Perkins, and Loots Lambrechts were "legal but irregular', according to a statement by Mr Coekin.
He said Bishop Butler had steadfastly refused to ordain the men, who are the leaders of fast-growing church plants under the co-mission initiative spearheaded by Mr Coekin.
"We were forced to seek valid but irregular ordinations for the staff of our growing congregations after more than two years during which our Bishop persistently refused to do so," he says.
Mr Coekin has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to reverse the decision.
The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, defended the move, pointing to Church tradition and law that bishops from outside the diocese have no authority to perform ordinations within it without the express permission of the diocesan bishop.
He said the co-mission church plants have not always occurred with the agreement of the vicar of the parish in which the plant is set, and as such he was "not prepared to support the selection and training of further ordination candidates from or for Dundonald unless future church plants followed" Diocesan Guidelines'.
Dr Thompson said Sydney Anglicans should pray "for the growth of these congregations led by three godly men'.
"In the end the Bishop's reaction enforces conformity to structures rather than encourages faithfulness to the truth," Dr Thompson said.
Homosexuality row escalates dispute
Adding to the dispute is the Church of England's recent decision to authorise homosexual clergy to enter civil partnerships provided they remain celibate.
Mr Coekin says he felt himself in "impaired' communion with the Bishop Butler because the Bishop had lent support to the Church of England's controversial move to allow homosexual priests to enter civil partnerships with their partners but remain celibate.
"Some bishops…think they can re-invent the Christian faith by tearing difficult pages out of the Bible in the name of political correctness," Mr Coekin has told the media.
Mr Coekin told The Telegraph the move gave Christians carte blanche to enter the partnerships and prevented clergy such as him from challenging their lifestyles.
He said the ordinations took place under CESA "because we are now distanced from our Bishop since he refuses to uphold basic biblical principles of sexual morality'.
The Southwark dispute is part of a wider crisis over the authority of the Bible in the Church of England amid declining church attendance.
A study released earlier this year found hundreds of Church of England clergy doubt the existence of God and fewer than two thirds believe in miracles, The Times reported.
