Text of the Lambeth Resolution 1.10

When the Bishops of the Anglican Communion met at Lambeth in 1998 one of the key resolutions passed was number 1.10.   This concerned human sexuality and has been seen by orthodox believers in the communion as re-committing the Communion to the teaching of the Bible on sexual conduct.   However, for many in the western Churches it demonstrated that whilst they had risen to prominence and even dominance in their own provinces their revisionist theology was completely out of step with the vast majority of the Communion. Although there was a substantial vote against the resolution this was mainly because there are a disproportionate number of Bishops from North America and the British Isles when compared to the Africa.

Because of the battles with heretical Bishops in the Church of England and because of the growing threat that many in the Church, whilst being mostly orthodox, would never stand up for the truth, the Society set about encouraging the adoption of Lambeth 1.10 in the Church of England.

The initial stage of this process was to get parishes to support the resolution and pass this up to Deanery Synods and from there to Diocesan Synod, the final step being to pass the motion to General Synod.   A good number of parishes passed the resolution and some deaneries did too. We are aware of two cases where the resolution was passed to Diocesan Synod only to find that the business managers prevented discussion because of the current attention being given to the Bishop's report 'Issues in Human Sexuality'.

A second strategy of putting a Private Members Motion at General Synod failed because the motion failed to attract enough initial signatures, despite there being a large group of Evangelicals on the Synod.

What this demonstrates is that the odds are stacked against orthodox believers in the Church of England both because of outright opposition and because of the apathy of many who appear orthodox.

Texts

Text of the Lambeth Resolution 1.10

Letter sent to PCCs with proposed resolution.

Briefing on the Lambeth Resolution.