Nice one Justin
Justin Welby survived 10 years as the head of an enormous and divided global church denomination. He generally did so with grace and wisdom in an environment of political opposition and media pressure which would have made me crumble in five minutes.
The BBC were quick to eulogise him as a personable fella cut from toff cloth who presided over royal highlights. I have viewed Justin Cantuar as a peacemaker who eyeballed warlords, as a pastor from a broken home who knew what it was like to lose a child and as a servant of Jesus who took an eye-watering pay cut to move from oil executive to curate and divested the CofE from various forms of profitable but dirty money.
Churches now spend a considerable amount of time and money on safeguarding. We also spend a great deal of pastoral energy caring for victims of historical abuse and managing the horrendous relational and psychological echoes of said abuse in the present. Amy Orr-Ewing’s brilliant address to the 2023 parliamentary prayer breakfast highlighted the uniquely Christian view of justice and forgiveness which flow from the cross of Jesus. Victims taken with the ultimate seriousness by the suffering Son of God and divine justice served or to be served – on perpetrators and / or Jesus. She was right to point out as a victim of harm that this message is uniquely powerful and transformative starting point for addressing abuse, seeking justice and finding wholeness.
John Smyth’s actions were despicable and he has brought shame on the national church, Iwerne Camps, and evangelicalism more broadly. Naturally, his victims need his HORRENDOUS crimes to be named as part of their healing process. It sounds like Welby was at least naïve to assume that once the matter had been reported to the police, it would be dealt with and probably negligent in his approach to Smyth. But here’s the thing: the NSPCC reckons that 1 in 5 of us were abused as kids. THAT’S 20 PER CENT. In schools, sports clubs, uniformed organisations, families and churches across the nation. It happened (happens) in my school, and your football club, your workplace and my street. Every institution in the UK today has abused and abusers in it. If we were to call chief execs, head teachers, party leaders, bishops and chief scouts to resign over every instance of historical abuse, the excellent and essential work of charities, schools, churches and councils in bringing hope and healing to the victims of abuse (and all of us) would be seriously diminished.
I don’t dot my theological i’s the same way as Justin Welby when it comes to baptism, bishops, and blessings, but I do think he’s been a rock in a very hard place for the last 10 years and have often appreciated his comment and leadership in national life. I find the baying of the bishops for his blood unedifying. On balance, I’d like to say ‘nice one Justin’ but it’s not really my place. I suspect that someone far greater than I will say something similar when they meet.