Richard Coekin’s license
Back on 30 November 2005, we noted in CHN the revocation of the Church of England minister's license held by Richard Coekin—one of British evangelicalism's young leaders—by his Diocesan Bishop, Tom Butler.
We are very pleased to hear that Richard's appeal has been upheld, and his license reinstated.
To cut a very long story short, the Bishop of Winchester, who was charged with hearing the appeal, recommended to the Archbishop of Canterbury that the revocation of the license be cancelled. The Archbishop accepted this recommendation.
The Bishop of Winchester found that, not only did the Bishop of Southwark deny Richard Coekin the most rudimentary elements of the principles of natural justice in the procedures he adopted, but, even if he had followed a fairer procedure, there were not sufficient grounds for revoking the license.
But somehow I doubt whether this will be the last we hear of this matter. All this flurry of legal posturing—with QCs and solicitors—has failed to resolve the underlying problem: that Richard Coekin wants to keep proclaiming Christ and successfully planting churches, and his Bishop seems to want him to stop; Richard Coekin asks his Bishop to publicly stand up for biblical truth and traditional Anglican belief, and his Bishop refuses to do so.
Perhaps there will be reconciliation. In God's sovereignty, perhaps this decision will bring the two men together in a way that allows the continued progress of the gospel in that Diocese. That certainly is what Richard Coekin is hoping and praying for:
As the Archbishop has asked, we will want to move on to seek reconciliation with the Bishop of Southwark and all caught up in these events. We continue to pray for them and for the possibility of closer co-operation in the spread of the good news of Jesus.
We can only pray for the same thing.