The CofE is split on sexuality, but structural differentiation is wrong. Christ calls us to unity

In response to the continued acrimony within the Church of England over Living in Love and Faith, Elliot Swattridge puts forward a biblical case against structural differentiation

Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury was recently interviewed on ‘The Rest is Politics’; whatever you believe about his variety of theological and political perspectives, surely there was one thing he said that we can agree is deeply biblical: “Every Christian is a brother or sister in Christ…You might really disagree with them passionately, but they’re still your family. And Christians are a family.”

This is a familiar but wondrous concept. As it says in Romans 12:5: “in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others”. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded that all who belong to Christ are ‘one body’, united irrevocably with all Christians throughout the world and throughout the ages (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Galatians 3:28). Note that this is true even if we profoundly disagree on many things. We will one day shout with joyful praise together as part of the one “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” gloriously described in Revelation 7:9.

Crucially, this still applies despite the bitter acrimony within the Church of England over Living in Love and Faith, which has culminated in the call by some (eg the Alliance and Church of England Evangelical Council) to “structural differentiation”, enabling those who hold a particular view to be formally “differentiated” from others.

Whatever the intentions, I am concerned this formal division within the body of Christ seems – ironically – profoundly opposed to clear teaching of scripture. Here are four reasons why…