Is the Free Church of England a Safe Harbour for Faithful Anglicans?

Is the Free Church of England a Safe Harbour for Faithful Anglicans? Perhaps not with Bishop Primus John Fenwick at the helm.

The Church of England, a once great and godly institution that has had an incalculable impact on the Anglosphere and was historically one of the most prolific churches in global missions, has faced down its Joshua 24:15 moment. When asked to “choose this day whom ye shall serve” it decided to walk away from the Lord to follow the false gods of our secular age, by accepting blessing ceremonies for gay relationships.

This poses a very difficult question for biblically faithful Anglicans within the CofE; to stay or go? This decision is difficult as for many clergy the risk to house, stipend (salary) and pension posed by leaving is too much to bear and for laity, deep connections to their local churches going back generations can be too painful to sever.

However, for a brave but increasing minority, their heart burns with a desire to leave the corruption and heterodoxy behind seeking to build a new home among the GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) churches. This global network of orthodoxy represents approximately 75% of the world’s Anglican believers and it is spearheaded by the churches originally planted in the majority world by British missionaries. These daughter churches are appalled by the direction that the Mother Church has taken and in 2023 even outrightly rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury as their spiritual leader.

For many Anglicans in England fleeing the heterodoxy of the CofE the GAFCON-aligned Free Church of England (FCoE) may seem to be an appealing safe harbour. The small independent Anglican denomination has had a flurry of growth after gaining significant media attention due to some recent high-profile former CofE clergymen joining its ranks in the last couple of years. Men such as Christian celebrity Rev. Calvin Robinson formerly of GB News, Rev. Brett Murphy who made headlines after attempted discipline from the Church of England for calling a trans archdeacon a bloke and Rev. Matthew Firth who exposed the Church of England’s asylum seeker baptism controversy.

So, is the Free Church of England a good option for Christians departing the Church of England and other denominations that have abandoned biblical orthodoxy? Well, it pays to do a little research into the history of the organization and also into the man who leads it. After all, the last thing faithful Anglicans escaping false teaching want is to run into another Justin Welby-type figure! It would be devastating for any clergyman or layperson to jump from the frying pan and into the fire.

According to Wikipedia, the denomination split from the Established Church of England in the Victorian era in reaction to the rise of the Oxford movement and Anglo-Catholicism. The current Wiki page presents a sanguine history of the small denomination, however scratch under the surface and there have been extensive efforts at revising the page in the last month or two, as evidenced by the history tab of the Wiki article.

The General Secretary Dr Bob Stephen has seemingly been busily cleaning up the wiki page and removing any negative references to issues with John Fenwick, the Bishop Primus who leads the denomination. The Wayback machine keeps a record of the FCoE Wiki article from before the whitewashing began which contains deeply concerning criticisms of the Primus, recording various allegations of misconduct and mismanagement resulting in multiple parties fleeing the tiny church all pointing the finger of blame directly at the de facto leader of the denomination.

You may wonder why an organization would put in so much effort to clean up the more unsavoury records on its Wikipedia page. Well, even a cursory Google search reveals a troubled history for the denominational leader, John Fenwick.

The one-time lecturer at Trinity College Bristol and former assistant ecumenical secretary to Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey in the 90s has had a very spotted history during his tenure as a bishop in the FCoE. It seems despite the effort to sanitize the Wikipedia page, elsewhere on the internet history isn’t so easily erased and an alarming tale develops in a chain of news articles making numerous accusations of the Primus ranging from the mildly embarrassing to the allegedly criminal. It seems to be a sad story of division, controversy and the shadow of sin that hangs over the man at the head of the FCoE that any Anglican thinking of joining the micro-denomination should consider carefully before making a decision to sign up.

In 2003 half a dozen or so churches, mostly in Fenwick’s Northern Diocese left the FCoE to form a small group that desired to remain true to the original evangelical theological convictions of the denomination naming themselves the Evangelical Connexion of the Free Church of England. Ostensibly this split was due as much to the direction Fenwick was taking the denomination as it was over theology. There are even alleged claims of unchecked connections to Freemasonry that contributed to splitting the denomination floating around Anglican forums as far back as 2012.

It appears issues with Fenwick’s leadership have continued in the FCoE and culminated recently in a series of controversial events that allegedly cast aspersion on his character and ability to lead effectively. The timeline of the previous five years is particularly negative and could give many cause to be hesitant about joining the FCoE as many members, churches, and an entire diocese have been forced to depart, citing Fenwick’s alleged abuses of power and treatment of dissidents as their reason for leaving.

In 2021 the entire South American Diocese departed from the FCoE outrightly naming failings of Fenwick’s leadership as their reason for leaving, claiming it was his “leadership, the misconduct, the lack of transparency, and the disrespect for this church’s canons, doctrine, and worship” that left them no choice but to split. The missionary diocese consisted of 25 parishes, which surpasses the remaining number of churches the declining FCoE has in England! So, the loss of this growing missionary branch citing Fenwick’s character and conduct was a devastating blow.

The sorry tale continues with accusations of manipulative behaviour and breaching the FCoE canons (internal church laws) by Fenwick to wrestle control of St Stephen’s in Middlesbrough in order to forcibly sell the property which hit the UK news headlines in April 2021. Some congregation members accused him of deplorable behaviour including allegations that he “beguiled elderly parishioners into handing over their status as [charity] trustees of church property” so the building could be sold, ousting them from their church home.

It is claimed his attempt at pastoral care for these elderly parishioners after the church was sold out from under them was an offer to become scattered FCE members, as though they would want to remain connected to the bishop who had purportedly treated them so badly. The paltry excuse that the building wasn’t safe, which was given for the sale of the church property by means of a statement released after the fact, was not substantiated by providing any evidence.

The young and dynamic pastor of the church was the Rev. Jonatas Bragatto who claims to have been illegally dismissed and made redundant by bishop Fenwick around the time of the ham-fisted sale of the church. Bragatto is a prominent evangelist and street preacher from Brazil who was recruited to help revive the small congregation but before his work could get off the ground, he claims he was sacked from his post without proper due process by Fenwick. Sadly, lacking the money to challenge the decision the young pastor moved on to ministry in an independent reformed church. From what can be gleaned by sleuthing through various news articles online this is not the only time Fenwick would be accused of unfairly targeting a clergyman for removal, the more one researches this bishop the more disturbing the story appears.

Although cleared after an investigation from the Charity Commission, after the allegedly forced sale of the Middlesbrough church some former congregants further accused Fenwick of malpractice when handling the funds from the sale claiming the money didn’t return to the denominational central trust, reporting “it is alleged that Bishop Fenwick assured congregants that £300,000 from the sale of St. Stephen’s church in Middlesbrough was being held in the FCE central trust.

“However, the complainants say the company’s records do not show any record of the money being deposited.” The damage to the bishop’s reputation was clear, perhaps casting a shadow over the denomination until at long last a change of leadership finally arrives. The FCE issued a statement attempting to justify the situation surrounding the closure of St. Stephen’s and the redundancy of Bragatto which cast seemingly unsubstantiated aspersions on the young preacher apparently published without any proof to support the calumny.

The same Telegraph article also claimed the charity commission was simultaneously investigating around £30,000 that “disappeared without an audit trail from the bank account of Emmanuel Free Church of England Morecambe in 2017”. Writing in Rev’d Tom Woolford’s book, ‘God’s Church for God’s World,’ Dr Peter Sanlon mentions the former minister of Emmanuel, famous Evangelical journalist Rev’d Julian Mann, who arrived a couple of years after the money went missing.

Mann’s tenure under Fenwick’s leadership only lasted a few short months. “During the years I held a license in the FCoE I observed others join and leave. One example was the Rev’d Julian Mann…he was to revitalize the FCoE church in Morecambe within a few months however he resigned and left.” Evidently, Mann is yet another on the long list of ministers blaming problems with Bishop Primus as his reason for leaving. Woolford himself ended his association with the FCoE later stating in the same book, “Whistleblowers who have raised alerts have been subjected to abuses of process and unjust treatment.”

Coincidentally, Emmanuel is the church now led by the aforementioned famous Youtuber Rev’d Brett Murphy who took on the then defunct parish in 2023, he has apparently managed to remain in the FCoE under Fenwick for over a year having grown his church from almost nothing to nearly fifty congregants in a very short space of time. The church is flourishing with bible studies and biblical Hebrew classes but how long that will last under an episcopal leader who has a disreputable history of eliminating clergymen without cause is anyone’s guess.

Further drama erupted in the same year (2021) when a letter from half of the active clergy in the FCoE and a number of churchwardens in the denomination petitioned the General Council (the governing body) for the resignation of Bishop Primus citing his failings of leadership, deplorable treatment of clergy and mismanagement. It was reported that Fenwick gave a lengthy justification for his behaviour without apology and completely refused to resign.

This scandal resulted in what the Church Times described as a row between the three bishops in the FCoE, eventually leading to one of them departing the denomination entirely. A parish left also over the refusal of the Primus to resign and claims that whistleblowers faced exploitations of procedure and unfair conduct, which is a consistent accusation of the Primus’ leadership over the years as a seemingly endless trail of clergy and churches leave the denomination and Fenwick’s own Northern Diocese relentlessly shrinks after nearly 20 years with him at the helm. The retention rate for clergy seems to be very low in Fenwick’s diocese with a frequent cycle of clergymen joining up and a flurry of ordinations every few years only for them all to disappear as soon as they arrived.

A video on YouTube reveals an ordination hosted at the now-closed St. David’s Preston in 2021, at the time of writing it appears the only clergyman in the video who remains in the Northern Diocese is Fenwick himself. All of the current active clergy in his patch have only been present for four years. Despite the FCoE attracting some very godly clergymen seeking to escape the compromises of the CofE in recent years, one cannot help but wonder if the cycle of new growth and rapid departure will continue on a downward spiral of increasing decline. One of these prominent young evangelicals to join up but leave rapidly was the Rev’d Peter Sanlon who was leading a growing church plant when he and others departed the FCoE yet again directly pointing the finger of blame at the conduct of Bishop Fenwick.

Fenwick’s purported treatment of his clergy, particularly those who dare to question his decisions or simply ask questions of clarification for his actions has been a consistent theme of newspaper articles in recent years. Grumbling rumours in comment sections around the internet about Fenwick’s heavy-handed leadership erupted into national headlines with claims that he had attempted to blackmail the Rev’d Arthur Kay a long-term FCE minister, into retracting his allegations of racism, doctrinal breaches and abusing due processes.

Kay reported to the Telegraph that he felt as though he was being blackmailed and tragically reflected that anyone who dared to question their bishop was penalised for it leading to an atmosphere of fear and authoritarianism. Rev Kay further claimed Fenwick has deflected questions about his poor leadership for quite a long time and ought to really step aside for an independent investigation to occur, but instead, he ignores all adverse comments and always refuses to apologize for anything he has done.

The drama hasn’t subsided, as in 2023 a report broke that the FCoE had allowed a presbyter with a homosexual ‘civil partner’ to minister unchecked for years which resulted in many people doubting the credibility of the biblical faithfulness in the denomination.

This year bishop Fenwick faced accusations of antisemitism after he preached a live-streamed sermon, where he appeared to offer an unbalanced view of the Israel-Gaza war that could be interpreted as lacking nuance leading to painting the Palestinians as totally innocent victims of Israeli aggression. He also makes the anachronistic claim that “Jesus too was a victim of the Israeli state” laying the blame for the death of the Messiah solely at the feet of the Jews rather than attributing blame to the sins of all mankind as is congruent with traditional biblical orthodoxy. A clip from this sermon has been circulating on Twitter/X openly questioning if such views are acceptable for a GAFCON bishop. The response in the comment section to the original video of the sermon had a strong pushback from viewers who were largely disgusted with the bishop for his comments.

The culmination of years of damning accusations towards the Primus eventually led to the third bishop of the FCoE who had been part of calls for Fenwick’s resignation to quit the denomination, taking the thriving and well-attended Christchurch Exmouth (the oldest church in the FCoE) with him. Yet again blaming Fenwick’s mistreatment of clergy, alledged corruption and endemic mismanagement as reasons for leaving. Bishop Josep Rosello was a huge asset to lose and has now gone on to be the global Bishop Guardian of the New Anglican Mission Society.

However, yet again despite allegedly tarnishing the reputation of his denomination for years on end, and apparently doing untold pastoral harm Fenwick now well into his 70s still stubbornly refuses to retire. Despite having a mandatory retirement age of 75, a comment made by the bishop on the live stream of worship at one of his parishes a couple of months ago reveals he has no plans to retire.

Fenwick commented, “Thank you for the prayers, but I am not preparing for retirement,” in response to a parishioner praying for the Lord’s help as he gets ready for his retirement. The replies to this comment are telling of the attitude of many towards Fenwick, with commenters claiming “would be good if this bishop retired soon. He’s pretty much killed the diocese.” Another user said “Aren’t you a little long in the tooth?” yet another saying “he is a wolf and a has-been”. This appeared to result in a tirade of aggressive comments from the Bishop’s wife in a series of unhinged heated replies to anyone criticizing her embattled husband.

This suspected culture of bullying and harassment even extends to Bishop Fenwick’s wife, with a former FCoE Lay Reader claiming Mrs Fenwick had sent him hate mail. This behaviour seems congruent with even more comments apparently made by Mrs Fenwick this year on numerous live stream videos of one FCoE parish where she leaves shocking comments and goes as far as lashing out with personal insults towards parishioners and other viewers in outright rants. 

The FCoE seems like a powder keg just waiting for a spark to blow it apart as the fragile remnants of a once small but strong denomination are barely holding together after decades of enduring alleged poor management from their Bishop Primus. If the trail of internet and newspaper articles and the testimony of clergy who have fled are to be believed this is due to the toxic leadership of a very flawed man who appears to egotistically grip to his power and rule with an iron fist ruthlessly crushing anyone who dares to challenge him or attempts to hold him accountable for his actions.

When all of the dispersed stories in the media are collated and assessed with clarity it’s hard to see how the Free Church of England in its current state, with the ageing Bishop Primus in charge is a safe harbour for orthodox Anglicans seeking to flee the Established church. The FCoE has many wonderful, godly pastors and lay people in its ranks they are not to be blamed for the allegedly horrendous behaviour of their Primus. Perhaps as so many people seem to have demanded over the years it really is time for Fenwick to step aside so that the denomination can finally flourish free from his lengthy controversial influence. The question remains though, will he go gracefully or cling to control to the bitter end and take the tattered remnants of FCoE down with him?