Church Society, Reform UK and the Fellowship of the Word & Spirit (FWS) will join forces in 'evangelical unity'.
In a statement Church Society's Director, Rev Dr Lee Gatiss, said: "It is in the light of our shared Biblical, Reformed, Anglican faith and common goals that we have decided that the challenges of the present time require us to unite our efforts so that we are better placed to harness the energies of evangelicals in contending for the gospel."
All three groups aim to encourage people through biblical ministry and want to contend for the gospel through a reformed Church of England. They make suggestions for bishops when appointments are available, try to promote the evangelical foundations of the Church of England and steer it away from increased liberalism.
Practically, they will merge into a new Church Society, with Reform UK and FWS encouraging their members to join together.
Rev Dr Lee Gatiss said on twitter: "This is the biggest thing to happen in the Anglican Evangelical world here for 25 years".
"I rejoice greatly and am so grateful to God that Anglican Evangelicals are at last beginning to combine their strength to stand firm and contend together in the Church of England."
This is my comment on the well-founded rumours that @ChurchSociety, @reformuk, and the Fellowship of Word & Spirit are joining forces. pic.twitter.com/FyPeolKUPV
— Lee Gatiss (@LeeGatiss) February 18, 2018
Rev Dr Rob Munro, Chair of Fellowship of Word and Spirit said: "the Church of England is in a crisis about its convictions and influence, there has never been a greater need for those committed to biblical truth to unite together, enabling our message to be heard with greater clarity and power."
Cannon David Banting from Reform UK added: "At a time when even our best Bishops talk of the debate about gender and human sexuality as a tsunami, our divisions and separateness from fellow conservative evangelicals are little short of scandalous or irresponsible."
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