Last post on NEAC 5 Tim Goodbody has some interesting things to say...

Tim has decided from his experiences at NEAC 5 that 'The old boy network lives on!' - oh dear!

He explains how the principal of St John's, 'Christina Baxter had me in tears in her plea to God (and CEEC) for more women on the platform.'

He describes everyone's bemusement because 'this was meant to be a consultation but we hadn't been consulted' and 'The vote itself was very tense'.

He describes how 'Richard Turnbull... refused to withdraw the motion, and seemed oblivious to the fact that he had been defeated' and highlights, as other commentators do, 'his claim that the CEEC will just vote on it anyway...'

Tim describes how 'I now conclude that there are only two kinds of evangelical - those who agree with Richard Turnbull and those who do not!'

Tim describes his very valid reasons, with which I am in sympathy, for not wanting to vote in agreement with the Jerusalem Declaration,

'It's just that I don't agree with paragraph 13 about rejecting the authority of churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith... First, who decides who "those churches and leaders" are? ...

'... they do not have the power or authority to hand down discipline of the type article 26 and para 13 imply (to my reading). This properly belongs in the Cof E to the processes of the clergy discipline measure...'

Thanks Tim - very helpful