VIRTUEONLINE VIEWPOINTS www.virtueonline.org | May 1, 2026

"Our claim is that God has revealed Himself by speaking; that this divine speech has been written down and preserved in Scripture; and that Scripture is, in fact, God's Word written — which therefore is true, reliable, and authoritative over men." — John Stott

"The Bible has not been removed from our hands. It has been removed from our habits." — Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore

"There is a peculiar illusion in the modern Church: that because Bibles are plentiful, Scripture is known. Never in the history of Christianity have so many possessed the text, and yet so few have been formed by it. The problem is not access. The problem is formation." — Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore

"The tension within GAFCON has always been whether it is a renewal movement within the global Anglican Communion or a government-in-exile — an alternative Anglicanism waiting in the wings. Recent events suggest the latter, as it has declared itself to be THE Anglican Communion, to the exclusion even of the Diocese of Canterbury." — Rev. Mike Bird

"In theological terms, one could say that Archbishop Sarah Mullally has traveled from Protestant biblical orthodoxy to moral, therapeutic deism." — Gavin Ashenden

"I give you Celeste, the 66-year-old, twice-divorced woman who has an AI lover. She tells her worried son that she knows 'Max' is not real, but he makes her 'happy' — so what business is it of his to say she's wrong?" — Rod Dreher

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

AI AND THE CHURCH: THE HARDER QUESTIONS

Most church leaders are using AI for sermon prep and administration, but very few are asking the harder questions: What does AI mean for truth? Identity? Relationships? Community? Discipleship? That is the conversation the Church urgently needs to have.

Church leadership author and podcaster Carey Nieuwhof outlines three strategic shifts for churches navigating the AI revolution:

1. Make Sundays Non-Downloadable Move from crowd to community. In a world increasingly dominated by digital content and AI-generated experiences, the church's irreplaceable asset is real, embodied relationship. If your Sunday gathering can be fully replicated online, you've lost your edge. The goal is to make in-person community so rich and meaningful that it simply cannot be downloaded.

2. Build the Shock Absorbers Now Create financial reserves and scalable care systems before the crises hit. AI-driven economic disruption will produce a "giving gap" as jobs shift and incomes become unstable — and a surge in mental health needs as people struggle to adapt. Churches that wait to prepare will be overwhelmed. The time to build margin and care infrastructure is now, not when the wave arrives.

3. Pre-Decide Integrity Anchor your leadership in unchanging truth before AI exposes the cracks. The AI revolution will surface manipulation, shortcuts, and compromises that leaders might otherwise have hidden. The call is to decide now — before the pressure hits — what you stand for, so your convictions are already set when the moment of testing comes.

Nieuwhof frames all of this around the conviction that the AI revolution will be ten times bigger than the Industrial Revolution and ten times faster. Church leaders don't need certainty, he argues — they need clarity. These three shifts are his answer.

AI AND MENTAL HEALTH: A GROWING CRISIS

Psychiatrist Keith Sakata and his team at the Gospel Coalition have seen enough patients whose extensive AI use led to severe mental health episodes — marked by paranoia and delusions — that they have coined the term "ChatGPT psychosis." Other documented cases are equally alarming: one man addressed a chatbot as "Mama" while posting delusional rants about being a messiah, ultimately losing his marriage, job, and home. Another case ended in death when police fatally shot a 35-year-old man during an AI-induced psychotic break.

These are not isolated incidents. They are signs of a broader cultural shift. According to Harvard Business Review's 2025 analysis of generative AI usage, the top three applications are no longer technical or productivity-focused — they are deeply personal: therapy and companionship, organizing one's life, and finding purpose. We have moved from asking AI to help us work faster to asking it to help us become. AI has shifted from being a productivity tool to a participant in identity formation itself.

The challenge facing anyone concerned with human flourishing is not that AI creates entirely new problems. Rather, AI compounds the fragility, incoherence, and hidden moral frameworks already embedded in modern identity. It acts as a catalyst, intensifying each problem while making the symptoms feel like solutions.

ANGLICANISM: A COMMUNION IN CRISIS

Symposium on Unity in Truth

I attended a one-day conference on the future of Anglicanism — a symposium on Unity in Truth — held at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Oreland, PA. Six Anglican theologians gathered to assess a Communion in deep crisis, led by Dr. Gerald McDermott. The appointment of a woman Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England's blessing of same-sex couples, ongoing GAFCON and Global South realignments, and the fracturing of traditional structures have brought Anglicanism to the edge of permanent schism. The symposium's central question: Can Anglicans maintain unity without sacrificing truth?

Speakers included Dr. Gerald McDermott, the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis (Egypt), Rev. Dr. George Westhaver, Dr. Alice Linsley, Rev. Ben Jefferies, and Rev. Mark Perkins.

Symposium summary: virtueonline.org

Full coverage, Part 1: virtueonline.org

Full coverage, Part 2: virtueonline.org

Justin Welby Launches a PR Firm for "Global Reconciliation"

After leaving the office of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby briefly visited the United States, where he spent time with the liberal, pro-gay Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, Bob Wright. The visit attracted little media interest and yielded nothing of note.

Now comes word that Welby has launched his own mediation company — JPW Mediation — to facilitate "global reconciliation." The irony is considerable. His twelve-year tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury (2013–2024) was by most measures a failure, ending in one of the most ignominious departures in the role's modern history. His LinkedIn page nonetheless describes the archbishop as playing "a pivotal role in fostering unity and addressing key issues within the church and society."

Full analysis: virtueonline.org

Conservatives Leaving the Church in Wales

The Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE) is preparing to receive the wave of conservatives expected to depart the Church in Wales following its approval of permanent same-sex blessings. ACE Assisting Bishop Stuart Bell offered this assessment:

"The Church in Wales is about to lose another tranche of clergy, lay leaders, and church members. Many left at the beginning of the experimental period in 2021; others have been waiting to see whether five years would be sufficient to bring the church back to the clear teachings of Scripture. Clearly not. Archdeacon Andy Grimwood warned the Governing Body quite prophetically that pain lay ahead if they ignored orthodox members in Wales and across the Global Anglican Communion. Regrettably, they voted against the Bible — deliberately and dismissively."

Church of England: Crisis upon Crisis

The Women's Ordination Battle Intensifies A petition has been launched by Women and the Church (WATCH) calling for a ban on the appointment of any diocesan bishop who does not personally accept the ordination of women. Published on April 24, the petition responds to the Diocese of London's vacancy-in-see statement, which sought "someone who evidences a strong track record of advancing ordained women's ministry and enabling its flourishing, irrespective of whether they personally will or will not ordain women to the priesthood." That distinction — effectively opening the door to bishops who support women's ministry without themselves ordaining women — has proven a red flag for Anglo-Catholics and many evangelicals who reject women's ordination entirely.

Full story: virtueonline.org

Rowan Williams: Church Bureaucracy Is "Demonic" In a recent interview with UnHerd, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made a striking claim: that Church bureaucracy is "demonic." His concern was broader — the erosion of truthfulness in public life, the normalization of violence, and a Church "too preoccupied with strategy — with schemes for solving problems — and not preoccupied enough with its own integrity as a community of witness and prayer."

The Rev. Dr. Ian Paul pushed back, arguing that while he shares Williams's distaste for managerialism, well-designed structures can help church leaders focus on evangelism and growth — and where they fail to do so, they must be cut, starting at the top.

Full exchange: virtueonline.org

CEEC Summit: Facing Current Realities The Church of England Evangelical Council held a summit on April 14, 2026, asking what the current moment demands. Among the findings: in some dioceses, resources are being transferred from orthodox churches to liberal ones in an effort to demonstrate that liberal churches can grow. One speaker projected that in 25 years, the Church of England will consist essentially of two types of congregations — cathedrals and evangelical churches.

Scripture was invoked as a guide: "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them." (Romans 16:17)

Full summary: virtueonline.org

GAFCON: Pushback from Within Africa

The pushback against GAFCON's reordering of the Anglican Communion is not coming only from Western liberals. Bishop Francis Omondi of Garissa, Kenya, has written a sobering assessment titled A Future to Fret, raising questions about where GAFCON's trajectory is leading.

While GAFCON proponents claim fidelity to biblical authority — grounded in the Jerusalem Declaration (2008) and Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles — Bishop Omondi argues that the Kigali Commitment of 2023, in rejecting the historic Instruments of Communion, does not preserve Anglican tradition but disrupts it. The Global Anglican Communion (GAC) maintains it is neither abandoning Anglicanism nor forming a new denomination but rather "resetting" the Communion. Whether that framing holds is the searching question Omondi poses.

Full article: virtueonline.org

ACNA: Trial Date Set for Archbishop Stephen Wood

The Anglican Church in North America has announced that the trial of Archbishop Stephen D. Wood is scheduled for July 20, 2026. He faces three canonical charges filed in a presentment submitted to members of the College of Bishops on October 20, 2025: violation of ordination vows (Canon IV.2.1.3), conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense (Canon IV.2.1.4), and sexual immorality (Canon IV.2.1.6).

The Court for the Trial of a Bishop is an independent judicial body elected by the Provincial Council every three years, composed of three bishops, two clergy, and two lay members in good standing. The current President of the Court is the Rt. Rev. Ryan Reed, Bishop Ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth; the Presiding Officer is Ms. Katie Grosskopf, Esq.

Further details are available on the Archbishop Wood Updates and Information Page.

KING CHARLES ADDRESSES CONGRESS

King Charles's historic address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress repeatedly emphasized the "unbreakable" bond between the United States and the United Kingdom. He described shared democratic, legal, and social traditions as "the special ingredient" in a partnership "more important today than it has ever been." The speech — more politically pointed than expected — touched on executive checks and balances, support for Ukraine, the pursuit of peace, and his Christian faith. He was met with multiple standing ovations. On faith, he said: "For many here, and for myself, the Christian faith is a firm anchor and daily inspiration that guides us not only personally, but together as members of our community."

Catholic writer Gavin Ashenden offered a sharply different reading. His critique: that King Charles consistently advances interfaith relativism and a post-Christian multiculturalism that weakens the monarchy's historic Christian identity. Ashenden titled his response The Crisis of Truth: "If peace is to come, it will not come through polite conversation between competing religions and political philosophies. It will come through conversion — through a turning toward Christ that reshapes both the individual and the society. Without that, power remains unrestrained, ideology fills the vacuum, and relativism becomes the governing creed. The speech replaced truth with a deistic therapeutic moralism — the belief that if we talk enough, we can save ourselves. But that is not true."

EPISCOPAL CHURCH: HAITI ARMS CASE REOPENED

Haiti's Court of Appeal has ordered clergy from the Episcopal Church of Haiti and former Church officials to stand trial in a 2022 arms trafficking case, overturning an earlier ruling that found insufficient evidence. On July 14, 2022, police discovered weapons, ammunition, and counterfeit cash in containers belonging to the Episcopal Church at Port-au-Prince customs. An initial 2023 ruling cleared the Church; however, the case was reopened in 2025 and the earlier dismissal reversed. The Church denies wrongdoing, claiming it is the victim of a criminal network exploiting its name.

The Diocese of Haiti is the Episcopal Church's largest diocese by membership, reporting 98,403 active baptized members in 2023.

BIBLICAL ILLITERACY: AMERICA'S DEEPER CRISIS

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, the familiar concerns are political polarization, civic deterioration, institutional distrust, and cultural fragmentation. These are serious — but they are symptoms, not causes. Troy Miller argues the underlying disorder is biblical illiteracy.

"I have become increasingly convinced that the central problem confronting both church and culture is not merely moral rebellion against biblical truth, but widespread unfamiliarity with it," he writes. "We see this in public officials who invoke God in the language of prosperity and national sentiment rather than repentance and moral accountability. We see it in podcasters and influencers who handle Scripture with confidence but little theological discipline. We see it in Christian audiences so underformed that charisma, sentiment, and ideology are mistaken for sound doctrine. The issue is no longer simply that Scripture is denied. It is that Scripture is often no longer known with sufficient depth to be interpreted responsibly, rejected intelligently, or applied coherently."

Full essay: wng.org

ANTISEMITISM: A GROWING EMERGENCY

Britain's terror watchdog has called antisemitism the "biggest national emergency since Covid" after two Jewish men were stabbed in broad daylight in northwest London's Golders Green neighborhood. The Area Bishop of Edmonton (Diocese of London), Dr. Anderson Jeremiah, expressed shock and grief at the attack. The Metropolitan Police reported that the two victims — one in his seventies, one in his thirties — were treated at the scene and transported to hospital in stable condition. The attacker also attempted to stab police officers before being tasered and arrested. No officers were injured.

FACTOIDS

Seminary enrollment: The largest seminaries today are dominated by evangelical institutions. Liberty Theological Seminary leads by a wide margin with 4,050 full-time equivalent students and 5,507 total. Southern Baptist seminaries occupy most of the top national rankings.

Church closures: Approximately 15,000 churches closed in the United States in 2025, reflecting continued decline in attendance accelerated by the aftermath of COVID-19. Projections suggest up to 100,000 churches could close in the coming years — predominantly mainline Protestant congregations and Catholic parishes forced into bankruptcy by sexual abuse settlements.

CULTURE WARS: FURTHER READING

The Rival Gospel of Transhumanism

International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice Welcomes 'Not Guilty' Verdict in First Criminal Trial of So-Called 'Gay Conversion Practices'

The Deification of the Self and the Collapse of Moral Order — Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore

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