This month the Church of England made public the inspection reports on two of its theological colleges:
- Wycliffe Hall, which is part of the evangelical wing of the Church of England
- St. Stephen's House, which is part of the "Anglo-Catholic" or "high-church" wing of the Church of England
Both are "permanent private halls" of Oxford University, which means that they have a formal relationship with the university but retain their independence.
These inspection reports are carefully written, but I don't suppose that they will be much interest to many people outside their own constituencies.
Nevertheless, the news about these reports caught my attention because they model transparency. The Church of England has set an excellent example to North American churches by publishing these reports online. This is just my own position, but I think that if Christians wish to model integrity to the rest of the world, we must first learn to model transparency.
Read the report for Wycliffe Hall here (PDF). Read Wycliffe Hall's public response here.
Read the report for St. Stephen's House here (PDF).
Read the Church of England's news release on the inspection reports here.