With the resignation of Archbishop Welby and the Archbishop of York being under a cloud due to a failure in safeguarding, the Church of England appears to have lost moral authority. It is also riven with doctrinal differences, chiefly over the desire of many bishops to bless same-sex unions. All is not lost, however. Here Rev Canon Dr Chris Sugden explains how 2025 might pan out and notes developments that could encourage evangelicals
by Canon Dr Chris Sugden, Chair of “Anglican Mainstream”
Archbishop Welby’s legacy is a mixture. He introduced a centralised management process into the Church of England (C of E), with the House of Bishops taking a dominant role in shaping policies and proposals. Parishes have been amalgamated, and more diocesan officials appointed. In response, a ‘Save the Parish’ movement has started to preserve a parish church and vicar in each community.
Preserving unity
Archbishop Welby also sought to preserve what he called ‘unity’ by making concessions to a small but powerful elite lobby, including some bishops, senior clergy and lay church officials. This lobby has been loudly pressing for over 20 years for concessions to a liberal lifestyle.
They wanted same sex relationships to be blessed and recognised in church services, and for clergy to enter same-sex marriage. However, their wishes do not match those of their parishioners; most parish congregations are by and large orthodox in belief and practice.
Red line
Under Welby, a ‘fudge’ was introduced in an attempt to keep everyone happy. It had the opposite effect and opened up divisions within the Anglican Communion. For most orthodox Anglicans, a red line was crossed in December 2023, when prayers for same sex couples within a regular service of worship were first permitted.
Welby’s reputation on the global stage has plummeted. He forfeited the allegiance of many Anglican Primates (the senior Archbishops in their countries), who represent the majority of Anglicans around the world. These international Archbishops have refused to acknowledge the Archbishop of Canterbury as the senior bishop in the Anglican Communion.
As a result, an international Anglican body has formally recommended that Welby’s successor as leader of the world’s Anglican Archbishops should not be the Archbishop of Canterbury but be chosen from the Primates.
Celibate lives
Meanwhile in England, orthodox clergy and lay leaders came together to form The Alliance, a network that represents the majority of Anglican churchgoers. It comprises the Holy Trinity Brompton (Alpha Course) network, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), Church Society, ReNew, New Wine, Forward in Faith (an Anglo-Catholic High Church network) and Living Out (people with same sex attraction who live celibate lives).
The objective of The Alliance is to achieve a parallel province in which orthodox congregations and clergy can be ‘overseen’ by orthodox bishops who stand for the traditional Anglican and biblical teaching on sex and marriage.
Despite the managerial moves in recent years, the Church of England is not a centralised organisation. Each parish is ‘independent’ and receives oversight and fellowship from its diocese.
“The Church has been infiltrated by woke, liberal, unbelievers who are trying to destroy the very institution to which they belong. The same is true for the Methodist Church and URC. It is a fulfilment of 2 Peter 2:1-2”.
From a Home Counties vicar
Separate congregations
Some orthodox C of E clergy and lay people have left the national Church to form separate congregations, but remain Anglicans. They belong to the Anglican Network in Europe (ANIE), formed in 2013, which is part of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). ANIE has its own bishops, who are recognised by many Anglican Primates around the world.
But the ANIE alternative arrangement cannot be a complete solution for all orthodox Anglicans. ANIE’s departure does indicate significant disagreement with the same-sex blessings that have been allowed to take place, but it is far from certain that the General Synod and House of Bishops would actually agree to recognise them.
Furthermore, many parish congregations are central to their local community life; they are in general orthodox and they would be unhappy about receiving a new ANIE bishop rather than their area or diocesan bishop.
So while there may be internal disagreements over same-sex blessings, these parishes will not vote to leave the Church of England.
Bishops’ moves
At the time of writing, the House of Bishops has been working on a series of proposals to allow for same-sex blessings to take place in a separate church service, for same-sex marriages to take place in church and for clergy to be allowed to enter same-sex marriages. The bishops’ plan has been to get the General Synod to vote to accept all their proposals by a simple majority.
The orthodox objection to the House of Bishops’ current proposals is that such changes represent a change in the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage. A change of doctrine requires a two-thirds majority in all three ‘houses’ of the Synod: bishops, clergy and lay people. The bishops know they will not be able to secure this because more than a third of laity and probably of the clergy members of Synod are against such a change.
Just this last month a press release from the House of Bishops indicated a delay in their process, noting that any proposals will not be ready for presentation in July. It is quite possible that the orthodox bishops in the ‘house’ have stood firm in their objections at the first meeting which will not have been chaired by Archbishop Welby.
Meanwhile speculation has developed about who will be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The elite gay lobby is understood to be pushing the candidature of Bishop Guli Francis-Deqani, the Iranian-born British Bishop of Chelmsford since 2021, who would be the first woman Archbishop. She is known to be in favour of same-sex marriages.
What matters now is that the members of the Alliance, the orthodox bishops and clergy should remain firm in their stand for biblical teaching and practice.
Refusal to pay
Some parishes have gone so far as to send to the dioceses only the money they will then receive back from the diocese to cover the cost of their clergy. Normally all parishes contribute a ‘parish share’ to cover the expenses of the diocese as well.
The refusal to pay this is causing some dioceses significant financial pressure. Some parishes have taken advantage of the overseers commissioned by the Alliance to provide oversight in place of their own ‘heterodox’ diocesan bishops.
But some evangelical clergy have been hesitant to take a stand as they want to be ‘nice’ to everyone and remain united. However, as Canon John Dunnett, the Executive Officer of the CEEC has written: “The question still remains as to ‘unity in or around what’. The unity that Jesus prayed for was not institutional…[or] based on the status quo.
“And unity in Scripture always goes hand-in-hand with truth. CEEC is absolutely committed to unity across cultures, continents and centuries with all those who hold to the apostolic faith as we have received it.”
Canon Dr Chris Sugden is chair of Anglican Mainstream, an orthodox network and website www.anglicanmainstream.org founded in 2003 to uphold biblical teaching, especially on sex and marriage. He is a Canon in the Anglican churches of both Nigeria and Ghana. He was part of the organising team of the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008