Appointment of openly gay Archbishop of Wales branded ‘tragic’

Cherry Vann’s appointment because the fifteenth Archbishop of Wales has been called “tragic” by the pinnacle of Christian Concern, Andrea Williams. 

Vann has served because the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years and succeeds Bishop Andrew John, who retired in July after three and a half years because the leader of the Church in Wales.

She was elected with a two-thirds majority within the Electoral College on the second day of its meeting on the St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow.

She is a lesbian and has been in a civil partnership with Wendy Diamond since 2015. 

The Church in Wales permits blessings to same-sex couples but not gay marriage. 

Commenting on her appointment, she said, “The very first thing I shall have to do is to be certain that the problems which have been raised within the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to construct a extremely good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves.”

Her enthronement will happen at Newport Cathedral in the approaching months. 

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, said Vann’s election was “a transparent sign of apostasy” and marked “a tragic moment” for the Church in Wales that demonstrates it “has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality”.  

She called on the Church in Wales to repent. 

“As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines,” she said. 

“What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to consider? What does the Church in Wales actually stand for, if not the gospel handed down through the centuries?

“This appointment marks a tragic moment, evidence that the Church in Wales is in open revolt against God’s Word. It is a transparent sign of apostasy.”

She continued, “No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of somebody who so publicly rejects the clear teaching of Scripture.

“God will judge His Church for abandoning the gospel. As James reminds us, those that teach might be judged more strictly (James 3:1).

“And yet, there may be hope. My prayer is that this judgment would bring repentance, that the Church in Wales would turn back to God, recuperate the reality of the gospel it once proclaimed, and again turn out to be a faithful witness in this land.”