Evangelicals within the Church of England and wider Anglican Communion are praying for a return to biblical faithfulness after the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, was announced on Friday as the following Archbishop of Canterbury.
Mullally can be the primary ever woman to carry the post when she is installed on 25 March 2026.
She has been the Bishop of London since 2021 and previously led Living in Love and Faith, a years long consultation within the Church of England on marriage, sexuality and gender identity that led to its approving same-sex blessings.
She is supportive of the plans and has attempted to keep up that the change of direction doesn’t amount to a change in doctrine, although traditionalists have begged to differ.
“Services that use these prayers should not marriage services, and their use by clergy is entirely voluntary,” she has stated up to now.
“This signifies that the church can proceed to embrace the several perspectives which can be held by clergy and congregations throughout the Church of England about same-sex marriage and same-sex relationships.”
Reacting to her appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) said it desired to see her “call the Church of England to recommit to the historic doctrines and formularies entrusted to it”.
The council said that her appointment comes at a “difficult time” not only due to divisions throughout the Church of England but national and international challenges and “a major lack of confidence within the role of the Archbishop”.
The CEEC said that it was praying she would “hold to the apostolic faith”.
“The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) joins Anglicans internationally in praying for Bishop Sarah Mullally on the announcement that she is to be the following Archbishop of Canterbury,” it said.
“Bishop Sarah will take up her role as the following Archbishop of Canterbury at a difficult time for the Church of England, set against a backdrop of world conflict and instability.
At home, the Church of England faces challenges due to declining attendance, financial pressures and their impact on sustaining parochial ministry. This is within the context of the numerous divisions created by the Living in Love and Faith process.
“More broadly, across the Anglican Communion, lately there was a major lack of confidence within the role of the Archbishop and a cry for leadership consonant with our Anglican doctrinal heritage.
“These challenges exist inside a wider context of political fragility—each within the UK and abroad—with contentious debates domestically, including the proposed assisted dying laws, immigration, and ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East.
“We due to this fact pray that God will enable Bishop Sarah to carry to the apostolic faith and call the Church of England to recommit to the historic doctrines and formularies entrusted to it.
“We pray that this is perhaps a moment where the present drift away from a biblical and Anglican understanding of marriage and sexual ethics is either halted or a way is found to secure biblical convictions within the Church of England for the longer term.
“Above all, our hope is that she’s going to lead the Church of England in presenting the unchanging excellent news of the gospel afresh to our needy world.
“In 2 Timothy 1:14, Paul implores Timothy to ‘guard the nice deposit’. We pray that, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Sarah can be enabled to do the identical.”
The Gafcon movement struck a far less conciliatory tone in its immediate response to Mullally’s appointment, with its Chairman, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, calling on her to “repent” over “her failure to uphold her consecration vows” due to her support for same-sex blessings.
In a message to Gafcon members, he said her appointment was more likely to intensify divisions within the Anglican Communion and would “cause sadness and dismay amongst Anglicans worldwide”.
It will, he predicted, be “not possible” for Mullally to act as a “focus of unity” when a majority of the Communion doesn’t consider in female ordination or same-sex unions.
“This appointment abandons global Anglicans, because the Church of England has chosen a frontrunner who will further divide an already split Communion,” he said.
He went on to say that “as a result of the failure of successive Archbishops of Canterbury to protect the religion, the office can now not function as a reputable leader of Anglicans, let alone a spotlight of unity”.
Gafcon repudiated the leadership of Mullally’s predecessor, Justin Welby, after he became a champion for the Church of England’s Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples.
Relations only broke down further when Welby publicly stated his belief “that every one sexual intercourse needs to be inside a committed relationship and whether it’s straight or gay”.
Archbishop Mbanda said that “more concerning” than female episcopacy was that Mullally “has repeatedly promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality”.
“Since the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury has didn’t guard the religion and is complicit in introducing practices and beliefs that violate each the ‘plain and canonical sense’ of Scripture and ‘the Church’s historic and consensual’ interpretation of it (Jerusalem Statement), she cannot provide leadership to the Anglican Communion,” he said.
“The leadership of the Anglican Communion will pass to those that uphold the reality of the gospel and the authority of Scripture in all areas of life.”
He added, “Today’s appointment makes it clearer than ever before that Canterbury has relinquished its authority to steer.”
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