Lydia Houghton for Evangelicals Now
Orthodox Anglicans around the world are reacting with dismay after the election of the new Archbishop of Wales, Cherry Van, who is openly in a same-sex relationship.
The Biblically orthodox Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) called Vann’s election “another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy.”
Laurent Mbanda, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, wrote: “By celebrating this election and her immoral same-sex relationship, the Canterbury Communion has again bowed to worldly pressure that subverts God’s good Word.”
Similarly, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) described it as a “divisive rejection of the historic Biblical and Anglican teaching on marriage and human sexuality.”
Justin Badi Arama, GSFA Chair, wrote: “The election of the Rt Rev Cherry Vann as the Archbishop of Wales is the latest example and we now have a primate [leading bishop] of the Anglican Communion who is, to quote from her address at a Pride Cymru Eucharist in August 2021, ‘an openly lesbian and civilly partnered bishop.’
“Faithful Anglicans of the Global South will grieve that the tear in the fabric of our beloved Communion is now established at the highest level, but this will also strengthen our resolve to restore the Scriptures to their central place in our life together and build covenanted relationships through which we are able to gladly recognise one another as partners in mission and members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church,” GSFA’s statement concluded.
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) called Vann’s election “a further indication and abandonment of the faith once delivered to the saints.”
The statement continued: “Aside [from] being a further authentication of the choice of the Church [in] Wales [in] walking away from the truth, it is a signal that some sections of the global Anglican world have resolved to abandon the truth of God’s Word by sacrificing the authority of the Scripture for a postmodern agenda that has no divine backing.”
It concluded: “As a matter of urgency, the Church of Nigeria believes that this moment calls for prayer for the Church [in] Wales, hoping that the Church of England will not follow in her steps. We should hold them in our prayers with a clear message that hope lies only in true repentance and godliness, otherwise this church will lose complete relevance in the divine scheme for the people of Wales, and the leaders in compromise shall not be spared in time of judgment.”
Similarly, GAFCON wrote: “[We] stand with our Anglican brothers and sisters in Wales who are dismayed and disheartened by this act of apostasy… And GAFCON again opens our arms as a safe refuge for the faithful in the Church in Wales who in good conscience must now leave.”
Lydia works full-time for en. She loves reading, walks in the leafy Cheshire countryside, and creating content on her YouTube channel that points to Jesus.
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