The Church in Wales has appointed an Archbishop who is openly living in defiance of Christian teaching.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, comments: “Cherry Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship. This directly contradicts the Church’s historic and biblical doctrine that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage.

“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.

“That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.

“What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to believe? 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 rebellion against God’s Word. It is a clear sign of apostasy.

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

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

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