With the appointment of Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England has acted decisively in its own self-interest. She is the most progressive choice imaginable, and that was the point. The Crown Nominations Commission has been moving this way for decades, alternating between liberals and evangelicals as though theology were a pendulum that must swing both ways.

This time, it swung hard to the left. Can it ever recover?

A Line of Liberal Drift

Let’s look at the line.

Archbishop Years General Outlook

William Temple 1942–1944 Liberal, Social Gospel
Geoffrey Fisher 1945–1961 Conservative Traditionalist
Michael Ramsey 1961–1974 Liberal Anglo-Catholic
Donald Coggan 1974–1980 Evangelical
Robert Runcie 1980–1991 Liberal Catholic
George Carey 1991–2002 Evangelical Conservative
Rowan Williams 2002–2012 Liberal Catholic
Justin Welby 2013–2025 Open Evangelical
Sarah Mullally 2025– Liberal Progressive

There it is—an alternating rhythm stretching back eighty years. The Crown Nominations Commission—and King Charles, confirming—whether intentionally or not, has ensured that one side’s theology always cancels out the other’s. Every generation gets its turn.

However, with each turn, the center drifts further from its historic faith.

A Political Appointment in Ecclesial Clothing

Dame Sarah embodies every fashionable cause of the day—DEI, inclusion, gender fluidity, climate activism, intersectionality, and all the rest. To many in England, that makes her the perfect candidate. She’s the mirror image of what they imagine to be modern virtue: the anti-right, anti-anything-traditional symbol of progress.

If the Church of England wanted to elect a bishop who fit neatly into the mood of contemporary Britain, mission accomplished.

But the Church was not called to mirror the world. It was called to transform it.

The Communion Left Behind

What no one in London seems to have asked is whether this Archbishop can hold together—or put back together—what remains of the Anglican Communion.

The Communion is already in tatters—shredded over the past sixty years by doctrinal confusion, moral compromise, and institutional arrogance. Our Anglo-Catholic brothers and sisters in England must be reeling. Many cannot even recognize Dame Sarah’s orders as valid, much less accept her as the spiritual head of their Church.

She will do well enough at home, perhaps among some. But for the 90-plus million Anglicans around the world who once looked to Canterbury as the “first among equals,” this appointment confirms what we already knew: those days are over.

The Church of England has now become a church in England, and it doesn’t seem to have much of a vision for the glory, the pride, and the wondrous accident of history called the British Commonwealth’s Anglican Communion.

Jeremiah’s Jar

Jeremiah once stood before the leaders of Judah with a clay jar in his hand. He smashed it on the ground and said, “Thus says the Lord: I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended again.” (Jeremiah 13)

That was the sign: a destruction so complete it could not be repaired.

That image comes to mind now. The Communion as we knew it has been shattered, and no number of committees or conferences—none of the kings horses and none of the king’s men—will glue it back together again.Subscribe

Sober Resignation, Confident Hope

For those of us in the Anglican Church in North America, this moment might bring a kind of bittersweet mixture of nostalgia and gratitude. It did for me.

We remember the lawsuits, the property battles, the lost friendships, meager salaries, eviction notices, and the ransom payments that freed us from the structures of The Episcopal Church.

So many had to start over.

We paid dearly for our independence. But we are free.

We are free from the political theater of liberal religion.
Free from the pull of synods that confuse moral courage with modern virtue.
Free from the endless debates about what Scripture really means.

And we must stay free.

Free to preach Christ crucified.
Free to stay on mission.
Free to plant churches, raise up clergy, and call people to repentance and faith.

A Home of Our Own

Canterbury is a lovely place to visit. A must-see cathedral for any tour. But it is no longer our home. Our home is in Christ, and our fellowship is with those who honor His Word and proclaim His grace.

Our bishops still have hard work ahead. Leading a young province is never easy. But better to sail a small ship on open water than to stay tied to a sinking vessel in dry dock.

We are where we are by God’s mercy.

Let’s stay humble, grateful, and faithful. Patient. Long-term thinking.

A Final Word

I will pray for Archbishop Mullally. I will pray that she seeks wisdom from above, that her leadership, in some mysterious way, may still glorify Christ.

But as for me—and for many of us—the center of gravity has shifted for good. The communion we once knew has crumbled, but the gospel has not.

We remain unashamedly Anglican, joyfully orthodox, and wholly free.

And that, friends, is reason enough to give thanks.

⸻⸻

Grace and peace,