The laughter and standing ovation that the Archbishop of Cantebrury received in the Royal Albert Hall on Monday suggested that, despite his saying that the “deepest wounds” he had suffered had been at the hands of his fellow Christians, he does not lack support.
The Archbishop was the first speaker at the leadership conference organised by Holy Trinity, Brompton (HTB), the Evangelical church in London. The event drew 5500 people from 86 different countries, all “united around Jesus”, the Vicar of Holy Trinity, the Revd Nicky Gumbel, declared.
Archbishop Welby’s appearance took the form of an interview, conducted by Mr Gumbel, which perhaps vindicated the headline in The Daily Telegraph that greeted his appointment ( “HTB lands its first Archbishop”).