The advice from the Legal Office is that changing this would involve several pieces of legislation to change multiple canons, change the Book of Common Prayer, overrule ecclesiastical common law, and even “repealing references to dominical teaching” from Canon B30. In other words, if we want to change what we teach about marriage, we can’t even say that our teaching is based on the teaching of Christ. That’s how far this departs from our current teaching. Is it any wonder that the bishops are saying in the subtext that none of them even wants to attempt this legislative package?

The other route examined whether bishops could grant a canonical dispensation to allow such marriages. This would be akin to the existing power in Canon C4.5 to allow the ordination of those who are divorced and remarried whilst their former spouse still lives. The comparison is not straightforward, however, as the “[e]xisting powers of canonical dispensation do not permit the doing of things which are contrary to the Church’s doctrine; they permit doing things which are not normally permitted as being contrary to good order or that otherwise require regulation. To provide for a power of dispensation to permit the doing of something that was contrary to doctrine would be a novel departure in canon law of the Church of England” (p.68). It would stretch things so far as to break the internal consistency of the canons.

Finally, the paper addresses the same question as that addressed above in the FAOC papers: whether bishops could choose to turn a blind eye to clergy and ordinands in same-sex marriages. Whilst bishops have a large degree of latitude and discretion, they are not permitted to simply do whatever they want. “What it plainly is not lawfully open to a bishop to do is to declare that no clergy in his or her diocese will face discipline if they enter into a same sex marriage. First, such a statement would amount to an abrogation of the bishop’s canonical duties… Secondly, it is not even in the bishop’s gift to grant such a dispensation.”

Now that we have the full content of the theological and legal papers, it is quite easy to see why the House of Bishops made the decision that they made in October to stop trying to shove everything through by episcopal fiat. Those of us opposed to the whole project have been saying for years now that they can’t do what they’re attempting to do, and they certainly can’t do it in the way they’ve been attempting to do it. These papers only confirm what we’ve been saying all along.

Read it all.

Why can't we have the Prayers of Love and Faith after all? A look at the theological and legal papershttps://t.co/9CVcoP0m4p

— Michael Hayden (@michael__hayden) November 7, 2025

[JI] Packer and [Thomas] Howard touched on a still deeply-relevant historical truth: it is because Christian communities failed to nurture and transmit from generation to generation the full depth and breadth of the gospel in its intellectual rigor, illuminating every aspect of human life, that faith and reason came to be seen as opposites. Packer knew that especially among North-American evangelicals, anti-cultural and anti-intellectual sentiments disillusioned many younger Christians who hungered for a holistic, integrative view of faith and life. Packer sought to recover a broader Christian vision grounded in the Christ who became human so that we could become fully human by union with him. “To be fully Christian,” Packer wrote, “in other words, is to live; it is to be fully human.” And this is the message taught to us by the Scriptures and the Christian tradition. We hear this message from “some of the most luminous and titanic minds ever to appear on the human scene, as well as from peasants, shopkeepers, kings, hermits, Easterners, Westerners, Africans, Americans, and people of all other sorts and conditions.” And they all share this vision of what it means to be fully human because they know “that to have followed Christ the Savior is to have been brought to wholeness, freedom, and joy,” albeit often through great struggle and pain. These Christians all believed that in Jesus the Christ, God became “the second Adam,” not so that “they could escape from their humanness” but, on the contrary, so that they could “become human” since Christ was “the perfect example of all that humanity was meant to be.”

Needless to say, Packer (and Howard) were not promoting nineteenth-century Protestant liberalism, which offered Christ as universal example of humanity attainable through rational reflection. Rather, they restated classic Christianity in emphasizing that only through union with Christ will we enter into the fullness of our humanity whose inherent dignity and worth everyone possesses by virtue of being made in God’s image. It is only through participating by grace in the humanity Christ accomplished in his passion, resurrection, and ascension, that human beings are freed from the power of sin and death, so as truly to enter into a life without fear, becoming free to serve others in love. 

In all of his writings, including Knowing God, Packer promotes Christianity as a culture-generating force that humanizes all of life. He was critical, however, of contemporary Christian trends that merely mirrored culture, and warned that the humanizing power of the gospel required a Christianity nourished in the fullness of an authentic biblical faith, which places the living, cosmic Christ at the center of all human experience. With this vision, Packer joins giants in the faith like the second century church father Irenaeus, who believed that Christ “recapitulated” every dimension of humanity in himself, making “one new humanity” (Ephesians 2:15), beyond ethnic, racial or other divisions of any kind. Packer believed that schooling in classic Christianity of the kind I have outlined was vital for returning the church to the kind of life-giving, humanizing witness required for today. For the sake of this witness, the church should be unified across confessional boundaries, which is arguably the main reason for Packer’s signing of the “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (ECT) initiative in 1994.

The humanizing power of the gospel required a Christianity nourished in the fullness of an authentic biblical faith.Packer signed the document because he believed it to be “vital for the health of society in the United States and Canada that adherents to the key truths of classical Christianity—a self-defining triune God who is both Creator and Redeemer; this God’s regenerating and sanctifying grace; the sanctity of life here; the certainty of personal judgment hereafter; and the return of Jesus Christ to end history—should link up for the vast and pressing task of re-educating our secularized communities on these matters.”

It is this Christ-centered, and therefore humanistic, unifying theology that I also recall from my encounter with Packer. I first met him in 1994, when I was a UBC graduate student in comparative literature. By this time, I had become intensely interested in Reformation history and literature, particularly the connections between the English Calvinist non-Conformists and the German Lutheran tradition. To supplement my UBC offerings, Packer had agreed to a guided study on Puritan literature, with an emphasis—no surprise!—on John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, and John Owen. During this course, I was inspired by what I would call Christian humanism at its best: deep learning founded on a classics degree (Packer could cite Latin passages from Luther, Erasmus, Calvin, or Augustine at will, and he also commanded classical rhetoric and poetics) combined with Christ-centered theology and a strong concern for humanizing culture. This is the Christian humanist Jim Packer I recall and whose Christian humanist outlook I intend to honor as I take up the Packer Chair this fall. 

Read it all.

'#JIPacker and [Thomas] Howard touched on a still deeply-relevant historical truth: it is because Christian communities failed to nurture and transmit from generation to generation the full depth and breadth of the gospel in its intellectual rigor, illuminating every aspect of… pic.twitter.com/LNueG7mvqP

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 22, 2025

The Chancellor has been urged to retain a tax scheme for listed places of worship, as a survey was published today showing the majority of the UK population backs Government support to help churches pay for repairs to their buildings.

A poll shows that two in five people, or 43 per cent of all adults, report having had contact with their local church, the majority of these, or 53 per cent, for services and worship but also 23 per cent – nearly seven million people in the UK – for community support such as parent toddler groups, lunch clubs and food banks. An estimated 2.8 million people – or 4 per cent of the UK population – have been in contact with their local church for a food bank. Church of England churches run or support 31,300 social action projects, including nearly 8,000 food banks, with emergency food provision and community cafés on the rise.

More than three quarters of the population – 77 per cent – said historic cathedrals and churches are local and national treasures. And two in five – 41% – said they had visited a church or cathedral simply to find a quiet space for reflection or prayer, with this figure rising to 50 per cent amongst young adults in the 18 to 34 age range.

Read it all.

Government urged to keep VAT grants for church repairs, amid survey showing millions in touch with their local churches. CofE news: https://t.co/nOJDKcPENE

— Church of England in Parliament (@churchstate) November 23, 2025

O God of searing truth and surpassing beauty, we give thee thanks for Clive Staples Lewis whose sanctified imagination lighteth fires of faith in young and old alike; Surprise us also with thy joy and draw us into that new and abundant life which is ours in Christ Jesus, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

22 November 1963: Author and academic Clive Staples (“CS”) Lewis died. (aged 64). He’s best known for his works of fiction especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. pic.twitter.com/JhxfklLKSB

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) November 22, 2025

Despite their loyalty to North Yorkshire, the women said they were most impressed by the cathedrals in Ely and Coventry.

“Ely was just absolutely beautiful. We went to morning prayer there,” Ms Slator said.

“It was empty with no lights on, but the sunlight just shone through onto the nave and it was just ethereal.”

Although walking for many of the visits, Ms Gray had a fall on The Howgills, between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, requiring aid from mountain rescue, before their final pilgrimage.

However, Ms Gray did not let that stop her seeing the last cathedral, in her home city of Ripon, making that trip in her wheelchair.

Read it all.

Pair finish two-year English cathedrals pilgrimage https://t.co/3YCJ1esgYk

— BBC Yorkshire (@BBCLookNorth) November 19, 2025

Between 1992 and 2024, former Anglican clergy made up more than one third of those beginning priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, a new report reveals.

The report, Convert Clergy in the Catholic Church in Britain, summarises the findings of a research project commissioned in 2019 by the St Barnabas Society, a charity that continues the work of the Converts Aid Society, established in 1896.

The report was produced in partnership with researchers at the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society, whose UK base is at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Published on Thursday, it recognises the “substantial ongoing contribution to Catholic life made by convert clergy/religious in this country”.

The period studied begins in 1992, when the General Synod voted in favour of the ordination of women to the priesthood.

Read it all.

New report launched today, on Anglican-to-Catholic clergy conversions in Britain. Since 1992:

* c700 Anglican priests (inc 16 bishops) have become RC

* Roughly third of all Catholic priests ordained in Eng & Wales are ex-Ang clergy@StBarnabasSoc https://t.co/WyzOZBjg09 pic.twitter.com/r0nXFkEMe9

— Stephen Bullivant (@SSBullivant) November 20, 2025

35 year old Paris, originally from Iran, moved to England two years ago with her husband on a student visa. Here she explains how her life has changed since stepping into Christ Church in Freemantle, Southampton.

“When my baby was 40 days old and had cried the whole night from colic, I was exhausted and in a very bad state.  I put her in a baby carrier and walked the streets and found myself staring into a school yard for no reason. Somebody asked me to move on and respect their space. That was so embarrassing for me, and I stepped aside.  

As I walked on, I saw the door of Christ Church was open, I went in, and a kind lady invited me to have a warm cup of tea.  A few minutes later, another kind woman, came and told me she was the priest of the church.    

At that time, I didn’t even know what a priest was. I could see she was speaking kindly to me, even though my English language was bad.  She told me she knew my country, and she knew Iranian people locally. Suddenly I realised after months of being alone during pregnancy and after birth, with my language getting worse every day, I was talking with someone again.

Read it all.

"I’ve never left a Sunday service without feeling lighter and better inside.": "I’ve never left a Sunday service without feeling lighter and better inside."

As an exhausted… https://t.co/YaoK8zAP1o #MentalHealth #CommunitySupport #ParentingJourney #SundayService #FaithAndHope pic.twitter.com/KdYERrivZt

— Rev. Lion David Greene (@greene345) November 15, 2025

‘He stood for many years alone, he was long opposed, ridiculed, shunned, his doctrines were misrepresented, his little peculiarities of voice and manner were satirized, disturbances were frequently raised in his church or he was a person not taken into account, nor considered in the light of a regular clergyman in the church.’

-–as quoted in William Carus, Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon (New York: Robert Carter, 1848), p.39

O loving God, who orderest all things by thine unerring wisdom and unbounded love: Grant us in all things to see thy hand; that, following the example and teaching of thy servant Charles Simeon, we may walk with Christ in all simplicity, and serve thee with a quiet and contented mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

13 Nov 1836, Charles Simeon, evangelical Anglican clergyman, died, aged 77. Educated @Eton_College & @Kings_College. Vicar of Holy Trinity Cambridge for 54 years. One of founders of @cmsmission, @CMJ1809 & @biblesociety. Set up trust to appoint vicars to parishes that continues. pic.twitter.com/S5QNw1jUSY

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) November 13, 2025

The church is medieval (the earliest parts are 900 years old) but is not a place that rests on its historic laurels. It wants to welcome people and “express the love of God”.  

According to Roger Goodden, who is in charge of the fabric of the church, St Andrew’s  “is simply wishing to link with and be a friend to the rest of the community and to spread the gospel.”  

Oakington is a village in South Cambridgeshire, with a population of just 1,400 and St Andrew’s aims to share the presence of God with the rural community. As part of this call, the church hosts a summer garden party, a harvest and other concerts organised by the community, and performances from visiting choirs. 

If you’re going to do these things, you need a good heating system, not just a missional heart. “The better the facilities, the more welcoming we are as a church”, says Roger.  

Formerly, the church was heated by electric panels on the back of the pews. These dated back to the 1990s and had become notoriously unreliable.  

“The whole system was subject to breakdowns,” says Roger, “and whole sections of pews could lose their heating….” 

Read it all.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/J0U6bUmCEX

— St Andrew’s Church, Oakington (@StAndrewsOaky) January 28, 2021

But I am besides my purpose when I fall to bewail the cold affection which we bear towards that whereby we should be saved, my purpose being only to set down what the ground of salvation is. The doctrine of the Gospel proposeth salvation as the end, and doth it not teach the way of attaining thereunto? Yes, the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination spake the truth: “These men are the servants of the most high God who show unto us the way of salvation” [Acts 16:17] — “a new and living way which Christ hath prepared for us through the veil, that is, his flesh,” [Heb 10:20] salvation purchased by the death of Christ.

–Learned Discourse on Justification (my emphasis)

"…the design of his Sermons (as indeed of all his Discourses) was to shew Reasons for what he spake; and with these Reasons, such a kind of Rhetorick, as did rather convince and perswade, than frighten men into piety."

Izaak Walton on Richard Hooker pic.twitter.com/BvMO2i1NEB

— laudablePractice (@cath_cov) November 3, 2023

Almighty and eternal God,
you have kindled the flame of love
in the hearts of the saints:
grant to us the same faith and power of love,
that, as we rejoice in their triumphs,
we may be sustained by their example and fellowship;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

1st November is All Saints' Day.

BL Add 11695; The 'Silos Apocalypse'; 1091-1109 CE; Spain, N.; ff.112v, 113r @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/GaSmTQW0Pu

— Ennius (@red_loeb) November 1, 2025

At that hearing, Mr [Edward] Dobson said that the “starting point” was that evidence was to be taken in private, on the grounds that this would better protect children and young adults, and that the question whether the default should be for public hearings had been considered by the Synod (Synod, 12 July 2024).

The Measure, given final approval in February (News, 14 February), will now have to be considered further. The intention is that it will replace the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003.

Redress Scheme reviewed. The Ecclesiastical Committee took evidence this week on the Measure to introduce the Redress Scheme for abuse survivors, which was finally approved by the Synod in York in July (News, 18 July). Despite the raising of concerns at a hearing on Tuesday about a data breach by the law firm administering the scheme, the Committee is expected to give the Measure the green light to become law.

In August, it was announced that the email addresses of people who had signed up for updates on the scheme had been disclosed in a data breach by Kennedys, the firm administering the scheme (News, 29 August).

Read it all.

The Ecclesiastical Committee (MPs and Peers who advise on whether draft Measures approved by General Synod should be approved by Parliament) is expected to send the draft Clergy Conduct Measure (CCM) back to the General Synod. V unusual.https://t.co/nr8Et6xThU

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 31, 2025

The artwork featured detailed Nasa images of the planet and at an approximate scale of 1:1million, each centimetre of the internally-lit sculpture representing 10km (6.2 miles) of the surface of the planet.

The piece is on show until 2 November, with tickets to it also offering free entry to the cathedral.

One boy who spoke to the BBC while with his family said: “I didn’t expect it to be that big.”

Read it all.

Visitors take in cathedral's 'big' Mars sculpture https://t.co/u80pd8FDro

— BBC Cornwall (@BBCCornwall) October 28, 2025

The historian and broadcaster Alice Loxton called for an “urgent, national, seismic response” to the “cultural vandalism” of the “quiet decay of the parish church”. Stephen Cottrell, the Anglican Archbishop of York, said, “To lose them, to hamper our ability to renew and restore them, to diminish them, will cause irreparable damage not just to brick and stone, but to hearts and minds.”

The conference launched the results of the National Churches Survey, which found that 38 per cent of church roofs are in urgent need of repair, 22 per cent of parishes believe that their building has deteriorated in the last five years, and 27 per cent are not certain that their church will remain open as places of worship by 2030.

One in 20 churches said they will definitely or probably not be used as a place of worship in five years’ time, which amounts to around 2000 churches across the UK. Some 3500 churches have already closed in the past ten years. In Scotland, the situation is particularly extreme, with around one third of all churches either closing or expected to close in the next few years.

Sophie Andreae, vice chair of the patrimony committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, emphasised that Catholic churches are more likely than those of many other denominations to be located in deprived urban areas and serve diverse immigrant communities.

Read it all.

The UK’s parish churches are facing insurmountable repair bills and are on the brink of a “cliff edge of closure”, a conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum was told. https://t.co/AOHnsms06K pic.twitter.com/ixrhXW0iiX

— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) October 27, 2025

Many church communities across the country fear for their future, but some in Berkshire are innovating to keep themselves vibrant.

“We recently had a talk about otters, which was incredible. We had a live band karaoke evening,” said the Reverend Mike Griffiths, the rector of the West Downham Benefice, which has six parishes.

“In one of the villages there’s a duck derby, where you buy a duck and they get released and the winning duck wins the prize.”

A survey by the National Churches Trust (NCT), which helps churches stay open, found 2,000 feared they would either be “definitely” or “probably” not used as places of worship by 2030.

Read it all.

How churches are surviving challenging times https://t.co/tAcZRemF83 #bbcberkshire

— BBC Berkshire (@BBCBerkshire) October 27, 2025

This is a dramatic announcement.

Since 2008, there have been those who have warmed to the orthodox position Gafcon has taken but struggled with what paragraph 13 of the Jerusalem Declaration meant in practice:

“13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.”

Today the Gafcon Primates appear to have set out the cost of rejecting that authority. How other provinces respond and what the implications are for those who themselves are part of the Church of England will remain to be seen.

Read it all.

A significant development for global Anglicanism. https://t.co/oRVFOVjQtO

— Gafcon (@GafconGBE) October 16, 2025

The Church of England has halted its plans to introduce ‘wedding’ services for same-sex couples after the bishops finally accepted long-resisted legal advice that it is not possible to do so without the approval of two-thirds of General Synod. Plans to allow clergy to enter a same-sex civil marriage have also been scrapped owing to the legal complications, ongoing divisions on the issue and the confusion that bringing in the reform by itself would sow. The Times has more.

This is a victory of sorts for conservatives in the church, who will be relieved that further divisive changes will not be rammed through at this point. The forced departure of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury last year over safeguarding failures – Welby being the main driving force behind trying to get this question ‘solved’ before he retired – was key in the momentum collapsing, combined with the retirement of a number of stalwart liberal bishops.

While relieved, though, conservatives will also be frustrated that the reasons for dropping the plans now – essentially the legal situation and the voting calculus in Synod – are no different from what they were eight years ago, before huge amounts of church money, time and emotional energy were expended in divisive ‘conversations’ at every level of church life. A number of bishops and others in senior leadership, led by Welby, had chosen to ignore this reality and attempt to find a way, any way, to push through the changes they wanted. The consequence is a church more divided than ever, with pain on both sides, local churches reeling from acrimonious splits and further demoralisation and disengagement in the pews.

Will the church now be able to move on from this lost decade of division? There are signs liberals were already resigned to this outcome, so it’s possible an uneasy truce will now settle, with liberals going back to quietly ignoring the rules in practice while refraining from making big noises about trying to change them.

Read it all and follow the link to the other cited article from the Times.

BREAKING:

CofE bishops won’t give their green light for ‘standalone’ blessing services for gay couples, or for gay priests to have civil same-sex marriages, @TheTimes understands

Will say both would need formal rewrite of church law

Trial of blessing ceremonies can’t go ahead

— Kaya Burgess (@kayaburgess) October 15, 2025

The Alliance network has been encouraging incumbents who are unhappy with the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process to make known their church’s willingness to withdraw from Church of England structures.

Behind the scenes, the Alliance — a network of church organisations opposed to the changes brought by the LLF process — has been encouraging incumbents to persuade their PCCs to pass a resolution stating that, if the Church of England moves forward with either stand-alone services or clergy same-sex marriage, the parish will take at least one of a set of actions. Those include: seeking “alternative episcopal oversight”, a decision to “reroute their diocesan financial contributions”, and moves to “encourage ordinands to participate in an orthodox vocations programme”.

On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Bishops announced that full synodical approval would be required for either standalone services or clergy same-sex marriage, effectively stalling LLF (News, 15 October). The Bishops also announced that, as a result, they did not consider it necessary to develop any model of alternative episcopal oversight.

Read it all.

Exclusive from @PhrancisMartin: the Alliance network has been encouraging incumbents who are unhappy with the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process to make known their church’s willingness to withdraw from Church of England structures. https://t.co/EGumMC3ZNk pic.twitter.com/pHAEN3Ovwn

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 16, 2025

Harvest Festivals remain a mainstay of the Church of England calendar, but they are less commonly celebrated in denominations that have been expanding in recent years, research from the charity Green Christian suggests.

It held a representative survey of more than 600 regular churchgoers in Britain. This found that, while two-thirds of Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian churches continued to keep Harvest, just under one quarter of the respondents from New Churches, and fewer than half of those from Black Majority, Independent, and Pentecostal churches, normally held services.

Professor Tim Cooper, of Nottingham Trent University, who led the research, emphasised the importance of the festival to Christians. “Churchgoers of all backgrounds and traditions claim to care for God’s creation. But if we make choices in our food and farming practices that are not sustainable, we lack environmental integrity and dishonour the creation that God loves.”

This was also disrespectful to farmers, he suggested. “Harvest suppers are an ideal opportunity for churches to provide meals based on LOAF principles — using ingredients that are local, organic, animal-friendly and fairly traded — and thereby encourage Christians to put the principle of caring for God’s creation into daily practice.”

.

Harvest festival remains a mainstay in the Church of England calendar, but is less common in denominations that have been expanding in recent years, research from the charity @GreenChristian_ suggests#harvest #harvestfestival #cathedrals #churchnews https://t.co/x8Yp1vwaeb

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 15, 2025

Congregationalism is being “silently endorsed” in the Church of England, a new report warns, because the leaders of new worshipping communities (NWCs) are writing eucharistic texts for their communities without the theological support of the wider Church.

The Communion Dilemma: The challenges of leading eucharistic New Things draws on a survey of 63 NWCs across 20 dioceses. It reports that 39 per cent of them are using texts not authorised by the General Synod.

“The problem is not just [that] new things are breaking the rules, but they are seeking to exist outside of the ecology of the wider Church, in which all can be benefit and learn from one another,” the report says. One way forward would be to designate some New Things as “centres for liturgical experimentation”.

The report is by the Revd Dr Joshua Cockayne, director of the Bede Centre for Church Planting Theology at Cranmer Hall. The term “New Things” was used in an earlier report by the Centre, which found that dioceses had jettisoned the use of the word “church” in describing the various new worshipping communities being established in their parishes (News, 16 August 2024).

Read it all.

Congregationalism is being “silently endorsed” in the Church of England, a new report warns, because the leaders of new worshipping communities (NWCs) are writing eucharistic texts for their communities without the theological support of the wider Churchhttps://t.co/KXm27fBSKs

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 14, 2025

The announcement of the choice of the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mallally, to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury has been accompanied by frequent references to the Archbishop of Canterbury as the ‘head of the Church of England’ or the ‘head of the Anglican Communion.’  In this post I shall explain why both of these statements are misleading, what roles the Archbishop of Canterbury actually has in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, and the implications of the fact that these roles are very limited.

What do we mean by ‘head?’

When thinking about these topics, the first thing we need to be clear about is what we mean when we say that someone is the ‘head’ of something. When we use the word head in this connection we are using analogical language. An analogy is being drawn between the role of the head (and more specifically what is inside the head, the brain) in the human body and the role of an individual in a particular organisation.

The analogy is between the role of the brain in determining how a human body shall act and the role of an individual in determining what happens in an organisation. Calling some the head in this way (as in the terms ‘head of state,’ ‘head teacher’ and ‘head of the armed forces’ ) means that they are the person who has the authority and ability to govern the life of the state, the school, or the armed forces. They have the right to say what will happen.

By extension, when it is said that the Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Church of England or the Anglican Communion, what is being claimed is that the Archbishop of Canterbury has a similar governing authority over these bodies. The problem with this claim is that it is untrue for three reasons.

Read it all.

Martin Davie–'The…problem with this statement is that the idea that the Church of England does not have a ‘straightforward statement of doctrine’ is simply untrue. The Church of England does have a straightforward statement of its doctrine, and this is found in the Thirty Nine… pic.twitter.com/8jtUCwrQDb

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 21, 2024

A letter of legal claim has been sent to St Andrew the Great, Cambridge (formerly the Round Church), on behalf of seven Zimbabwean victims of John Smyth. It alleges that senior clergy and church officers “orchestrated a cover-up that enabled Smyth to continue abusing boys for decades”.

The letter, sent by Leigh Day Solicitors, argues that the failure to report Smyth’s abuse in the UK between 1982 and 1984 “directly led to his relocation to Zimbabwe, where he continued to prey on vulnerable boys”.

The claimants are six men who say that they were abused as teenagers at Christian holiday camps run by Smyth in Zimbabwe, and the mother of Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old boy whose body was found in a swimming pool at one of Smyth’s camps in 1992. The abuse included forced nudity, beatings with table tennis and jokari bats, indecent exposure, groping, and intrusive conversations about masturbation.

Smyth, described in a review by Keith Makin last year as “arguably, the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England” (News, 8 November 2024), moved to Zimbabwe in August 1984 and began to run holiday camps in the country. The move followed the completion in 1982 of a report by the Revd Mark Ruston, then Vicar of the Round Church, commissioned after a British Smyth victim grew so fearful of beatings that he tried to take his own life.

Read it all.

Letter alleges that senior clergy and church officers ‘orchestrated a cover-up that enabled Smyth to continue abusing boys for decades’ https://t.co/yqWhzbyyjl

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 7, 2025

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

God our Father, we offer our lives to do your work in your church and in the world. Help us by your Holy Spirit to hear more clearly your call to deeper commitment to your service, and give us grace to respond with gladness for the glory of Christ, our Lord. Amen.

To be among it all is the greatest gift #PeakDistrict pic.twitter.com/rSjAMthtMU

— Sarah Lister (@ABTheAdventure) September 30, 2025

Study criticism of the direction the Church of England over the past decade, and certain words are certain to appear: “centralised”, “technocratic”, and “bureaucracy” among them. The agreed wisdom in these quarters is that, under the previous Archbishop, power was increasingly assumed by a managerial centre — at national and diocesan level. The Church’s leadership turned to secular, corporate wisdom in a bid to reverse numerical decline, and the parish suffered. Cuts to stipendiary clergy have been the most obvious indicator.

It is a narrative that was debated in the General Synod in July, when the announcement of funding plans for the next three years brought to the surface disagreements about how the Church Commissioners’ funding — £11.1 billion at the last count — should be distributed. Calling for more to be distributed directly to dioceses rather than as grants for which dioceses must bid, the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Richard Jackson, urged members to “put your faith in the local”.

“Do we still have faith in the parish system — or are we going to let it wither on the vine, to be replaced with regional centres and lots of forlorn empty buildings? That is where the current trajectory will take us,” he warned.

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As the annoucement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury approaches, @MadsDavies asks whether it is time to review the drift towards managerialism #primatesportfolio #archbishopofcanterburyhttps://t.co/IBevNbmLUX

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 25, 2025

Canon Dr Roland Riem, interim dean of Winchester Cathedral, said: “We had a heartfelt word from retired Baptist minister, James Grote, in notices on Sunday, plus an unfurling of CCA’s banner. Then we had conversations over coffee.

“Let us be very mindful that in the Christian tradition there is an uncomfortable prophetic element and we must take heed of that.”

The Cathedral is in the advanced stages of installing solar panels on its works yard roof, with plans to extend the scheme to four additional roofs in the Cathedral estate.

Other sustainability measures include measures to conserve energy, water usage, all waste to be recycled and many sustainable traders.

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Cathedral taking climate change action after rooftop protest https://t.co/Uek0535Jfm

— Hampshire Chronicle (@hantschronicle) September 25, 2025

Amid cuts to statutory services, churches are well placed to serve as early responders to families in need, “before thresholds are met, before trust is broken, and before families reach breaking point”, a new report says.

The report, More than Sundays, was produced by the Children and Families Alliance, comprising three Christian charities working with vulnerable children and families: Safe Families and Home for Good (Features, 27 March 2023); Transforming Lives for Good (News, 27 August 2021); and Kids Matter (Features, 27 September 2019).

It describes the current landscape for early intervention. Local-authority spending on this fell by 46 per cent in real terms between 2010-11 and 2021-22, according to a study by Pro Bono Economics. In contrast, spending on “late intervention”, such as youth justice and children in care rose by 47 per cent over the same period, making up four-fifths of spending on children’s services.

“This shift is not just fiscal,” the report says. “It reflects a fundamental transformation in how the system operates . . . locking councils into a reactive mode that responds only once harm has occurred.”

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The report, More than Sundays, was produced by the Children and Families Alliance, comprising three Christian charities working with vulnerable children and families: #SafeFamilies and #HomeforGood; @Tlg_org; and @KidsMatterUK

Read more 👇https://t.co/lIIHaLqOwl

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 24, 2025

While the identity of the next Archbishop of Canterbury remains unknown, staff at Lambeth Palace refer to their incoming boss as “106”, after the next Archbishop’s position in the lineage of the see of Canterbury. There is a touch of The West Wing about it: the same system is used for Presidents of the United States, which explains why Donald Trump often had “45” on the side of his red baseball cap, and now has “45-47”. Just as the code name is redolent of American politics, the precariousness of the situation that 106 will inherit is comparable to the one faced by an incoming US administration.

Top of the to-do list is safeguarding. This is the issue that forced the resignation of 105, and will loom large in the public’s mind when 106 is announced. The new Archbishop’s first order of business will be defending their own record. The CNC, led by a former spy-chief, Lord Evans of Weardale, will be conscious of this, and whoever is chosen will have been carefully vetted. Any blemish that is uncovered after the announcement, though, will have the potential to scupper the ship before it is out of the harbour.

After the new Archbishop’s personal record has been pored over, and the Archbishop has said the right things about the need for continued structural reform in church safeguarding, they will be under intense pressure to see that such reform actually takes place. The General Synod delivered a somewhat unclear mandate in February for partial outsourcing of the Church’s safeguarding to a new independent body (News, 14 February), but there is still no firm timeline for its creation. Gaining the trust of survivors, and prominent church commentators, will be vital to winning confidence on this issue.

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Francis Martin considers the most pressing issues that are awaiting the attention of the next Primate https://t.co/JORYRmAoZW pic.twitter.com/xQJhBfcmD0

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 19, 2025

A major new initiative that will see the Good News of Jesus blaze across the hearts of children and young people in Lancashire launched this week.

The Ignite Project is part of the Diocese of Blackburn’s ambitious vision to see Jesus made known amongst the younger generation in the County. Funding for the project follows a generous grant from the national church.

The Diocese knows that employing a youth or children’s minister is the biggest common factor to seeing sustainable growth of ministry to those age groups. So we are strategically placing 30 youth and children’s leaders in parishes across Lancashire to enable greater engagement with local young people.

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(Lancashire Post) Ignite Project aims to fire up county's young people for Jesus https://t.co/vMi9aOgLvW 'The Diocese knows that employing a youth or children’s minister is the biggest common factor to seeing sustainable growth of ministry to those age groups. So we are…

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) September 3, 2025

The Church of England’s latest cathedral statistics show continued growth in 2024, with weekly attendance rising to 31,900, an increase of eleven per cent compared to 2023. The rise was driven particularly by midweek services, which saw a 15 per cent increase in adult attendance and a 16 per cent increase in child attendance, although still lower than the pre-pandemic figure. 

Easter services attracted 50,200 worshippers, a 12 per cent increase year-on-year, while Holy Week attendance reached 90,200. However, Christmas attendance dipped slightly to 121,100, down three per cent from 2023, and Advent services saw a similar decline. 

Visitor numbers continued to climb, reaching 9.87 million in 2024 – surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Cathedrals also hosted 6,000 public and civic events, including 370 graduation ceremonies, with a total attendance of 1.74 million. 

Musical life in cathedrals flourished, with 2,120 choristers and lay clerks (adult professional singers), and 2,070 voluntary choir members meaning figures are now above pre-pandemic levels. The total number of cathedral choirs also reached a record high of 207.

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BREAKING:
The Church of England’s latest cathedral statistics show continued growth in 2024, with weekly attendance rising to 31,900, an increase of eleven per cent compared to 2023.

"By most measures, attendance, participation, and engagement were higher in 2024 than in…

— English Cathedrals (@engcathedrals) August 29, 2025