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.

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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.

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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

Almighty and everlasting God,
who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace
truly to believe and to preach your word:
grant that your Church
may love that word which he believed
and may faithfully preach and receive the same;
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.

One of my very favourite heather views in the #peakdistrict, especially at sunset, when the last light floods over the moors and makes every flower glow. Standing amid the huge boulders on the Iron Age hill fort of Carl Wark, you can look towards the rocks of Over Owler Tor and… pic.twitter.com/c76oMD1ugz

— peaklass (@peaklass1) August 24, 2025

Almighty God, who sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church: open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love and joy and peace; through Jesus Christ, your Son or Lord, who is alive and remains with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The

Sunday before last, church felt pointless. I woke up and checked for news from the Synod: first, a motion concerning justice for Palestinians wasn’t even selected for debate. Then the General Synod voted against redistributing one per cent of the Church Commissioners’ wealth to diocesan stipend funds, instead amending the motion to debate funding later (News, 18 July).

It is hard not to see this as the sensible adults, who also happen to control all the money, telling poorer churches to die quietly. Justice delayed is justice denied, and poorer parishes have long worked miracles with just a few loaves and fishes. Yet, denial of justice did seem to be a theme. The Revd Dr Ian Paul, of the Archbishops’ Council, insisted that “finance reflects spiritual reality” — a plainly offensive echo of the so-called “indolent poor”. But it was another who really took the biscuit.

The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, is known for his resolute defence of the working class (News, 27 February 2024). Yet, if he and I ever discussed such matters, we might initially talk at cross-purposes, until realising that we needed to define our terms.

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"The disparity between richer and poorer churches is stark," writes Adam Spiershttps://t.co/F0xGJam9wp

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 25, 2025

It was in 1787 that he first decided to put down a motion in the House of Commons about the slave trade. This nefarious traffic had been going on for three centuries, and the West Indian slave-owners were determined to oppose abolition to the end. Besides, Wilberforce was not a very prepossessing man. He was little and somewhat ugly, with poor eyesight and an upturned nose. When Boswell heard him speak, he pronounced him ‘a perfect shrimp’, but then had to concede that ‘presently the shrimp swelled into a whale.’ In 1789 Wilberforce said of the slave trade: “So enormous so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition…. let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.

So abolition bills (which related to the trade) and Foreign Trade Bills (which would prohibit the involvement of British ships in it) were debated in the commons in 1789, 1791, 1792,194, 1796 (by which time Abolition had become ‘the grand object of my parliamentary existence’), 1798 and 1799. Yet they all failed. The Foreign Slave Bill was not passed until 1806 and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill until 1807. This part of the campaign had taken eighteen years.

Next, soon after the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Wilberforce began to direct his energies to the abolition of slavery itself and the emancipation of the slaves. In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was formed. Twice that year and twice the following year, Wilberforce pleaded the slaves’ cause in the House of Commons. But in 1825 ill-health compelled him to resign as a member of parliament and to continue his campaign from outside. In 1831 he sent a message to the Anti-Slavery Society, in which he said, “Our motto must continue to be PERSEVERANCE. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.” He did. In July 1833 the Abolition of Slavery Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament, even though it included the undertaking to pay 20 million pounds in compensation to the slave-owners. ‘Thank God,’ wrote Wilberforce, that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give 20 million pounds for the abolition of slavery.’ Three days later he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in national recognition of his FORTY-FIVE YEARS of persevering struggle on behalf of African slaves.

— John R W Stott, Issues facing Christians Today (Basingstoke: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1984), p. 334

29 July 1833, William Wilberforce, died. Born Hull, evangelical Christian, Clapham Sect member, served as MP for 45 years, a founder of @cmsmission & @biblesociety, leading abolitionist (persuading in 1807 House of Commons to abolish slave trade), moral reformer & philanthropist. pic.twitter.com/DzJchsizTX

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) July 29, 2025

Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today in the Anglican tradition we thank God for William Wilberforce, an evangelical Anglican, slave abolitionist, founder of the CMS and RSPCA. Wilberforce understood Christianity as inseparable from justice! In a world of growing hate, let us remember and mirror his good works pic.twitter.com/i5RhLQwRva

— Victor-Joseph ❤️‍🔥🕊️ (@Anglicanvictor) July 30, 2025

The Church Commissioners risk attracting “widespread public contempt” if they proceed with Project Spire, a group of historians and General Synod members has warned (News,13 January 2023). The project is a £100-million fund set up to benefit communities affected by the historic transatlantic slave trade.

In a paper published on the History Reclaimed website on 26 June, the group urges the Church to “pause” the project, and to “seek the advice of other scholars, and reflect. To pay reparations on the basis that ‘everyone in the eighteenth century was guilty’ will not stand historical and public scrutiny.”

Its members include two General Synod members, Jonathan Baird (Salisbury) and the Revd Dr Ian Paul (a member of the Archbishops’ Council), and several historians who have publicly criticised the research behind Project Spire. The paper contains a detailed response to the points made in a document published by the Commissioners in May, Independent Responses to Claims Criticising the Historical Basis of the Church Commissioners’ Research (News, 6 June).

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Historians call for Church Commissioners to scrap £100-million slavery justice fund https://t.co/6Fr9T1eSLz

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 11, 2025

“Successive governments have failed to reduce inequalities in health,” …[the Bishop of London] said.

“These inequalities mean that some people will have up to 20 fewer good years in health than others and certain groups face persistently worse health outcomes than others.

“These inequalities are also pronounced at the end of life, with only one in four people who need end-of-life care being able to access it, and there continues to widespread misunderstanding and distrust of palliative care.

“It is into this context that the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is being proposed. So with only a third of all hospice care being funded by the NHS, the proposals are accompanied by a government commitment to fund in full an assisted suicide service should the bill be passed.

“Rather than funding assisted dying, the Government should be funding palliative care and palliative care research to enable people to live their lives to the full until they die.”

Read it all.

A very thoughtful, moving and well-informed debate led by the Bishop of London at General Synod – and a very important contribution to the wider discussion on assisted dying: https://t.co/7ObjRtLsgS

— Bishop Jonathan Gibbs (@JonathanRGibbs) July 15, 2025

Several speeches suggested that parish ministry was becoming, as the Revd Vincent Whitworth (Manchester) put it, “impossible”.

The Archdeacon of West Cumberland, the Ven. Stewart Fyfe (Carlisle) warned that, since 2015, parish ministry had been “underfunded to a dangerous point”. Clergy jobs in rural areas were unmanageable, he said. “What makes us distinctive as the Church of England is [that] we maintain a Christian presence in every community and that is never going to pay for itself, but it is a proper charitable priority for Church Commissioners’ redistribution.”

Canon Kate Massey (Coventry), who, until six weeks ago, was serving alone in a parish of 15,000 in Coventry, found it “bittersweet” to hear about growth in churches in receipt of large grants. She had served a “faithful community of believers who are chasing an ever-receding horizon of cost-of-ministry payments”. Those without resources were “made to feel like they are failing”, she said.

Read it all.

Synod votes against radical measures to redistribute Church Commissioners’ wealth

Cuts, clergy stress, low morale, and collapse in vocations presents ‘existential threat to the Church of England’ members hear#clergystress #churchofengland #generalsynodhttps://t.co/VeLWgAmM9k

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 13, 2025

Last year, members were told that the Trust Task Group had invited Professor Richard Jackson of the University of Bath to help to design a survey to “widen the range and number” of people feeding into the research on trust, as requested by the Synod. This followed a report that identified a need to “repair and preserve trust in the Church’s organisation and structures” (News, 24 June 2024).

In an update published with the General Synod papers last week, Bishop Sellin announced that the Task Group had “advised to cancel this survey and focus on repair strategies, which the House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council has accepted . . . The key reason for this choice is the conclusion that running such a survey is unlikely to tell us anything new and may do more harm than good — to all of us in the Church of England that we seek to serve. I recognise some may disagree with this reasoning.

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“We know we have a problem here — a problem of distrust that has been highlighted in General Synod time and again. If the survey will foster distrust further, its benefit does not seem worth the cost.”https://t.co/S37HYjcDd6

A report published last October showed retired clergy to be the largest group among ordained ministers in the Church of England. They outnumber licensed clergy in every diocese — in some, by a factor of more than two.

Taken together, the number of clergy pensioners and their spouses, plus retired self-supporting ministers, approaches 25,000, suggests Canon Julian Hubbard, a former Director of Ministry at the Archbishops’ Council, and, since 2020, Retired Clergy Officer (RCO) for Guildford.

He is the author of the report The Role and Work of Retired Clergy Officers in the Dioceses of the Church of England. Forty-one out of the 42 dioceses responded to the survey of what that ministry comprised, which revealed a wide variation, depending on size, geography, and culture.

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Retired clergy ‘keeping the show on the road’ https://t.co/oTdDJsWvtz

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 28, 2025

The General Synod’s Business Committee has “laid on a very busy group of sessions” for July, the Synod’s secretary-general, William Nye, said on Thursday, as the full agenda was published.

Clergy pay, the governance of the House of Bishops, and redress for survivors of church-based abuse are all on the agenda for the sessions in York, along with a presentation on church growth and an address from a member of the armed forces.

The full agenda and accompanying documents were published on Thursday morning, before a press conference at Church House, Westminster. The Synod is to meet at the University of York from 11 to 15 July.

On the first afternoon, members will hear from Brigadier Jaish Mahan, Deputy Commander Reserves, 1st (UK) Division, who has served in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the Synod will consider legislation to facilitate the licensing of army chaplains as they move between deployments.

Read it all.

Get prepared for war, #generalsynod is to be told next month #synod

Read our story on the agenda ⬇️https://t.co/jds8SuNTHQ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 27, 2025

Should these measures become law, where will this leave the church? While the clergy aren’t obliged to endorse every parliamentary decision, the church is more closely bound to the nation’s political order than other denominations. Its foundation owed as much to Tudor politics as Reformation theology, its bishops sit in the upper legislative chamber, and historically the church has played a role in British public life that deliberately spans faith and politics.

This role expanded with missionary zeal alongside the British Empire and in some respects had a humanizing influence on its excesses. More recently, the church has continued to adjust in line with perceived mainstream British mores, decrying the historic empire and embracing the ordination of women, gender ideology and same-sex marriage.

But despite, or perhaps because of, such efforts to “modernize” doctrine, Church of England congregations have continued to dwindle and grow older. Church data show that 1.7% of Britons attend its services regularly, and the census finds that only 46% of U.K. citizens call themselves Christian.

Can an institution legitimately serve as an established church when 98% of its nation’s people rarely if ever attend its services? We might turn the question around: Can even so doctrinally adaptable an entity as the Church of England persist as established faith to a polity so indifferent to Christian precepts while preserving its capacity for Christian witness?

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The Church of England has spent almost 500 years adroitly juggling faith and politics. But if last week’s abortion and euthanasia votes pass the Hpuse of Lords and become law, it might have to choose

Me at @WSJopinion https://t.co/5KdRiTpd2y

— Mary Harrington (@moveincircles) June 27, 2025

The

 old saying “A parish can be no better than its priest” is open to doubt. What is not open to doubt is that the Church of England is facing something of a crisis in clergy numbers.

In 2020, there were 591 ordinands, dropping to 370 in 2024; in the summer of that year, the General Synod was told that numbers had dropped by 38 per cent since 2020 (News, 12 July 2024). Parishes advertising a vacancy frequently get no replies, while the number of interregnums grows daily (Comment, 13 December 2024). Countless churches depend for regular ministry on non-stipendiary (NSM) or retired clergy. The ordination of women in 1994 was welcome for many reasons, but we must also not forget that it delivered the Church from an even greater clergy crisis.

Most serving priests will have been asked “What made you become a priest?” with the expectation there will have been a mysterious divine call delivered by private prayer and worship.

There is no reason, however, why such a call cannot also come through modern PR and planned human strategy.

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"A parish may receive only one applicant for a post, resulting in the choice of facing a further long interregnum or appointing this candidate. When the latter course is taken, disastrous results can follow."https://t.co/1Tbri6VHHL

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) June 23, 2025

In this tomb, also, you may see, A pledge to us…Yes, verily, it is a pledge,

Of Christ’s power to raise us to a spiritual life -The resurrection of Christ is set forth in the Scriptures as a pattern of that which is to be accomplished in all his followers; and by the very same power too, that effected that. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul draws the parallel with a minuteness and accuracy that are truly astonishing. He prays for them, that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” And then he says, concerning them, “God, who is rich in mercy, of his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us usi together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus^” Here, I say, you see Christ dead, quickened, raised, and seated in glory; and his believing people quickened from their death in sins, and raised with him, and seated too with him in the highest heavens. The same thing is stated also, and the same parallel is drawn in the Epistle to the Romans ; where it is said, “We are buried with Christ by baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” But can this be effected in us ? I answer, Behold the tomb ! Who raised the Lord Jesus? He himself said, ” I have power to lay down my life, and power to take it up again….”

–Horae homileticae, Sermon 1414

He is Risen! Michelangelo's magisterial vision of the Resurrected Christ bursting from the tomb into the dazzling light, c.1532. Happy Easter! https://t.co/94kCw2wJgy pic.twitter.com/wK8qPIqCXP

— Rosie Razzall (@RazzallRosie) April 21, 2019

O Lord our God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst call thine apostles and send them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless thy holy name for thy servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating thy Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom thou dost call and send may do thy will, and bide thy time, and see thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

26 May 605, Augustine, first #ArchbishopofCanterbury, died. Sent as a missionary by Pope Gregory in 597, he landed in Thanet & persuaded the Anglo-Saxons of Kent to become Christians. He founded @No1Cathedral & @KingsCanterbury where I was educated. #churchplanting @McCrimmons pic.twitter.com/FzNSWXW15o

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) May 26, 2025

Almighty God, who in a rude and barbarous age didst raise up thy deacon Alcuin to rekindle the light of learning: Illumine our minds, we pray thee, that amid the uncertainties and confusions of our own time we may show forth thine eternal truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

May 20: Feast of Alcuin (Ealhwine) (†804), scholar and theologian. He was born in Northumbria and educated at the cathedral school in York. In 781 he met Charlemagne, who he became a key advisor to. In 796 he became abbot of St Martin at Tours. Alcuin, centre, depicted c.831 pic.twitter.com/xtVr7wGRbb

— North Ages (@NorthAges) May 20, 2025

The Church of England (C of E) is in trouble. This is an odd ecclesiastical moment. The pope is dead, the Archbishop of Canterbury has gone. Not since 1691 have both seats been empty. But those seats will be filled. A far more anxious emptiness is in the C of E’s pews. Adult church attendance in England has fallen by over a third in 15 years; just a little over 1% go to services weekly, according to the C of E’s own numbers. A rise in churchgoing among the young is mainly a Catholic phenomenon. The C of E closes 20-odd churches each year.

Critics sense a spiritual vacuum too: in its failure to resolve international squabbles over its stance on gay marriage and in its cover-up of appalling child abuse. On January 6th, the former archbishop Justin Welby, who many felt failed in his handling of that scandal, laid his curving staff on the altar at Lambeth Palace. The process of selecting a replacement has begun.

Whether or not you believe in God, this matters, to bureaucracy and to Britain. Britons might be a Godless lot—in the 2021 census less than half called themselves Christian, down from almost 60% in 2011—but Britain itself is not. The c of e is not merely a church but an established church. England is one of around 20% of countries (from Tuvalu to Denmark) with a state religion. It is institutionally ecclesiastical.

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Adult church attendance in England has fallen by over a third in 15 years; just a little over 1% go to services weekly, according to the Church of England’s own numbers. It closes 20 churches every year https://t.co/tj8gl0bjjd

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 9, 2025

The process for electing a new Archbishop of Canterbury has become an “omnishambles”, members of the General Synod said after cardinals in the Vatican took just two days of deliberations to pick a new pope.

The conclave to choose a successor to Pope Francis began on Wednesday, 16 days after his death on April 21. The selection of Cardinal Robert Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV, was confirmed on Thursday..

Six months after Justin Welby announced his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury and four months after he vacated the role, the Church of England is still struggling to select the 17 members it needs to make up the crown nominations commission (CNC),which will choose his successor.

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“Over the last few decades, the #church has surrendered to a managerialism they were convinced would secure its salvation in the modern world,” said @WalkerMarcus. “The trouble is the managerial church cannot manage its way out of a paper bag.”#anglican #episcopal #religion pic.twitter.com/YKCBkKvlcR

— Dennis Lennox (@dennislennox) May 8, 2025

Young traditionalist ordinands with more than 40 years of ministry before them are one sign that their tradition is not ossifying, the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, said this week, at the chrism mass for parishes to which he ministers.

While expressing a reluctance to “engage with any controversy”, Bishop Baker addressed towards the end of his sermon remarks made by the Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, during last month’s WATCH conference (News, 4 April). Within the Church there had been, she said, an “ossification, if not growth, of the viewpoints purported by those who feel unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests or those male bishops who have ordained them”.

“I have to say to my sister in Christ and fellow bishop who used that term — not by name, but by association — of me and all of you — very firmly: No!” he told the congregation at St Andrew’s, Holborn, in London, on Tuesday. “Why? Because the life of the Church Catholic — her scriptures, her sacraments, her creeds, her ministry — embodies and expresses the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led living Tradition received and handed on in every generation — living water, ever fresh, ever renewing itself.”

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Young traditionalist ordinands with more than 40 years of ministry before them are one sign that their tradition is not ossifying, the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, said this week, at the chrism mass for parishes to which he ministers.https://t.co/MW16hPLjWE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 16, 2025

Churches are much more than buildings, and the Listed Places of Worship Grant (LPWG) Scheme is “beyond vital” to ensure that they can continue to be at the heart of communities, the Christian Funders’ Forum (CFF) has warned the Government.

These buildings are also often of significant architectural value, the CFF, a group of 50 grant-making charities say. They award grants totalling £70 million a year.

Churches such as St Michael-le-Belfrey, York, and St Mary Magdalene’s, Newark (News, 14 March, 4 April), where significant repair and restoration projects were already well advanced when the £25,000 cap on VAT exemption for repairs was announced in January, have been dismayed by the shortfalls in funding with which they are now confronted (News, 28 March).

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Treasury warned of ‘devastating’ consequences for churches if LPWG scheme ends https://t.co/qGfxfgsYkJ

— John Inge (@BishopJohnInge) April 14, 2025

During the WATCH conference, the Area Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a member of the steering committee that drafted the 2014 legislation (News, 26 July 2013), said: “I think in honesty we also thought that as society changed and as views became more open-minded among growing numbers of younger men and women, the culture of the Church would change like the culture of the wider society.”

Responding to this point, Mr Middleton suggested that, “Given that we are only just over a decade on from the settlement being put in place, and mutual flourishing is in its infancy, such attitudes do not bode well for any settlement emerging for evangelicals from their opposition to the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF).

“What are they, and others, to make of the promises made to Anglo-Catholics, which some appear so keen to renege on so soon after those commitments were made?”

He also asked about the “well-being” of young clergy in the Society (which is supported and financed by Forward in Faith) who put themselves forward for ordination under the settlement, should this be revoked “after such a short elapse of time”.

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Promises to traditionalists should be kept, Forward in Faith sayshttps://t.co/gRz5Njpgzp

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) April 8, 2025