The Archbishop of Canterbury’s July 2026 General Synod Sermon at York Minster

In the report on Trust and Trustworthiness which we will consider as a Synod, Professor Veronica Hope Hailey and Professor David Ford have helped us to discern how trust and trustworthiness might be restored within the life of the church. Relationships of trust are the soil from which hope springs. If hope is the fruit, trust is the root. And roots grow slowly, with patience, listening, and the steady work of walking together.

Across our Church there is no shortage of passion, conviction, or commitment. Indeed, Prof Hope Hailey expresses her amazement in the report at how deeply committed you and your fellow church members are to the Church. Yet many of us would recognise that commitment is not trust, and the trust we do see is fragile. Many in the Church have been wounded. We cannot simply vote trust into existence, as if those wounds will heal with the raising of a few hands. Neither can we create hope through anxiety, fear or urgency.

Christian hope is the confidence that God is still at work, tending the soil, tilling the earth, sending the rain and the snow, planting the seed. These are all acts of hope, built on trust that God is at work even when we don’t see the results just yet. God’s word will not return empty. God is faithful – we need not act from fear; we need not act from anxiety; and we need not imagine that the future of the Church rests solely in our hands.

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“Many in the Church have been wounded,” and, to heal, trust must be nurtured, the #ArchbishopofCanterbury said in her sermon at York Minster on Sunday, midway through the meeting of General #Synod#churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/eMFF3imrDC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 12, 2026