Can the Church of England be saved and who cares?
- Charles Perez
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue, DD
Sept 2, 2025
The real question now, as the Church of England remains rudderless, is, what if Lambeth Palace decided to throw a party and nobody came.
What if the Primates of Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Egypt and the Republic of the Congo, all of whom had been offered invitations, simply decided not to come, even with the possibility of meeting King Charles and downing Canapes on Lambeth lawns.
Nigeria, the largest Anglican province in the communion and the most robustly evangelical, had already sent divorce papers to the Episcopal Church over the scandalous consecration of the homosexual Gene Robinson and they recently sent similar divorce papers to the Church in Wales for ordaining an avowed lesbian to be their next archbishop!
You simply can’t go against Scriptural prohibitions on homoerotic behavior, believing God has changed His mind to fit post-modern sensibilities for sophisticated 21st century bishops who have managed to twist the Bible into a sexual pretzel for a handful of their parishioners.
And there is absolutely no doubt that the next Archbishop of Canterbury will continue down the same progressive pathway on pansexuality whether it be a male or female archbishop. (The odds of it being female are pretty good as Gulnar Eleanor "Guli" Francis-Dehqani the Iranian-born Bishop of Chelmsford is a top candidate for the job.) She holds progressive views on sexuality and while she herself is straight, her views will be treated with disappointment and dismay by Global South Primates when the news breaks.
Of course, it will raise even deeper questions as to whether another Lambeth Conference is even possible or necessary as both GAFCON and the GSFA will signal their displeasure with the occupant of Lambeth Palace.
If you thought Justin Welby was a disaster, and just about everybody concedes that he was, even liberals, what will “Guli” of Chelmsford look like! The notion that the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as a unique focus of unity is laughably gone.
But the deeper question now is the sheer relevancy of the Church of England and the role it still plays in the communion.
Western Anglicanism (Global North) is in moral retreat, theologically and demographically. Boomers, who have run and paid for the show are dying and there are no replacements coming along. The next generation has walked away from the Church of England and, short of a revival, they are not coming back. Even an uptick in Gen Z interest in the faith cannot replace the dearly departed.
The “bonds of affection” among primates and their 42 autonomous provinces has been strained to the limit. Many believe they are now irreversibly shattered, the fabric of the communion torn beyond repair. The “shared heritage” looks less and less shared and more like a battle ground of conflicting theologies and morals that seem irreversible in today’s ever-changing moral climate.
Tim Wyatt, writing in The New Statesman asks can the Church of England be saved? whoever the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be, they face a legacy of scandal, doctrinal division and dwindling congregations.
On who should be the next ABC, Wyatt opines, “Make the right choice, and there may still be a way back for the Church, albeit to a smaller and humbler version of what it once was. But choose the wrong shepherd, and the flock may be lost for good.”
But who is the right choice? Bishop Philip North is the only orthodox voice and he is Anglo-Catholic and stands in opposition to the ordination of women: he has about as much chance of winning as bringing Lord Michael Ramsey back from the dead.
Sadly, there is no other orthodox voice among the contenders. To the minds of the Global South, the Church of England is done for; it is about as relevant as yesterday’s fish-n-chips newspaper wrap.
It only remains to be seen what a united Global South will do. In today’s post-colonial world where friendships have frayed to breaking point, it might be a case of “wiping the dust off of one’s feet” (Mt. 10:14) and moving on to the next village where the gospel is open to reception.
END