Will the new Archbishop of Canterbury be any different?

The election of the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury will be confirmed at St Paul's Cathedral on the 28th January.

She inherits a Church and a Communion in crisis.

It is profoundly regrettable that the lack of decisiveness of Mullally's predecessors will now become her problem. The failure to deal with progressive teaching at home and abroad, and the fallout that comes from decades of prioritising the reputation of the institution over and above the needs of victims of abuse, means Sarah Mullally has a very full inbox.

The Most Revd George Carey was Archbishop of Canterbury during the 1990s. It was under his oversight that the General Synod of the Church of England voted in favour of women priests, while offering 'Flying Bishops' to those who continued to uphold the historic teaching of the church. This decision impacted the nature of the episcopate and it is a question with which the Church wrestles still.

When women bishops were introduced in 2014, this innovation morphed into the provision of sacramental and pastoral episcopal ministry for conservative parishes, according to the 'The Five Guiding Principles,' but the issue of how such a system would work under a female Archbishop was not clarified. Bishop Rob Munro, who serves those who hold complementarian theological convictions, has said that Archbishop Sarah will need to offer "…a clear public legal delegation of [his] spiritual oversight,” if he is to continue in his post. The fact that Church Society are asking that people pray that, "suitable arrangements," would be made suggests there has been no progress on this matter.

In response to the desire of the majority of the Church of England to introduce same-sex blessings, egalitarian and complementarian evangelicals have explored different forms of delegated and transferred episcopal oversight. Their suggestions have been rejected by the House of Bishops, who await a report from the Faith and Order Commission into how delegated episcopal ministry impacts on a "distinctively Anglican understanding of the Church and God’s mission."

The Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams took on the mantle of Archbishop of Canterbury in 2002. He presided over the 'Windsor Process', that sought to set out principles by which the provinces of the Anglican Communion could work with one another. His indecision meant that he turned his back on the vast majority of the Anglican Communion when he invited the North American bishops, who had ignored the recommendations of the Windsor Report and stepped away from the historic, biblical teaching of the Church, to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. As a result, eighteen years later, Sarah Mullally faces a very divided Communion.

The leaders of the vast majority of worldwide Anglicans (both the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans and Gafcon) have been clear that they do not even recognise her as the 'primus inter pares' of the Communion. More than that, by the time she is enthroned in March, it is quite possible that Gafcon's gathering of orthodox bishops in Abuja, Nigeria, will have elected their own 'leader'. Archbishop Sarah will therefore be the first Archbishop of Canterbury to serve in a Communion where provinces have a choice to make about who they believe to be the true 'first among equals'.

Closer to home, Sarah Mullally must untangle a Church which under the leadership of Justin Welby placed supposed progress and the protection of the institution above proper process. One only needs to look at the agenda for the forthcoming General Synod to see the issues she faces:

• a lack of transparency in new disciplinary procedures for clergy mean Members of Parrliament have told General Synod to reconsider their proposals,

• a lack of independent safeguarding structures,

• continued debates about human sexuality and the start of yet another Working Party to consider the legal and theological preparatory work necessary to bless same-sex couples in standalone services,

• a Church that will spend more time debating the sustainability of church flowers than the increasing cost of church funerals.

All this is taking place against the backdrop of a Church that is bucking the trend, with declining, ageing congregations and not enough vicars to care for them. It is therefore unsurprising that local parishioners are angry that the Church Commissioners are seeking to find a legal way of giving away £100 million in reparations for the slave trade - rather than use that money to fund 200 frontline clergy in perpetuity.

Archbishop Sarah, has herself faced serious criticism about her own approach to safeguarding and clergy discipline, with some suggesting that her election should not have been approved until the Diocese of London completes a number of enquiries.

For decades successive Archbishops of Canterbury have avoided making difficult decisions and have left chaos in their wake. The question is whether, as the first female Archbishop, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally will have the courage to be different. Her track record suggests otherwise. She may be an effective manager. She she may have a pastoral heart. She certainly has a penchant for African proverbs beloved of American politicians. But there has been little evidence in anything she has said over the past few years of the kind of decisive leadership that the job will require:

"We may need to reimagine what it means to be fellow seekers of God’s truth in God’s Church, to reimagine what disagreement and uncertainty is in the Church, what it signifies and what is it that God is calling us to." General Synod, July 2023

“There’s a sense in which we need to carry on doing what we’re doing, and believe in that, and to have confidence that God is doing something.” Church Times, October 2025

"The proverb tells us if we want to go fast, go alone, but if we want to go far, go together." Address on the announcement of her appointment, October 2025

"I am committed to equipping the Church to be a kind and safe place that cares for everyone, especially those who are vulnerable, as we rise to the challenge of God’s call to justice, equity, peace and the care of creation.” The Tablet, January 2026

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