It breaks my heart to watch mainline denominations continuing to side with the world over truth. Even if their theology doesn’t line up with mine in every area, seeing these denominations more resemble the sinful rot of culture than faithfulness to scripture is sad.
The latest example of this phenomenon is the Church in Wales, which is a branch of the Anglican church. The Church in Wales installed its new archbishop on Wednesday. New Archbishop Cherry Vann is a lesbian who lives in a civil partnership with another woman. Who needs scripture when you can fall in line with the world?
Vann was one of the first women the Anglican Church ordained as a priest in 1994, and she has served as Bishop of Monmouth since 2020. She will continue to serve in that capacity. According to the church’s press release, a two-thirds majority elected her as archbishop.
“Vann is also the first Anglican clergy member identifying as homosexual to become an archbishop. She lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship,” World Magazine reports, adding, “The Church in Wales blesses same-sex civil marriages but holds to the official definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.”
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Britons and other Anglicans who hold to biblical faithfulness have condemned Vann’s election. Andrea Williams, chief executive of advocacy group Christian Concern, made a statement, which reads in part:
As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines.
That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.
What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to believe? What does the Church in Wales actually stand for, if not the gospel handed down through the centuries?
This appointment marks a tragic moment, evidence that the Church in Wales is in open rebellion against God’s Word. It is a clear sign of apostasy.
No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of someone who so publicly rejects the clear teaching of Scripture.
Rev. Dr. Justin Badi Arama, archbishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and the chairman of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, made a blistering statement:
Before The Episcopal Church of the United States went ahead with the consecration of Gene Robinson, who was openly in a same sex relationship, as Bishop of New Hampshire, the 2003 Primates Meeting in Canterbury warned that this action would “tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level” if it went ahead.
Despite this warning, the divisive rejection of the historic biblical and Anglican teaching on marriage and human sexuality has been allowed to continue without any effective restraint. The election of the Rt Rev Cherry Vann as the Archbishop of Wales is the latest example and we now have a Primate of the Anglican Communion who is, to quote from her address at a Pride Cymru Eucharist in August 2021, “an openly lesbian and civilly partnered bishop.”
Faithful Anglicans of the Global South will grieve that the tear in the fabric of our beloved Communion is now established at the highest level, but this will also strengthen our resolve to restore the Scriptures to their central place in our life together and build covenanted relationships through which we are able to gladly recognise one another as partners in mission and members of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Seeing these churches in places like Africa remain faithful to God’s Word is encouraging. If only more mainline churches in the West would be bold and stand firm.
It’s truly heartbreaking to see another denomination choose the world over God’s truth. The election of Vann to lead the Church in Wales is doubly sad to me because much of my heritage is Welsh, and I have a certain affinity for Wales and its culture.
Gweddïwch dros yr Eglwys yng Nghymru. Pray for the Church in Wales. Pray for repentance, and pray that God will protect it from sliding further into apostasy.
The Church is under siege — from within. As more mainline denominations bow to cultural pressure and abandon the clear teachings of Scripture, believers must stand firm and speak truth with boldness. At PJ Media, we’re committed to defending biblical orthodoxy and calling out apostasy, no matter where it appears.
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