Gafcon responds to the resignation of Archbishop Welby

A Statement from Gafcon:

“We were saddened by the news of the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the reasons for his decision. While the Gafcon Primates have been critical of the Archbishop’s leadership, the circumstances of his resignation is not an occasion for rejoicing, but for grief and self-reflection.

The presence of child sexual abuse in the church of God is a pernicious evil, which has brought devastating, long-term effects upon survivors and their families. Yet their trauma is only exacerbated by negligence or inaction in pursuing and prosecuting perpetrators for their crimes. Such failures to act also grieve the heart of God and bring shame upon his church.

We appreciate Archbishop Justin’s willingness to resign from his office, as it shows evidence of his desire to take responsibility for his own lack of action in investigating the allegations against John Smyth, which came to light in 2013. While his own admission of regret and remorse is welcome, the past cannot be undone.

Leadership in any sphere of life is challenging, and no less so in the church of God. Christian leaders are called to be shepherds of the flock. Yet, none of us is perfect, as we all make mistakes, but owning our failures is also the mark of good leadership. While some errors of judgment have greater consequences than others, the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, knows our frailty and forgives all who are truly penitent. He also cares for the downcast and broken, as he cares for those who have been abused.

We pray for Archbishop Justin, his wife Caroline, and his family as the days ahead will not be without difficulty. We also pray for all those who have experienced sexual abuse by false shepherds in the church of God. May they know the peace of God that passes understanding and that heals all our infirmities.

The Most Revd. Dr. Laurent Mbanda
Chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council
Archbishop & Primate of Rwanda (EAR)
Bishop of Gasabo.”

– Source: Gafcon.

GSFA Pastoral Statement Following the Resignation of Justin Welby

From The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches:

“My dear brothers & sisters,

As many of you will now know, the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned yesterday. This follows criticism in the Makin Report published last week of his failure to respond adequately and effectively to the sustained and uniquely brutal abuse of boys and young men dating back to the late 1970’s.

We should hold in our prayers the many who were scarred by this experience and for whom this dramatic turn of events will stir up traumatic memories and re-visited distress. It is also a time of great personal challenge for the Archbishop himself and his family, who are coming under great strain.  We continue to uphold them in prayer during this difficult time.

The GSFA recognizes the observations, findings and recommendations of the Makin Report, including the danger of a church culture in which what is expedient takes priority over the values for which the Church stands. As we proceed with the Cairo Covenant, our fellowship will hold fast to paramount biblical and spiritual principles, including those of fostering a safe church, implementing oversight over best safeguarding procedures in the interests of all groups, parishioners, stakeholders and vulnerable persons who operate within the Anglican Communion.

There has never been a more challenging time for Global Anglicans to come together, and for senior church leaders to exercise their professional responsibilities to review and upgrade their safeguarding procedures, and to be held accountable for timely oversight and church discipline.

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” 2 Thessalonians 3:5

The Most Rev Dr Justin Badi Arama
Archbishop and Primate of the
Episcopal Church of South Sudan, and
GSFA Chair.”

– Source: The GSFA.

GSFA photo.

Is God disappointed with me?

“For a long period in my Christian life, I felt like God was always just a bit disappointed in me.

Sure, I believed he loved me enough to die for me, and I knew he forgave me for my sin, but I felt that perhaps God just tolerated rather than delighted in me. After all, Jesus calls us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). Christians are told to pray continually (1 Thes 5:17). Paul exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4). I knew I wasn’t perfect, my prayers were certainly not continual and I failed to always rejoice, so I felt that God must be constantly displeased with me.

I walked around in a persistent state of low-level guilt. I assumed God gave a bit of a deep sigh and an eye roll each time he saw me fail again.

I wish I had been able to read Faith Chang’s heartwarming book, Peace Over Perfection, in those long years. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Jocelyn Loane reviews Peace Over Perfection.

Canon Phil Ashey on the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury

If you haven’t been following developments in the UK, this reaction by Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council will help explain things:

John Smyth was a Canadian-born British barrister, actively involved with children in the Anglican Communion through several different ministries. He was the chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which ran the Iwerne camps, where he had access and opportunity to abuse hundreds of children and young men. His abuse was not only sexual but physical, performing sadistic beatings on schoolboys and young men attending these camps, as well as attendees at other Christian groups dedicated to the discipleship of young men. This abuse occurred in England but continued in Africa, when Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in the early 80s and continued to run children’s camps. He moved to South Africa in 2001.

Independent investigations revealed that Smyth inflicted sexual, emotional, spiritual, and physical abuse on at least 100 people. The greatest display of hypocrisy within the Church that Smyth participated in was his role as a lawyer representing morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse, prosecuting those accused of blasphemy and immorality. While living in South Africa, he ran the Justice Alliance of South Africa, an organization dedicated to upholding high moral standards in society. He also unsuccessfully opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage in South Africa, claiming that such activity would result in “violence to mind and spirit”. The irony of all this can’t be overstated.

Smyth died before he could be brought to trial.

This past year, the independent review called the Makin Report was commissioned by the Church of England and published this last week, revealing the details on what church authorities knew about the abuse and how they intentionally covered it up or ignored it. Smyth moved to different locations and was allowed to take up posts where he had close contact with young men, even though church leaders knew what was going on. One of those leaders was Archbishop Justin Welby who, in 2013, was informed of Smyth’s abuse but took no action against him. His level of culpability remains to be seen, but he resigned today as Archbishop of Canterbury in a shocking statement.

Though he claimed to take responsibility, much of the statement reads as if he was not so culpable, with hardly an apology but with a pledge to continue entrusting the Church and himself to Jesus Christ. It makes one wonder why this hadn’t happened sooner, when he continued to harbor and abet leaders who destroyed the fabric of Christian morality in the very Christian Church itself. The Smyth case was one horrific example of a leadership style that buries rather than resurrects; hides rather than clarifies; and, frankly, misrepresents rather than speaks the whole truth. This moral failure with regards to Anglicans in England and Africa completely compromises all his leadership and previous pledges from the Canterbury communion towards the majority of the Global South.

Again, the way Abp. Welby dealt with these allegations shows not just an issue with a particular scandal but a recurring practice of burying hard truth and hoping it will go away. It never goes away; truth always comes back to haunt you. That’s the case with the Makin Review and that’s the case with the “Living in Love and Faith” prayers for the blessing of same sex unions in the Church of England– a debacle throughout, in which Welby tried to play both sides and cover up the painful truth that there is no compromise. It’s this desire to stay neutral that, in the end, isn’t neutrality at all. He did nothing when he heard about what Smyth was doing, just like he did nothing to bring discipline to wayward churches and leaders in the Anglican Communion.

The larger debate on human sexuality within the Church of England and increasingly elsewhere in the Anglican Communion is certainly not a case of individual abuse. But with regards to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s “spiritual leadership” of the Anglican Communion, it is spiritual abuse at a corporate level that is damaging countless souls under his care; he has refused to deal with it. In his statement today, he wrote, “It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed.” But where was his duty to honor and defend the Faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), including the Church’s unbroken biblical teaching on marriage, not only as a bishop but as an archbishop and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion? So now he resigns for this particular scandal, at this time, in the Church of England—but without regard  for the myriad of spiritual scandals he oversaw over his tenure in the See of Canterbury?

Welby’s leaving leaves a lot of questions for the future of the Anglican Communion.

What kind of successor will take his place, and will he or she continue the fracturing or help bring unity based on biblical truth and faithfulness to the unbroken teaching of the Church?

How does this affect Gafcon and the Global South? Does his resignation really matter to them? And what does the See of Canterbury mean for the identity of global Anglicanism, when its highest leader utterly compromised his spiritual and temporal leadership of the Mother Church by aiding and abetting the worst serial abuser in the history of the Anglican Church?

Is this the final nail in the coffin of Canterbury’s post-colonial domination of the Communion?

Isn’t now the time, at this moment, for the Global South and GAFCON to rally the rest of the Communion around repentance? What better moment to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations and draw other national and regional Anglican churches into the covenantal structures of the Cairo Covenant, ratified in June in Egypt, to carry on the Anglican Communion under biblically-faithful commitments?

Archbishop Welby’s resignation has been a long time coming. What a sad and tragic end to what had been a much hoped for beginning of a return to biblical-faithfulness in the Mother Church. Please pray for the victims of this horrific abuse, and for Anglicans to walk everywhere in the light (I John 1:7-9) as we move forward.

– Received by e-mail. Now also posted on the American Anglican Council website.

Archbishop of Canterbury resigns

Early this morning, Eastern Australian Time, Archbishop Justin Welby resigned, releasing a statement –

“Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.

When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.

It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.

It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.

I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.

The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.

In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.

I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.

I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.

For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.”

– Source, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

Photo: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

Older people and ‘positive, Jesus focussed, choices’

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“How do we proactively serve Jesus in retirement? How might we motivate our older church members to prioritise the work of the gospel?

Mike Raiter said on The Pastor’s Heart a little while back that retirement needs rethinking to avoid the sin of the sluggard.

Mike Raiter said downing tools at 65 and spending 20 or 30 years resting is a 19th century concept and is not Christian.

But what is the alternative?

Ying Yee is lead English Pastor of Chinese Christian Church Milsons Point in Sydney.
Carmel Vincent serves as training and events coordinator at the Ministry Training Strategy.
And Ian Carmichael was CEO of Sydney’s Matthias Media.”

– Watch or listen here.

An open letter to Justin Welby from Church Society

An Open Letter released by Church Society:

11 November 2024

Dear Justin,

It was with heavy hearts that we read the long-awaited Makin report at the end of last week. It was, as it must be for anyone reading it, a painful experience, as horror after horror was exposed. For many of those directly involved in the events of the 1970s and 80s, those horrors have already ended at their death, to be subject to the endless mercy – and eternal justice – of the Lord.

For many of those, including John Smyth himself, that death came after 2013.

In 2013, by your own acknowledgement, you were aware of the horrific abuse perpetrated by John Smyth. You described this as ‘disclosable’, meaning, we assume, that the police should be informed. And yet you did not inform the police, nor ensure that anyone else had informed them. That is a serious failure of safeguarding, which in this instance ensured that prosecutions which might have taken place did not, and now, cannot.

More than this, in 2017, you offered publicly to meet with the victims of John Smyth, to hear their stories and understand their needs. Failure to follow up on this caused further pain and trauma to these people who had already suffered and continue to suffer so much. This is another failure of safeguarding, in which the needs of victims must be prioritised.

In addition to this, it is our understanding that another failure of safeguarding occurred while you were Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, in which a retired priest who was a convicted sex offender, continued to minister while the complainant was barred from the cathedral.

These failures of safeguarding would be sufficient for ANY ordained person to be suspended and investigated. If they were proved to be true, we would expect the person to be immediately removed from their post. If the person had safeguarding responsibilities in that post, those must of course be transferred to someone else with immediate effect.

In the absence of any authority with the power to suspend you, we can only urge you to submit yourself to the equivalent. That is, remove yourself from duties with immediate effect, undergo an investigation, and act on the outcome. With immediate effect, somebody else must also take over your responsibility for safeguarding within the whole Church of England.

Or alternatively, you should resign.

The Church of England is, quite rightly, being judged by the world because of this case. It is horrific that such abuse could ever have been committed by a church officer. It is horrific that it was not reported to the police by other church officers who knew about it more than 40 years ago. And it is unconscionable that the most senior cleric in the church today, with official responsibility for safeguarding, knew about the abuse over ten years ago and failed to report it then.

You are now, personally, bringing the Church of England into utter disrepute. You can no longer continue to represent the Church in the public sphere or the political sphere. Your words can no longer be trusted and your moral standpoint is hollow.

A year ago, we both indicated (when asked by you in a meeting with a number of others) that we thought you should resign because of your failure of leadership with respect to the Prayers of Love and Faith. Your recent public acknowledgment that you no longer believe the Church’s teaching on sex and marriage makes that failure all the more serious. We still think that this issue alone is sufficient to require your resignation. But we wish to be clear that, no matter what your views or ours happen to be on sex and marriage, the safeguarding issues listed above are more than serious enough to call for your resignation on that matter alone.

Resignation of this post is, we acknowledge, a hard thing to do, but to resign now may be your greatest act of service to Christ and his church.

Rev Dr Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society

Dr Ros Clarke, Associate Director of Church Society.

– Source.

More calls for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign — but this time for another reason

From BBC News:

“A Church of England bishop has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign, calling his position ‘untenable’ after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church.

Mr Welby is facing mounting pressure to resign after it emerged last week that he did not follow up rigorously enough on reports of John Smyth QC’s ‘abhorrent’ abuse of more than 100 boys and young men. …”

– Bishop calls on Welby to resign over Church abuse scandal – BBC News.

And Anglican Mainstream has links to a growing number of related articles.

Duties of Church Membership (i) — Church Society podcast

“In 1954, the Church Assembly (the forerunner to General Synod) asked the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to write this short guide to the duties of church membership.

It is a simple list which could be given to every person in church, indicating what is expected of them as disciples of Christ and members of the congregation. Presumably in 1954, there were already concerns that not everyone who attended church understood these. It is certainly the case today that newcomers to church have no idea about many of them.

In this week’s episode of the podcast, Tony Cannon and Steve Short discuss the first three items: discipleship and witness, prayer and Bible reading, asking what benefit they would bring to individuals and congregations if we were all more faithful in doing them. …”

– The latest Church Society podcast.

Holy Imposter Syndrome

“The term might not be familiar to you, but the concept behind it most likely is – imposter syndrome. It’s the feeling, often experienced in professional or academic contexts, that you can’t do what everyone believes you can and expects of you. You feel like an imposter. Any success you seem to have experienced up until this point was a fluke. You’re a fraud, and any moment now everyone is going to realize it. It’s only a matter of time. …”

– Sam Allberry helps put it all in perspective. At The Gospel Coalition.

Idolatry and the Church of England

“The Archbishop of Canterbury recently commented about his changing views, admitting that he no longer believes the doctrine of the Church of England on sexuality.…

These comments have rightly been met with a wide backlash from evangelicals in the Church of England. This is an Archbishop leading his people astray. This is an Archbishop saying ‘Enter through the wide gate to destruction’ (Matthew 7:13-14).

But the reality is that Justin Welby and the Bishops have been saying this for years. …

All false religions ultimately destroy us. We are promised salvation by the things in the world, but they will never satisfy, they will never deliver. They will never save.”

– Strong words from Benjamin John, writing at Christian Concern.

Image: Ben John speaking at the Church of England’s General Synod in February 2023.

Preaching Mentors 2025

From The Expository Preaching Trust:

“The Trust is delighted to offer mentors to encourage faithful and engaging expository preaching.

Mentoring can take place on a weekly or fortnightly basis and consists of the mentor listening to Sunday’s sermon and then meeting via Zoom to give feedback.

Feedback consists of highlighting the positives of the sermon and then mutual investigation of how the sermon might be improved. …”

– Very helpful and encouraging. See the details from David Cook here.

Eternity: The Power of a Word

“Arthur Malcolm Stace (1885-1967) was a returned Australian soldier who served in in World War I and later became known as ‘Mr Eternity’.

Stace grew up in an impoverished and broken family. His mother handed him over to foster care at the age of seven, and his sisters would end up working as prostitutes.

By the age of 14, Stace was an alcoholic. He would turn to booze to escape his pain and misery. However, all it did was increase the sorrow of his heart. …”

– In this brief sketch at AP, James Jeffery reminds us of the wonderful discovery made by Arthur Stace – and calls us all to live in the light of eternity.

Image: at left, Photo of Arthur Stace by Les Nixon. at right, The Eternity memorial at the waterfall in Sydney Arcade between Town Hall and St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

Looking for Remembrance Day resources?

Defence Anglicans has some resources – including audio files – you could use – for Remembrance Day, 11th November, or perhaps in church on Sunday.

At this link.

Image: Defence Anglicans.

How an Australian church is changing Christian songwriting

“Over the last few decades, church music has shifted. Congregations sing fewer hymns and more praise songs. We hear fewer organ chords and more guitar riffs. We read lyrics that are less theological and more generic.

The move toward quicker and more casual songwriting means new music hits our Spotify—and CCLI—lists more quickly. But it also means Christians are sometimes singing repetitive choruses, nonsensical lyrics, or wrong theology.

That matters, because we sing those songs so often that we memorize them. We hum them in the car. We play them while we’re making dinner. We lean on them when hard times hit.

About 10 years ago, a church in Australia noticed these problems. They tried a different songwriting process. It was slow and clunky and never should have worked—and yet it did.

Odds are, you’ve sung their good theology in your church, in your car, or in your kitchen.”

– At The Gospel Coalition’s Recorded podcast, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra introduces CityAlight to her audience.

See also the accompanying article.

Related:

CityAlight.

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