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Rector’s Reflections
Friday 13th June 2025
Why is it taking so long to appoint the Archbishop of Canterbury?
So far, we have considered two possible answers to this question. The first is to look at how appointments are usually made in the Church of England. As a general rule, the Church of England takes a slow, safety-first approach to making appointments. This seems to be an eminently sensible approach, although it is not without its critics. Some might ask whether there is any evidence that a laborious appointment process actually increases the likelihood of making a good appointment, either in general or in the context of Church life. It used to be the case that the Church took the view that a minimal approach to good process was usually sufficient, and this served the Church very well for centuries. Yes, occasionally bad mistakes were made – but no system, even the most elaborate, is perfect. Even the current system in the Church of England, with all its apparent transparency and thoroughness, does not prevent bad appointments. All it means is that the nakedness of patronage or power politics is covered over with a diaphanous cloak of procedural decency.
We have also seen that there is another reason why it is taking so long to appoint a new Archbishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury is expected to act as a figurehead and spokesperson not only for the Church of England, but also for the worldwide Anglican Communion. But both the Church of England and at least some of the constituent churches belonging to the Anglican Communion are facing a significant crisis of identity. What does it mean to be Anglican? Where are we going, as individual churches and as a worldwide Communion? And behind these specific questions, there is a much bigger question faced by all the Churches, regardless of their denomination and history: what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ in our world today? How are Christians being called to live out their discipleship? Given all these questions and a sense of unease and perhaps fear for the future, how can we expect any one person to act as a figurehead or leader for the Anglican Communion? Who would feel called to exercise such a role? And who would wish to have the role? Whatever you say or do, you will certainly be criticised and probably misunderstood. Furthermore, your power to bring about any meaningful change will in practice be quite limited. Given all these considerations, who in their right mind would be Archbishop of Canterbury?
This thought leads onto the third answer to the why it is taking so long to appoint an Archbishop. The Church of England still – at least officially- believes that God calls men and women to particular roles and offices in the Church, and it is the Church’s role to discern the man or woman who is being called to the role in question. So the person who will be prepared to serve as the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be the person who God calls to this role. But there is more to it than this. The person in question must be open to recognising the call, and be willing to say yes. God’s call by itself is insufficient. It has to be met by a human being prepared to say “yes” to God. It is often hard to say “yes” to God, especially when God is calling us to a task which is difficult, perhaps impossible. Are we prepared to put our future into God’s hands? Are we prepared to offer God everything – our career, our reputation, our family life – without any certainty as to what is going to happen next?
So the Church has to wait until the man or woman God whom is calling to be the next Archbishop recognises God’s call to this role, and is prepared to say “yes”. It may be that this has already happened, or it may be something which is yet to happen. Perhaps even now, there is a man or woman who is wrestling with their sense of call to this role, and is hesitant to say “yes” to God, knowing that humanly speaking the role is impossible. Perhaps someone has already said “no” to God, and God is thinking about what He’s going to do next.
In any event, we can trust that, in due course, we will have a new Archbishop of Canterbury and that our new Archbishop will be a source of blessing not just for Anglicans, but for non-Anglicans as well. Fortunately, God is in charge of the process, and an appointment will be made- and we know that it will be a good appointment. Let us trust God and wait.