Anglicans in Africa revolting against Sarah as the Archbishop of Canterbury

Sarah Mullally
(Photo from Official Anglican Church tweet)

A reader sent me a link to the following:

Weeks after the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally as the leader of the Anglican Communion, conservative Anglican prelates in Africa have rejected the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and have proclaimed their own network of conservative churches the official voice of Anglicanism.

“The majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy. Therefore, her appointment will make it impossible for the archbishop of Canterbury to serve as a focus of unity within the Communion,” said the prelates’ statement, released shortly after Mullally’s appointment Oct. 3.

The statement asserted that the members of the network, known as GAFCON, were “not leaving the Anglican Communion because we are the communion.”

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, the chairman of GAFCON’s Primates Council, said in the statement that the new arrangement would restore the original structure of the communion as a fellowship of autonomous provinces “bound together by the formularies of reformation,” referring to the founding documents of the Church of England in the 16th century as it broke with Catholicism.

The new communion will be proclaimed and celebrated at the G26 Bishops’ conference in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 3-6, Mbanda told RNS in an Oct. 17 interview on WhatsApp. “The final ties with Canterbury are now severed. GAFCON is the Global Anglican Communion.” …

The GAFCON statement urges all provinces to change their laws to “remove any reference to being in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England,” and not to “participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury,” or the Anglican Consultative Council, a coordinating body. It proposes that a new chairman of the communion, to be elected by a new Council of Primates, would replace the archbishop of Canterbury as the “first among equals” of the world’s Anglican bishops.

The churches of Rwanda, Nigeria and Uganda and all members of both GAFCON and the Anglican Communion have not participated in worldwide meetings since 2016, and some churches, Mbanda noted, already have no formal recognition of Canterbury.

“It may be a process for some, while others have already done it or never had it. Take for example, Nigeria has done it. The Anglican Church of America, Brazil and Rwanda had no reference to it,” said the archbishop.

GAFCON — the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans — was formed in 2008 as the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, largely in response to the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire and the recognition of same-sex unions in some churches. The ordination of women has also been an issue for some GAFCON leaders.

Besides the 12 GAFCON-aligned provinces in the Anglican Communion, several other GAFCON members, including the Anglican Church of North America, have been created since the network was created in 2008. 10/20/25 https://ministrywatch.com/rejecting-canterbury-decision-conservative-bishops-claim-lead-of-anglican-communion/

Sadly, the fact is that the leadership of the Anglican Church of England does NOT believe in the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation of sola Scriptura.

Consider further that the Church of England officially uses and endorses the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible.

So does does that translation allow women to be able to preach sermons in church services or lead the church?

No. The Apostle Paul wrote:

11 Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. 12 I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. (1 Timothy 2:11-12, NSRV)

The early Christian church did not have women preaching in services. The Apostle Paul also wrote:

34 women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35, NSRV)

So, no women are not supposed to be teachers in church services.

What about being bishops?

No, that is not authorized by scripture. The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. 2 Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once {the actual Greek literally says “a husband/man of one wife”}, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money.

4 He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way—5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. …

11 Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. (1 Timothy 3:1-7, 11)

We see that bishops are supposed to be MEN who had one WIFE and the term “he” is related to the bishop. Notice, also, after that the Apostle Paul mentions women. Women were NOT to be bishops.

Related to that, the Apostle Paul also wrote:

5 I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: 6 someone who is blameless, married only once {the actual Greek literally says “a husband/man of one wife”}, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious.

7 For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; 8 but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled.

9 He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. (Titus 1:5-9, NSRV)

Again, this is in reference to a MAN, hence the repeated pronoun “he.”

Sarah Mullally also has promoted an LGBT+ month, so consider the following:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. …

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools; …

26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. …

32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. (Romans 1:18, 22, 26-27, 32, NRSV)

Endorsement of LGBT+ promoting events should never be done by those who claim to believe the Bible.

Furthermore, although the NRSV glosses over it, verse 32 is actually even tougher as the NKJV states:

32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)

No Christian, no real Christian leader, should endorse LGBT+ events, as even approval of such is clearly condemned in the Bible.

Now, where are churches supposed to get doctrines from?

The Bible.

Even the New Revised Standard Version teaches:

16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NSRV)

The Church of England has clearly, once again, refused to base its teachings on the word of God.

Of course, it is not just the Church of England that has these types of problems.

I have noticed that more and more Protestants seem to be having females preach. To me, at least, that seemed to be a gateway for various Protestant groups to have LGBTQ preachers. Disregarding scriptures on one matter often seems to lead to disregarding them for other matters. As far as Protestantism goes, it really does not believe Martin Luther’s sola Scriptura rallying cry–but, neither did Martin Luther (for documented details, see the free online book: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism).

If people like Sarah Mullally believed even her church’s accepted translation of the Bible, she would never have become a Bishop, nor accepted the role of being the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Apostle Paul also wrote:

2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; (2 Timothy 4:32, NRVS)

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; (2 Timothy 4:2, KJV)

So-called Archbishop Sarah Mullally DOES NOT DO THAT!

Yet, ALL who claim Christianity, should believe and live by every word of God. As Jesus said:

4 … One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4, NRSV)

Since we in the Continuing Church of God strive to do so, we do not believe that women are to preach nor do we condone abortion, or sexual immorality.

Now, as far as ordinations go, scripture allows that woman can become deaconesses–so in our church we have some of those. Furthermore, for the work of the CCOG, some women edit, manage websites, manage Facebook pages, do translations, maintain our online radio presence, and host even groups where we have no males. They also sing, provide music, help put together items related to the Study the Bible Course, and do some writing. For more on roles for Christian women, check out the article: Women and the New Testament Church.

There are many roles for women, but being a preacher or bishop is not among them. They are biblically reserved for men.

All who claim to be Christian need to believe and obey the word of God.

Related to Sarah Mullally, we have the following related video:

14:51

Sarah Mullally Archbishop?

The Church of England, the Anglican Church, has announced a new Archbishop of Canterbury. And that Archbishop is Sarah Mullally. Is this appointment endorsed by the God of the Bible? How can you tell? Is there any difference between the required qualifications of an endorsement from God Almighty and leaders in the world, like Keir Starmer and King Charles III? Would the actions and beliefs of Ms. Mullally point to biblical Christianity or not? Are Ms. Mullally’s beliefs consistent with the revealed commands of the Most High God of the Bible? Do they even agree with the New Revised Standard Version, which is the Bible that the Church of England uses? What does it say about women, bishops, and preaching? What about the apparel of the Church of England and its American branch, the Episcopalians? Could their clothing actually point to the god of their faith? And what about the title “Right Reverend,” is that appropriate for a Christian leader? The answers to these questions are found in the pages of your Bible. Watch this video as Dr. Thiel uses the Bible to quote the verses that answer these tough questions. The answers may surprise you. In fact, the answers may surprise many of the Protestant faith. Nevertheless, they are the answers that God has written for our admonition.