Nigeria’s Anglican Church Cut Ties With Canterbury Over New Pro-gay Female Archbishop

THE Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), on Monday, October 6, declared spiritual independence from the Church of England by rejecting the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a statement signed by its Primate, the Most Rev’d Henry C. Ndukuba, the Church of Nigeria said Mullally’s support for same-sex marriage and her elevation as the first female to hold the position signified a troubling moral decline within the leadership of the Anglican Communion.
While describing Mullally’s elevation on Friday, October 3, as “devastating and ‘insensitive,” it accused the Church of England of ignoring the deep divisions already facing the global Anglican community, even as it urged conservative Anglicans in England and elsewhere to remain steadfast in defending biblical truth and resisting “ungodly” teachings that compromise the Christian faith.
According to the statement: “This election is a double jeopardy. First, it disregards the conviction of the majority of Anglicans who cannot accept female headship in the episcopate.
“Second, it is more disturbing that Bishop Sarah Mullally is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage.”
The Church of Nigeria recalled Mullally’s description of the 2023 Church of England approval of blessings for same-sex couples as “a moment of hope,” cautioning that her stance further deepens the divisions across the global Anglican family.
It stressed: “It remains to be seen how the same person hopes to mend the already torn fabric of the Anglican Communion by the contentious same-sex marriage, which has caused enormous crisis across the Communion for over two decades.”
The Church of Nigeria said the global Anglican community could no longer look to Canterbury for leadership, even as it reaffirmed allegiance to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), adding: “On our part, as a member of the GAFCON family, the Church of Nigeria affirms the GAFCON position unreservedly and reaffirms our earlier stance to uphold the authority of the Scriptures, our historic creeds, evangelism and holy Christian living, irrespective of the ongoing revisionist agenda.
“We encourage all faithful brothers and sisters in the Church of England, who have consistently rejected the aberration called same-sex marriage, and other ungodly teachings by contending for the faith that was once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).”