Is There A Prophet With Courage For The ‘Poisoned Chalice’ of Canterbury?

When my friend Chad Gandiya was consecrated as Anglican Bishop of Harare, Zimbabwe, several years back, it was reported at the time that this was “the least enviable episcopacy in Christendom”. The forthcoming vacancy at Canterbury cannot be far behind. Amidst all the frenzied speculation by pollsters, betting agencies and the media as to who are the front-runners to replace Rowan Williams, there is, as yet, little indication of whether any of the odds-on favourites actually want the job!

For a start, it seems that whoever becomes Archbishop of Canterbury will struggle to be his own man (or, from about 2015, potentially her own woman!). George Carey was certainly a more ardent evangelical before he became Archbishop, and has been a lot more forthright and outspoken since he stepped down than he ever was in office. Likewise Rowan Williams’ well-publicised liberal views seem to have been somewhat subjugated during his time at Lambeth in the interests of ‘maintaining unity’. The task of holding together spiritually and doctrinally irreconcilable factions within the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion is surely an impossible task.

Indeed, one might well question whether it should be the primary task of the Archbishop who, it seems, is under constant lobbying to accommodate the wishes of the liberals, the conservatives, the Anglo-Catholics, the evangelicals, the ecumenists, the politicians and the media. There must surely be intolerable pressure to please people ahead of pleasing God.

In the wake of the announcement, my eye caught a comment written by Stephen Bates of The Guardian who, in weighing the chances of the various contenders to succeed Rowan Williams, stated that John Sentamu’s stance against gay marriage was “bad timing if he wants to endear himself to ministers”. Whilst I don’t know Archbishop Sentamu personally, I would be hugely surprised, given his courageous identification with issues of biblical truth and justice and righteousness, if he cared a brass button about endearing himself to ministers. And I hope that would be the case for any Episcopal contender for Canterbury. Pleasing people and factions – whether inside the Church itself, or in the world more generally – is generally a recipe for not pleasing God.

As for the task of preventing the disintegration of the Anglican Communion, I am really not sure that God considers that to be a matter of any great importance. In the Bible, Jesus was clearly far more concerned with the growth of the Kingdom of God than with the establishment and maintenance of ecclesiastical systems. Yes, unity is something that Jesus prayed for, but it wasn’t a unity that reduces biblical truth to the lowest common denominator, or which accommodates the post-modern dogma that “whatever you believe truth to mean is just as valid as what I believe it to mean”.

So my prayer is that the next Archbishop of Canterbury will have the Number One priority on his agenda to “seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33), irrespective of the political and ecclesiastical pressures that he will face. That will take extraordinary courage. One who took that course before was put on a cross and crucified at the behest of the religious and political shareholders of the day.

Discussions will no doubt be taking place as to whether the Church should appoint an academic, a diplomat, a populist, or an innovator. My conviction is that God is looking for a prophet to the nation. Britain has long been singularly short of prophetic figures who can act as his mouthpiece to a nation that has gone seriously astray. Being a prophet is always an unpopular role because prophets challenge the status quo. In churches up and down this land we can hear all about God, without hearing FROM God. Would that the next Archbishop of Canterbury be someone who will not only seek first the Kingdom of God, but who will also bring a clear message from God to his wayward Church and to a lost nation.


Tony Ward is a Bible teacher and evangelist who was ordained in Zimbabwe. He currently lives and ministers in Bristol