Based Church of Nigeria (Anglican) Severs Ties With Church of Wales After They Elect Lesbian Archbishop With Live-In Girlfriend
The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, has announced that it is officially severing all ties with the Church in Wales after the election of Rev. Cherry Vann as the new Archbishop.
Vann is the first woman to be elected as an Anglican archbishop in the United Kingdom and the first openly gay bishop serving as primate in the Anglican Communion. Notably, Vann is not ‘married’ to her lesbian girlfriend, Wendy Diamond, but has been living in a “same-sex civil partnership” for years.
The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Rev. Henry Ndukuba, described her appointment as an “abomination before God” and has placed the Church in Wales in a “state of impaired communion,” meaning all official fellowship, ministry partnership, and worship will cease between them. He said in a statement:
We do not recognize the so-called Archbishop of Wales and cannot share communion with a church that has departed from the teachings of the Bible.
The election of a practicing lesbian as an archbishop is not only a departure from the faith once delivered to the saints, but a defiance of God’s order.
…in line with our commitment to the authority of Scripture and the historic Christian faith, we declare a state of impaired communion with the Church in Wales…we stand firm in our call to uphold biblical faith, and we will not compromise with churches that embrace unbiblical innovations.”
Andrea Williams, the chief executive of Christian Concern, said: “Cherry Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship. This directly contradicts the Church’s historic and biblical doctrine that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage.
“As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines.
“That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.
“What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to believe? What does the Church in Wales actually stand for, if not the gospel handed down through the centuries?
“This appointment marks a tragic moment, evidence that the Church in Wales is in open rebellion against God’s Word. It is a clear sign of apostasy.
“No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of someone who so publicly rejects the clear teaching of Scripture.”
