Hannah Stephenson-Kelly, a female ordinand in the Church of England, shares her reflections on the historic appointment of Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. Writing from a place of faith and personal experience, she considers both the challenges of leadership and the call to remain rooted in Christ.
When St Augustine arrived on the shores of Kent in 597 AD, one suspects that he could not have imagined the chain of events that were to be set in motion. As the ripple effect has reached through history, we find ourselves in the year 2025 with the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. Now, when St Augustine arrived on our shores, he did so under very different circumstances. The role was almost entirely missional and came without a palace, a throne or grand set of robes. He certainly didn’t have to contend with a vast and diverse set of clergy and laity within a century’s old institution. The job ahead is an unenviable one. How to serve Christ faithfully in a role that pulls in so many directions?
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I write as a female ordinand in the Church of England and in truth I am hesitant to comment on the aspect of gender in this appointment.
I write as a female ordinand in the Church of England and in truth I am hesitant to comment on the aspect of gender in this appointment. Sarah is clearly a person of enormous intelligence, competence and compassion. I fear that as a woman she will be judged twice - not just in her decisions, but also in how she makes them as a woman. It is a weighty thing to walk where none have gone before and I admire her courage in stepping into it. Regardless of gender, the thing that matters most is her own metric of success: ‘To remain rooted in my first calling to follow Christ, to know him and to make him known in the world.’
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As she steps into the role the church in the UK finds itself in exciting times.
As she steps into the role the church in the UK finds itself in exciting times. Young people are coming to faith in unprecedented numbers. In my own church we are hearing countless stories of those who have met Jesus in dreams, through Bibles falling spontaneously open and other wild and wonderful miraculous encounters. We are seeing whole families baptised, healings becoming normal and a renewed excitement that the gospel is in fact good news!
Yet the backdrop of this ‘quiet revival’ is a world increasingly divided, wars that fill the headlines and the shaking of a world order we previously thought to be secure. Into this I feel strongly that the answers are to be found in beholding Christ and receiving his word as the source of truth and the fullness of wisdom. We are called to build the Kingdom of God and the Archbishop is called to this much the same as any other.
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In truth, in my own lived experience, the Archbishop of Canterbury does not make an enormous difference in my day-to-day ministry. Though the Kingdom of God and the Church of England have lots of cross over, they are not necessarily one and the same. The work of building the former can be done within and without its structures. Therefore, my prayer for Sarah is much the same as for anyone who courageously steps into leadership. I pray that she will grow in love of God and his people. That amidst the pressures of the role she will find spaces where she can rest and receive the Father’s love for her. That she will depend on the Lord for everything and that she will not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of her mind. That she will run the race with her eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. Ultimately, unless the Lord builds the house the builders labour in vain.
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