The baton is handed on

The 106^th Archbishop of Canterbury is to be the Right Reverend Sarah Mullally, the current Bishop of London, a post she has held since 2017. She will officially become the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England in January.

She will be the first woman to hold the post of the most senior bishop in the Church of England.

The first woman was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1987, priest in 1994 and the first bishop in 2015. Bishop Mullally was one of the first women to be ordained bishop, as Bishop of Crediton (in the Diocese of Exeter), in 2015. Before ordination she had been a nurse and was the Chief Nursing Officer for England and Wales.

This appointment is good news.

Why? For a number of reasons, some to do with Bishop Mullally’s personal gifts and strengths and some to do with what it says about the Church of England at this time.

The Archbishop elect has shown herself to be a more than capable bishop. She is evidently a person of deep and strong Christian faith. It is what drives her and she is an able communicator. She is pastoral. The London diocese can be a difficult diocese to minister to – it is large and very diverse, socially, theologically and liturgically. She has been a calm leader bringing people together and encouraging unity between and within churches and communities. She does not obviously represent any of the factions within the Church of England, neither evangelical nor Anglo-Catholic, not slavishly conservative nor liberal. She takes the middle ground (a particularly Anglican position). But she is not without strong convictions – she has led the Church’s response to the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Lords and argues cogently and passionately against its implementation, opinions formed in her nursing career and as a Christian.

She will bring these gifts, and no doubt much more besides, to her ministry as Archbishop. And they are gifts that the Church of England will need as it grapples with deep divisions over its response to the proposals around the issue of the marriage of same sex couples; as it continues its reviews and shows a real commitment to doing safeguarding well and supporting the victims of abuse appropriately; as it challenges the far right’s abuse of Christian symbols and faith; as it continues to fully integrate women into its ordained ministry, and more besides. But, above all, perhaps, she will need to inspire the whole Church to the confidence in the gospel required for real growth.

What does this appointment say about the Church of England? There is no doubt that the appointment of Bishop Mullally is a huge vote of confidence in the ministry of women in the Church. From the ordination of the first woman as deacon to the appointment of the first woman as leader of the Church of England only forty years have elapsed. Although, women’s ministry is still opposed by some that ministry is now widely accepted and valued.

I was ordained into a Church which had no ordained women in its ministry, and God willing, I shall live to see Sarah Mullally enthroned as the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury, a successor to 105 men who form a line back to St Augustine of Canterbury in 597.

The role she will take on is a challenging one and if she is to rise to that challenge she will need to be the woman of prayer and faith she has shown herself to be. But she will also need the support of the whole Church – and many outside it – and not just support and good wishes but our prayers.