Anglican leader does not have to be ‘white guy from England’, says Justin Welby

Archbishop of Canterbury says he would welcome ‘serious changes’ to church communion ‘that is 90% global south’

Justin Welby said he would not ‘not ‘hold on to the position of being leader of the Anglican communion’. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

The leader of the global Anglican church should not always be a “white guy from England”, the archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Justin Welby’s comment came amid divisions over sexuality between conservative churches in sub-Saharan Africa and more liberal churches in the developed world.

Speaking at a conference on religion and the media, Welby said the structure of the Anglican communion, which claims 85 million members worldwide, needed reform “so it’s no longer invariably run by a white guy from England in a communion that is 90% global south”.

Since the Church of England’s governing body voted earlier this year in favour of allowing clergy to bless same-sex marriages, Anglican churches in some developing countries, including South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have said they no longer recognise Welby as the head of the global church.

Last week, Welby released a statement criticising the Anglican church in Uganda for its vociferous support for the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ law. It was a “fundamental departure from our commitment to uphold the freedom and dignity of all people”, he said.

Welby told the conference on Monday: “Within the life of the church … we have to listen to one another and not, as a political party might do, impose one group’s views on people who entirely disagree.”

He said he would welcome “serious changes” in the structure of the global church and not “hold on to the position of being leader of the Anglican communion”.

Welby also said he regarded the decline in attendance at C of E services in his 10 years as archbishop as a personal failure. “Even if I were not responsible for [it], I am certainly accountable for [it]. So that, personally, I count as failure,” he said.

“I am not sure I know what else could have been done. Because in the end … the future of the church and its survival or otherwise does not depend on archbishops; it depends on God and the providence of God. And over the last 2,000 years we’ve been in infinitely worse places than this.”

C of E attendance fell by almost a quarter between 2019 and 2022, partly because of the Covid pandemic but also a continuation of declining numbers over several decades.

Asked about the possibility of the C of E losing its privileged status as the established church of the country, Welby said disestablishment was a “question for parliament”.

He added: “We could argue about whether [it’s] a good thing or a bad thing and there are various views within the C of E. I’m not going to say what I think.

“What I do know is God is bigger than that. It’s not going to make any difference to the future of the church whether it’s established or disestablished. It’s in the hands of God.”