Nigerian Anglicans reject new female Archbishop of Canterbury

The Church of Nigeria, an Anglican denomination, on Monday said it rejected the leadership of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally. The archbishop typically leads the global Anglican Communion’s administrative groups and serves as its spiritual head. However, the Church of Nigeria said the majority of Anglicans do not accept female leadership of bishops and don’t agree with Mullally’s support for same-sex marriage. Her election further confirmed that global Anglicans can not let the Church of England guide the Anglican Communion, wrote Nigerian Archbishop Henry Ndukuba.

What is the Anglican Communion? The coalition in 165 countries includes the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the Church of Nigeria, among other regional denominations.

Is the Church of Nigeria leaving the Anglican Communion? No, and it doesn’t have the authority to remove the Church of England from the group, either. But Ndukuba wrote that the Church of Nigeria would follow the lead of the Global Anglican Future Conference, or GAFCON, a group working to reform the Anglican Communion in line with Biblical orthodoxy.

GAFCON said Friday it would attempt to take over leadership of the Anglican Communion. It called on Mullally to repent and work with the group to institute reforms. GAFCON planned to hold an assembly of orthodox bishops in Abuja, Nigeria, in May 2026 to discuss future plans, according to a written statement.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on what Mullally said about her election as archbishop.