The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, has expressed deep concern over the appointment of Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullaly, the Bishop of London, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a statement issued to Christians of the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Kaziimba said the appointment marks a further departure from historic Anglican teaching on Scripture and sexuality, noting Bishop Mullaly’s support for same-sex marriage and other positions the Church of Uganda deems “unbiblical.”
“This decision has torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion to the highest level,” Archbishop Kaziimba stated, recalling the division that began in 2003 with the consecration of a bishop in the United States who was in a same-sex relationship. “There appears to be no repentance. Make no mistake, this is a grievous decision at the highest levels of the Church of England to separate itself from the vast majority of the global Anglican Communion.”
The Church of Uganda, a founding member of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), reaffirmed that it no longer recognizes the Archbishop of Canterbury as having global authority. Archbishop Kaziimba stressed that the office is now “simply the Primate of All England” and no longer an “Instrument of Communion.”
He extended prayers to members of the Church of England who may be disillusioned by the appointment and invited them into fellowship through Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans.
Despite the divisions, Archbishop Kaziimba reassured Ugandan Christians that the future of Gospel-centred mission remains strong within the global Anglican movement. “We are part of a worldwide communion of Anglicans who continue to proclaim the historic and Biblical faith of Anglicanism – faithfulness to Christ and submission to the authority of Scripture,” he said.
Quoting Scripture, he concluded with a message of hope: “The fields are ripe for harvest; we pray for laborers to go into the harvest. We will proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations.”
