
News Link • Religion: Believers
Church of England Splits, Losing 40 Million Members as Conservative Majority Drives Major Division
• by Margaret FlavinGafcon announced it has severed ties with progressive factions, accusing them of abandoning biblical authority and pursuing a "revisionist agenda."
The group stated, "We cannot remain in communion with those who forsake the inerrant word of God."
Over the past two decades, the denomination has continued a leftward drift.
In early October 2025, The Gateway Pundit reported that far-left Sarah Mullally was announced as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, marking the first time a woman has been chosen for the position.
Her election by the College of Canons was formally confirmed by King Charles III, and Mullally will be officially installed at Canterbury Cathedral in March 2026. Her appointment may have served as a tipping point for the conservative majority.
A self-described feminist, she is also an open advocate of abortion and has supported initiatives such as LGBT+ History Month.
The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon), which represents the conservative branch of the denomination, mainly in the developing world and Africa, has seen the writing on the wall and has been pushing back against the denomination, routinely castigating them for their abandonment of the scriptures and historic Anglican teaching.
Anglicans have four Instruments of Communion: the Archbishop of Canterbury, (someone first among equals) the Lambeth Conference (a meeting of bishops around the world that gathers once a decade), the Primates' Meeting (a meeting of the bishops and archbishops of each of the church's 41 provinces, with the last one held in 2020), and the Anglican Consultative Council, which includes everyone from bishops to deacons to laity and meets every three years.