Some Anglican conservatives say the appointment of an openly gay Archbishop of Wales will lead directly to people leaving the Church.
Most Rev Cherry Vann is in a same-sex relationship and is the first female to lead the Church in Wales.
Susie Leafe who is director of Anglican Futures which offers practical and pastoral support to conservative Christians, told Premier the appointment scuppers “any chance of the Anglican Communion coming back together".
She said: “Many have already left the church over the decisions that have already been made and I'm aware, on speaking to different people, that many more will do the same. These are the Biblically literate people, conscious about their discipleship, seriously minded about their faith, and they're considering their options.”
Leafe added that she wasn’t surprised by the appointment because of the direction the church was heading.
"if your belief is that the church is there to reflect culture, then, this is the obvious next step for the Church in Wales," she said. "But if one believes that God has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, that he has shown his people, who he loves very much, how best to live their lives, and has called people to lead the church whose lives fit with that way of life set out in the scriptures, then this is to go against everything that the church has believed for 2000 years and everything that the wide global majority would understand the scriptures to say.”
In an interview with Premier, Archbishop Vann said she had known all her life that she was gay, and that God had never told her loving her partner was wrong. She said the Bible is open to interpretation and that there is "not one view on this matter, even amongst theologians and Christians".
Susie Leafe disagrees. “There is a tiny minority of the church that would have that interpretation," she said. "But the Church in Wales has been going down this route for a very long time. It's been struggling for years with a litany of financial, sexual, safeguarding, moral scandals. I have no doubt that Cherry Vann is a good manager, but I don't believe that she is someone who fits the categories of church leadership that are set out in the scriptures, and the majority of the world's Anglicans would agree.
“Our leaders should be those who are following very closely God's word and who are repentant about their sin and not celebrating it.”
The Church of Pakistan has become the latest part of the Anglican Communion to criticise the appointment. In a letter to the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, nine senior clergy, including Most Rev Dr Azad Marshall, Moderator/President Bishop of the Church of Pakistan, described it as a "dangerous drift into moral decay... we pray that the Church of Wales might turn again to the truth and authority of God’s Word, to walk no longer according to the patterns of the world".
The Church in Wales has said it won’t respond to criticism of Archbishop Vann's sexuality.