Bishop Sarah Mallally has delivered her first address after being named the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a wide-ranging speech, Bishop Sarah urged healing of divisions in the church and society, greater care for the sick and vulnerable, and further improvements to safeguarding in the Church of England.
Read Bishop Sarah's address in full:
Thank you, Alanis. Shall we pray.
God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith, active in service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
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Today, as I respond to the Call of Christ in this new ministry, I remain rooted in my first calling: to follow Christ, to know him – and to make him known to the world.
Reflecting on the experiences which have prepared me for this role, I am deeply thankful to the people, the churches and communities of the Diocese of London. It is my deep privilege to have shared ministry with you for almost eight years. In discerning this step, it has not been easy to accept that I will be leaving you.
Washing feet has shaped my Christian vocation as a nurse, then a priest, then a bishop. In the apparent chaos which surrounds us, in the midst of such profound global uncertainty, the possibility of healing lies in acts of kindness and love.
With humility and grace, we uphold and support those in need of our help. We do this to the best of our ability, in small ways and big, according to our own very particular gifts. That too is the service which I offer to the Church today.
Given the many struggles of our Church and of societies here and around the world, I am often asked where I see hope. I have the privilege to see hope in communities, chaplaincies and churches in the Church of England and across the wider Anglican Communion.
In parishes across this nation, I see faithful clergy and congregations worshipping God and loving their neighbours. I see thousands of churches running food banks and homeless shelters. I see hospitals and prison chaplains caring for people and families in times of desperation. I see Church of England schools educating a million children across this country.
I hear parishioners ringing bells and inviting people to pray. I hear the quiet hum of faith in every community, the gentle invitation to come and be with others, and the welcome extended to every person. In all of this, I see hope – because I see the person of Jesus Christ, reaching out to us all.
Last summer, I found myself in three Anglican churches—in three different countries—in rapid succession. In Brazil, Canada and Barbados.
In each one I was able to follow the liturgy without hesitation: Morning Prayer, the Eucharist, collective prayers for the people; the rhythms of Anglican worship echoed with familiar grace. I saw something deeply distinctive, coupled with mutual understanding: a shared inheritance of history, of family of worship, Sacrament and Word—made real in global diversity. Anglican Churches and networks around the world working together in mission, joining their voices in advocacy for those in need.
In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger: shared history, held in tension, shaped by prayer, and lit from within by the glory of Christ. That is what gives me hope. In our fractured and hurting world, that partnership in the Gospel could not be more vital.
Hope is made of the infinite love of God, who breathed life into creation and said it was good. Hope shimmered in the courage of Abraham and Sarah and the challenging call of the prophets. Hope resounded through Mary’s ‘yes’ to God’s call to bear His Son. Hope is found in Christ’s triumph over sin and death.
Hope doesn’t skip over grief, pain and messiness of life but enters into it, and tenderly tells us that God is with us.
Across our nation today, we are wrestling with complex moral and political questions. The legal right of terminally ill people to end their own lives. Our response to people fleeing war and persecution to seek safety and refuge. The pressures on communities who have been overlooked and undervalued. The deep-rooted question of who we are as a nation, in a world that is so often on the brink.
Mindful of the horrific violence of yesterday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester, we are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities. I know that the God who is with us draws near to those who suffer. We then, as a Church, have a responsibility to be a people who stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism in all its forms. Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart.
In every church you will encounter Jesus Christ, and his teaching to love one another: our source and our standard. This is both gift and responsibility. Jesus Christ is the life-changing hope that brings us together as church, even in our own brokenness and messiness – and sends us out into the world to witness to that Love.
I long for that same hope for all those around the world caught up in war. For those living in extreme poverty. For those on the front lines of the ever-worsening climate crisis. For our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters, and all the peoples of the Middle East. For the people of Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Myanmar and the DRC. May God end the horrors of war, comfort those who mourn, and bring hope to those living in despair. And I pray especially for Anglicans in those places, as they suffer alongside the people they seek to love and care for.
The Christian faith is unwavering in its teaching that we are all made in the image of God. Each one of us deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion and respect. Christ commands us to love God, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
