The Most Revd Cherry Vann, Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth, gave her first public address as Primate of Wales in Newport on September 18th to the members of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. In her address, Archbishop Vann highlighted the importance of transforming the Church of Wales into a thriving institution, capable of demonstrating through action and attitude the incomprehensible love of God to the world.

She shared that she intends to ‘dedicate the next three years to transforming the culture of the church in Wales. This, I believe, is the most important thing we have to do together… we will never flourish as an institution and we will never have the credibility to speak into the public square about God’s love or God’s creation unless we develop a culture, a way of behaving and being that reflects the nature of God as we see it in Jesus Christ.’

Archbishop Vann spoke about three specific avenues that she feels will support the overarching goal of transformation: ‘the three areas that I want to talk about today are tending to our core purpose as God’s church, tending to our relationships with one another and tending to ourselves and our own individual relationships with God.’

Speaking about how the body of Christ is called to work dynamically but also in unity for one purpose, Bishop Vann reflected on the words of Saint Paul, ‘the image that encapsulates this…is the body of Christ. He talks about a body with many parts, each part having its own unique job to do, and each needing the others in order for the body to be whole. In order for the body to work well and at its best, the parts need to work in harmony with each other.’

She spoke about her experience as a chaplain to a deaf community and outlined how the experience taught her what it felt like ‘not to fit in’ and to be part of a ‘minority’.

Archbishop Vann called for proactive challenging of assumptions of minority groups, saying, ‘We must tend to our own biases…which so often get in the way of God’s love being shared.’
‘In a world where people, communities and nations are becoming more divided and polarised, we are to seek and to speak out for peace, reconciliation, community cohesion, recognising that all human beings are of equal worth and each deserve respect and dignity.'

Access Archbishop Vann’s full statement here.

Watch the recording of the presidential address here.