The Church of England is the established Christian church in England. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. Its adherents are called Anglicans.
The Church of Ireland is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second-largest Christian church on the island after the Roman Catholic Church. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its episcopal polity, while rejecting the primacy of the pope.
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." "Church of England clergy have appeared to signal support for gay marriage after they rejected a bishops' report which said that only a man and woman could marry in church." At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the 'First Fleet' in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
John Lawrence Pritchard is a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 2007 to 2014. He is in the Open Evangelical tradition.
Donald Spargo Allister is a retired Church of England bishop. He was the Archdeacon of Chester from 2002 to 2010 and on 5 November 2009 was nominated as the next Bishop of Peterborough. He was installed on 17 April 2010 and retired in January 2023.
The Archdeacon of Blackburn is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Blackburn. Originally created on 17 August 1877 within the Diocese of Manchester, the office became a part of the new Diocese of Blackburn upon its creation on 12 November 1926.
Philip John North is a bishop in the Church of England. Since April 2023, he has served as Bishop of Blackburn, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Blackburn. He was previously Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the same diocese, since 2015; and team rector of the parish of Old St Pancras.
Cherry Elizabeth Vann is a British Anglican bishop serving as Bishop of Monmouth in the Church in Wales. She previously served as Archdeacon of Rochdale from 2008 to 2020, having served all of her ordained ministry with the Church of England in the Diocese of Manchester.
John Perumbalath is a bishop in the Church of England who has served as Bishop of Liverpool since 2023. He had previously served as area Bishop of Bradwell (2018–2023) and Archdeacon of Barking (2013–2018), both in the Diocese of Chelmsford. Perumbalath comes from the ancient Christian community in Kerala, South India. He moved to north India for higher studies and then teaching. He was ordained in the Church of North India in 1994. As Bishop of Bradwell he had oversight of 182 churches in an area covering mid and south Essex consisting of six boroughs/District Councils and two unitary authorities. In October 2022, it was announced that Elizabeth II had, before her death, approved his appointment as Bishop of Liverpool. with the oversight of churches in Merseyside and West Lancashire. His Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, is the largest Cathedral in the UK.
Richard Charles "Ric" Thorpe is a British Church of England bishop and an expert in church planting. Since September 2015, he has been the Bishop of Islington, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London, and the "bishop for church plants". From 2005 to 2015, he led St Paul's Church, Shadwell, first as priest-in-charge and from 2010 as rector. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Bishop of London's Adviser for Church Planting. From 2015, he leads Centre for Church Multiplication.
Peter Andrew Eagles, is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2017, he has been the Bishop of Sodor and Man; he was consecrated a bishop in the Church of England in June 2017, and he was installed in September 2017. He is a former chaplain of the British Army, serving as Archdeacon for the Army (2011–2017) and the Deputy Chaplain-General of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department (2014–2017).
Peter Hendry Spiers is a British Anglican priest. Since 2015, he has been Archdeacon of Knowsley and Sefton in the Diocese of Liverpool.
Adrian Youings is a British Anglican priest who has been the Archdeacon of Bath in the Diocese of Bath and Wells since his collation on 5 November 2017.
Jillian Louise Calland Duff is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2018, she has been the Bishop of Lancaster, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. Previously, she had been Director of St Mellitus College, North West, an Anglican theological college, from 2013 to 2018. Before ordination, she studied chemistry at university and worked in the oil industry. After ordination in the Church of England, she served in the Diocese of Liverpool in parish ministry, chaplaincy, and church planting.
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is an Anglican priest who has been the Acting Archdeacon of Liverpool since 2023. She is to become substantive Archdeacon of Liverpool later in the year.
