The newly appointed archbishop is the second most powerful position in the Church of England. He has said the CofE was seen as "immoral" for its refusal to welcome homosexual marriage, stressing it would be "particularly foolish" to ignore the damage done to the Church's mission.

A senior leader in the Church of England wrote VOL to say that this was "very, very, very bad news." It will certainly alienate conservatives in the Church of England, with yet more vicars fleeing with their congregations to the AMiE, the Free Church of England and other Anglican entities not affiliated with the Church of England. Recently, a leading Anglican bishop, the Rt. Rev. Gavin Ashenden fled both the Church of England and Christian Episcopal Church to Rome, fed up with what he called the cultural Marxist drift of the Church of England.

As Bishop of Chelmsford, Cottrell made the most forthright call for change by a bishop so far and said the Church should reach an "agree to disagree" compromise over homosexual marriage as it had done over women's ordination.

He acknowledged such a compromise would be a "step too far" while "others think it nowhere near far enough" but said change "cannot simply wait till there is complete ecumenical and Anglican Communion agreement."

It was the latest intervention since the Archbishops of Canterbury and York called for a "radical, new Christian inclusion" after a report maintaining a largely conservative stance on sexuality was rejected by the CofE's ruling general synod.

"It would be particularly foolish for us to ignore the missiological damage that is done when that which is held to be morally normative and desirable by much of society and by what seems to be a significant number of Anglican Christian people in this country, is deemed morally unacceptable by the Church. As I have said before, I am not sure the church has ever before had to face the challenge of being seen as immoral by the culture in which it is set," he said in an address to Chelmsford's local diocesan synod.

Pansexual eucharists and prayers for homosexual couples are already offered by some clergy, but it is not clear whether the Church's teaching permits such moves. Cottrell's address marked the first time a bishop openly backed them.

He went on to say the Church's attitude to homosexual couples was fundamental to its existence and role in society.

'It is therefore not sufficient to say, "Oh if only we could stop talking about human sexuality and get on with the real business of preaching the gospel!" This is the real business of preaching the gospel: it is about what it means to be made in the image of God and of the new humanity God has won for us in Christ. It is about finding the legitimate boundaries within which Christian people can legitimately disagree.'

Comparing the divisions over sexuality with those over women bishops, which the Church allowed for in 2014, he said a similar deal could be reached.

"Whether you believe there should be same sex marriage or the blessing of same sex unions or whether you do not, you are still a faithful Anglican. We need to find ways of living with this diversity, not being torn apart by it."

Conservative blogger, Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream wrote at that time: "It is now over to the orthodox clergy and laity in Chelmsford Diocese, first, to see what they will do.

"Some will be talking about looking for some form of differentiation, perhaps alternative oversight, whether informal or more visible. Some, especially laity, will be looking for another denomination. We hope that those who continue to recognize the Bishop's spiritual authority and do nothing, will see the need to join others in taking principled action. This pattern will be repeated in other Dioceses in coming months."

Earlier this year, Rev. John Parker resigned as governor of a Church of England (CofE) primary school in the diocese of Chelmsford over concerns about a young child being allowed to transition gender in the school. John Parker also resigned as vicar in the CofE, citing the diocese's support of transgender ideology in the primary school as the final straw.

The diocese, and the Bishop, unequivocally supported the 'gender transition' of a primary school child.

Bishop Stephen Cottrell had previously told John Parker that his Biblical views on sexuality were not welcome in the Church of England and that he "could leave."

Stephen Cottrell denied this on Twitter, and later in a formal Ad Clerum.

It then emerged that other clergy in the diocese had also been told that they could leave the CofE if they did not agree with the approach of the diocese on sexuality. A statement was released by GAFCON. It said:

"The truth is that Stephen Cottrell has, on more than one occasion, told clergy, including John Parker, that if we disagree with the approach the Diocese is taking on matters of human sexuality, we should follow our consciences and leave. There were more than thirty clergy at one of the meetings."

Stephen Cottrell has also suggested in the House of Lords that CofE teaching on marriage could change.

There can be little doubt that reconciliation talks underway prior to the Lambeth Conference, will prove useless, as Global South and GAFCON primates will see in this news a further alienation of themselves from the Church of England. Other western Anglican provinces that have adopted pro-homosexual positions find that not only are they alienated from the Anglican mainstream, they are witnessing their own provinces slowly die in the process.

FOR MORE click here: This story confirms what I wrote. https://www.christian.org.uk/news/new-archbishop-of-york-bible-has-to-fit-the-current-culture/?fbclid=IwAR2v64487CJZ2JLnm6cg9Hm3NyPP8tgRGuUfKpiL0ZlH7ve1KGZgl_xqbyo