The Inclusive Lie: How Compassion Without Repentance Split the Church of England

🐏The Inclusive Lie: Dame Sarah Mullally and the Death of Holiness

Sheepfold Under Siege — Article 7

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Introduction — When the Church Confuses Compassion for Conversion

Some wolves deceive through anger.

Others through glamor.

But the most dangerous wolves wrap themselves in the language of compassion — the soft glow of kindness detached from the flame of holiness.

Dame Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury since 2025, embodies a new kind of church leadership: one fluent in the vocabulary of care, hospitality, safety, belonging, and community — but largely silent about repentance, sin, and the fear of the Lord.

Her message is simple, appealing, and deadly:

“The Church must be an inclusive home for all.”

But without holiness, “home” becomes a hospice.

Without repentance, “belonging” becomes bondage.

Without truth, “inclusion” becomes abandonment.

This is not a warning about a villain.

Mullally is sincere, articulate, and compassionate. She speaks with gentleness, and she genuinely desires to welcome those who feel alienated by the Church. Her tone disarms critics. Her posture invites broken hearts to approach.

And yet — her leadership helped usher the Church of England into the most significant fracture since the English Reformation.

On October 12th, 2025, the Church formally split after years of internal conflict over marriage, sexuality, and the doctrine of sin. Global South bishops, many evangelicals, and traditional Anglicans declared impaired communion with Canterbury. Whole dioceses severed ties. A new conservative Anglican province emerged. The global media framed it as culture war — but it was a war over holiness.

Behind the headlines was Mullally’s softly spoken conviction:

“The Church must evolve.”

But Christ does not evolve.

His Word does not evolve.

His standards for holiness do not evolve.

And when a shepherd evolves beyond Scripture, the flock inevitably follows her voice into the fog.

This article is a pastoral lament — not over one woman, but over a church willing to trade holiness for hospitality, repentance for relevance, and sanctification for sentiment.

For as the Lord warns:

> “Be holy, for I am holy.”

— 1 Peter 1:16

Compassion separated from holiness becomes a counterfeit gospel.

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1. The Leader & Her Appeal — Soft Words for a Wounded World

Sarah Mullally’s rise makes perfect sense in the modern West.

She is deeply compassionate.

A former Chief Nursing Officer of England, Mullally carries a public identity as a healer, a listener, a servant of the vulnerable.

She speaks of inclusion, not confrontation.

Her vocabulary is pastoral, even maternal:

“safe spaces”

“belonging”

“full participation”

“the dignity of every person”

She echoes cultural virtues.

In an age exhausted by church scandals, hypocrisy, and political entanglement, Mullally represents a gentle alternative — a church less concerned with doctrine and more concerned with relationship.

She offers moral simplicity.

Her message: “Love must be prioritized over doctrine.”

Who could argue?

People long to be welcomed.

People long to be understood.

People long to be accepted.

But biblical love is not acceptance without truth — it is truth that leads to repentance and life.

Mullally’s appeal is powerful because it feels like compassion.

But compassion without clarity becomes cruelty.

Like Andy Stanley and Tim Keller before her, Mullally represents a kind of Christian leader who never raises her voice — but her silence carries a sermon of its own.

For many, she feels safe.

But for the sheep, safety without holiness is a disguised threat.

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2. The Drift — Inclusion Without Repentance, Unity Without Truth

The heart of Mullally’s drift is found in her redefinition of holiness.

A. Holiness is reframed as hospitality.

She frequently describes holiness not as separation from sin but as the “fullness of human flourishing.”

But Scripture teaches holiness as:

separation

purity

reverence

obedience

fear of the Lord

fleeing immorality

crucifying the flesh

Holiness is not flourishing.

Holiness is dying — dying to self, sin, desires, and the world.

B. Sin is reframed as harm, not rebellion.

Mullally’s public statements emphasize:

“harm reduction”

“pastoral accommodation”

“inclusive practice”

But the New Testament defines sin as:

lawlessness (1 John 3:4)

ungodliness (Rom 1:18)

rebellion (Rom 5:10)

darkness (John 3:19)

Sin is not harm against self; it is treason against God.

C. Repentance is reframed as relational healing.

Mullally rarely speaks of repentance as turning from sin; she speaks of healing relationships, repairing wounds, reconciling communities.

But biblical repentance is:

grief over sin

turning to God

renouncing evil

obedience to Christ

D. Sexual ethics are reinterpreted for cultural harmony.

Mullally supported the “Prayers of Love and Faith” initiative — a liturgical blessing for same-sex couples that avoids calling their union marriage yet still sanctions it.

This was the theological fault line that led to the October 2025 split.

E. Doctrinal clarity is sacrificed for institutional survival.

When asked about the biblical teaching on marriage, Mullally’s answers consistently emphasize:

“listening to all voices”

“unity in diversity”

“shared journey”

But unity without truth is a rope made of smoke.

F. Christ is presented more as companion than as King.

Mullally’s sermons often center on Jesus as welcoming, embracing, gentle, and inclusive — all true descriptions — yet rarely emphasize His holiness, His commands, His warnings, or His authority.

The Jesus she preaches comforts but seldom confronts.

This is not the Jesus who overturns tables.

This is not the Jesus who warns of hell.

This is not the Jesus who calls sinners to repent.

This is the Jesus of cultural Christianity:

kind, inclusive, harm-free — and unholy.

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3. The Fruit — A Church That Blesses Sin and Splits Itself in Two

Ideas produce consequences.

And Mullally’s vision — compassionate though it appears — has birthed devastating fruit.

A. The Church of England split itself rather than obey Scripture.

On October 12th, 2025, after two years of escalating division, the Church fractured.

African and Asian provinces severed communion with Canterbury.

Thousands left congregations quietly adopting progressive doctrine.

Orthodox clergy stood trial for refusing to bless same-sex partnerships.

Whole dioceses aligned with the new conservative Anglican province.

It was not a war over politics.

It was a war over holiness.

B. The Church became a sanctuary for sin, not a refuge from it.

Mullally’s brand of inclusion offered “blessing” without redemption — only affirmation.

This is not pastoral care.

This is pastoral abandonment.

C. Suffering Christians were left confused.

Believers seeking victory over sexual temptation — heterosexual or homosexual — were told the struggle itself was invalid; that holiness was oppressive; that desire defined identity more than Scripture.

D. Biblical authority was quietly dissolved.

Mullally did not attack Scripture; she simply placed cultural empathy above biblical clarity.

When empathy becomes the hermeneutical lens, Scripture becomes negotiable.

E. Christ’s call to repent was lost in the fog of “welcome.”

The early church grew not because it included everyone — but because it called everyone to repentance.

Peter’s sermon at Pentecost was not:

“Everyone belongs.”

It was:

“Repent… save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

The fruit of Mullally’s teaching is a church that keeps the door open

…but never invites sinners to kneel.

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4. The Pastoral Call — Compassion With a Spine

Let us be careful.

We must not despise compassion.

We must not dismiss gentleness.

We must not scorn those who want the church to be safe for the bruised and broken.

Christ welcomed sinners.

Christ ate with tax collectors.

Christ touched lepers.

But Christ did not endorse sin.

Christ did not soften holiness.

Christ did not bless rebellion.

Our culture demands inclusion.

Our Savior demands repentance.

To imitate Christ is not to imitate Mullally’s softness —

but to imitate His holiness with His compassion.

A. We must recover a biblical definition of love.

Love without truth is sentiment.

Truth without love is severity.

Christ embodies both:

the wounded Lamb and the roaring Lion.

B. We must recover courage in sexual ethics.

No church can bless what God forbids.

No leader can redefine what God has defined.

No compassion can negate holiness.

C. We must teach repentance as the doorway to grace.

Grace does not meet us halfway.

Grace meets us in our sin —

but never leaves us there.

D. We must discern the danger of leaders who exalt empathy above Scripture.

Empathy is precious.

Empathy ungoverned by holiness becomes poison.

E. We must prepare for the cost of faithfulness.

If the Anglican Communion can split over this,

then so can any denomination.

Faithfulness may cost us friends.

It may cost us buildings.

It may cost us influence.

It may cost us comfort.

But it will never cost us Christ.

F. We must call the Church back to holiness.

Holiness is not:

cultural harm

exclusion

Phariseeism

arrogance

Holiness is:

beauty

purity

joy

freedom

life

the very heart of God

Holiness is not the enemy of love.

Holiness is the substance of love.

Without holiness, inclusion is empty.

Without repentance, compassion is cruel.

Without truth, welcome is a lie.

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Conclusion — The Shepherd Who Lost the Staff

Dame Sarah Mullally did not set out to deceive.

She set out to comfort.

But comfort detached from truth cannot shepherd the flock of Christ.

The split of 2025 was not merely an institutional fracture.

It was a divine warning:

A church that blesses sin will tear itself apart.

But a church that blesses holiness will stand firm.

Let this article be a call not to scorn compassion,

but to anchor it in Scripture.

Not to reject welcome,

but to root it in repentance.

Not to despise inclusion,

but to redefine it biblically —

as the open arms of Christ calling sinners to die and rise again.

The sheepfold is under siege.

Some wolves shout.

Others whisper.

Mullally’s danger is the whisper —

the soft voice inviting the Church to lay down its sword

in the name of love.

But love without truth is not love.

It is surrender.

And Christ did not surrender.

He died.

He rose.

He reigns.

He will return.

Until then:

Hold the line.

Guard the flock.

Keep the faith.

And follow the Shepherd who welcomes all —

but never at the cost of holiness.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post