I’ll miss the work I do abroad archbishop tells congregation

Dr Rowan Williams’s decision to preach at the Mothering Sunday service at Springfield Church in Wallington, Surrey, was made in September last year.

But minister of the church the Reverend Will Cookson said he had not expected it to be under such circumstances.

Dr Williams will leave his role at the end of December in time to start his new position as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge in January, Lambeth Palace said.

The Crown Nominations Commission is yet to consider the selection of a successor.

Mr Cookson said: “I met the archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral last year and asked if he would come and preach here. I wrote him a letter and the answer was yes.”

Dr Williams, 61, who was confirmed as 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion in December 2002, spent the early part of the morning taking questions from the church youth group before presiding over the main church service.

As the service got under way Mr Cookson joked with Dr Williams, asking him what the Church had done to make him step down.

Laughing, the archbishop said it was nothing personal and told the congregation that once he knew he was leaving everything had happened really quickly.

He said: “Being the archbishop involves you having to talk to the Queen and the Prime Minster so we had to let people know before it was leaked.”

Dr Williams said he had enjoyed the work he did abroad and that last year he visited five African countries.

When asked what he would miss most about being the archbishop, Dr Williams said the trips to developing countries, adding that he had found a visit to Kenya last year “amazingly moving”.

He said: “To see what the church does and can do with women who have been in war, with children that have been abducted and coerced into militias, it is amazing to see how they help them.”

Dr Williams also told the congregation he had felt nervous about meeting evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. He said: “I never feel the best in debate. You have to be quick on your feet, and clever and slick. I always feel anxious about that. I like to think about what I am going to say.”

Dr Williams said people’s perception of the Church had changed over the past decade, with a rise in suspicion of religion.

He said: “9/11 brought that to a head in some ways. Some governments assume that vicars are imams in dog collars. Either you are a committed fanatic who wants everyone to follow your regime or you are a woolly liberal who can be persuaded to go along with what is happening in society.

“The church is neither of those things. We do not come with a political agenda.”