The media coverage of the row over the Children's Society's refusal to accept a Christmas donation from Justin Welby has overlooked a crucial fact: the Archbishop of Canterbury is president of the charity.
A letter to the Church Times on January 3 by Dr Andrew Purkis OBE, a trustee and former chair of ActionAid and a former board member of the Charity Commission, points this out and the fact the charity's full name is the Church of England Children's Society.
The charity's announcement on December 20 that it had refused to accept a Christmas donation from Welby was widely reported in the national media.
Welby steps down as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6 after being criticised in the Church of England's Makin Review over his handling of the John Smyth abuse scandal.
Children's Society chief executive Mark Russell explained the charity's decision to reject the donation but did not mention the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury is its president.
"After careful consideration, we have respectfully decided not to accept the donation offered by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury," he said.
"The Children's Society is deeply committed to supporting the survivors of abuse, our teams support victims of child sexual abuse, and this means that accepting this donation would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work."
Russell went on: "We were profoundly shocked by the findings of the Makin report, and our thoughts are with all survivors of abuse. We believe that there is an urgent need for the Church of England to reset its approach to safeguarding and continue to create a safer Church and safer spaces for young people, protected by real accountability and a culture of care."
Andrew Purkis responded in his Church Times letter that it was "no quiet decision conveyed privately, but a noisy public declaration of solidarity with child victims of abuse (regardless of any distress caused to its president or the wider Church)".
"This prompts reflection about what sort of charity the Children's Society now is," he wrote.
"The latest annual report and accounts contains no mention whatsoever of Christianity, Jesus Christ, or the Church in its charitable objects, in its vision and values, in the movement that the charity is trying to build for the future, or the description of its partners or volunteers."
But whatever the omissions in its annual report and accounts, the Children's Society has a key role in promoting the Christingle services that many churches hold from the end of November through to January (Advent to Candlemas in the traditional Christian calendar). Christmas Eve is a popular time for local churches to hold Christingle events, which result in considerable donations for the Children's Society.
According to its website: "Christingle is a joyful celebration that brings families and communities together to share the light of Jesus and spread a message of hope.
"Christingle celebrations are named after the Christingles that are lit during the ceremony. Christingles are oranges wrapped in red tape, decorated with dried fruit or sweets, with a candle on the top."
The website reveals that "over 2,000 Christingle celebrations lit up the country in 2023 raising more than £700,000".
Mark Russell is a former chief executive of the Church of England mission agency, Church Army. In this role in 2016, he wrote a foreword to a book of essays arguing that the Church should ditch its traditional sexual ethic. The final chapter of Amazing Love: Theology for understanding discipleship, sexuality and mission, edited by Canon Andrew Davison, Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, stated: "Unless there is a really good reason for opposing same-sex relationships - and we don't believe that there is - we are shooting ourselves in the foot in the worst possible way."
The Welby row, however, could result in the charity Russell now leads losing support. Another correspondent to the Church Times, Mrs Sheila Round, declared: "So the Children's Society has issued its judgement: what an exalted position it has! Forgiveness and love apparently do not exist in this 'Christian' charity. Their next step must surely be to drop the 'Church of England' from their official title.
"While I pray for the well-being of Archbishop Welby, I must resign my membership of the Children's Society after well over 50 years of fund-raising and support, and transfer to another charity caring for young people in distress."
If other volunteers and donors follow Mrs Round out of the door, cancelling Justin Welby may well prove a costly decision for the Church of England Children's Society.
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire.
