Day 2: The Mount of Olives, Gethsemene
Almost everyone at the GAFCON conference visited the Mount of Olives today. There was a short prayer service, a group photo thanks to a hired helicopter photographer, and a second group photo for bishops and primates… Our guide led us to … the church built over the place where tradition says Jesus wept over Jerusalem…
– Matt Kennedy continues to blog from GAFCON at Stand Firm. (Members of the pre-GAFCON consultation visit the Jordan River last week in this photo by Russell Powell.)
The Anglican Division Looms
The world-wide Anglican Communion has been skating on thin ice for decades now, skirting disaster only by an infinitely creative arrangement of compromises. Now, with the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops coming in just a few weeks, a group of 300 conservative Anglican bishops is meeting in Jerusalem. Their meeting will make history, and may well define the ultimate breakup of global Anglicanism. …
– Al Mohler on the challenge facing the Anglican Communion.
The Guardian on GAFCON and Lambeth
“In the latest blow to Williams’s plans for Lambeth, the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, became the most senior Church of England figure to decline an invitation, joining a growing boycott movement by scores of bishops unhappy with the liberal agenda of some provinces of the church. …”
– from The Guardian.
(Update: Bishop Nazir-Ali spoke about GAFCON and Lambeth during a talk for Reform London recently. Here’s an excerpt – 5 min 14 sec 1.8MB mp3 file – direct link. Bishop Nazir-Ali was asked if GAFCON is divisive. With thanks to Reform London – full unedited audio here.)
Archbishop Akinola on error and apostasy
This is Dr Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, addressing Gafcon this evening. ‘A sizeable part of the Communion is in error and not a few are apostate,’ he said, questioning whether the Communion could be rescued from within or without. It was an important rallying call that will set the tone for the rest of the conference. …
– From Ruth Gledhill’s blog at Times Online. (Photo: Ruth Gledhill. Note ACL President Mark Thompson and Oak Hill Principal Mike Ovey on the right of the picture. At centre, Cesar Guzman from Chile speaks with Archbishop Peter Jensen.)
Archbishop Jensen on BBC World Service
Part of an interview recorded with Archbishop Peter Jensen in Amman last week has been broadcast on the BBC’s “Reporting Religion” programme. Archbishop Mouneer Anis is also interviewed.
Worth listening to. The relevant section is at the start of the programme and runs for 14 minutes – from the BBC.
(Picture: from a photo by Russell Powell.)
GAFCON opens in prayer
More than 100 leaders of the Global Anglican Future Conference joined Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem in a prayer service just hours before the opening session addressed by the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola.
Despite the Jerusalem bishop’s public disagreement with the conference, GAFCON organisers believed that it was important for them to pray with and hear from him as the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. … – Russell Powell reports for SydneyAnglicans.net.
In his Cathedral address to the GAFCON visitors, Bishop Suheil Dawani appealed to them not to bring any ‘decisions’ to Jerusalem –
“…I note that you say your coming here to Jerusalem is a ‘pilgrimage’. Pilgrims here do not bring decisions with them. They come here to seek prayerfully the decisions God wants them to make. And God will always surprise us. …”
The full text of Bishop Dawani’s address is available from The Episcopal Church website (link to a Word doc). VirtueOnline also has a report.
(Archbishop Peter Akinola is greeted by Bishop Suheil Dawani at St George’s Cathedral. Photo: Tundi.)
“A Rescue Mission” – Archbishop Akinola’s welcome message
Read Archbishop Peter Akinola’s opening address at GAFCON on Sunday night – via the GAFCON website.
(Dr Ajakpo from Nigeria and Sylvia and Robert Tong from Sydney singing on the first night of GAFCON: Photo: Russell Powell.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…