Diocese of South Carolina ‘joins Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans’

Posted on March 16, 2014 
Filed under Anglican Communion, GAFCON

Bishop Mark Lawrence, South Carolina.“The Diocese of South Carolina has been formally recognized as a member in good standing of the Global Anglican Communion.

On Saturday, March 15, the Diocese’s 223rd Annual Convention unanimously accepted an invitation to join the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA) and temporarily enter into a formal ecclesiastical relationship known as provisional primatial oversight from bishops in the Global South. 

The convention’s nearly 400 delegates also voted to create a task force to explore more permanent affiliation options for the diocese.  The task force will offer recommendations at the next Convention, which will be held next March.

Local critics of the Diocese’s 2012 separation from The Episcopal Church had said the disassociation would isolate the Diocese from the Global Anglican Communion.  While the Diocese has maintained many informal relationships with organizations that are part of the communion, this formal primatial oversight arrangement makes clear that the Diocese is officially part of the greater Anglican Church.

“There’s an African proverb that wisely states ‘If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together,’ said the Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence, 14th Bishop of the Diocese, in his address to the Convention. “This will give us gracious oversight from one of the largest Ecclesial entities within in the Communion; one which includes Anglicans from a diverse body of believers from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, the Indian Ocean and many, many others.”

The weekend convention attracted clergy, delegates and guests from 52 congregations in southeastern South Carolina.  The meeting was held at Christ Church, in Mt. Pleasant, March 14 and 15, and began with four public workshops attended by over 200 people on evangelism, the importance of teaching the faith, church health, and the Jerusalem Declaration, a statement of faith assented to by the majority of Anglicans worldwide.”

– from The Diocese of South Carolina.

See also: Diocese of South Carolina accepts provisional oversight from Global South primates – Charleston Post & Courier.

Photo: Diocese of South Carolina.