EFAC ‘heartily endorses’ GAFCON declaration
“We heartily endorse the fourteen points of the Jerusalem Declaration of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and, like those at GAFCON, are fully committed to remaining within the Anglican Communion, and to bearing joyful witness to evangelical distinctives. …”
– From the EFAC UK pre-Lambeth meeting at Trinity College Bristol – via Anglican Mainstream. (GAFCON photo: Joy Gwaltney.)
GAFCON reports: a highlight of the ACL’s Annual General Meeting
SydneyAnglicans.net has posted four video clips from the ACL’s Annual General Meeting held at Moore College last Thursday night.
Sydney delegates to GAFCON related their impressions of the Jerusalem gathering. Among them, 21-year-old Sylvia Tong, called for more involvement by young people in the movement, saying they need to be aware of the struggles of their brothers and sisters around the world.
See the video clips –
- Sylvia Tong speaks on young people and GAFCON and her experience in Jerusalem.
- The Rev John Mason speaks of liberal tactics in North America,
- Tony Payne looks to the future of the GAFCON movement,
- Claire Smith speaks about the diversity of the GAFCON participants.
SydneyAnglicans.net also has this report by Russell Powell.
GAFCON and England: Judgment and Mercy
Just three weeks after the announcement of the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration, it is already clear that GAFCON has irrevocably changed the Anglican Communion. The majority of the world’s Anglicans now no longer look to Canterbury.
Structures that stifle spiritual life will eventually find themselves bypassed and this is exactly what was expressed in the courteous but firm response of the GAFCON Primates Council to Rowan Williams’ criticisms, declaring in the final paragraph that ‘We assure the Archbishop of Canterbury of our respect as the occupier of an historic see which has been used by God to the benefit of his church and continue to pray for him to be given wisdom and discernment.’ …
– Charles Raven writes for VirtueOnline.
(Charles is Senior Minister of Christ Church Wyre Forest in the UK. From the files: a press statement from 2002.) Photo: GAFCON media team.
Who’s NOT at Lambeth?
David Virtue has compiled a partial list of those bishops who haven’t gone or been invited to Lambeth. The list includes “Anglicans who would never be invited because they are not part of the Lambeth Conference and yet are, by any theological definition, Anglican.”
The point? “The Lambeth Conference is not the sum total of the Anglican Communion. It is now one of many networks that make up the Anglican Communion.”
See the list (which still has names being added) at VirtueOnline.
(Photo: GAFCON media team.)
St. Andrew’s draft text of Anglican Covenant flawed – GAFCON
“… An Anglican Covenant was intended as a response to a crisis in the Anglican Communion which has been accurately described as ‘a rending of the Communion at the deepest level’. Determined departures from the teaching of Scripture on human sexuality by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada are the immediate cause this situation.
There appears no prospect of repentance from this repudiation of biblical authority on the part of either of these bodies (or from those elsewhere who have followed their lead in endorsing behaviour which Scripture explicitly forbids).
Underlying these actions is a long history of marginalising, avoiding and at last rejecting the plain teaching of the Bible. In other words, the issue which we should expect this covenant to address is one of apostasy. …”
– This response from the GAFCON Theological Resource Team points out serious theological flaws in the draft Anglican Covenant.
– See also this earlier post with links to the Draft Covenant.
GAFCON responds to the Archbishop of Canterbury
“The Global Anglican Future Conference gathered leaders from around the Anglican Communion for pilgrimage, prayer and serious theological reflection. We are grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for engaging with the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. We wish to respond to some of his concerns. …”
– from the GAFCON Primates.
See also the Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to GAFCON, published on June 30 2008.
One Bishop’s reflections on Lambeth 1998
Featured article: In 1998, the then Bishop of North Sydney, Dr. Paul Barnett, attended the Lambeth Conference as part of the Sydney contingent. Human sexuality was the crucial issue.
Bishop Barnett spoke at the ACL’s Sydney Synod Dinner in October 1998 and gave his personal reflection on Lambeth. His perceptive talk is well worth re-reading in the light of all that has happened in the last ten years.
Spong said the fight for gay rights would go on and that Lambeth 2008 would be a different story…
– in the ‘old’ section of our website.
David Ould reports on the ACL’s AGM
Last night (17th July) the Anglican Church League (ACL) of Sydney held their AGM, which included a panel session with delegates from GAFCON. …
– David Ould summarises the panel discussion for readers of Stand Firm.
We’ll have more on the ACL’s 2008 Annual General Meeting in coming days.
More bishops than members?
Stand Firm has pointed us to this interesting graphic relating to the Church of England – from The Times.
Click on the image for the full size graphic as a PDF file.
Cavalcanti on ‘Anglicanism: The System in Crisis’
Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of the Diocese of Recife, now under Primatial Authority of the Province of the Southern Cone of America, writes on ‘Anglicanism: The System in Crisis’ —
What has become evident to the global media is the fact that the leadership of the Anglican Communion is unwilling to accept things as they really are, that the hegemonic Anglo-Saxon centre is unwilling to lose its hegemony, and that the only objective is the maintenance of the institution, whatever the cost…
The heavens declare the glory of God
On May 29th, as GAFCON was wrapping up, an unmanned NASA spacecraft captured images of the Earth and Moon from 50 million kilometres away.
The pictures, taken every 15 minutes over a 24 hour period, have been assembled into a short movie.
Watch here – and perhaps you could use the words of Psalm 19 to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
First daily Lambeth update
This is the first of regular daily blogs which will come live from our support team at Lambeth. You will get to know us as the days go by.
… a bishop from Canada has said freely that once Lambeth is over the Canadian church will be moving forward apace with same-sex blessings etc. This gives substance to the observation that there is denial in what looks to be a potentially schizophrenic conference. Everyone knows that the North American lobbies are determined to have their agenda affirmed. However, all the processes of the conference in plenary addresses and small discussion groups mean that there is no place for the whole conference to hear itself think and address this elephant in the room. …
– Anglican Mainstream plans to keep us up to date on the unfolding (should that be unravelling?) Lambeth Conference.
Lambeth underway: please pray
Bishop Robert Forsyth has called for Sydney Anglicans to pray for the outcome of the Lambeth Conference, as it gets underway this weekend in England. …
– A timely exhortation from SydneyAnglicans.net (Photo: Russell Powell.)
Archbishop Akinola to stay till 2010
Bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) on Sunday rejected a notice of voluntary retirement from Archbishop Peter Akinola as Primate of the Church. They requested him to complete his tenure, which ends in 2010.
The Dean of the Church, Archbishop Maxwell Anikwenwa, said in Abuja that the bishops prevailed on Akinola to rescind his decision to retire by January 2009. Read more
Steel yourselves for Lambeth’s real message
“Evangelical Anglicans are going to have to get used to two-and-a-half weeks of being accused, lied about and generally having their views abused, during the Lambeth Conference. I’m not saying that to invite pity or suggest that evangelicals are persecuted and so on, but that the climate in the church and media makes it inevitable. …”
– Andrew Carey writes at Stand Firm.
(Photo of Canterbury Cathedral: Matthew Davies / Episcopal News Service.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…