FCA Leaders Conference concludes — and the movement begins its mission

Media Release
Leaders Conference, London
23 to 27 April 2012

“After some 450 years it is becoming clear that what some have called the ‘Anglican experiment’ is not ending in failure, but is on the verge of a new and truly global future in which the original vision of the Reformers can be realized as never before…”

Media Release:

The movement begins its mission

GAFCON 2008 declared it was ‘not just a moment in time but a movement of the spirit’. Now, at a conference in London, 200 Anglican leaders committed to mission and mutual support.

The Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem established a Primates Council representing the majority of the world’s Anglicans and set up a global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans as a movement within the Communion.

The leaders met at St Mark’s Battersea Rise in London for five days of prayer, planning and plenary sessions. Seminars ranged over key topics such as evangelism, family, economic empowerment, the Gospel, church and spiritual leadership under pressure.

Opening the event, GAFCON/ FCA Chairman Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya, told the delegates they were called to “a great prophetic purpose at this critical point in the life of our communion.” The Archbishop outlined the extent of unbiblical teaching in the communion and declared “The heart of the crisis we face is not only institutional, but spiritual.”

“After some 450 years it is becoming clear that what some have called the ‘Anglican experiment’ is not ending in failure, but is on the verge of a new and truly global future in which the original vision of the Reformers can be realized as never before” the Archbishop said.

In a plenary address, Bishop Michael Nazir?Ali concluded that the Anglican “Instruments of Unity” have failed dramatically and that the FCA is called to model an alternative way for the churches of the Anglican Communion to gather and relate to one another in such a way as to carry out the Great Commission in the coming decades.

In their final conference ‘Commitment’, the leaders resolved to work together in an ever?strengthening partnership, to stand by each other and to engage in a battle of ideas on behalf of the Biblical Gospel.

The next Global Anglican Future Conference was also announced. The event, with invitees including clergy and lay people, as well as bishops, is scheduled for May 2013.

“One delegate came up to me and said ‘Now I know that I am not alone’. Though they are the majority, the orthodox often feel isolated.” said FCA general secretary Archbishop Peter Jensen. “There are people everywhere who believe the same gospel, preach the same thing and stand for the same truths. That is the dynamic of this conference. People who felt powerless have now been given confidence.”

April 27, 2012 AD.

See the Statement and Commitment from the meeting with a brief introduction to GAFCON (PDF file).

Text here via Anglican Mainstream.

 

 

Statement from the Anglican Mission in England

“Statement at the Celebration of the Anglican Communion at Emmanuel Centre, Westminster

The next few months will increasingly reveal the direction being taken by the Church of England regarding two matters:

We have established, and this week confirmed the principle that orthodox Anglicans who despite repeated efforts cannot receive oversight in the Church of England can continue to belong together with other orthodox Anglicans and minister with recognition within the global Anglican communion.   Read more

We should elect our chair, say Primates

“The Primates of Nigeria and Kenya suggested this week that the Archbishop of Canterbury should no longer chair the Primates’ Meeting. The chairman should instead be elected by the Primates themselves, they said…”

– Church Times reports on the FCA meeting which concludes today in London.

Abp Wabukala’s FCA Conference keynote address

“I believe that our time together here is a key moment in the unfolding purpose of God for our beloved Anglican Communion and its great encouragement to have leaders drawn from some thirty different nations as we gather here this evening. We are indeed a global communion for the twenty-first century…”

– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala is the Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council and Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Read the text of his keynote address from the FCA Leadership Conference in London.

FCA Primates Council media release at start of Leaders Conference

April 23, 2012

“With great anticipation we greet the delegates to the first FCA Leaders Conference as they gather in London. Over two hundred leaders from thirty countries will hear God’s word and commit to one another for the preaching and defence of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in and through the Anglican Communion.”

Media Release
Leaders Conference, London
23 to 27 April 2012

The Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans met over three days, April 19th- 21st in London.

With great anticipation we greet the delegates to the first FCA Leaders Conference as they gather in London.

Over two hundred leaders from thirty countries will hear God’s word and commit to one another for the preaching and defence of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in and through the Anglican Communion. From this meeting will emerge key networks and commission capable of strengthening the worldwide churches and delivering the Christian message to the world.

We pray for those responsible for the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury that they will look for a godly leader of God’s people. We believe that in the future development of the Anglican Communion the chair of the Primates Meeting should be elected by the Primates themselves. We believe that the future of our Communion relies on adherence to Scriptural authority, faithful and Christ-centred preaching of this word, the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit, godly leadership and the spiritual commitment of God’s people. These spiritual realities and the reality of worldwide Anglicanism should be reflected in the structures of the Anglican Communion.

From the beginning the thrust of our FCA movement has been forward-looking. We have therefore confirmed the decision to call GAFCON II for May next year in a venue shortly to be announced. We believe that the joyful meeting of orthodox Anglicans from all over the world will be a dynamic force for restating the gospel of Jesus Christ in the face of revisionist attempts to change basic doctrines and turn Christianity merely into a movement for social betterment. It is the preaching of the Gospel of Christ crucified which saves men and women and transforms the world.

– available at the GAFCON website.

Converted Anglican church now Taoist temple

A new use for a former Diocese of New Westminster church building –

“After renovations by the Chinese Taoism Kuan-Kung Association in Canada, which purchased the property in the fall of 2010, the building has been transformed…”

– story and image from BC Local News. Another story from Burnaby Now.
(h/t Ed Hird.) 

New Westminster considers plans for three ‘returned’ parishes

“Having won the court battle for the buildings of St. John’s Shaughnessy, St. Matthias and St. Luke, and St. Matthew’s Abbotsford, the Diocese of New Westminster must decide what to do with them…”

The Anglican Essentials Canada blog reports on New Westminster’s commitment to ‘Plant three new churches’ –

“It is the desire of DNW to have vital, viable self-sustaining parishes at each of these three locations in three to five years at a cost equivalent of planting one new church. The financial commitment for this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity of DNW will be up to $4.5 million…”

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Easter Sermon 2012

Rowan Williams has released the text of his last Easter sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury –

“It just might be the case that the high watermark of aggressive polemic against religious faith has been passed.

Recent years have seen so many high-profile assaults on the alleged evils of religion that we’ve almost become used to them; we sigh and pass on, wishing that we could have a bit more of a sensible debate and a bit less hysteria. But there are a few signs that the climate is shifting ever so slightly…”

– Read it all at his website.

Primate of Nigeria’s Easter message

“As we celebrate perhaps the most significant event in the Christian calendar, we remember the recent travails of Nigeria in the hands of a faceless yet well-coordinated mafia spreading terror, death and destruction in the land. …

we can only pray for Nigeria and Nigerians that the victory of Easter will usher in permanent peace and victory over these visible and invisible hawkers of death and destruction in the country.…”

– Read Archbishop Nicholas Okoh’s Easter message at the Church of Nigeria website.

The Archbishop we don’t need (but will probably get)

“Central to the role of the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be his views on human sexuality, not because that is the most important thing about Christian theology (though it is quite important), but because the agenda of our society will make it so…”

– John Richardson calls for an Archbishop of Canterbury who will ‘uphold sound and wholesome doctrine, and … banish and drive away all erroneous and strange opinions’. At the Ugley Vicar.

FCA Leadership Conference to be held in London next month

GAFCON / FCA Media Release
Anglican leaders gather to work towards visionary future

More than 200 delegates from 30 Provinces of the Anglican Communion will gather in London in April to build on the work of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem and in the words of the organisers to ‘help turn the present crisis moment into a visionary future’.   Read more

Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Statement on the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury

March 19th, 2012
Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney – Media Statement

Statement on the resignation of Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury

“The Archbishop of Canterbury is universally admired for his intellectual stature and his personal warmth. In his time as Archbishop, the Anglican Communion has been subjected to unprecedented stresses which have hastened an inevitable tendency to regional independence and decentralisation. With the majority of Anglicans now from theologically conservative churches of the Global South, the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the future will demand a deepening appreciation of their place in the Communion.

Dr Peter F Jensen,
Archbishop of Sydney.”

via SydneyAnglicans.net

Church of Nigeria on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision to resign

PRESS STATEMENT — CHURCH OF NIGERIA REACTS TO ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY’S RESIGNATION

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt. Hon. Dr. Rowan Williams took over the leadership of the Anglican Communion in 2002 when it was a happy family. Unfortunately, he is leaving behind a Communion in tatters: highly polarized, bitterly factionalized, with issues of revisionist interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and human sexuality as stumbling blocks to oneness, evangelism and mission all around the Anglican world.  Read more

Reform on Rowan Williams’ announced departure

From Reform:

Rev’d Rod Thomas, chairman of Reform, the 1,700-strong network of conservative evangelicals within the Church of England, said:

“Many people will have appreciated Rowan’s great courtesy in dealing with people of different views within both the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. But his departure opens up the potential for a new leader to heal the deep divisions within the Anglican Communion. What is needed is someone who will hold firm to biblical truth in areas such as human sexuality in order to promote the gospel and unite the church in the face of militant secularism.”

Canterbury not the future?

In his weekly video message, Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council, reflects on the legacy of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. He argues that GAFCON, with a clear focus on the Lord Jesus, is the way of the future for Bible-believing Anglicans.

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