GAFCON to Re-Order Communion — Anglican Unscripted with Bishop Paul Donison

In the latest edition of Anglican Unscripted (number 945!), Kevin Kallsen interviews Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison.

If you missed Bishop Donison’s recent Australian tour, this is the next best thing.

– Watch here.

Bishop John Guernsey Appointed Chairman of Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans

Prayer request from Gafcon:

“Give thanks to God for the appointment of The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey as the new Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, whose Trustees faithfully govern and support the ministry of Gafcon and the Global Anglican Communion.

We praise the Lord for Bishop Guernsey’s deep and longstanding commitment to Gafcon: a delegate at GAFCON 2008, Chair of the Statement Committee in Nairobi 2013, and Worship Coordinator in Jerusalem 2018. His decades of faithful leadership in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) have strengthened our global fellowship.

Pray for Bishop Guernsey and his wife, Meg, asking that God grant him wisdom, humility, and joy as he helps guide our movement to have the Bible at the heart of the Anglican Communion.”

– Source. (Background: Bishop Guernsey Wikipedia entry.)

Centre of gravity shifts from Canterbury to Abuja – with Paul Donison

From The Pastor’s Heart, a special edition featuring an interview with Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison –

“Paul Donison responds to global reaction to Gafcon’s reset of the Anglican Communion and its declaration that Canterbury’s time is over.

The Lord is removing his Spirit from the Canterbury–Lambeth lampstand, and the centre of global Anglicanism is shifting from London to Africa.

The average Anglican today is not English, not Western, not male — she’s a young African woman in her twenties, probably Nigerian. The Anglican Communion is now catching up with that reality.

Since the Gafcon Primates’ announcement on 16 October 2025 — declaring that Canterbury is out and that the Bible will be the foundation document for a reordered Global Anglican Communion — reaction has been electric: claims of schism, conflict in Ireland, tensions in ACNA, questions about women’s orders, realignments in England, silence from some primates, and fresh courage from others.

And what does this mean for a blended province like Australia?

Gafcon General Secretary Paul Donison joins us with an update on plans for the Global Bishops Gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, 3–6 March 2026.”

– Watch or listen here.

Bishop Donison is speaking at Moore College on Wednesday night at 7:30pm:

Everything you always wanted to know about Gafcon

From Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net –

“The General Secretary of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), Bishop Paul Donison, has embarked on a speaking tour of Australia, with stops in capital cities including Sydney.

‘Sydney’s really been part of the Gafcon story right from the beginning,’ said Bishop Donison in a brief call from Melbourne Airpport during his whirlwind tour. ‘One of the opportunities for coming out to Australia is to help Australians realize how much love there is for Australia and how Australia can be such a key part of Gafcon moving forward.’

Bishop Donison has already spoken in Melbourne and Hobart and is on his way around the rest of the country before the Sydney meeting at Moore College on November 26. …”

– Read here. (Emphasis added.)

Image courtesy Gafcon Australia.

After Sydney, Bishop Donison will be speaking in Brisbane and Christchurch.

First Ordination for Diocese of the Southern Cross

A Prayer Update from Gafcon:

“We give thanks to God for a joyful milestone in the life of the Diocese of the Southern Cross, as the Rt Revd Dr Glenn Davies, Interim Bishop, and Gafcon Guarantor and Primates’ Council Advisor, presided over the first ordination of a deacon in the diocese.

Congratulations to the Revd Mekyal Keira, ordained as a Deacon in the Church of God and appointed Pastor of Kush Southern Cross Anglican Church in Western Australia, the eighth congregation in this growing diocese, launched this weekend.

We also rejoice that Alezabeth Kurundi was authorised as a Lay Minister in this new church. Praise God for His faithfulness in raising up new leaders to guard His gospel and serve His people across Australia.”

– Source.

See also:

Kush Southern Cross Anglican Church Facebook page.

“We’re an English-Arabic speaking church in the Diocese of the Southern Cross in Perth, Western Australia.”  (They meet at 160 Dampier Avenue, Kallaroo WA 6025.)

Prayer for the Persecuted Church

From Gafcon:

“This Sunday marks the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Across the world, faithful Anglicans and other believers face hardship and danger for the name of Jesus. Yet they remain steadfast, trusting that the Lord is their refuge and strength, and that nothing can silence His gospel.

As the global Gafcon fellowship, we stand with them in love and prayer. We thank God for their courage as they continue to guard God’s gospel in the face of pressure and persecution. Their witness reminds us that the Word of God is not chained, and that His Church endures by His power alone.

Pray that the Lord will uphold His persecuted people with faith, endurance, and peace. May their steadfast hope inspire us all to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations, whatever the cost.”

Image: Last year’s World Watch List from Open Doors.

Anglican Aid — In fellowship with GAFCON

From The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid:

“Anglican Aid gives thanks to God for the gospel faithfulness of the leadership of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), following their recent statement regarding the future of the Anglican Communion. This announcement is a declaration that the Anglican Communion would not centre around a person or an office, but rest on a single foundation: the Word of God.

As the overseas aid, development, and ministry support agency of the Sydney Anglican Diocese, Anglican Aid is committed to resourcing churches in the world’s poorest countries with faithful servants trained in the word of God. We are building and resourcing theological colleges and supporting the training of over 2,500 people for various ministries. Anglican Aid longs to see the word of God faithfully proclaimed to the nations. …”

– Read it all here.

Photo: Anglican Aid CEO Tim Swan with Archbishop Ande from the Anglican Church of Congo.

2025 Global Vision Tour with Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison

A few months ago, we noted that Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison would be speaking at events across Australia and in New Zealand in November.

Details are now available – via the Gafcon Australia website.

“Hear about Gafcon’s Global vision – challenges and opportunities from Bishop Paul Donison and your local Gafcon leaders.

The 90-minute presentation will provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding of Gafcon and connect with others.

Admission to this public event is FREE, and a light supper will be served at the conclusion.”

November 2025

Melbourne
Tuesday 18th  7.30 pm Ridley College, 170 The Avenue, Parkville

Hobart
Wednesday 19th  7.30 pm Wellspring Anglican, 43-47 Grosvenor St, Sandy Bay

Perth
Thursday 20th  6 pm Dalkeith Anglican, 56 Viking Rd, Dalkeith

Adelaide
Friday 21st  7.30 pm St Bart’s Norwood, 77 Beulah Rd, Norwood

Sydney
Wednesday 26th 7.30 pm Moore College, 1 King St, Newtown

Brisbane
Friday 28th 7.30 pm St Phil’s Rochedale, 270 Rochedale Rd, Rochedale

Christchurch, NZ
Saturday 29th November Trinity Church

See also this message from The Rev. Peter Smith, Chair of Gafcon Australia.

Key Gafcon stories from the last week

In case you missed them, here are some key posts related to last week’s Gafcon announcement. Each will open in a new window  –

The Future Has Arrived — Gafcon Communique 16 October 2025.

Enough’s Enough! — A Bible-Centred Reordering of Global Anglicanism — The Pastor’s Heart with Archbishop Laurent Mbanda.

A Long Awaited Future – Dr Mark Thompson.

The Anglican future is here – SydneyAnglicans.net with a Media Release from Bishop Peter Hayward, Commissary for the Archbishop of Sydney.

Gafcon Reboots the Communion – Anglican Unscripted.

The patience of Gafcon – some historical background.

The Future of Anglicanism Has Arrived: What GAFCON’s Statement Means for Evangelicals – Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison.

Sydney Standing Committee welcomes Gafcon announcement – SydneyAnglicans.net.

Gafcon photo.

Sydney Standing Committee welcomes Gafcon announcement

From SydneyAnglicans.net, a Public Statement from the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney –

“Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney

Public Statement

At its meeting on 20th October, 2025 passed the following resolution welcoming Gafcon’s announcement on the future of the Anglican Communion.

‘Standing Committee –

(a)       welcomes the attached 16 October 2025 statement by the Most Rev Laurent Mbanda, the Chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council, entitled ‘The Future has Arrived’, and commits itself to pray for the Global Anglican Communion,

(b)       humbly prays that the Scriptures – the authoritative and life-giving word of Christ – may be firmly established at the heart of every parish and diocese within the Anglican Church of Australia. To this end, we commit ourselves to working faithfully through the structures of the Australian Church, and

(c)       encourages all Sydney Bishops to attend the GAFCON gathering of the world’s orthodox Anglican Bishops in Abuja, Nigeria, from 3 to 6 March 2026.’

Sydney, October 20, 2025.”

– Source.

GAFCON Anglicans Seek to Lead, Who will Follow?

“A group of leading Anglican traditionalists this month announced a reordering of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Top bishops (primates) of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), a renewal movement composed of both historic Anglican provinces and newly inaugurated Anglican churches, are seeking to bind the Anglican family not around a common tie to the See of Canterbury but around shared theological commitments. Among them the centrality of holy scripture. …”

– While we might not warm to the ‘traditionalists’ label, Jeffrey Walton at Juicy Ecumenism finds ‘encouragement in this month’s necessary step’.

The Future of Anglicanism Has Arrived: What GAFCON’s Statement Means for Evangelicals

“On October 16, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, the leaders of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) released a statement beginning with the striking words: ‘The future has arrived.‘

For many outside Anglicanism, this may sound like insider church politics. But the statement represents something much larger: a historic reordering of the Anglican Communion that has profound significance for global evangelicalism. …”

– On Saturday, Australian time, The Gospel Coalition published this piece by Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison.

He shares a way forward for those who find themselves in provinces or diocese who do not align with the Global Anglican Communion.

Photo: Bishop Paul Donison, courtesy Gafcon.

The patience of Gafcon

Historical perspective is always important.

The background to the Gafcon Communique of October 16 2025 is more than 17 years of patience on the part of the Gafcon Primates and biblically faithful Anglicans around the world.

And that first Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in 2008 came after many years of calling Anglican leaders in England, Scotland, Wales, Canada and the United States back to the Scriptures.

In late 2007, Archbishop Peter Jensen outlined, for Sydney readers, the reason for a Global Anglican Future Conference.

A few months later, in March 2008, St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney hosted a meeting explaining why Sydney Bishops would not be attending Lambeth that year.

In June 2008, the GAFCON Final Statement and The Jerusalem Declaration were released at the end of that first GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem.

Ten years ago, in March 2015, Archbishop Peter Jensen gave the Richard B. Gaffin Lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His topic was “Beginning in Jerusalem: The Theological Significance of the 2008 Global Anglican Future Conference”. His address is essential viewing to understand the eternal issues involved. He explains the reasons for GAFCON, giving a glimpse into the pain involved, and the hope for the future.

Other relevant documents can be accessed from our Reference Documents and Press Releases page and in the “Anglican Communion” section of our Resources page.

All this historical background should lead us to do three things –

  1. Thank God for our leaders who value faithfulness to Christ and his Word over the lure of this world.
  2. Pray for godly wisdom for the road ahead, so that many will be saved and built up in Christ for the honour and praise of his Name.
  3. Be committed to the Scriptures and the work of the gospel.

Gafcon Reboots the Communion

In the latest Anglican Unscripted video, Kevin Kallsen and Canon George Conger at Anglican TV discuss what is happening with Gafcon and the Anglican Communion.

Click this link to go to the relevant part of their conversation.

The Anglican future is here

“In a much anticipated announcement, the leaders of the Global Anglican Future Conference who represent the majority of Anglicans worldwide have begun the re-ordering of the Anglican Communion.

‘The future has arrived,’ said GAFCON in an eight-point plan symbolically released on the day of Commemoration of the martyrdom of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, Anglican leaders who stood for biblical truth. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell reports on the Gafcon announcement, as well as reactions from Sydney.

See also (and quoted in the above article), this Media release from Bishop Peter Hayward, Commissary for the Archbishop of Sydney:

The Global Anglican Future statement on the Anglican Communion

In an initial statement responding to the announcement by Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, Bishop Peter Hayward, Commissary for the Archbishop of Sydney, said:

“We are thankful to God for the biblical faithfulness and clarity of the GAFCON primates. Their decisiveness at such a critical time gives comfort to orthodox Anglicans worldwide and supports mission with authentic, loving and truthful witness.”

Bishop Peter Hayward
Commissary for the Archbishop of Sydney (on leave)
18 October 2025.

Photo: The first GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem, 2008.

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