Roadmap for a reset communion — with Paul Donison and Glenn Davies
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“The chair of Gafcon Laurent Mbunda and chair of Global South Justin Badi Arama are to meet to work out a roadmap for the resetting of the Anglican Communion.
Global South Anglicans have endorsed the Former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies call for the communion to be reset on biblical foundations. The Global South have called on their Primates to work with the GAFCON Primates Council and other Orthodox leaders to reset the communion on its biblical foundations as a matter of urgency.
In other Anglican news:
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The Church of England General Synod is meeting in York. They are considering whether to press go to move towards the next stage of endorsing their bishops’ proposals for same sex blessing. Orthodox Anglicans united under a banner called The Alliance are calling for structural differentiation in England (essentially a new province). The Bishop of Oxford has hit back telling The Alliance to take a running jump.
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Orthodox Anglicans from across Australasia gathered in Brisbane last week. New daughter churches are being planted within the fledging diocese of the Southern Cross.
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A new Archbishop appointed to lead the Anglican Church of North America. Steve Wood will replace Foley Beach.
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A collective meeting of orthodox leaders in Cairo has met for a week on ways that faithful christians might be able to reset the Communion. The Global South Anglicans met in Cairo the week before that and voted to call for the chair of the Global South Justin Badi Arama to work with the chair of Gafcon to reset the communion.
Our guests are new General Secretary of Gafcon Paul Donison and new Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross (and former Archbishop of Sydney) Glenn Davies.”
– Dominic Steele speaks with Bishops Paul Donison and Glenn Davies.
- Strong words for the Church of England Bishops from Bishop Davies.
- Bishop Donison reminds us of what happened in the Diocese of New Westminster and then in The Episcopal Church.
- Encouraging news from last week’s GAFCON Australia conference.
A prayer to Global Anglicans from Brisbane
“The Building the Future Conference began its final day being led in prayer by the young people who were part of the Future Leaders program.
The young people took the stage to lead the session and then broke the adults into groups, each around a ‘future leader’. …”
– from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.
See also:
The Brisbane Collects – GAFCON Australia:
“The 2024 Gafcon Australasia Conference concluded today with the launch of not one, but three, Brisbane Collects. The prayers were drafted this week with input and responses from all delegates. Together, The Brisbane Collects address our Lord, petition our Lord and express trust in our Lord who will answer these requests according to his will. …”
Two stories on the GAFCON Australasia Conference
At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell has posted two further reports on the GAFCON Australasia Conference in Brisbane –
“We need to show people the beauty of being disciples of Christ”
Archbishop Stephen Than: “I thank God for creating the GAFCON movement which emerged from the painful struggle of our orthodox brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion. Without GAFCON, the Anglican communion will fade away gradually. The essence of Anglicanism will disappear, the essence of christianity will disapear from the Anglican Church.”
The Global Anglican Future Colin
“ When Colin Buchanan took the stage at the GAFCON Australasia gathering in Brisbane he was cheered by the crowd and then led through the acronym that many people have trouble remembering.”
GAFCON Australasia Conference 2024 underway
“Starting with a children’s song and an Anglican confession in a large Baptist auditorium in Brisbane before an audience of people from across Australia, guests from the Pacific and South East Asia and including sixty under 18s, signals the comprehensiveness of GAFCON Australasia’s second conference. …”
– The GAFCON Australasia Conference is underway, and Russell Powell has this report.
GAFCON Australasia plans a youth-focussed conference
“GAFCON Australasia’s second conference has set its sights firmly on the future of the church in Australia, for the first time welcoming youth to be fully involved in the movement.
GAFCON, the Global Anglican Future Conference, began as a meeting in Jerusalem in 2008 and grew into a movement for reform and renewal in the Anglican Church across the world. The Australasian branch held its first conference in Canberra in 2022, where it announced the formation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross to cover congregations that had to withdraw from the Anglican Church in various parts of Australia because of teaching that went against the Bible. …”
– Russell Powell reports at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Photo: GAFCON Aust 2022 conference in Canberra.
Gafcon Australasia Conference 2024
The Gafcon Australasia Conference is coming up in Brisbane at the start of July.
GAFCON Australasia Conference 2024
The GAFCON Australasia Conference is coming up 1-4 July 2024 in Brisbane.
GAFCON Australia prayer request
“From GAFCON Australia: Eugenie Harris is one of a number of Gafcon supporters who are part of an Israel study tour. From the relative safety of Jerusalem, she has asked that we join in prayer …”
– Read it at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Photo: Jerusalem, GAFCON 2008.
New Beginnings Church, Lakelands — latest to join Diocese of the Southern Cross
Today’s prayer request from GAFCON:
“The Diocese of the Southern Cross (Australia) welcomed another new church recently: New Beginnings Church, Lakelands, Western Australia.
Thank God for the courage and conviction of the congregation. Their rented building is already too small: please pray for a suitable space that will enable growth and service in the community.”
Sydney diocese declares ‘breach of fellowship’ with Australian Church
“The synod of the diocese of Sydney has carried several motions urging changes to the way in which the diocese interacts with the Anglican Church of Australia. …
One motion carried at the Sydney diocesan synod noted ‘with godly grief the deep breach of fellowship in the Anglican Church of Australia exposed at the eighteenth session of General Synod on matters of doctrine and human sexuality’. It requested the synod’s Standing Committee ‘to consider our future approach as a Diocese to meetings of the General Synod’…
Speaking at a pre-synod dinner, Dr Davies, who is the first bishop of the diocese of the Southern Cross, said that, if Sydney diocese really cared for Australia, the ‘best clergy’ and lay people should be sent to dioceses where there were ‘welcoming bishops’. It also needed to support, through the Gafcon diocese, ‘hurting Anglicans’ in dioceses led by ‘revisionist bishops’.”
– Muriel Porter writes in The Church Times – also at Virtueonline.
Photo: Sydney Synod 2022.
Related:
Bishop Glenn Davies’ Address at the ACL Synod Dinner 2022
The Rt Rev Dr Glenn Davies spoke tonight, 12 September 2022, at a packed ACL Synod Dinner.
His topic? “Where to from now? The place of Sydney Anglicans in Australia”.
Dr Davies, former Archbishop of Sydney, is Deputy Chair of Gafcon Australia and also Bishop of the newly formed Diocese of the Southern Cross.
Speaking of the Anglican Church of Australia, he said there is a fracture in unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity – a tear in the fabric.
Take the time to hear his very informative address:
or download the 11.5MB / 23 minute mp3 file. (right click on the link to Save As.)
An Anglican “lifeboat” for Australia
“We have recently seen the announcement of the activation of a new ‘extra-provincial’ Anglican diocese in Australia.
The ‘Diocese of the Southern Cross’ (‘DSC’) is not a part of the official ‘Anglican Church of Australia’ (‘ACA’). It has been set up to provide an ecclesiastical home for congregations who are Anglican by theology and conviction but find themselves unable to accept the authority of bishops of the ACA who do not accept the teachings of the Bible, especially on the subject of the Biblical views of marriage. …”
– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster gives some legal background to the new Diocese of the Southern Cross.
GAFCON Chairman reminds Justin Welby why the Diocese of the Southern Cross is needed
After the creation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross last month, Archbishop Foley Beach wrote to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to clarify what was happening.
His letter has now been published by the Anglican Church in North America (PDF file):
“Your Grace,
Greetings in the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord!
I assume that you have heard by now of the creation of the Gafcon extra-provincial diocese in Australia called the Diocese of the Southern Cross, and Archbishop Glenn Davies’ appointment as the bishop. I am writing to remind you that this action is not done because of rebellion or defiance, but out of a genuine pastoral concern and care for the clergy and congregations whose consciences will not allow them to go along with the unbiblical and immoral practices allowed and encouraged by bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia. As Archbishop Rowan Williams encouraged a structure in North America so “we can keep these fellow Anglicans in the fold,” we will continue to offer safe harbor for those in Provinces whose leaders walk away from the moral teaching of the New Testament, the Church Fathers, and our Anglican heritage.
Some may unfairly slander us as schismatics, but you know that in reality it is those who depart from the established teaching of the Church who are causing the division (Epistle of Jude 18, 19). I implore you to call us all to repentance and to return to the Apostles’ Teaching of the Bible.
In Christ Jesus,
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Chair, Gafcon Primates Council.”
Traditional Anglicans are Going by The Book
“A group of clergymen has broken away from the established Anglican church in Australia to form the ‘Diocese of the Southern Cross.’ Former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies is its first Bishop. The announcement was made at the recent Gafcon Australasia Conference held in Canberra.
What’s it all about? Well, to be clear, I’m not an authority on doings within the Anglican church. I’m just a parishioner. But I have enough understanding to have a view on the issue at stake. …”
– Writing in Quadrant, Peter Smith looks at the reasons for the formation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross.
Presbyterians extend hand of fellowship to Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross
Dr Peter Barnes, Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, has written a letter to Dr Glenn Davies, Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross.
The Clerk of the General Assembly of Australia has sent a copy to all Ministers and Session Clerks, adding,
“The Moderator-General has requested that this letter be forwarded to you with the request that it be circulated amongst the members of your congregation.”
Here’s the letter:
22 August 2022
Dear Glenn,
Your many Presbyterian friends have watched recent developments in the Anglican Church in Australia and are delighted at your appointment as the Bishop of the Southern Cross Diocese. This is a strong stand for biblical truth, and we trust the Lord preserves and keeps you, and uses you greatly.
We are most appreciative of the kindness shown to us, especially concerning theological education in NSW in the 1970s, and also the use of Anglican church buildings for worship and would be more than happy if we could help out in any way by facilitating the use of our properties and making them available to you and your flock.
In the meantime, be assured of our prayerful good will and eager interest in what the Lord is doing through you.
Kind regards in Christ
Rev. Dr Peter Barnes
Moderator-General,
Presbyterian Church of AustraliaEndorsed heartily by previous Moderators-General: Rev. Dr John Wilson, Rev. David Cook, Rev. David Jones, Rev. Professor Allan Harman, Rev. Bruce Christian, Rev. Robert Benn, and Rev. Bob Thomas; and Rev. David Burke (Moderator-General Designate).
– PDF file.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…