GAFCON Sunday 2022
GAFCON Sunday 2022 is coming up on June 26.
African church leader to address GAFCON Australasia
“A national church gathering of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Australasia will hear from international leaders including GAFCON General Secretary, Archbishop Ben Kwashi. …”
– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net gives a preview of the conference.
Photo: Archbishop Kwashi with Archbishop Peter Jensen in Jerusalem in 2018.
GAFCON 4 goes to Rwanda
“After two meetings in Jerusalem in 2008 and 2018, and one in Nairobi in 2013, the organisers of the five-yearly Global Anglican Future Conference have decided that the 2023 meeting will be held in Kigali, Rwanda.
The conference has been a landmark in international Anglicanism. …”
– Russell Powell writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Image: GAFCON.
Holy Week Message from Archbishop Foley Beach
“We do not pray to a God who is aloof. We pray to a God who knows what it is to suffer pain, who through the suffering of the Cross made the way of life and peace and has not abandoned us to our suffering. …”
Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, and Chairman of GAFCON, Dr. Foley Beach has released his Easter message – Read it all here.
The Challenges of Global Anglicanism #6: Episcopacy in England, Africa and North America
Church Society is continuing its series on the Challenges of Global Anglicanism:
“Lee Gatiss introduces three bishops from different parts of the Anglican world who speak about episcopacy and being a bishop today.
The bishops are: Rod Thomas, Bishop of Maidstone in the Church of England; Stephen Fagbemi, Bishop of Owo in the Church of Nigeria; and Julian Dobbs, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).”
GAFCON Australasia Conference 2022 set for August
The GAFCON Australasia 2022 Conference is planned for 15-18 August.
See the website for details and booking.
Archbishop Ben Kwashi addresses Gafcon GBE meeting
“On the evening of 22nd March, the General Secretary of Gafcon spoke via Zoom, to an audience consisting mostly of members of the Gafcon Great Britain and Europe branch, with others looking in from Africa and North America.
Interviewed by Bishop Andy Lines of the Anglican Network in Europe, Archbishop Ben began by recounting his journey of growing up in a Christian home, then making a firm commitment to following Christ at the age of 20. …”
– From GAFCON GB & Europe. Watch the video here.
Gafcon Ireland Conference 2022
Gafcon Ireland’s Conference – What is the Gospel? – was held on Saturday 26 March 2022 at St. Anne’s Cathedral Belfast.
Archbishops Ben Kwashi and Foley Beach spoke, along with the Revd. Dr. Nick Tucker.
You can see the full event here.
If you know someone who wants to understand what has been happening in the Anglican Communion, and why GAFCON is needed, this address by Archbishop Foley Beach is a very clear and helpful introduction. It’s also wonderfully encouraging to see that the Lord has not been left without a witness.
He turns to the Letter to Jude to help us understand the pagan theology which is infiltrating the Anglican Communion.
“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” – Jude 4.
Archbishop Foley Beach is introduced and answers questions about himself and ACNA here.
His “must see” address begins here. (Note: If GAFCON Ireland later edits the video, these times might not be accurate.)
Related: these items from our Resources section:
- Communion in Crisis: the Way Forward for Evangelicals – by Archbishop Peter Jensen – (PDF files) 1. Have we a place? 2. Have we a plan?
- A Crisis in Koinonia – by David Short, then Rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy.
- Are we stronger than He? (PDF file) – by David Short, then Rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy.
- The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns – by Dr Mark Thompson.
- The Limits of Fellowship – by the then Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen.
‘Take a stand’ – says Michael Youssef
“The problems in America all started in the pulpits … when the authority of the Scripture ceased – with it came the confusion that we are facing now.” – Dr Michael Youssef.
From The Pastor’s Heart –
“‘Stand for Christ. Stand for the truth. And let the chips fall where they may.”
Senior Pastor of Atlanta’s Church of the Apostles, Dr Michael Youssef, has a prophetic call to share with evangelical pastors today. It is to not give up trust in the scriptures in the face of contemporary challenges on sexuality.
Dr Youssef tells the story of leading his church to depart the US Episcopal Church when the denomination moved against biblical teaching on sexuality, and the way God has blessed them since.
In light of all this, Dr Youssef quotes 1 Samuel saying, ‘Those who honour me I will honour.’
Speaking in terms of the Sydney Anglican Church, Dr Youssef says, ‘I know this diocese, I love this diocese, and I know that God will continue to bless this Diocese even more… when you take a stand.’
Dr Youseff says, ‘Everyone I know who honoured the Lord and took a stand, God blessed that.’”
– Very encouraging. Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.
Do watch it all. Dr. Youssef also speaks of his first days in Sydney and those who had a huge influence in his life – including Donald and Marie Robinson, Moore College, and learning Biblical Theology.
Praying for GAFCON 4
Today’s prayer item from GAFCON –
“Preparations are beginning for Gafcon 4 (21-28 May 2023).
Later this month, Daniel Willis (Gafcon Operations Manager) and Paul Mirrington (Conference Administrator) plan to visit Kigali.
Pray for safe and successful travel and blessings on their meetings and arrangements.”
Peter Jensen gives thanks for Melvin Tinker
From GAFCON:
After learning of the death of Melvin Tinker, who went to be with his Lord on 23 November 2021, Archbishop Peter Jensen paid tribute to Melvin saying,
“Melvin spoke powerfully at Gafcon 2018 in Jerusalem. He had a gift for analysing the culture from the perspective of the gospel and calling on his listeners to live for Christ alone. He was very courageous and made it clear that loyalty to Jesus was the chief commitment we should all make, even if it means leaving our denomination. For him, the word of God was the light by which we should live. His testimony remains to inspire us.”
Melvin contributed to the Lift Up Your Hearts series of devotions in April this year and an interview ahead of that series can be heard here: Melvin Tinker Everyday Global Anglicans Interview.
Continue to uphold Melvin’s family at this time.
Melvin Tinker
Unwelcome news from Anglican Mainstream in the UK –
“We are sorry to report the death of Melvin Tinker early this morning, from a particularly virulent form of cancer.
Melvin was Vicar of St John’s Newland, Hull, for many years, and known more widely as a speaker and author.
In recent years he developed a unique prophetic analysis of Western secularism, saw its influence on the church, and expressed the urgent need for renewed faithfulness and commitment to biblical truth. This led to him leading his congregation out of the Church of England, into a new Anglican jurisdiction under Gafcon.
I also knew him as a warm hearted friend with a great sense of humour. He will be sadly missed, especially by his wife Heather and his children and grandchildren.
Further tributes will follow shortly.”
Melvin contributed the Lift Up Your Hearts devotions for GAFCON in April 2021.
His book That Hideous Strength: A Deeper Look at How the West was Lost has been a great help to many.
Update: Julian Mann at Christian Today has more.
Anglican Bishop Julian Dobbs on Proclaiming the Gospel in Albany, New York
“The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany this month opened the door to the practice of same-sex marriage within the diocese, a departure from what was until recently permitted there. Albany was the last remaining domestic diocese in the Episcopal Church to proscribe the use of same-sex rites that were effectively required following the 2018 General Convention.
In March I reported how some Albany clergy had begun seeking canonical residency within the Anglican Church in North America, the first public movement of clergy in New York’s Capital District since the resignation of Bishop William H. Love earlier that winter. The Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, which already has congregations in upstate New York, received a new congregation near Albany and began making plans for a regional ministry network emphasizing church planting. That has now grown to four churches, plus an additional church received into the neighboring Anglican Diocese in New England.
This week I spoke with Diocese of the Living Word Bishop Julian Dobbs about unfolding ministry opportunities in New York’s Capital Region and how the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) hopes to be a faithful and growing witness to the gospel there. …”
– At Juicy Ecumenism, Jeffrey Walton speaks with Bishop Julian Dobbs.
Related:
Bishop Julian Dobbs interviews Bishop William Love.
Gafcon Lawyers Network
Today’s Prayer Point from GAFCON is for the Gafcon Lawyers Network –
“The Gafcon Lawyers Network, led by Dr Robert Tong, has developed valuable skills and expertise in establishing legal structures to help faithful Anglicans remain within our global Anglican fellowship.
Pray for Robert and others as they work on legal solutions in several regions where the established church is irreversibly compromised by false teaching.”
Encouragement to pray for the Gafcon Theological Education Network
“The Gafcon Theological Education Network is led by Dr Peter Jensen. The purpose of this network is to give every bishop in the Anglican Communion access to excellent theological education.”
– Today’s topic for prayer from GAFCON.
(Photo: Archbishop Ben Kwashi with Archbishop Peter Jensen at GAFCON 2018.)