GAFCON Chairman’s September 2015 Pastoral Letter
“…it has become clear over the last twenty years that the Communion is becoming a source of weakness as Churches which have rejected the truth as Anglicans have received it spread false teaching, yet continue to enjoy full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Our GAFCON movement believes in a much richer vision. We seek to unite. We recognise and embrace those who sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, not only those who persevere in the face of violent persecution but also those who persevere despite being marginalised and even forced out of their traditional spiritual homes by the rise of false teaching in the Church. To them we say ‘You are not alone’ as we join together to make Christ known.…”
– GAFCON Chairman Eliud Wabukala writes in his latest Pastoral Letter.
What brings us together
“Early this week Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, announced that he was inviting the leaders of the Anglican Communion to gather, reflect and pray over the Communion’s future. We later learned through his ‘aides’ that he was open to the Communion moving to a looser federation-like structure. Ruth Gledhill, a long-time reporter on Anglican events, gave a hearty endorsement of this possibility …
While I like Ruth Gledhill’s writing, I don’t share her enthusiasm for the Archbishop’s ‘vision.’ Why can’t I get on board with it and just ‘let go and let God?’ Because that would mean I ‘let go’ of the truth. …
What brings us together as Anglicans isn’t shared mission or endless indaba.”
– At the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashley sees problems with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s hope of holding the Anglican Communion togther.
ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach on the proposed Primates’ gathering
The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America, Foley Beach, writes about his invitation to the Primates’ gathering in January:
“The challenges facing the Anglican Communion over the last couple of decades are no secret, and it is time to face them.”
Full text:
“Many of you have heard the news that I have been invited to attend a gathering of the Primates of the Anglican Communion this coming January.
I did indeed receive a personal call from Archbishop Justin Welby inviting me to attend and participate.
If my fellow GAFCON Primates accept the invitation, and I am expecting that they will, then I have also pledged to attend. The challenges facing the Anglican Communion over the last couple of decades are no secret, and it is time to face them. Previous meetings of the Communion, from the 1998 Lambeth Conference to the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, gave clear direction for maintaining and restoring order within the Communion. Unfortunately, these resolutions were not followed which further divided the Communion. The resulting situation is one in which the fabric of the Communion continues to be torn.
I am thankful for the way in which GAFCON has proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ, and has been seeking the renewal and restoration of the Communion.
I ask your prayers for myself, as well as the other GAFCON and Global South Primates, as we continue to seek to evangelize, proclaim the Gospel, and work for the restoration of the Anglican Communion’s life and witness.
In Christ,
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach.”
– From The Anglican Church in North America.
GAFCON calls for ‘truth on the table’
Here’s a Media Statement from GAFCON concerning the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a meeting of Anglican Primates in January 2016:
“the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter.
They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.”
Read the full text below:
“Media Statement
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a meeting of Primates in January 2016 shows that he has recognised the deep concerns of faithful church leaders around the world, including those belonging to the GAFCON movement who represent the majority of the global Communion’s membership.
GAFCON began with the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 as an initiative to restore the integrity of Anglican faith and order as the Communion descended into deepening crisis.
We are now a global family standing together to restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion with a strength and unity that comes from our common confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, not merely from historic institutional structures.
It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.
Consistent with this position, they have previously advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.
It is therefore of some encouragement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has opened the door of this meeting to the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach. He has already been recognized as a fellow primate of the Anglican Communion by Primates representing GAFCON and the Anglican Global South at his installation in Atlanta last October and he is a full member of the GAFCON Primates Council.
In the end, our confidence is not in any structural reorganisation, useful though it may be, but in the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in the abiding truth of the Bible. That is what empowers us and this is the assurance we bring to our broken world.
September 17, 2015 AD.”
Read it on the GAFCON website.
GAFCON primates lead in corruption fight
“GAFCON’s most senior leaders are taking a prominent role in the fight against corruption in Africa.
The Chairman of the Primate’s Council, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, was appointed late last year to chair Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee.
Among other measures, the committee will run nationwide public education campaign aimed at changing Kenyans’ attitude towards corruption.…”
– from GAFCON.
GAFCON Chairman’s July — August 2015 Pastoral Letter
“I am writing to you on the day when the Church has traditionally celebrated the Transfiguration. The veil that covered Jesus’ glory in his earthly ministry is briefly drawn aside before he begins his journey to Jerusalem and death upon the cross. While Jesus prayed, Peter, James and John slept, but we must not judge them harshly. Climbing mountains is hard work! In fact, they were so deeply asleep that the reality being revealed was not immediately clear to them, yet the impact was lasting.
Years later, Peter recalls this moment on the mountain as he writes to spiritually sleepy Christians who are in danger of forgetting the truth of the gospel and have become complacent about false teachers…
The problem TEC in particular continues to pose for the rest of the Communion was highlighted by another but less reported resolution from its 2015 General Convention, A051, ‘Support LGBT African Advocacy’ which mandates that Church to spread its ideas to Africa…”
– GAFCON Primates’ Council Chairman, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, sends his latest Pastoral Letter.
West Hamilton Parish and the wilderness
“One of our harshest critics here, a former Diocesan Manager, opined in the Waikato Times that we have consigned ourselves to the religious wilderness.
I can’t help thinking that’s not a bad place to be…”
– The Rev. Michael Hewat, Pastor of West Hamilton Community Church, writes about his experience of being forced out of the Anglican Church of NZ. (PDF file)
Published back in March on the Latimer Fellowship website.
TEC decision ‘a mistake with serious consequences’ — GAFCON
“The recent decision of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, to remove reference to gender in the marriage canon and introduce rites for conducting ‘same-sex marriage’, is a mistake with serious consequences.
The problems for the rest of the Anglican Communion have already been noted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But the fundamental reason that it is a mistake – and the reason why it is so destabilizing – is that it is a significant departure from Holy Scripture. This is a departure which Christians are not at liberty to make…”
– Read the full statement from Archbishops Eliud Wabukala and Nicholas Okoh, the Chairman and Vice Chairman, of the GAFCON Primates Council.
Abp Wabukala photo: ACNA.
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter, June 2015
Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, writes:
“My dear brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It is a strange thing that in the Church we can see both extraordinary strength and extraordinary weakness at the same time.
The strength of Christian faith has been revealed in a most profound way by members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston following the shooting of nine of its members during a bible study…
In contrast, there are too many examples in the Church of weakness in the face of the subtle challenges of cultural and financial pressure. In Africa we are still too dependent in our thinking on outside agencies. This makes us vulnerable to relationships designed to buy influence and damages the integrity of our witness, while in the more economically developed world there is too often a fear of being out of step with secular culture.
In this context I cannot avoid mentioning a very disturbing event in England…”
– Take the time to read it all, including a quote from Archbishop Peter Jensen at last week’s FCA meeting in Belfast.
GAFCON: A moment and a movement — report on Belfast meeting
“A meeting of church leaders from across Ireland has been challenged to remain biblically faithful but to ‘dare to do new things’ in the face of a ‘new spiritual darkness’ in the west.
The General Secretary of the Global Anglican Future Conference, Dr Peter Jensen, who addressed the event at Belfast’s Willowfield Church, told the story of GAFCON’s beginnings in the landmark conference of Bishops, clergy and lay leaders in Jerusalem in 2008, through to the Nairobi meeting in 2013 and the movement’s unifying work today across the Anglican world…”
Update:
Here’s a report from The Belfast News Letter.
and a correction to that report, from Philip Robinson GAFCON Operations Manager.
GAFCON: A Moment and a Movement
This event, coming up on Friday June 19th, will be of interest for readers within travelling distance of Belfast.
It’s being organised by the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (UK & Ireland), and is a discussion on the future of global Anglicanism – with:
The Rt Rev Dr Peter Jensen – General Secretary, GAFCON
The Rev Canon Andy Lines – General Secretary, Anglican Mission in England
Mr Philip Robinson – Operations Director, GAFCON and the Global FCA.
The Anglican Future Conference — A Report
A report by Rev Caitlin Hurley, ACL councillor.
In late March, 460 Anglicans gathered in Melbourne for the inaugural Anglican Future Conference.
The conference was a joint initiative of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia (FCA-A) and the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC). Read more
GAFCON Chairman’s Pentecost Letter 2015
“One of the great lessons of the East African Revival was that a genuine movement of the Spirit will impress on our hearts that the Scriptures really are the inspired and authoritative Word of God.
We cannot separate the Spirit from the Spirit-inspired Scriptures. The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to enable Christians to grow in biblical holiness and to equip them with gifts to build up the church in a hostile world.
It is therefore a tragedy when Christian leaders whose minds have been captured by the spirit of the age commend the values of the world to the Church and claim they are led by the Spirit of God. …”
– Read the full letter from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala here.
(Photo: Diocese of Kenya.)
Former SAAB showroom home to Baton Rouge Anglican church
“At first glance, a Cadillac dealer’s showroom may not seem like a ‘mission outpost’ of Christianity, but that’s exactly how Holy Cross Anglican Church was described by a visiting bishop when he blessed the congregation last Sunday evening…”
– Story from The Advocate, Baton Rouge. Photo: Gerry Lane Cadillac.
GAFCON — threat, option, or only future?
“Two Archbishops walk into a bar for a relaxing drink after a hard day’s work in committee. One of them, in placing his order, starts a conversation with the man serving the drinks. He beckons to his purple shirted companion and over the next few minutes, the two of them share the Gospel with the bartender, and lead him to faith in Christ. Later both prelates testify that for them, this was the highlight of the conference.
Thankfully its not impossible to imagine that this story involved Most Reverends Welby and Sentamu, but in fact it was related by one of the GAFCON Primates who had been told the story by his two fellow Archbishop-evangelists at their meeting last week…”
– Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream asks if GAFCON is a threat to the Anglican Communion.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…