Investiture of new ACNA Archbishop to be streamed live
The Service of Investiture of Dr. Foley Beach as Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America will be streamed live on the web from the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia.
It’s at 7:00pm Thursday 9th October 2014 US Eastern Time – that is, 10:00am AEDT Friday 10th October. If you’re keen, you can watch it here.
GAFCON backs English renewal
“GAFCON understands the challenges that faithful Anglicans face in England, according to the Chairman Eliud Wabukala.
The Archbishop made the comment in a message to the recent RENEW conference, organised by the groups Reform, Church Society, and the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE).
Archbishop Wabukala, who chairs the GAFCON Primates Council, recently issued a pastoral letter in which he said “AMiE is authorised by the GAFCON Primates to work within and, where necessary, outside the structures of the Church of England as a missionary society”.
The conference committed delegates to “work for a nation of healthy, local Anglican churches throughout England.”
In particular, it committed to looking at opportunities for church planting, training and to “to contend together for the faith once delivered to the saints by developing a joint approach to working within our diocese /region given the theological convictions and teaching of the diocesan leadership.”
The conference also approved a doctrinal statement which began “Knowing that unity is a work of the Holy Spirit which can only be established through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we rejoice in the fellowship of all those who subscribe to the 2008 Jerusalem Declaration.”
The Jerusalem Declaration was agreed to by the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in 2008.”
– from GAFCON.
Related:
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter September 2014.
The Unravelling of the Anglican Communion
“From 2003 to 2013 — it took just ten years for ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada to unravel the Anglican Communion…”
– A. S. Haley at The Anglican Curmudgeon, provides a quick overview of the last ten years.
Related: The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns – by Dr Mark Thompson, March 2008.
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter September 2014
From the September 2014 Pastoral Letter from GAFCON Chairman Archbishop Eliud Wabukala –
“In the twenty first century, it is becoming clear that we must see the once missionary nations of the West as now themselves mission fields. The fact that the United Kingdom came close to breaking up last week is a symptom of the disintegration that follows when a once common Christian faith has been lost and I want to appreciate the work of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) who are sharing with other mission minded Anglicans in England as they meet for the ‘ReNew’ Conference this week.
AMiE is authorised by the GAFCON Primates to work within and, where necessary, outside the structures of the Church of England as a missionary society. In my message of greeting to the conference I said
‘We understand the challenges that faithful Anglicans face in England. At GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi we recognised that the focus of the struggle for biblical faithfulness has shifted from North America to England. The temptation to dilute the message of Jesus Christ and compromise with the surrounding culture is strong, so it is vital for the gospel in England, and also for the world, that you continue as a beacon to the revealed truth of the Scriptures. The salvation of people from hell is at stake. So nothing could be more important.’…”
– Read it all here. (Photo: Archbishop Wabukala welcoming the Archbishop of Canterbury to Nairobi last year.)
CESA Presiding Bishop Desmond Inglesby to retire
P
residing Bishop of REACH South Africa (formerly known as CESA), Bishop Desmond Inglesby announced his early retirement –
“It is with great sadness that I need to inform you that, for medical reasons, I have decided to retire early. This means that I will be stepping down as Presiding Bishop with effect from the end of September.”
Read more at the REACH-South Africa website – and please pray for Bishop Inglesby and for the work of the gospel in South Africa.
GAFCON Chairman to assist at investuture of ACNA Archbishop
‘It has been announced that the Chairman of GAFCON, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, will assist at the Service of Investiture for the new ACNA Archbishop.
The service will take place on October 9, to formally mark the beginning of the Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach’s [pictured] ministry as Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a denomination of more than 112,000 members spanning Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The historic transition is the first for the new denomination, as its founding leader, The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, retired in June 2014 at the conclusion of a five-year term.
Dr Wabukala, who is also Archbishop of Kenya, has been invited to help lead the service, which will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Oct 9th at the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia and will be attended by 8 global archbishops representing more than 50 million Anglicans.”
– from GAFCON.
‘GAFCON in talks with New Zealand parish’
“The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is in talks to offer alternative episcopal oversight to a breakaway New Zealand congregation, The Church of England Newspaper has learned…
A spokesman for the GAFCON secretariat in Sydney confirmed there had been “initial contact” with the parish leaders…”
– story from Anglican Ink. Please continue to pray for West Hamilton Community Church (as it is now called) and the Pastor, Michael Hewat. (Photo: Affirm.)
Bishop Edwin Ngubane
“Many Sydney Anglicans are grieving the death of a very dear brother in Christ.
Rt Rev Edwin Ngubane, the Area Bishop for Johannesburg and Pretoria with REACH (Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa, formerly known as CESA) and Rector of Christ Church Hillbrow in the heart of Johannesburg’s red light district, died on Sunday 29th June. Edwin was 44. He succumbed to a series of strokes following many months of battling TB and pneumonia.”
– Very sad news via David Mansfield. It would be good to pray for Edwin’s wife, Genevieve, and family, and for the church at Hillbrow.
Tribute from Gorge Whitefield College Principal Mark Dickson.
Related: Rescued From Hell in Hillbrow. (Photo: REACH South Africa.)
Communiqué from the GAFCON Primates Council, April 27 2014
The GAFCON Primates Council has been meeting in London, and at the conclusion of the gathering released a Communiqué, which addresses current issues in the Anglican Communion.
On The Church of England:
“We are particularly concerned about the state of lay and clerical discipline. The House of Bishops’ guidance that those in same sex marriages should be admitted to the full sacramental life of the church is an abandonment of pastoral discipline. While we welcome their clear statement that clergy must not enter same sex marriage, it is very concerning that this discipline is, apparently, being openly disregarded.”
Read the full Communiqué here.
GAFCON Easter Message 2014
“What a wonderful truth we celebrate at Easter! The bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead assures us that our sins are atoned for and death is defeated. This is the reason we can be confident that despite failure, frustration and the things that perplex us, God’s saving purposes will certainly be fulfilled…”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, with the GAFCON Easter Message 2014.
GAFCON Chairman calls for Repentance, not Indaba
“The need for repentance, without which we cannot have true unity, is obscured when the authority and clarity of Scripture come into question.
Sadly, this is the inevitable result of the Continuing Indaba project. By assuming that all differences are matters of context and interpretation, it becomes a way of affirming a false gospel. Much of its funding comes through the Episcopal Church of the United Sates.
We see here the repetition of a subtle and ancient strategy. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent says to Eve ‘Did God really say…’ (Genesis 3:1) and the consequences are tragic. By grace, we have been rescued from the power of death and sin. So how then can we once more set ourselves above its truth, we who are a made a new creation through hearing and obeying the Word of God?
I do therefore need to make an important clarification. Contrary to the claim made on the website of the London Anglican Communion office that there is a Kenyan ‘Resource Hub’ for Continuing Indaba, neither the Anglican Church of Kenya nor any of its learning institutions are participants in this project. We are strongly committed to the work of reconciliation within the Church and within civil society, but the gospel ministry of reconciliation is given to us by God and must not therefore compromise the Word of God. …”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council writes in his March 2014 Pastoral Letter. Read it all here.
Diocese of South Carolina ‘joins Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans’
“The Diocese of South Carolina has been formally recognized as a member in good standing of the Global Anglican Communion.
On Saturday, March 15, the Diocese’s 223rd Annual Convention unanimously accepted an invitation to join the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA) and temporarily enter into a formal ecclesiastical relationship known as provisional primatial oversight from bishops in the Global South. Read more
GAFCON Chairman’s February 2014 pastoral letter
“When we met for GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi last October, we drew inspiration from the living tradition of the East African Revival, a movement of the Spirit that led the churches of this region back to a new love for the Lord Jesus and a new obedience to the Scriptures as the Word of God.
The authenticity of the Revival was demonstrated in times of persecution, including Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin. Earlier this month my brother Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, gathered with thousands of people at Mucwini, Kitgum, for the 34th commemoration of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum who was murdered at the hands of Idi Amin on 16th February 1977.”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala’s full letter may be read at the GAFCON website.
Primate of West Africa’s funeral to be broadcast on the web
“Members of the global Anglican Communion have been invited to watch the funeral of Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa Archbishop S. Tilewa Johnson, online.
Anyone with access to the Internet will be able to watch the funeral and requiem mass which is being streamed live on Friday 21 February.”
– from the Anglican Communion News Service.
Related: Condolence message on the death of Archbishop Johnson. Photo: ENS.
Broadside from Canterbury and York
“The English Archbishops of York and Canterbury have fired the equivalent of a broadside into the respective Anglican Provinces of Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, and naturally it has to do with the Western hot button issue of homosexuality. …
When the head, nominal though he be, of the Anglican Communion lectures and cautions any Province, the implications and threat cannot be missed. It is odd that this lecture and caution would be directed toward the orthodox Anglicans of the Communion and not against the heterodox Anglicans both in North America and indeed within the Church of England itself…”
– Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, looks at the extraordinary intervention during the week.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…