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.
GAFCON Chairman responds to the statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York
A response to the statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York of 29th January 2014
This week, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York sought to remind the leadership of the Anglican Communion and the Presidents of Nigeria and Uganda of the importance of friendship and care for homosexual people.
Christians should always show particular care for those who are vulnerable, but this cannot be separated from the whole fabric of biblical moral teaching in which the nature of marriage and family occupy a central place.
The Dromantine Communiqué from which the Archbishops quote also affirmed (Clause 17) the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10 which states that ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture’ and that the conference ‘cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions’.
Yet earlier this week, the English College of Bishops accepted the recommendation of the Pilling Report for two years of ‘facilitated conversation’ because at least some of the bishops could not accept the historic teaching of the Church as reaffirmed in the Lambeth resolution.
Indeed, in making the case for such a debate, the Pilling Report observes ‘In the House of Lords debate on same sex marriage, the Archbishop of York commended that the Church needed to think about the anomalies in a situation where it is willing to bless a tree or a sheep, but not a faithful human relationship.’ The anomaly only exists of course if it really is the case that a committed homosexual union can also be Christian.
The good advice of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York would carry much more weight if they were able to affirm that they hold, personally, as well as in virtue of their office, to the collegial mind of the Anglican Communion. At the moment I fear that we cannot be sure.
Regrettably, their intervention has served to encourage those who want to normalize homosexual lifestyles in Africa and has fuelled prejudice against African Anglicans. We are committed to biblical sexual morality and to biblical pastoral care, so we wholeheartedly stand by the assurance given in the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution that those who experience same sex attraction are ‘loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.’
May God in his mercy grant that we may hold to the fullness of his truth and the fullness of his grace.
The Most Rev’d Dr Eliud Wabukala
Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya
and Chairman, GAFCON Primates Council.
30th January 2014
Re-posted from the GAFCON website.
There is urgency about the gospel
“There is urgency about the gospel and it must be proclaimed in word and deed, in season and out of season and it is the same gospel, whether in strife torn nations such as South Sudan or in the affluent but morally disorientated nations of the developed world.
We cannot therefore allow our time and energy to be sapped by debating that which God has already clearly revealed in the Scriptures…”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, has released a pastoral letter to members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
Condolences on the death of Archbishop Johnson of West Africa
Archbishop Dr Eliud Wabukala, Archbishop of Kenya and Chairman of GAFCON has released this statement after the unexpected death of the Primate of West Africa, Archbishop Dr Solomon Tilewa Johnson. Read more
A Canterbury Tale
“The archbishop of Canterbury means well and there is no doubt that his heart is with GAFCON in many ways. He told the delegates that he wants its aims to be those of the Communion as a whole and there is no reason not to believe him. But if he is going to occupy the place that the Anglican Communion assigns to him and exercise the kind of influence for good that he undoubtedly wants to, he will have to get with the programme, as the Americans say.
GAFCON is not just one more Anglican organisation, like the Mothers’ Union, that can be flattered and pacified by an occasional nod from the hierarchy. It is a renewal movement that wants to make its agenda that of the church as a whole, and it will expect Justin Welby to nail his colours to the mast. It is a wonderful opportunity for him to assume the leadership of the Communion and use the GAFCON base to bring about the kinds of changes that he wants to see, but will he take it?”
– In the Editorial of the latest issue of Churchman, Gerald Bray writes about GAFCON, the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury. PDF file – direct link.
Archbishop Wabukala defends GAFCON
On Tuesday night, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans spoke at The Ridley Institute in South Carolina.
He spoke on “In Defense of GAFCON” with reference to The Thirty Nine Articles.
His address deserves wide distribution and is most encouraging. Archbishop Wabukala’s address begins 16 minutes into the video recording. (The address runs for about 45 minutes, followed by the question time which begins, after a break, at 1 hour 15 minutes into the recording. Also worth watching.)
Update: The text of his address is now available (PDF) on the GAFCON website as well as at The Ridley Institute.
Here’s a quote:
“I am so thankful to God that Christianity as moralism was not, on the whole, the gospel brought from England and the West to Africa and what we now call the Global South during the great missionary initiatives of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although the GAFCON movement coined the phrase ‘Confessing Anglicans,’ Provinces like mine which are the fruit of missionary endeavors have always been ‘confessing.’ For many of us the writings of John Stott and J.I. Packer simply were normal Anglicanism and too many of us assumed that the rest of the Communion thought the same way!
However, in the past thirty years it has become clear that the West has finally exhausted the capital of its Christian heritage. The combination of secularization and the growth of global media and communications has laid bare a fundamental theological divergence between Western secularized moralistic Anglicanism and confessional Anglicanism. The resulting strains have seriously damaged the Communion — many faithful orthodox Anglicans have been marginalized or even ejected from the formal structures of their Churches. Sexual immorality has not only been tolerated but held out to be holy and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other formal instruments of Communion are no longer able to fulfill their basic purpose of gathering the Communion. …”
Another Reflection on GAFCON 2
“GAFCON was likened to ‘a taste of heaven’, with believers from many nations, races, colours and languages worshipping the one Lord together. The daily pattern was praise and prayer, a morning Bible exposition from the book of Ephesians, followed by plenary lectures and seminars.…”
– Andrew Atherstone gives his perspective on GAFCON 2013.
Church Society report on GAFCON
“Last week I had the privilege to attend the Global Anglican Futures Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. My experience of this conference of over 1300 bishops, clergy, and laity from around the Anglican world was moving, positive, and optimistic. …”
– Church Society Director Lee Gatiss shares his experience of GAFCON 2013 in Nairobi. GAFCON Media photo of the Bishops’ photo by Andrew Gross, ACNA.
GAFCON Final Day highlights
This video of GAFCON Final Day (Saturday) highlights has now been posted.
It includes the reading of The Nairobi Commitment.
Nairobi Communique and Commitment
The GAFCON 2013: Nairobi Communique has been released. It’s an important document.
Here’s the Conclusion –
“We are conscious of many pressures on faithful gospel witness within the church, but equally conscious of the great need the world has to hear the gospel. The need for the GFCA is greater now than when we first met in Jerusalem in 2008.
We believe the Holy Spirit is challenging us and the rest of the Anglican Communion to remain faithful to our biblical heritage; to support those who suffer as a result of obedience to Christ; to deepen the spiritual life of our churches; and to respond to anti-Christian pressures with a renewed determination to spread the gospel.
The seriousness with which we take our mission and our fellowship will be reflected in the way individual churches make the GAFCON vision their own, and in how we resource the work the GFCA seeks to initiate.
We invite all faithful Anglicans to join the GFCA.”
Read the Nairobi Communique and Commitment on the GAFCON website – or download it as a PDF document.
See also the highlights video for Friday.
And see the GAFCON Nairobi Photo Album.
(Photo: Delegates celebrate the adoption of the Communique and Commitment on the final day of GAFCON 2013. Photographer: Russell Powell.)
Phil Ashey reports from GAFCON
In his latest “Anglican Perspective”, the American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey speaks with great hope about the future of GAFCON and its part in the Great Commission.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…