Love Matters – an introduction and response

Martin Davie in the UK responds to the publication of Love Matters,

“Love Matters is the final report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Families and Households. The purpose of the report is summarised in the following words from its first chapter:

‘In a time of immense uncertainty in everyday life two key questions need to be urgently addressed:

1. How can we best support every individual and every family to flourish in our complex and ever-changing society?

2. What kind of society do we want to live in?

These challenging questions are at the heart of the Commission on Families and Households, established by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in Spring 2021. …

The first thing that has to be said is that there is much that is good in this report …”

– however he identifies four areas of concern:

– Read the response here.

New National Director for CEEC

From The Church of England Evangelical Council:

“CEEC has announced the appointment of Rev. Canon John Dunnett as its new National Director. Dunnett succeeds Bishop Keith Sinclair, whose two-year term came to an end at the end of April 2023 and who has now retired.

Dunnett assumed the role of National Director at the beginning of May 2023. He joined the CEEC in 2022 as Director of Strategy and Operations and previously was the General Director of Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS). …”

– More from CEEC.

Southern Cross, May – June 2023 now available

The May – June 2023 issue of Southern Cross, the magazine of the Diocese of Sydney, is now available.

Copies can be picked up at local churches, and you can also download it here.

From Russell Powell:

“Southern Cross this month has all anyone needs to know about GAFCON IV, including the Archbishop writing on Why GAFCON matters, as well as 

Bishop Stuart Bell interviewed on GB News

The Anglican Network in Europe’s recently-consecrated Bishop Stuart Bell spoke with Calvin Robinson on GB News last weekend.

While both attended GAFCON IV, they have differing opinions on the way forward. Bishop Bell spoke of the impending collapse of the Church in Wales.

GAFCON IV and the revolution in world Anglicanism

“Lambeth Palace needs to ‘wake up and smell the coffee.’ As an English Anglican, my experience at GAFCON was deeply sobering. The churches to which the vast majority of Anglicans belong feel completely betrayed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Church of England as their mother church. …”

– Martin Davie writes at Christian Today.

Photo: GAFCON IV.

A brief guide to the Coronation Service

“The Coronation Service for each monarch is put together using set elements, some of which are legally required, and others that can modified or updated over time. The structure of the service draws on the Old Testament, and has developed over many centuries of use in England, and later the UK. The last significant overhaul, especially of the oaths, came for the coronation of William III and Mary II in 1689 …

At the coronation, he does not become king. Rather he is acknowledged as King, not by the state, but by the Church and in the eyes of God. The promises he makes are not that he will rule, but how he will rule. The service is a reminder throughout that he is only King by the will of God and with the consent of the people. He is not our ultimate authority, and he himself is subject to another king, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. …

It is notable that in the Proper Preface, Charles will be referred to as ‘the Defender of thy Faith’, not as he once hoped, ‘Defender of Faiths’.”

– At Church Society’s website, Ros Clarke provides some helpful background to the Coronation coming up this weekend.

See also the Liturgy to be used in the Coronation Service.

Image: Royal.uk.

Trekking through Tanzania

“On a trip to honour veteran CMS Missionary Helen Hoskins and to visit Sydney’s Anglican Aid projects, Archbishop Raffel is travelling through Tanzania.

Soon after the final session of GAFCON IV in nearby Rwanda, the Archbishop was on his way to a series of engagements in the Diocese of Mara. …”

– Story from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

GAFCON 101 – everything you need to know

From David Ould:

“I wrote this brief article last week for my church newsletter. It’s a basic primer on what GAFCON is, how it came about, what happened at Kigali and why it was necessary.…”

– Read here.

Photo: Bishop Glenn Davies at GAFCON IV in Kigali.

A 3 minute report on GAFCON IV to play in your church

From The Pastor’s Heart.

Download link just above the video on that page.

What now after Canterbury’s leadership implosion – with Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel

Just released from The Pastor’s Heart – while visiting Bunda Bible College in Tanzania, Dominic Steele speaks with Archbishop Kanishka Raffel.

“Sydney’s Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has responded to Gafcon’s Kigali Commitment which says the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s continued leadership of the Anglican Communion is entirely indefensible.

Leaders representing 85% of the Anglican Communion say they have no confidence in the Archbishop of Canterbury or the other instruments of the Anglican Communion.

In his first interview, since the release of Gafcon’s Kigali Communique, Archbishop Raffel sits down with Dominic Steele while on a tour of Anglican Aid projects in rural Tanzania.”

Also much encouraging news on the impact of Anglican Aid.

The FAQs: Anglican Group Calls on Church of England’s Leader to Repent

“…their example is showing Christians around the globe what it looks like to remain faithful to Christ in an age of compromise.”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter addresses one of his ‘explainer’ articles to outline what GAFCON is doing and why.

Photo: GAFCON IV in Kigali, cotters GAFCON.

“The church world has changed because of GAFCON IV”

George Conger shares his experiences of GAFCON IV at Anglican Unscripted.

Spoiler: Very positive and encouraging.

The Kigali Commitment — the statement from GAFCON 4

“After a horrible few months in the Church of England, in which we feel that we have been punched in the stomach and kicked in the teeth by our own bishops, it’s really great to be here in Rwanda, where we experience the warm embrace of brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. …

As Kanishka Raffel told us, ‘the GAFCON Primates and GAFCON branches have been attacked and ridiculed and criticized but they have stood up and stood alongside those who were defamed and isolated for the sake of holding to the truth of God’s word.’ But it is clear that we stand together in unity here. How good and pleasant that is! (Psalm 133)…”

– Read all of Lee Gatiss’ report from GAFCON IV at the Church Society website.

A tale of two bishops: What happens when apostasy reigns?


“Go back half a century and the most established church of the Protestant establishment was, without question, the Episcopal Church. Never massive in numbers, that historic denomination sat atop the so-called ‘seven sisters’ of the old Protestant mainline (Episcopalians, Congregationalists [now United Church of Christ, UCC], Presbyterians [PCUSA], United Methodists, the Disciples of Christ, northern Baptists, and Lutherans [ELCA]). Those historic churches had outsize importance in shaping the culture. The word ‘mainline’ was not used inaccurately.

Fast forward to the present and all those denominations have been in precipitous decline for decades. The culture has been secularizing and those churches basically decided to secularize with it. …”

– In his latest article, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr Albert Mohler looks at the legacy of Bishop Frank Griswold and Bishop Gene Robinson.

Statement from Lambeth Palace, 21 April 2023

“Responding to ‘The Kigali Commitment’ issued by GAFCON IV today, a spokesperson for Lambeth Palace said:

‘We note that The Kigali Commitment issued by GAFCON IV today makes many of the same points that have previously been made about the structures of the Anglican Communion. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has previously said, those structures are always able to change with the times – and have done so in the past. The Archbishop said at the recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Ghana (ACC-18) that no changes to the formal structures of the Anglican Communion can be made unless they are agreed upon by the Instruments of Communion.’ …” (emphasis added)

– Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

And from the GAFCON IV Kigali Commitment, representing perhaps 85% of global Anglicans:

“Public statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the Church of England in support of same-sex blessings are a betrayal of their ordination and consecration vows to banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture. …

We have no confidence that the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the other Instruments of Communion led by him (the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meetings) are able to provide a godly way forward that will be acceptable to those who are committed to the truthfulness, clarity, sufficiency and authority of Scripture. The Instruments of Communion have failed to maintain true communion based on the Word of God and shared faith in Christ.

All four Instruments propose that the way ahead for the Anglican Communion is to learn to walk together in ‘good disagreement’. However we reject the claim that two contradictory positions can both be valid in matters affecting salvation. We cannot ‘walk together’ in good disagreement with those who have deliberately chosen to walk away from the ‘faith once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). The people of God ’walk in his ways’, ‘walk in the truth’, and ‘walk in the light’, all of which require that we do not walk in Christian fellowship with those in darkness (Deuteronomy 8:6; 2 John 4; 1 John 1:7).

Successive Archbishops of Canterbury have failed to guard the faith by inviting bishops to Lambeth who have embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture. This failure of church discipline has been compounded by the current Archbishop of Canterbury who has himself welcomed the provision of liturgical resources to bless these practices contrary to Scripture. This renders his leadership role in the Anglican Communion entirely indefensible. …” (emphasis added)

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