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.”

“God has called us… to stand for the true gospel witness”

“The Global South grouping of the Anglican Communion is moving away from being based on geography to being founded on doctrinal orthodoxy.

This is a significant move for the group, which – at its first meeting in 1994 – gathered churches from all parts of the Southern Hemisphere including Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell reports on last month’s 8th Global South Conference and its Communiqué (“The Eighth Trumpet”) from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

Victorian Religious Exceptions Amendment Bill introduced

“As previously foreshadowed (see my analysis of the proposals when first announced here) the Victorian government has introduced a Bill into the Parliament of that State seriously limiting the religious freedom of religious bodies and individual Victorian citizens.

The Equal Opportunity (Religious Exceptions) Amendment Bill 2021 (Vic) was introduced into the Legislative Assembly on October 27 and the second reading was moved on October 28.

The Bill is a serious attack on the religious freedom of Victorians, especially to send their children to faith-based schools reflecting a religious world-view.

The Bill amends the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) (“EOA”), which is of course Victoria’s main anti-discrimination legislation. One of the primary ways that Australian law provides protection for religious freedom at the moment is by way of “balancing clauses” that recognise that this right is an important internationally protected human right, which is not always simply subjected to other rights. But these clauses are regularly characterised as “exemptions” or “exceptions”, and when this is done they are painted as reluctant concessions to the most important claims (not to suffer discrimination). Hence the apparent plausibility of removing these “exceptions”.…”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor Neil Foster takes a close look at this “serious attack on the religious freedom of Victorians”.

What will the new Church of England General Synod look like?

In a guest post at Psephizo, Peter Ould, Church of England priest, consultant statistician and amateur psephologist, shares his insights into the makeup of the new Church of England General Synod –

“… orthodox laity actually form a larger group than revisionist laity, and given that the electorate knew quite explicitly what they were voting for, this puts to bed finally the misconception constantly spun by those wanting a change in the church’s teaching that the average person in the pews supports their position. In reality, the representatives of those in the pews were more likely to back someone who took a traditional stance than someone who wanted to revise the church’s teaching.”

– Very interesting. Read it all here.

Image: Church of England.

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.)

A Hope and a Future for Anglicans

“It is an understatement that Anglicanism is not always neat and tidy. The very nature of our decision making in councils, as ancient as it may be, is messy. Things don’t always go as planned. Sometimes people don’t respect what the whole decides together in scripture, prayerful study and discussion, and waiting on the Lord’s timing. Sometimes a part demands that the whole adjust to it and runs ahead rather than waiting on the counsel of the whole church.

That seems to be at the heart Bishop Michael Nazir Ali’s decision to leave the Church of England to join the Anglican Ordinariate in the Roman Catholic Church. …

We have included a few articles in today’s weekly newsletter responding to his departure, but I want to offer some good news with some cautious optimism. On Sunday, October 17, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) issued their Communique (“The Eighth Trumpet”) after a four-day conference on Zoom attended by 90 delegates from 16 Provinces and one diocese (Sydney), including the Anglican Church in North America.

In the words of the Communique, the purpose of this GSFA gathering was to “address the unchecked spread of revisionism” among all the Churches of the Anglican Communion by enacting a “covenantal structure” that will “enhance ecclesial responsibility” and mutual accountability among the churches of the GSFA …

Now there is an ecclesial body, a Communion to which the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) can bring distressed, biblically faithful, orthodox Anglicans from heterodox dioceses and provinces for membership. GAFCON can authenticate and recognize those in distress and gather them for membership in GSFA—just as St. Paul gathered Gentile converts into churches that enjoyed communion with the established church in Jerusalem under St. Peter.”

– In his weekly newsletter from the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashey sees hope for a genuinely orthodox Anglican communion.

He mentions the just-concluded 8th Global South Conference and its Communiqué (“The Eighth Trumpet”) from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

Statement from Gafcon GB and Europe (GBE) on Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali

“The Trustees of Gafcon GBE (formerly known as Gafcon UK) give thanks to Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali as he steps down from the role of President, which he has held since the formation of the regional Gafcon branch in 2016. …

While respecting Bishop Michael’s decision to join the Roman Catholic church, we remain committed to the vision of a renewed, biblically orthodox, global Anglicanism here in Britain and Europe under the ANiE leadership of Bishop Andy Lines and those that we stand with under the Jerusalem Declaration.”

– from a statement issued several days ago by the Trustees of GAFCON GBE.

NSW voluntary assisted dying bill delayed until 2022 after referral to Upper House committee

“Opponents of the voluntary assisted dying bill in New South Wales have been accused of playing politics after a vote on the legislation was delayed until next year…”

– Report from ABC News.

Joint Mission in Guinea-Bissau

“The Anglican Church in Brazil has been developing missionary work in Guinea Bissau for two years.

Recently, Bishop Marcio Meira was sent from Brazil to view the work on the field and to ordain Rev Justino, the first-ever native to the diaconate. …”

– Great encouragement in this brief video from Guinea Bissau and GAFCON.

Save the date: Gafcon Australasia Conference 2022

Save the date for the Gafcon Australasia Conference 2022: August 15-18 in Canberra.
More details coming soon.

Statement from the GAFCON Chairman on Michael Nazir-Ali

Gafcon Chairman Archbishop Foley Beach has released this statement –

“To the Gafcon faithful,

I am writing to you today to share the news that Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has joined The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. We are deeply grateful for Bishop Michael’s ministry over the years on behalf of the Gafcon movement. He is a stalwart defender of Christian orthodoxy, and my own faith has been enriched and encouraged by his witness and teaching.

Michael is a gift to the global Church, and he has shared with me his willingness to continue to assist the Gafcon movement in any way that might be suitable. While we are still exploring what this might look like, in the near term we look forward to continuing to partner with him in support of the suffering church. Please continue to keep Gafcon, the Nazir-Alis, and the whole Church in your prayers.

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Chairman, Global Anglican Future Conference
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America.”

Source: GAFCON.

Michael Nazir-Ali converts to Roman Catholicism

“Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and one of the best-known Anglican clerics, could be ordained as a Catholic priest as early as next month.

The conversion of such a high-profile intellectual would be an enormous boost for the Catholic Ordinariate, set up by Pope Benedict XVI to receive Anglicans into the Roman church. …”

– via Damian Thompson at The Spectator.

“Bishop Nazir Ali was received into the Catholic faith on September 29, the feast of St Michael and All Angels by Monsignor Keith Newton, the former Anglican who now leads the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham…”

– The Catholic Herald.

Michael Nazir Ali received into the full communion of the Catholic Church – Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Do the Archbishops know that Leicester Diocese is About to Close 234 Parishes?

“This Saturday, 9 October, Leicester Diocesan Synod is expected to vote on a scheme to replace Leicester’s 234 parishes with 20-25 ‘Minsters’, each with at least four leaders. This would reduce Leicester Diocese’s stipendiary clergy posts from 100 to 80 by 2026.

The scheme’s proposal document suggests that paid positions would mostly go to stipendiary clergy, ‘but our aspiration is for increased lay ministry’. Each Minster would have a new Operations Director, introducing another layer to Leicester’s diocesan bureaucracy (recently estimated at 179). …”

– Emma Thompson writes at English Churchman about plans to change the structure of one Church of England diocese. Other are looking at similar changes.

(Link via Anglican Mainstream.)

Archbishop Welby explains why he wears Pope Paul VI’s pastoral ring

“Wrapping up an interview with Vatican News, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, showed those present the pastoral ring he is wearing. It’s not just any ring, but a very important ‘fragment’ of the history of ecumenism. Indeed, it was given by Pope Paul VI to the then Anglican Primate, Michael Ramsey, on March 23, 1966, during his historic visit to Rome. …