Watch Bishop Alfred Olwa’s opening Bible Exposition from Jerusalem
Bishop Alfred Olwa gave the opening Bible Exposition at the start of GAFCON 2018 yesterday.
Watch it here. (Photo and caption: GAFCON Communications.)
GAFCON grows – conference doubles
“Not to choose to embrace Jesus is to choose to reject Jesus.” This stirring call to Jesus-centred mission, and biblical faithfulness came from Ugandan Bishop Alfred Olwa at the start of Global Anglican Future Conference 2018 in Jerusalem today.
The meeting is the third GAFCON and came 10 years after the first gathering which established a movement to promote bible-based, mission-focussed ministry in the Anglican Church.
The conference is unique because unlike other Anglican Communion gatherings lay people participate, as well as clergy and bishops.
GAFCON 2018 is meeting in the Jerusalem International Convention Center in order to fit the two thousand delegates – almost twice the number who met in 2008. …
– Read today’s report from Jerusalem by Russell Powell.
GAFCON described as ‘ecumenical gathering’ by Anglican Communion News Service
“The third international conference organised by the Gafcon movement has begun in Jerusalem. Organisers say that 2,000 people are taking part – media reports suggest that 230 are from Uganda.
The ecumenical gathering attracts a large number of Anglicans. Many in Jerusalem are now members of independent churches set up in opposition to official Anglican Churches and Provinces. …”
– Here’s a rather sad news report from the Anglican Communion News Service.
GAFCON livestream from Jerusalem
The GAFCON livestream is available while sessions are in progress.
The urbane voice likely to capture the CofE
“As GAFCON gathers in Jerusalem, a sermon on June 7th preached at a church in Clapham in south-west London would probably not be deemed worthy of an agenda item or even of much passing discussion. But actually it is highly significant in the battle for biblical orthodoxy in the Church of England.
For the sermon by the Revd Dr Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields on London’s Trafalgar Square, entitled ‘Not until you give me your blessing’, aptly illustrates why the LGBTQI++ movement is so close to capturing the Church of England as well as the English alphabet. …”
– Julian Mann in the UK writes of “the urbane, erudite-sounding voices of apparent Anglican moderation”.
Less than two days to #Gafcon2018 !
Less than two days to #Gafcon2018 ! from GAFCON Official on Vimeo.
In this pre-GAFCON2018 video, Dominic Steele speaks with Charles Raven in Jerusalem.
“The Gafcon Jerusalem 2018 conference starts Monday morning at 8:30am Jerusalem time. Delegates are arriving in Jerusalem from 50 countries around the world.
Charles Raven is Membership Development Secretary for Gafcon and is speaking here with Dominic Steele about the hopes and dreams for this week in Jerusalem.
Livestream the conference from Monday at gafcon.org/live or fb.me/gafconference.
For posts related to Gafcon’s 2018 Jerusalem conference please use the hashtag, #gafcon2018”
Catch the action from Monday, 7:00am Jerusalem time = 2:00pm AEST.
‘Belonging and renewal in our Anglican Communion’
“… I sometimes encounter confusion about who is and isn’t in the Anglican Communion.
This was something that Archbishop Justin spoke about during the CAPA meeting. Let me make this clear: there are 39 provinces around the world which are part of the Anglican Communion. The latest to be added to our global family was Sudan in July 2017.
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) is not a province of the Communion. And nor is the newly-formed Anglican Church in Brazil (ACB). Why? The answer is very simple: it is necessary to be in communion with the See of Canterbury in order to be part of the Anglican Communion. …”
– On the eve of GAFCON 2018, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, ‘Secretary General of the Anglican Communion], makes clear who is, and who is not, a part of the Anglican Communion, in his understanding. The leaders of GAFCON, representing something like 80 percent of church-attending Anglicans worldwide, would doubtless beg to differ.
Related:
GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen interviewed by Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen.
The Anglican Church in Brazil and the Anglican Communion – Dr. Peter Jensen:
“… Of course the new Anglican Church in Brazil is an authentic part of the Anglican Communion. It is not a matter of recognition by Canterbury. But, like the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Brazilians invite Canterbury to recognise spiritual reality, and to use its influence to help align the old instrument of the Anglican Communion with the spiritual reality and new growth of the Communion. Will this happen?”
The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil changes its canons to permit same-sex marriage – Anglican Communion News Service, referring to the liberal denomination which is ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’.
Pray for GAFCON 2018 Jerusalem
From GAFCON, a request for prayer to our heavenly Father –
“Please pray with Gafcon for our Jerusalem 2018 Conference between 17-22 June.
Please set aside time to pray for each daily need if you can. Read more
Anglican Unscripted – Interview with Archbishop Peter Jensen, June 2018
Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen interviewed GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen about GAFCON 2018 and the future of the GAFCON movement.
Embedded above – or watch here. Most encouraging.
J. D. Greear elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention
“This afternoon the Southern Baptist Convention—the largest Protestant body in the United States and the largest Baptist denomination in the world—elected 45-year-old pastor J. D. Greear as its 62nd president, the youngest man to hold the office in 38 years. …”
– Justin Taylor has some background at The Gospel Coalition.
Proclaiming Christ to the nations
“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the momentous resolution concerning human sexuality adopted by the 1998 Lambeth Conference of bishops from around the Anglican Communion.
In essence, Resolution I.10 reiterated our long-held doctrine that only marriage is the God-ordained place for sexual relations. Hence one of the opening paragraphs of Resolution I.10 states:
[This conference], in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
The phrase “in view of the teaching of Scripture” is critical. It is the teaching of God’s word that must direct our lives, and despite its counter-cultural perspective in today’s society …”
– Archbishop Glenn Davies writes on the eve of GAFCON 2018 – at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Preparing for GAFCON in seven contentions
In the run up to GAFCON 2018 this week, Dr. Stephen Noll makes a clear case:
“…Lambeth 1998 was the last true Lambeth Conference, with Gafcon as its successor, and … the 2007 Primates’ Meeting at Dar es Salaam was the last true Primates’ meeting convened by Canterbury …”
Read his introduction below –
“I have been preparing for Gafcon for a long time – a quarter century at least, although I did not know it at the time. Last year I began to assemble and edit my writings in a book, The Global Anglican Communion: Contending for Anglicanism 1993-2018.
Then about eight weeks ago, I took up blogging, which was something of a challenge for a digital dinosaur like myself. Among my blog posts, I have labeled seven Contentions. As I pack bags to leave for Jerusalem, I would like to sum up the logic of these Contentions.
I am going to begin at the end with Contention 7: Lambeth Speaks Plainly (That Was Then). I have been privileged to attend three major Conferences in 2013, 2008 and 1998. And the Lambeth Conference in 1998 is where it all began. Passage of Lambeth Resolution I.10 on Human Sexuality was an historic event in three ways:
1. It articulated a clear moral case on the pressing issue of homosexual practice by stating that God ordained two and only two ways of faithful sexual relationships: marriage of one man and one woman and abstinence for those not married. This moral stance was based on the authority of the Bible and hence homosexual practice, gay ordinations, and same-sex “unions” are “incompatible with Scripture” and could not be advised.
2. It was a Resolution written and promoted by the bishops of the majority Global South churches, who overcame the machinations of the Communion bureaucracy. For these churches, Lambeth I.10 continues to be a non-negotiable statement of Anglican orthodoxy, even as the Lambeth Establishment has tried to insert “faithful same-sex partnerships” as a third alternative.
3. It was the culmination of “enhanced” conciliar governance by the Primates, who were authorized to monitor the response of the Episcopal Church and others who defied the Resolution. When the Archbishop of Canterbury reneged on the Primates’ resolutions in 2007, the Global Anglican Future Conference resulted, led by a Gafcon Primates’ Council.
For this reason, I have argued that Lambeth 1998 was the last true Lambeth Conference, with Gafcon as its successor, and that the 2007 Primates’ Meeting at Dar es Salaam was the last true Primates’ meeting convened by Canterbury, which has been succeeded by the Gafcon Primates. …”
– Read the full post by Dr. Stephen Noll, in which he summarises the contentions he has articulated these last two months. (Also in his new book.)
New Archbishop of Toronto
While the soon-to-retire Archbishop of Toronto, Colin Johnson, is “personally opposed to assisted death on theological and religious grounds”, his newly elected successor, Dean Andrew Asbil, apparently has a somewhat different view.
From Canada’s The Globe and Mail back in April 2018, a story on a couple who availed themselves of Canada’s provisions:
“The Brickendens are at the vanguard of patients and families who are creating new rituals around dying in Canada – the kind of rituals that are only possible when death comes at a previously appointed hour. …
Dean Asbil prayed, while Mozart, Bach and Scottish folk songs wafted through the room. …”
Globe & Mail link via the Anglican Samizdat.
Photo courtesy St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto.
Lambeth speaks plainly (that was then)
“The year 1998 was the last time the Lambeth Conference spoke plainly. That it did so was something of a miracle.
The Communion Establishment had carefully prepared an agenda whereby the innovations of homosexual ordinations and same-sex ‘blessings’ in the Episcopal Church would be received with ‘good disagreement’ from those in the Global South who were, frankly, unaware of the ‘development’” of doctrine and practice in the West. These plans were foiled by an alliance of Western conservatives who had seen where the sexuality agenda was leading and courageous Global South leaders who stood up and said No.
I was present at Lambeth 1998 and wrote this evaluation of its key Resolution I.10 shortly thereafter. …”
– At his new blog, Contending Anglican, Dr. Stephen Noll takes us back to Lambeth 1998.
Update – Dr Stephen Noll’s website has moved – here’s the new link.
Related:
Dr. Paul Barnett, then Bishop of North Sydney, was also a participant at Lambeth 1998. He shared his personal reflections of Lambeth at the ACL Synod Dinner that October, and made the text available for our website.
His contemporary account of the Lambeth meeting makes fascinating and sober reading –
“…the Third World is now where most of the world’s Anglicans are. By a country mile. And it is certainly where most of the Bible-loving, creed-believing Anglicans are. Many of the Europeans did not seem to know what they believed, while quite a few were radical liberals. One eloquent African chided us Europeans at the tension-filled plenary on sexuality: ‘You sent us missionaries, but you no longer believe yourselves what your missionaries taught us.’
Compared with the contingent from Britain, the US, Canada and Australia-NZ, how impressive those Africans were. … I want to say, they shone like stars in the night. … But they see the essentials of the faith with a crystal clarity which few in the west have. …
When we came to the Plenary Session in the last few days, which was brilliantly chaired by Robin Eames [Bishop of Armagh], our resolution was pointedly and cleverly amended by a number of African bishops. Harry Goodhew made an excellent speech, pointing to sinners like Zacchaeus and the woman taken in adultery who were shown mercy by Jesus, but who changed their behaviour. George Carey was on the platform, but not as chairman. He very visibly raised his hand at all the critical amendments, which I believe he had helped draft. Before the final vote was taken on the amended resolution he rose and made a strong speech. The now-amended resolution passed with a 7 to 1 landslide majority. I am glad that the final statement expressed the need for loving and compassionate ministry to those caught in the homosexual web. …
We give glory to God for answered prayer in the Lambeth decision which could not have been predicted during the conference. But what were the human factors? …”
– Read it all here. (in the older section of our website)
The Kuala Lumpur Statement, 1997. (in the older section of our website)
GAFCON – Uniting and Reforming: Part 4 – Bishop Tito Zavala
“In the Anglican Church of Chile, we are very expectant for GAFCON 2018.
This event is much more than just a conference, it is the manifestation of a living movement of Anglicans, led by God, which seeks to change the world through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
We return to Jerusalem together this year, but what does this mean for us? …”
– GAFCON has published part 4 of their ‘Uniting and Reforming’ reflections from GAFCON participants. This one is from Bishop Tito Zavala.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…