GAFCON: The end of the Communion is not nigh
A report in Britain’s Telegraph newspaper referring to the book was headlined Hardline bishops declare Anglican split and went on to declare that they had “formally declared an end to the Anglican communion”.
That was firmly rejected by one of the GAFCON leaders, Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen, who referred to the actions in North America by churches in defiance of the Lambeth decisions of 1998 on homosexuality.
“If we’re talking about schism and the break up of the communion, that’s where it starts and that’s where the responsibility is,” Archbishop Jensen says. …
– Report by Russell Powell for SydneyAnglicans.net.
– Also hear Archbishop Peter Jensen at this morning’s press conference in Jerusalem.
(Photo: Archbishop Peter Jensen speaks to the BBC in London from the BBC’s Amman bureau – Russell Powell.)
Official GAFCON study document released
The official study document for the GAFCON Jerusalem Pilgrimage – a 102 page book to be published by The Latimer Trust – has been made available as a free download from the GAFCON website. The document will be launched at a press conference in Jerusalem later today.
The Way, the Truth and the Life is the product of the GAFCON Theological Resource Group. It’s a 484kb download in PDF format. Click here for a direct link to the PDF file.
Oregon offers woman death, not treatment
Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide. …
– Report from Baptist Press.
GAFCON leadership team travels to Jerusalem
The GAFCON leadership team and key participants in the week long conference are on their way to Jerusalem for the final preparations for the meeting beginning Sunday.
The Pre-GAFCON consultation in Jordan wound up early, and the participants move to Jerusalem today. …
– Russell Powell at GAFCON writes for SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Photo: SydneyAnglicans.net)
Key document to be released as GAFCON moves to Jerusalem
The pre-GAFCON preparatory consultation in Jordan wound up early, and the participants moved to Jerusalem on Thursday, 19th June. Hotel and meeting rooms previously unavailable in Jerusalem became available at the same time GAFCON leaders learned that previously granted permission for the Jordan consultation was deemed insufficient.
The time in Jordan was very valuable for prayer, fellowship, and networking. The group made pilgrimages to Mt. Nebo and the Baptism Site of Jesus. GAFCON Chairman Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, and Archbishop Greg Venables of Southern Cone, were for different reasons unable to be in Jordan. Both are, however, expected to play significant roles at GAFCON in Jerusalem.
GAFCON book, The Way, The Truth and the Life, will be released on Thursday, 19th June, in Jerusalem. A press conference will be held at the Renaissance Hotel on Thursday, 19th June at 19:00 hours. …
– Read the full story from the GAFCON website.
David Virtue has a report on the reason for the re-location – as does Ruth Gledhill in TimesOnline.
Bishop of London on St. Bartholomew the Great
“I read in the press that you had been planning this event since November. I find it astonishing that you did not take the opportunity to consult your Bishop. …”
The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, has made available a letter he wrote to Dr Martin Dudley, St Bartholomew the Great, where the ‘gay wedding’ service was held. Read it, and a related public letter, at Thinking Anglicans. (Photo: Diocese of London.)
Joint statement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on ‘gay wedding’
“We have heard the reports of the recent service in St Bartholomew the Great with very great concern. We cannot comment on the specific circumstances because they are the subject of an investigation launched by the Bishop of London.
On the general issue, however, the various reference points for the Church of England’s approach to human sexuality (1987 Synod motion, 1991 Bishops’ Statement Issues in Human Sexuality, Lambeth motion 1:10, House of Bishops’ 2005 statement on civil partnerships) are well known and remain current.
Those clergy who disagree with the Church’s teaching are at liberty to seek to persuade others within the Church of the reasons why they believe, in the light of Scripture, tradition and reason that it should be changed. But they are not at liberty simply to disregard it.”
– from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website. (Photo: Abp of Canterbury’s website.)
From the Files: The Limits of Fellowship
Dean Phillip Jensen’s paper, The Limits of Fellowship, was delivered at the Sydney Lambeth Decision Briefing, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, on Friday 14th March 2008.
With whom can, and should, we have Christian fellowship? And when should we withdraw fellowship? These are important questions for turbulent times in the Anglican Communion.
‘Why I blessed gay clergymen’s relationship’
Robustly heterosexual since early adolescence, unable to see that any love surpasses the love of women, and once branded by the odious Daily Mail as ‘Dud the Stud’, I may seem miscast in the role into which I have now been thrust, that of the turbulent rebellious priest who defies bishop and archbishop to bless two gay men, also priests, in their civil partnership.
Yet there is a sense in which I have been moving towards this point for more than thirty years. The 1970s shaped my thinking. …
– Dr. Martin Dudley, the Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London, explains his actions to New Statesman.
Anglican unity strained as conservatives prepare for key conference
Conservative Anglican leaders from around the world are preparing for a gathering to discuss the way ahead amid a deepening rift over homosexuality, just days after news broke about the ‘wedding’ of two male Anglican priests in Britain.
More than 1,000 Anglicans clergy and laity, including 280 bishops, many from Africa, are planning to attend the invitation-only Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem from June 22-29. …
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), a British organization… said “the power-hungry Global South and the separatist and divisive GAFCON-ites” were trying to take over the Communion.
– Report from CNSNews.com.
Billy Graham team nearly 50 years on
Many Sydney Anglicans remember with thankfulness the 1959 Bill Graham Crusade. It had a profound impact on Australia. We thought you would find this press release of interest –
An Australian and American film crew have just completed US filming for a television and DVD special on the 1959 visit to Australia of Billy Graham.
Host Karl Faase interviewed Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea and song leader and compere Cliff Barrows at ‘The Cove’, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s conference centre in Ashfield, North Carolina. Read more
Reform urges UK General Synod to ‘pull back from the brink’ On Women Bishops
Statement from Reform, Monday 16th June
Reform is urging members of General Synod to “pull back from the brink” of the “deep division” that voting for a single-clause Measure on women bishops would cause.
Rod Thomas, Reform’s chairman and a member of General Synod, said: “A refusal by Synod to provide legal provisions for those who disagree with women bishops is tantamount to a clear decision to exclude many faithful Anglicans from the Church of England. We want to urge Synod members to pull back from the brink, to recognise the deep division that will occur if no legislative provisions are made.” Read more
Reform statement on the ‘gay wedding’
Statement from Reform, Monday 16th June 2008
News of the service of blessing for the union of two male clergy at St Bartholomew’s church in the City of London last month has brought to a head the issue of whether or not the Church of England intends to remain faithful to the Bible’s revelation.
The Church of England now faces the same sort of division as the Episcopal Church of the USA. Our only hope of preventing this is for bishops to exercise swift and clear discipline. Unless this happens, the floodgates of indiscipline will open. There is no longer any room for carefully constructed statements designed to hold everyone together in an uneasy truce. Schism in the church is being caused not by orthodox believers but by clergy pursuing a liberal agenda. Read more
Glasgow Cathedral to mark Lambeth
The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth, Rector & Provost of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, shares how the cathedral will mark the Lambeth Conference –
“At the end of the service, I made the following announcement: ‘I have been giving much thought as to how we should mark the Lambeth Conference this summer. All the duly consecrated bishops of the Anglican Communion have been invited to Canterbury for a conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Well, all bar one…’”
– from Rev. Holdsworth’s blog. (Photo: Glasgow Cathedral.)
Bishop Peter Brain going to both
The Anglican Church is facing ‘a watershed month’ with two significant international conferences – and Armidale’s Bishop Peter Brain will be at both.
Bishop Brain will attend the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem from June 22-29 and the Lambeth Conference from July 16 to August 4 at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus. …
Bishop Brain – the only Australian Bishop going to both conferences – said, however, that he was going to Lambeth ‘because I feel I want to have a say’.
“Certainly, my sympathies are with the GAFCON bishops, my theological loyalties all lie in that direction,” he said. …
– Story from The Armidale Express. (Photo: Diocese of Armidale.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…