GAFCON Chairman’s June 2016 Pastoral Letter
Posted on June 4, 2016
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“My dear people of God,
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him! As the new Chairman of GAFCON I greet you in Jesus’ name and thank God for all of you, from north and south, east and west.
First, I want to thank my predecessor, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala who will soon retire as Primate of Kenya. Under his leadership our movement has been greatly strengthened and our second great conference in 2013 which he hosted in Nairobi showed that GAFCON was here to stay. As a Primate, I understand the very heavy burdens of our office and I thank God for my brother’s wisdom, courage and perseverance. I also assure his successor, Archbishop elect Jackson Ole Sapit, of my prayers and look forward to his fellowship in the GAFCON family.
I have been involved with GAFCON from the beginning and I am convinced that this is a movement called into being and sustained by the Lord of the Church himself. In every age, the devil is at work to destroy the Church, but we stand firm in the confidence that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The Apostle Paul tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We therefore preach the gospel, make disciples and commit ourselves to prevailing prayer, knowing that the most dangerous attack on the Church today is not persecution from the outside, terrible though that can be, but a globalised secular ideology which has established itself inside the Church.
We must therefore devote ourselves to the task of restoring the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion and this is the way to true unity. The divisions which have been so destructive in recent years have come about because some have chosen to abandon biblical doctrine and it has become increasingly clear since the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka last month that those traditionally entrusted with leadership in the Communion will do nothing to call them to repentance.
GAFCON is evidence that despite this deep failure, God has not given up on the Anglican Communion. Indeed, in his mercy and grace, he is renewing it and we look forward with great anticipation to GAFCON 2018 as a gathering of the nations for the nations as we magnify the one true God who has rescued us from futile ways and brought us into the Kingdom of his Son.
As we prepare for GAFCON 2018, we shall also press forward in developing networks, training key leaders, encouraging sound biblical theology and resourcing our supporters throughout the world. We shall also not shrink back from standing with faithful Anglicans who find themselves in jeopardy.
In the beginning, the focus of our concern was North America and we thank God that he has raised up the Anglican Church North America as a new wineskin in that continent. Now our concern is increasingly with the British Isles. A line has been crossed in the Church of England itself with the appointment of Bishop Susan Goff, of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, as an Assisting Bishop of Liverpool. The false teaching of the American Episcopal Church has been normalised in England and this divisive act has meant that the Church of Nigeria’s Akure Diocese has had no alternative but to end its partnership link with Liverpool Diocese.
At our recent Primates Council meeting in Nairobi we reaffirmed our solidarity with the leaders of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK and the Anglican Mission in England at this testing time.
When the GAFCON movement began in 2008 with our first conference in Jerusalem, my predecessor as Primate of All Nigeria and former Chairman, His Grace Peter Akinola, declared that GAFCON was a rescue mission for the Anglican Communion. His words were prophetic and they are being fulfilled. Let us be confident of all that is yet to come. Let us work and pray for the reform and renewal of our beloved Communion. Let us trust in our God who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
The Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council.”
– via GAFCON.
Does the C of E have enough vicars?
Posted on June 3, 2016
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“Today the Ministry Statistics for 2015 are released (soon to be posted on the C of E stats web page) and they tell us the stark reality of decline in clergy numbers.
On Radio 4 this morning, Rose Hudson-Wilkins suggested that this wasn’t too worrying, since we can dispense with the model of the ‘white, male, clericalised’ pattern of ministry. What she failed to highlight is that there are no sustainable models of church growth which don’t involve stipendiary (set aside, financially provided for) leadership, and the NT itself sees leadership as a gift to the church which enables the ‘building up’ of the people of God.…”
– At Psephizo, Ian Paul looks at some of the implications of the latest ministry statistics from the Church of England.
Death and the Life Hereafter in focus
Posted on June 3, 2016
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“What happens after death? Will I get a spot in heaven? Is hell for real?
We’ve all asked ourselves such ultimate questions and the Annual Moore College Lectures will dare to provide answers.
Held between August 19 and 26, ‘Death and the Life Hereafter’ will be an engaging lecture series which investigates some of the most important aspects of our existence…”
– Dr Paul Williamson is giving this year’s Annual Moore College Lectures.
A Healing Thought
Posted on June 3, 2016
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“Dear ……………..; You’ve always been a hater….. So sad for you. I won’t let you hurt my family and how dare you think it is your right to hurt others. Get educated.” This is a recent uninvited Facebook response to a friend of mine concerning the same-sex marriage plebiscite. …
– Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers wrote this piece for the local paper.
Gospel DNA – Replicating Effective Ministry
Posted on June 2, 2016
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The Centre for Ministry Development and Effective Ministry are planning a full day forum for Wednesday 20th July.
The topic for the day will be, “Gospel DNA – Replicating Effective Ministry”.
Main speakers are Richard Coekin, Paul Harrington and Tim Sims. Details and booking at Moore College’s Centre for Ministry Development.
We’re told that registration is now open.
Dominic Steele interviews Peter Jensen at the Nexus16 Conference in Sydney
Posted on June 1, 2016
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Dominic Steele conducted an on-the-spot interview with Peter Jensen at the Nexus16 Conference at Annandale on May 23.
If you didn’t see it as part of the live stream, you can watch the segment here, via the GAFCON website.
Why I sit at the front
Posted on May 31, 2016
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“I can’t understand people who choose to sit at the back of church meetings. I understand parents with small children who want the option of taking them out or whisking them off to the toilet. But everyone else?…”
– Tim Chester on an all-too-common feature of church life. (h/t Tim Challies.)
The new totalitarians
Posted on May 30, 2016
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“Same-sex marriage advocates are determined not to allow a fair debate in the lead-up to the promised plebiscite.
A frightening glimpse of their illiberal tactics came on Thursday night when protesters closed an event at the Occidental Hotel featuring Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi and former union leader Joe de Bruyn speaking in defence of traditional marriage…”
– from the Sydney Daily Telegraph. (Image via the Daily Telegraph.)
Reflections on discipleship (part 2)
Posted on May 30, 2016
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“I googled ‘What is a disciple?’ recently and got 8,370,000 results in 0.47 seconds. There’s a lot in the Christian cyber world about discipleship!”
– At Equal but Different, Lesley Ramsay continues to explore the meaning of Christian discipleship.
Hope, not Death: Euthanasia is no response to sexual abuse
Posted on May 30, 2016
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“Reforms to allow euthanasia in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria are likely to be debated this year, and Senator Leyonhjelm and the Greens want to give the Territories the power to legalise euthanasia. While suicide itself has long been legal throughout Australia – attempted suicide attracts no penalty or consequence – they want medical killing legalised. …
It is no stretch to imagine that a young woman with PTSD, a survivor of sexual abuse, might qualify for euthanasia in Australia in the future especially in an environment of over-stretched and under-funded mental health systems.”
– Read why in the full, troubling, article by Melinda Tankard Reist at ABC Religion and Ethics. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net)
Appointment of American Bishop ‘leads to split with Nigerian Diocese’
Posted on May 28, 2016
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“It has come to the attention of Reform, that the Bishop of Liverpool, The Right Reverend Paul Bayes, has appointed Bishop Susan Goff as an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Liverpool.
Susan Goff is a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Virginia in The Episcopal Church. In July 2016, she voted in favour of changing the definition and purpose of marriage according to in Canons of The Episcopal Church…”
– Here’s a media statement from Reform in the UK.
Photo: The Diocese of Virginia.
Related: Diocese of Liverpool Global Links.
Why I’m not planning my funeral
Posted on May 27, 2016
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“So, I’ve chosen all my funeral songs already” is a pretty standard refrain these days from believers. To which I always respond with the same question, “Why?” …
– The Proclamation Trust’s Adrian Reynolds hopes you know what he would want.
Church Society Lectionary videos
Posted on May 27, 2016
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Are you attending a church which uses the Lectionary, but where the preaching doesn’t really help you understand the passages read?
Or are you attending a church which uses the Lectionary, and where the preaching does help you understand the passages read?
Either way, this new video series from Church Society may be a help and encouragement.
Professor John Bainbridge Webster FRSE (1955–2016)
Posted on May 26, 2016
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“I first met John Webster in 1996 when he began as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. He was, as a friend of mine and I observed at the time, ‘quite frankly the most impressive theological voice in Oxford today’. …
Webster’s inaugural lecture as Lady Margaret Professor is justly famous. Entitled ‘Theological Theology’, he sought to rescue theology from its enslavement to the pursuit of academic credibility by adopting critical methodologies and return it to its proper vocation of attending to the triune God and all else in relation to God.”
– At his blog, Theological Theology, Dr Mark Thompson pays tribute to Professor John Webster, who died in Aberdeen, Scotland on Tuesday (24th May 2016).
The Church in the Furnace
Posted on May 26, 2016
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David Mansfield follows up on his earlier article, ‘The Church in the Fridge’.
“Sometimes our thoughtlessness and insensitivity can seem cool and indifferent. At other time, as I mentioned in the last blog, in the story of the inveterate hugger of every newcomer and regular that he could get his arms around, our behaviour can be too intense. Rather than a church in the fridge, we may come across as a church in the furnace.
While extreme examples don’t apply to most of us, there may be more subtle ways that we do things that can also come across as a bit intense to the newcomer…”
– As someone who visits many churches, David spots sub-cultural quirks you might not notice. At SydneyAnglicans.net
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…