Details to follow. Amen. GAFCON IV also gathered leaders from several Anglican realignment jurisdictions not recognized by Canterbury, including the Anglican Network in Europe,[44] Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand, Diocese of the Southern Cross,[38] Free Church of England and REACH-SA. "[4], The GAFCON Final Statement produced at the first conference recognises the Archbishop of Canterbury for his historic role in the Anglican Church but denies that his recognition is the cornerstone of Anglican identity. The Global Anglican Future Conference ( GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV / AIDS and poverty. Greetings from Kigali, Rwanda, where the fourth Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) met from 17-21 April 2023, bringing together 1,302 delegates from 52 countries, including 315 bishops, 456 other clergy and 531 laity. Please confirm your acceptance to be contacted by email: Copyright AMiE 2023. [31] In 2018, the primatial bishops of the GAFCON member churches agreed to a moratorium on further ordinations of women to the episcopate. At present, the House of Bishops is reflecting on conversations across the Church on same-sex issues. A clear and concise statement of identity had been published in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration. Stuart Bell will be consecrated in March. It is likely that all the bishops in the Church in Wales will be in favour. It was produced based on input from all 1148 delegates. Resolution 1:10 sets out teaching on marriage, as being between a man and a woman, and teaching on abstinence outside marriage. whereby we call you Father: He is shredding the last remaining fragile fabric of the Anglican Communion. The third GAFCON was held in Jerusalem, Israel in 2018. We stand by the founding principles and doctrines of the church which are rooted in Scripture as affirmed in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration which states: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. St Martins in the Field, London. The Free Church of England ( FCE) is an episcopal church based in England. [28], The third Global Anglican Future Conference was held in Jerusalem, Israel, from 17 to 22 June 2018.[29]. We are passionate about planting, strengthening and partnering for the salvation of many and the glory of God. There is no provision in English law for same-sex marriage in Church of England churches. 'GAFCON' stands for Global Anglican Future Conference. The Global Anglican Future Conference was held near Jerusalem in June 2008 at the initiative of theologically conservative African, Asian, Australian, South American, North American and European Anglican leaders who opposed the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions by member churches of the Anglican Communion. We are passionate about planting, strengthening and partnering for the salvation of many and the glory of God. - says Chilean Primate Hector Tito Zavala", "Bishop Rennis Ponniah and the Joy of Communion Together", "Some have asked where am I, and am I part of the Anglican Communion? We do not want to see any further dividing walls! Their vision is to have 25 congregations by 2025 and 250 congregations by 2050. 21/04/2023 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. Gafcon is a global movement of millions of Biblical Anglicans who are committed to proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations. A Letter to the Churches published at the end of the assembly criticised not only the Anglican Communions informal constitution and instruments, but also expressed concern that the gospel was not being preached with clarity or conviction (News, 29 June). About GAFCON | GAFCON The ACNA was formed as an alternative church structure for those disaffected by the official Anglican structures in the United States and Canada. There are many Evangelical Anglicans who do not believe this, and, despite the tensions in the Communion, are committed to walking together, whether more closely or at a distance. [30], At the conclusion of the conference, it was announced that in early 2019, Archbishop Foley Beach, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, will succeed Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, as Chair of GAFCON's Primates Council; and Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, former archbishop of Jos in Nigeria, will succeed Archbishop Peter Jensen, former archbishop of Sydney, as GAFCON's General Secretary. It sets out teaching on homosexual practice. After the Primates gathering in January 2016, for example, Archbishop Welby spoke of different parts of the Communion walking together, some at a distance. "Remaining Faithful" - Evangelical CofE Bishops respond to GAFCON [2] The declaration upheld the Holy Scriptures as containing "all things necessary for salvation", the first four Ecumenical councils and three Creeds as expressing the church's rule of faith, and the Thirty-Nine Articles as authoritative for Anglicans today. GAFCON is here to gather faithful Anglicans around the world to contend for the truth as passed down from the apostles. The statement also called for the formation of "A Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Missing the point: GAFCON UK, acrimony, and Lambeth I.10 . We look for the prayer and financial support of Anglicans around the world who long for a clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ as Lord. Overview [ edit] This movement that involves secession from local dioceses or provinces and yet seeks to remain within the Anglican Communion has been criticised by opponents who claim that, under historic Anglican polity, such a move is not possible. In 2017 the Gafcon Primates (representing more than 60 Million Anglicans worldwide) authorized the creation of a new mission into England because unbiblical practices had already been occurring in many dioceses of the Church of England. GAFCON Response to Church of England General Synod Diocese of the Mid [29] The Church of Uganda has ordained women as deacons since 1973 and as priests since 1983. We believe that an important part of serving in mission together, is listening to and learning from the perspective of our brothers and sisters around the world. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Gafcon UK | GAFCON His advice to the organisers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored. This practice is claimed to be in continuation of a line of apostolic succession going back to the earliest days of the Church, but it does not establish an unqualified right to recognition and spiritual authority. AMiE is part of the Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), which was itself authorised as an Anglican structure in 2020 by the Archbishops of Gafcon. Revisionists within the Communion would have the church move away from its Bible-based orthodox roots. Resolution 1:10 is one of over 90 Resolutions approved by the Lambeth Conference in 1998. Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans - Wikipedia The theme of the conference was Proclaiming Christ Faithfully to the Nations. You describe a number of issues as being "violations" of Lambeth 1:10. Church Times 2023. GAFCON IV and the revolution in world Anglicanism - Christian Today In 2015, Rod Thomas (a member of the executive of AMiE) was consecrated the provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members of the Church of England. Whether Anglicans are all right is an apt question. All rights reserved. Almighty God, Although GAFCON did not decide to create a formal schism in the Anglican Communion, it expressed plans to set up new ecclesiastical structures, particularly within the liberal provinces of North America, to cater for conservative Anglicans. Ugandan anti-LGBTQ law deepens Anglican Church rift on gay rights Your name and address will appear alongside your letter. All rights reserved. Letters for publication should be sent toletters@churchtimes.co.uk. give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, [13] The fellowship recognizes the Jerusalem Declaration, written at the 2008 GAFCON meeting, as a "contemporary rule." GAFCON: The Declaration of Faith: Thesis 9 - Anglican Ink 2023 We shall now have to make a decision about the Church of England. Andy Lines to be its first Missionary Bishop and have since constituted the Anglican Network in Europe. Gafcon Ireland Secularism in Western society has influenced the church, weakening confidence in the gospel, undermining the spiritual authority of leaders, causing division. a costly but necessary separation from the Church of England as the mother church and from the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury as a focus of Anglican unity. In April the Gafcon Primates will be hosting over 1,100 participants in GAFCON IV in Kigali, Rwanda. We encourage understanding of and participation in the worldwide church, and we keep overseas Anglican leaders informed about our news and our needs. Gafcon Response to Church of England General Synod [3] Mouneer Anis the Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East (a conservative himself on matters of human sexuality), however publicly announced he would not be one of the traditionalists attending GAFCON 2008; his observation was that "the Global South must not be driven by an exclusively Northern agenda or Northern personalities. [2][4], The GAFCON statement announced that GAFCON would be a continuing "movement in the Spirit" rather than a once-off event. GAFCON is here to gather faithful Anglicans around the world to contend for the truth as passed down from the apostles. I am writing to correct some of the erroneous assertions. Teaching and practice in the Church of England. Proclaim the message of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen! and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts Conservative Anglican group says it has no confidence in Church of The Gafcon provinces and other Global South provinces are already in impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, The Scottish Episcopal Church, The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and the Church in Wales. Today, GAFCON represents the majority of anglicans worldwide. And yet, now, the Church of England has authorized the blessing of sin and declared that sin is no longer sin. The final statement spoke powerfully of the sense of betrayal they haveexperienced when the very gospel for which they are suffering is being undermined and denied in other parts of the Anglican Communion. GAFCON stated the movement rose because a "false gospel" was being promoted within the Anglican Communion, which denied the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and "promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right". They have a minister, a venue, a core group, and a vision. We long to see the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed to all nations and we are determined to play our part in the Great Commission. The delegates gathered in Dubai for'G19', a conference for faithful Christians in 'restricted situations'. With Rachel Mann, Clare Gilbert, Richard Carter, Julia Mourant and Malcolm Guite. ), Letters for publication should be sent to. Primates Justin Badi Arama, of South Sudan, and Maimbo Mndolwa, of Tanzania, were not able to attend, despite being registered. Gafcon 2018 wasone of the largest global Anglican gatherings andbrought together 1,950 representatives from 50 countries, including 316 bishops, 669 other clergy and 965 laity. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealeda righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith. (Rom 1:16-17). 11th February 2023. Home | Gafcon GB & Europe Two GAFCON recognized Primates also attended: Foley Beach of North America, and Miguel Ucha of Brazil. Hugh Pratt was also treasurer, responsible for security, accommodation and the implementation of the Conference. Sessions were held on the topics of secularism, the Anglican Communion, HIV/AIDS and poverty. We wonder whether these dissenting voices will be heard now that oversight of GAFCON has passed from the Primate of a Province of the Communion, the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, to the Primate of a Church that is not part of the Communion: Archbishop Foley Beach, Primate of ACNA. GAFCON Meeting Could Reshape the Anglican Communion - The Living Church They have a minister, a venue, a core group, and a vision. I do not believe it is appropriate to debate these publicly. However, he proposed as an alternative, "for the sake of making progress in this discussion" that the GAFCON conference should take place in Cyprus, to be followed by a "pure pilgrimage" to the Holy Land. But at this point no change has been made to teaching, nor has there been any formal proposal to do so. GAFCON 2018showed that Gafcon had matured and the launch of nine global strategic networks were launched to continue inproclaiming Christ faithfully. Rev. Icons from the Noun Project (Ralf Schmitzer). Their vision is to have 25 congregations by 2025 and 250 congregations by 2050. Third, the letter is highly critical of phrases attributed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, such as walking together and good disagreement, which it says are dangerously deceptive in seeking to persuade people to accommodate false teaching in the Communion. We are also registered as a charity in the UK under the same name (registration number 1144227) The second conference, GAFCON 2013, was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, at which over 1,300 delegates from 38 nations and 27 Provinces of the Anglican Communion were present. It says nothing about discipline within provinces of the Anglican Communion; the Lambeth Conference has no jurisdiction to do so. The Gafcon Response Thesis 6. . [20], The announcement of the conference received criticism from some conservatives due to it potentially giving liberals a more powerful voice at the Lambeth Conference. Subsequent refinement of the teaching by the House of Bishops, as in guidance documents issued when the British State introduced civil partnerships and then (civil) same-sex marriage, has not changed the fundamental substance of that teaching. The leading participants of GAFCON included seven Anglican primates, archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Justice Akrofi of West Africa, Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda, Valentino Mokiwa of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and Presiding Bishop Greg Venables of the Southern Cone; Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia, Bill Atwood of Kenya, bishops Wallace Benn and Michael Nazir-Ali of England, Don Harvey of Canada, bishops Robert Duncan and Martyn Minns of the United States; Canon Vinay Samuel of India, Hugh Pratt and Canon Chris Sugden of England. Your name and address will appear alongside your letter. [36] Participants included primates from 10 provinces, including Justin Badi Arama of South Sudan,[37] Foley Beach of North America,[38] Samy Fawzy of Alexandria, Stephen Kaziimba of Uganda,[38] Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda,[33] Henry Ndukuba of Nigeria, Jackson Ole Sapit of Kenya, Miguel Ucha of Brazil,[39] James Wong of the Indian Ocean[40] and Tito Zavala of Chile. Conservative Anglicans reject Church of England and Archbishop of The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 - the Act of the UK Parliament which introduced same-sex marriage in England and other parts of the UK - expressly leaves intact the Church of England's Canon which defines marriage as "in its nature a union permanent and lifelong of one man with one woman". Could GAFCON Spur a New Worldwide Anglican Structure? We are founded on the Bible, bound together by the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration of 2008, and led by a Primates Council, which represents the majority of the worlds Anglicans. Proclaim. This round of dispute came courtesy of an anonymous report aired on the increasingly active GAFCON UK site: "The Church of England and Lambeth I:10." Nor does it reaffirm, as section d of the resolution does, a call to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex. The majority of Anglicans around the world have concluded the same. G19 was hosted by bishops Michael Nazir-Ali, of the Church of England, and Azad Marshall, of the Church of Pakistan, and was attended by 138 delegates, including 31 bishops and archbishops, and four primates, Nicholas Okoh, of Nigeria, Foley Beach, of North America, both who also attended GAFCON III, Justin Badi Arama, of South Sudan, and Samuel Mankhin, of Bangladesh. We long to see the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed to all nations and we are determined to play our part in the Great Commission. [30], An additional conference, named G19, took place from 25 February to 1 March 2019, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for those who were not able to attend the previous year GAFCON III. The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is a growing Convocation of Anglican churches in England committed to church planting. Gafcon GB and Europe trustees | Gafcon GB & Europe They are going to give the liberals a more powerful voice because they are absent and they are going to act as if they are schismatics. It expressed the will of that Conference. This was also intended to allow participation by bishops from Pakistan and Sudan, who would not be able to visit Israel. This drives gafcon ireland people to do four things. Our online prayer meetings bring together those who share the Gafcon vision, to read Scripture and pray for the Lords help in local and national situations. Our prayerful ambition is to see the existence of 25 AMiE churches by 2025 and 250 by 2050. It does not have the force of Scripture, nor is it part of the deposit of faith. Registered Address: Unit 42-43Kingspark Business Centre, 152-178 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3ST United Kingdom, We are also registered as a charity in the UK under the same name (registration number 1144227). Registered Address: Unit 42-43Kingspark Business Centre, 152-178 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3ST United Kingdom, We are also registered as a charity in the UK under the same name (registration number 1144227). For 150 years, the Lambeth Conference has been the primary means by which Anglicans have expressed their communion in structures of conciliar relations and decision-making. Secretary General responds to GAFCON UK | The Church of England We believe the Lord is raising up a biblical alternative for the Christian faithful in Great Britain. A group of evangelical Church of England bishops have written a detailed response to the GAFCON "Letter to the Churches" issued at GAFCON2018 in Jerusalem.. Their response, published by the Church of England Evangelical Council ("CEEC"), has much which supporters of GAFCON will find encouraging. It was attended by 1358 delegates, 1003 clergy and 545 laity, from 38 countries. These numbers include 993 clergy, among whom were 333 bishops, and 973 lay people. The Archbishop of Canterbury has abrogated his fiduciary responsibility and violated his consecration vows to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to Gods Word with his advocating this change in the Church of England. You are not alone. Online event; Details to follow. Please pray for the Lord's continuing provision and blessing. The second Global Anglican Future Conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 October to 26 October 2013, at All Saints' Cathedral. [38] Other participants from within the Anglican Communion included Kanishka Raffel and several delegates from the Anglican Diocese of Sydney,[39] Rob Munro and Keith Sinclair of the Church of England,[38] David Parsons of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic[43] and Festus Yeboah Asuamah of the Anglican Diocese of Sunyani. [2] Tim Wyatt November 8, 2022 11:21 pm News An independent Anglican denomination has appointed four new bishops, as it continues to build and expand in expectation of more conservative churches defecting from the Church of England. The Anglican Church in England 28th June 2021 The Anglican Church in England, Wales, and Australia, are all under pressure to pass innovations in blessing same-sex marriage. The letter also called for Lambeth 2020 to be boycotted unless the Archbishop of Canterbury invites the bishops of both the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the new Anglican Church in Brazil to the conference, and does not invite bishops of Provinces that authorised the blessing of same-sex unions. The Church of England was represented by two retired bishops, two serving suffragan bishops, and many clergy and laity. Dear Andy GAFCON is steadfastly orthodox. The irony is that all they are going to do is weaken the Lambeth Conference. Turnon.js provides guidance on how to activate JavaScript for your particular browser. These included the Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Revd Jackson Ole Sapit; the Bishop of Chile, the Rt Revd Hctor Zavala; and the Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Revd Suheil Dawani.