I
haven’t yet had time to fully reflect on this final statement from the GAFCON 3 Conference. And it does deal with
much that is important in the long run far beyond Lambeth 2020. At first reading, it seems a succinct,
well-written, and reflective statement.
Having said that, the most newsworthy point is the following:
In light of the recommendations of the Synodical Council, we respectfully
urge the Archbishop of Canterbury
- to invite as full members to Lambeth 2020
bishops of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America and the
Province of the Anglican Church in Brazil and
- not to invite bishops of those Provinces which
have endorsed by word or deed sexual practices which are in contradiction
to the teaching of Scripture and Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth
Conference, unless they have repented of their actions and reversed their
decisions.
In the event that this
does not occur, we urge Gafcon members to decline the invitation to attend
Lambeth 2020 and all other meetings of the Instruments of Communion.
Since
Justin Welby is exceedingly unlikely do what GAFCON is requesting of him, this
in effect calls for GAFCON members to withdraw from “Lambeth 2020 and all other
meetings of the Instruments of Communion.”
The
letter follows. (Any formatting errors are mine.)
You
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth. (Acts 1:8)
---
Greetings
from the land of the birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of our
glorious Lord Jesus Christ. The third Global Anglican Future Conference
(Gafcon) was held in Jerusalem in June 2018, a decade after the inaugural
Gafcon in 2008. Gafcon 2018, one of the largest global Anglican gatherings,
brought together 1,950 representatives from 50 countries, including 316
bishops, 669 other clergy and 965 laity. A unanimity of spirit was reflected
throughout the Conference as we met with God in the presence of friends from
afar. We celebrated joyful worship, engaged in small group prayer and were
inspired by presentations, networks and seminars.
We
met together around the theme of “Proclaiming Christ Faithfully to the
Nations”. Each day began with common prayer and Bible exposition from
Luke 22-24, followed by plenary sessions on God’s Gospel, God’s Church and
God’s World.
PROCLAIMING GOD’S GOSPEL
We
renewed our commitment to proclaim the gospel of the triune God in our churches
and in all the world. Our Chairman reminded us in his opening address: “God’s
gospel is the life-transforming message of salvation from sin and all its
consequences through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
both a declaration and a summons: announcing what has been done for us in
Christ and calling us to repentance, faith and submission to his Lordship.” It
involves the restoration and reaffirmation of God’s original creative purposes.
It is addressed to men, women and children and it is our only hope in the light
of the final judgment and the reality of hell.
This
is God’s gospel, the gospel concerning his Son (Romans 1:1–3). The centre of
the gospel message is this one person, Jesus Christ, and all that he has done
through his perfect life, atoning death, triumphant resurrection and glorious
ascension. In our daily expositions, we followed Jesus’ path from the judgments
by Pilate and the Jewish leaders, to his death for us on the cross, to
his breaking the bonds of death on Easter morning and to his commission to the
disciples to proclaim “repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name to
all nations” (Luke 24:47). The uniqueness of Jesus Christ lies at the heart of
the gospel: “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The
gospel confronts us in the midst of our confusion and sin but it does not leave
us there. It includes a summons to repentance and a call to believe in the
gospel (Mark 1:15), which results in a grace-filled life. The ascended
Christ gave his Spirit to empower his disciples to take this gospel to the
world.
Yet
faithful proclamation of this gospel is under attack from without and within,
as it has been from apostolic times (Acts 20:28-30).
External
attacks include superstitious practices of sacrifices and libations that deny
the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. Some religions deny the unique person
and work of Christ on the cross, and others are innately syncretistic.
Secularism seeks to exclude God from all public discourse and to dismantle the
Christian heritage of many nations. This has been most obvious in the
redefinition of what it means to be human, especially in the areas of gender,
sexuality and marriage. The devaluing of the human person through the advocacy
of abortion and euthanasia is also an assault upon human life uniquely created
in the image of God. Militant forms of religion and secularism are hostile to
the preaching of Christ and persecute his people.
Internally,
the “prosperity gospel” and theological revisionism both seek in different ways
to recast God’s gospel to accommodate the surrounding culture, resulting in a
seductive syncretism that denies the uniqueness of Christ, the seriousness of
sin, the need for repentance and the final authority of the Bible.
Tragically,
there has been a failure of leadership in our churches to address these threats
to the gospel of God. We repent of our failure to take seriously the words of
the apostle Paul: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he
bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come
in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will
arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts
20:28-30).
We
dedicate ourselves afresh to proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations,
working together to guard the gospel entrusted to us by our Lord and his
apostles.
REFORMING GOD’S CHURCH
The
gospel of God creates the church of God. Through the invitation of the gospel,
God calls all people into fellowship with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As
the word of the gospel goes forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, they respond
through the work of the Holy Spirit to repent, believe and be baptised, and are
thereby joined to Christ’s body which is his church (Acts 2:37-44; 1
Corinthians 12:12-13). As members of Christ’s body, they are sanctified in him,
called to live lives of holiness and to be salt and light in the world.
One
Conference speaker reminded us: “In the councils of the church, we should not
mimic the ways of the world but gather to pray, to praise (i.e., to be
eucharistic), to consult, to decide, and if necessary to discipline. These
gatherings should be properly conciliar in nature, decisive in moving the
church forward in its mission and common life. There should be the will to
exercise loving but firm discipline to bring sinners to repentance and
restoration.” Likewise at the Communion level, there are times when the
leadership must come together to exercise its responsibility to discipline an
erring member province.
For
some time, our Communion has been under threat from leaders who deny the
Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. In the late 20th century,
human sexuality became the presenting issue.
The
1998 Lambeth Conference by a huge majority (526 to 70) approved Resolution I.10
on Human Sexuality, which affirmed the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 19 that
there are only two expressions of faithful sexuality: lifelong marriage between
a man and a woman or abstinence. The resolution rightly called for pastoral
care for same sex attracted persons. At the same time, it described homosexual
practice as “incompatible with Scripture” and rejected both the authorisation
of same sex rites by the Church and the ordination of those in same sex unions.
Lambeth
Resolution I.10 reflected the rising influence of the Global South in the
Communion. The ground for the Resolution had been prepared by the 1997 Kuala
Lumpur Statement of the Global South Anglican Network. Our collaboration with
the Global South Network has been ongoing, and its leaders took an active part
in this Conference.
The
subsequent rejection of Lambeth I.10 in word and deed by the Episcopal Church
USA and later by some other Anglican provinces led to a “tear [in] the fabric
of the Communion at its deepest level”, followed by ten years of futile
meetings in which the four Instruments of Communion failed to exercise the
necessary discipline. The Primates’ Meeting repeatedly called upon these
provinces to repent and return to the faith. Yet their efforts were
undermined by other Instruments of Communion, culminating in the failure of the
Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury to carry out the clear consensus of the
Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam in 2007.
In
the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration, the 2008 Global Anglican Future
Conference took up the challenge of restoring biblical authority (and the
teaching on human sexuality in particular) by affirming the primacy of the
Bible as God’s Word written and going back to the other sources of Anglican
identity – the Creeds and Councils of the ancient church, the 39 Articles, the
1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. The Conference also constituted a
Primates Council and authorised it to recognise Anglican churches in areas
where orthodox Anglicans had been deprived of their church property and deposed
from holy orders.
During the past twenty years, the Instruments of Communion have not only failed
to uphold godly discipline but their representatives have refused to recognise
our concerns and have chosen instead to demean Gafcon as a one-issue pressure
group and accuse it of promoting schism, where in fact the schismatics are
those who have departed from the teaching of the Bible and the historic
doctrine of the Church. Slogans such as “walking together” and “good
disagreement” are dangerously deceptive in seeking to persuade people to
accommodate false teaching in the Communion.
We
grieve for the situation of our global Communion as it has been hindered from
fulfilling its God-appointed task of reaching the world for Christ. We repent
of our own failures to stand firm in the faith (1 Corinthians 16:13). But we do
not lose hope for the future, and note that there is strong support for the
reform of our Communion. Prior to Gafcon 2018, delegates overwhelmingly
affirmed the following propositions:
- Lambeth Resolution
I.10 reflects the unchangeable teaching of the Bible;
- the Gafcon movement
should continue to be faithful to the Jerusalem Declaration;
- the Primates Council
should continue to recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions.
Over
the past twenty years, we have seen the hand of God leading us toward a
reordering of the Anglican Communion. Gafcon has claimed from the beginning:
“We are not leaving the Anglican Communion; we are the majority of the Anglican
Communion seeking to remain faithful to our Anglican heritage.” As Archbishop
Nicholas Okoh stated in the inaugural Synodical Council: “We are merely doing
what the Communion leadership should have done to uphold its own resolution in
1998.”
We
give thanks for the godly courage of our Gafcon Primates in contending for the
faith once for all delivered to the saints. We applaud their decision to
authenticate and recognise the provinces of the Anglican Church in North
America and the Anglican Church in Brazil, to recognise the Anglican Mission in
England and to consecrate a Missionary Bishop for Europe. This has become
necessary because of the departure from the faith by The Episcopal Church, the
Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of Brazil and the Scottish
Episcopal Church. At Gafcon 2018, we heard many testimonies of faithful
Anglicans who have been persecuted by those holding office in their respective
provinces, merely because they would not surrender to, nor be compromised by,
the false gospel that these leaders profess and promote. We also recognise the
Gafcon Primates’ willingness to assist faithful Anglicans in New Zealand where
the Anglican Church has recently agreed to allow bishops to authorise the
blessing of same sex unions.
As
the Gafcon movement matures, it has also seen the need for a more conciliar
structure of governance. We endorse the formation of Gafcon Branches
where necessary and of a Panel of Advisors, comprising bishops, clergy and lay
representatives from each Gafcon Province and Branch, to provide counsel and
advice to the Primates Council. Together with the Primates, the Panel of
Advisors form a Synodical Council to bring recommendations to the Gafcon
Assembly. The Synodical Council met for the first time at this Conference.
In
light of the recommendations of the Synodical Council, we respectfully urge the
Archbishop of Canterbury
- to invite as full
members to Lambeth 2020 bishops of the Province of the Anglican Church in
North America and the Province of the Anglican Church in Brazil and
- not to invite
bishops of those Provinces which have endorsed by word or deed sexual
practices which are in contradiction to the teaching of Scripture and
Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, unless they have repented
of their actions and reversed their decisions.
In
the event that this does not occur, we urge Gafcon members to decline the
invitation to attend Lambeth 2020 and all other meetings of the Instruments of
Communion.
REACHING OUT TO GOD’S
WORLD
Our
conference theme has been “Proclaiming Christ Faithfully to the Nations.” We
have received the gospel through the faithful witness of previous generations.
Yet there are still billions of people who are without Christ and without hope.
Jesus taught his disciples: “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed
throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14).
We
repent for the times and seasons when we have only preached to ourselves and
not embraced the difficult task of reaching beyond our own cultural groups in
obedience to God’s call to be a light to the nations (cf. Acts 13:47). In
faith and obedience, we joyfully recommit ourselves to the faithful
proclamation of the gospel.
In
order to expand our ability to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations in
both word and deed, we launched nine strategic networks.
Theological Education: To promote effective theological
training throughout the Anglican Communion
Church Planting: To expand church
planting as a global strategy for evangelisation
Global Mission
Partnerships: To promote strategic cross-cultural mission partnerships in a
globalized world
Youth and Children’s
Ministry:
To be a catalyst for mission to young people and children of all nations so
that they may become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ
Mothers’ Union: To expand the potential
of this global ministry to promote biblical patterns of marriage and family
life
Sustainable Development: To establish global
partnerships which work with the local church to bring sustainable and
transformative development
Bishops Training
Institute:
To serve the formation of faithful and effective episcopal leadership
throughout the Communion
Lawyers Task Force: To address issues of
religious freedom and matters of concern to Anglican lawyers and Chancellors
and to further the aims of the Jerusalem Declaration
Intercessors Fellowship: To inspire and develop
globally connected regional and national intercessory prayer networks
In
the world into which we go to proclaim the gospel, we shall encounter much
which will need us to walk in paths of righteousness and mercy (Hosea 2:19;
Micah 6:8). We commit to encouraging each other to give strength to the
persecuted, a voice to the voiceless, advocacy for the oppressed, protection of
the vulnerable, especially women and children, generosity to the poor, and
continuing the task of providing excellent education and health care. As
appropriate, we encourage the formation of other networks to assist in
addressing these issues.
OUR GLOBAL ANGLICAN
FUTURE
To
proclaim the gospel, we must first defend the gospel against threats from
without and within. We testify to the extraordinary blessings on this
Conference, which leads us to call upon God even more, that the Anglican
Communion may become a mighty instrument in the hand of God for the salvation
of the world. We invite all faithful Anglicans to join us in this great
enterprise of proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations.
---
Now
to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the
church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
