GAFCON: Peter Jensen Responds to ACC Whinging

It just came out that a week ago the General Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), Josiah Idowu-Fearon, e-mailed Anglican Primates to discourage participation in the GAFCON 3 Conference this week.

It is a laughable bit of whinging to say the least.  But I won’t rehearse the recent history of the ACC and of the Anglican Communion to get into that.

What I do want to highlight is the brilliant response by Archbishop Peter Jensen.  He wrote thus on behalf of GAFCON:

The attempt by Anglican Communion Office to challenge the Gafcon Primates for supporting new ministries is further evidence of how much the institutional form of Anglicanism is out of touch with spiritual reality. The launch of our networks is a sign of spiritual vitality which ought to be welcomed and applauded. Voluntary movements getting involved in much needed ministry has a long tradition within the Anglican Communion.  This anxious missive suggests a fear that people are not under the control of some central organisation. Had the institutions of the Communion been clearer in their theological stance, movements of reform and renewal like Gafcon may not have arisen. Now, however, the wisdom of God is displayed in that the work and the workers are adding to the ministry of the gospel.   Thanksgiving rather than criticism is surely the appropriate response.

I am unaware of an Anglican Archbishop dropping the mic or of liturgies or canons for the same.  But Jensen’s succinct response is certainly worthy.