Resetting the Communion “urgent”, says GAFCON IV

Russell Powell

The GAFCON chairman and the Primate of the Anglican Church of North America, Foley Beach, opened GAFCON IV by saying it could prove to be “one of the most important church gatherings in our time”. By the end of the five-day event that didn’t appear to be an exaggeration. Momentous changes in the Anglican Communion were in train.

The fourth in a series of five-yearly conferences that began in 2008 was held in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. The 1300 delegates from more than 50 countries arrived amid commemorations of the genocide that began in April 1994, when armed Hutu militias set upon the minority Tutsi population and killed more than half a million people.

In his welcome, the Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, reminded delegates of a lesser-known and contrasting historical event: the East African Revival, which began in the 1920s and spread from Rwanda to neighbouring countries.

“GAFCON wants and desires and commits to bringing and keeping the Bible at the centre,” Archbishop Mbanda said.

“Let us keep the unchanging word of God. The East African revivalists moved with the Bible in their hands, preaching and teaching the good news of Jesus Christ. The Bible became their best friend, their walking stick, a pillar to lean on and to focus them to the word of God.”

Tragically, just 24 hours later the archbishop, his wife Chantal and daughter, Erika – who served as volunteer co-ordinator – had to leave the conference to fly to the United States, where their 33-year-old son and brother Eddie had died suddenly in his sleep.

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The decision earlier in the year by the declining Church of England to reject biblical authority and bless same-sex marriages hung over the conference.

As Archbishop Beach said, “We’re called to be a repenting church. In recent days, we’ve seen the Church of England, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and their bishops, walk away from the plain teaching of Scripture. Sadly, and with broken hearts, we must say that until the Archbishop of Canterbury repents, we can no longer recognise him as the ‘first among equals’ and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.

“It’s time for the whole Anglican establishment to be reformed anyway. I mean, why does the secular government of only one of the nations represented in the Anglican

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Communion still get to pick the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion? This makes no sense in today’s post-colonial world.”

In the final communiqué, conference delegates confirmed they no longer regarded the Archbishop of Canterbury as first among equals but made it clear that GAFCON members were not the instigators of disunity. “The current divisions in the Anglican Communion have been caused by radical departures from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” the Kigali Commitment said.

“All four Instruments [of communion] propose that the way ahead for the Anglican Communion is to learn to walk together in ‘good disagreement’. However, we reject the claim that two contradictory positions can both be valid in matters affecting salvation. We cannot ‘walk

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1. We will engage in a decade of discipleship, evangelism and mission (2023-2033).

2. We will devote ourselves to raising up the next generation of leaders in GAFCON through Bible-based theological education that will equip them to be Christ-centred and servanthearted.

3. We will prioritise youth and children’s ministry that instructs them in the word of the Lord, disciples them to maturity in Christ and equips them for a lifetime of Christian service.

together’ in good disagreement with those who have deliberately chosen to walk away from the ‘faith once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3).”

The conference’s final statement was formulated by the delegates themselves, in line with the tradition of previous conferences that statements should arise from the participants rather than being predetermined.

4. We will affirm and encourage the vital and diverse ministries, including leadership roles, of GAFCON women in family, church and society, both as individuals and as groups.

5. We will demonstrate the compassion of Christ through the many GAFCON mercy ministries.

6. We will resource and support bishops’ training that produces faithful, courageous, servant leaders.

7. We will build the bonds of fellowship and mutual edification through interprovincial visits of our primates.

The statement committee chairman, Bishop of South Sydney, Michael Stead, said as the statement was read out that the mood was different to