GAFCON Primates Communique

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Justin Welby take note: “when the Gospel is at stake there can never be a middle way”

GafconGAFCON Primates Communique

A Communique from the GAFCON Primates Council

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. ~ Isaiah 61:11

This week, from 13th to 17th April 2015, we have met in London for prayer and fellowship in order to help chart the future of global Anglicanism. We are uniting faithful Anglicans, growing in momentum, structured for the future, and committed to the Anglican Communion.

Uniting Faithful Anglicans: GAFCON 2018

We are excited to announce that the next GAFCON conference will be in 2018. This global gathering now serves a critical function in the life of the Anglican Communion as it is an effective instrument of unity which is capable of gathering the majority of the world’s Anglicans.

Delegations representing every continent and all orders of the church (lay and ordained) will again be invited to share in this powerful time of fellowship, worship, and teaching. An organising committee comprising global delegates and local representatives of the likely location has been formed. A further announcement will be made when the details of the venue have been confirmed.

Growing Momentum: Newest Province and Fellowships

We were encouraged to hear reports from some of the newest GAFCON provinces and fellowships.

Province

At the beginning of our meeting, Archbishop Foley Beach of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America was unanimously elected to the GAFCON Primates Council. Archbishop Beach shared about the remarkable growth being experienced in North America, evidenced by the planting of 483 new congregations since 2009.

Fellowships

We celebrated the recent launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia (FCA AU), the newest GAFCON fellowship, led by the Venerable Richard Condie, Archdeacon of Melbourne. Over 450 participants attended the inaugural conference in March 2015 and this fellowship is now well positioned to contend for the faith in the years to come.

FCA UK & Ireland, formed at our initiative, continues to welcome and provide support for faithful Anglicans in the British Isles. We are particularly concerned about the Church of England and the drift of many from the Biblical faith. We do not regard the recent use of a Church of England building for a Muslim service as a minor aberration. These actions betray the gospel and discourage Christians who live among Muslims, especially those experiencing persecution.

We support Bishop John Ellison in resisting the unjust and uncharitable charges brought against him by the Bishop of Salisbury, and in view of the Great Commission, we note the sad irony that this former missionary bishop to South America now finds it necessary to defend himself for supporting missionary activity in his own country. We continue to encourage and support the efforts of those working to restore the Church of England’s commitment to Biblical truth. Equally, we authenticate and support the work of those Anglicans who are boldly spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and whose circumstances require operating outside the old, institutional structures.

We remain confident in the great good of gospel ministry, and we see what happens when actions impacting the Communion are taken without the priorities of the faith once delivered.

Wherever they are and whatever their circumstances, GAFCON continues to unite faithful Anglicans under a common confession of Christ’s Lordship and a desire to make disciples.

Structured for the Future

We have planned for the expansion of our movement in order to touch the lives of many more Anglicans with gospel fellowship. As part of this we have identified a clear need for theological education and the training of leaders, especially bishops, and we have started work on both of these priorities. We also recognise an increasing need to be able to respond both to calls for affiliation from other provinces, and requests for support from emerging fellowships where the biblical gospel is under threat.

In order to carry this forward we have put in place the necessary operating structures, people, and financial resources. We invite all of our supporters to be involved in this work.

Committed to the Communion

We are not leaving the Anglican Communion. The members of our churches stand at the heart of the Communion, which is why we are committed to its renewal. We belong to the mainstream, and we are moving forward.

GAFCON embodies an inclusive and confessionally grounded orthodoxy in continuity with the Scriptures, apostolic tradition, and ethos of the Book of Common Prayer. There is much room for variety within the boundaries of Christian orthodoxy, but when the Gospel is at stake there can never be a middle way. As followers of Jesus we know that it is the narrow way that leads to life.

We invite all faithful Anglicans to join us in renewing the Communion so that united by a biblical and apostolic faith we can defend and proclaim the transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Primates

The Most Rev. Foley Beach, Archbishop, Anglican Church in North America

The Most Rev. Henri Isingoma, Archbishop, Anglican Church of the Congo

The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Uganda

The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Nigeria

The Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Rwanda

The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya (Chairman)

The Most Rev. Tito Zavala, Presiding Bishop, Province of South America

Advisors

The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, Archbishop (ret.), Anglican Church of Nigeria

Emmanuel Kampouris, Esq.

The Most Rev. Glenn Davies, Archbishop of Sydney

The Most Rev. Donald Mtetemela, Archbishop (ret.), Anglican Church of Tanzania

The Most Rev. Stephen Than Myint Oo, Archbishop of Myanmar

The Rt Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester (ret.)

The Rt Rev. Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes (ret.)

An Earth Day message from Fred Hiltz and Susan Johnson

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From here:

Let us remember our first calling as human beings is caring for the Earth. So sacred is this calling that as Lutherans worldwide mark the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 2017 with an overall theme “Liberated by God’s Grace,” one of the subthemes is “Creation—not for sale.” So sacred is this calling to Anglicans worldwide that they hold among their Marks of Mission a commitment “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the earth.” This mark of mission is now reflected in the vows made in baptism.

I don’t dislike pollution any less than Fred Hiltz but, surely, “our first calling as human beings” – or, at least as Christians – is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the unsaved, not to “care for the earth.” The earth is not a sentient living thing made in God’s image, possessing a soul whose eternal destiny rests on whether or not it has received Christ’s free gift of salvation. It is just like the rest of the universe, a system which is subject to entropy; it is running down, degenerating gradually into disorder until God remakes it as part of the New Heavens and New Earth.

That is, unless, as appears to be the case for the purveyors of this Earth Day Statement, your god is Gaia.

Diocese of Niagara is demolishing churches because everyone is doing it

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Rev. Bill Mous, possessor of what can only be an antonymic title – director of justice, community and global ministries – justifies turning St. Matthias in Guelph into a six story apartment building by telling us it is “a story that’s playing out in communities across the country”.

I await, with considerable anticipation, the same story playing out for the diocesan cathedral.

From here:

GUELPH — The story of St. Matthias Anglican Church is a story that’s playing out in communities across the country, says a spokesperson for the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, which oversees Anglican ministry in Guelph and the surrounding area.
The decision to sell the church, located at the corner of Edinburgh and Kortright roads, came about from a variety of factors, said Rev. Bill Mous, director of justice, community and global ministries in a phone interview.

“It came from the congregation’s size and their ability to financially support the ministry and the property,” Mous said. “And it didn’t happen overnight. The congregation made many attempts to engage the community in the ministry of St. Matthias. But in 2013 they faced reality and voted to leave their building.

“It was difficult, and bold.”

When the church went up for sale, several offers were received including offers from two churches, but theirs were “substantially lower than the others,” Mous said.

It just goes to show that difficult and bold social justice in the church is mainly concerned with maximising profits – just like capitalism but less honest.

Anglican Church of Canada resolves to fight anti-Semitism

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Or perhaps it is creating a smoke screen to conceal from the unwary that, by loudly denouncing anti-Semitism, no one will notice that it is working quietly to undermine Israel.

Here you can learn the Anglican Church of Canada’s view on “what it means to be anti-Semitic in the contemporary context” – although, I can’t see why the contemporary context would be any different from any other context, so I am left with the uneasy suspicion that this is code for something unsavoury.

And here you can read one reaction to the Anglican Church of Canada’s sponsoring of a conference on “overcoming Christian Zionism”:

Later this month, Canadian Friends of Sabeel will hold a conference on “overcoming Christian Zionism.” Sabeel describes itself as an “ecumenical Palestinian liberation theology centre” that is “working for justice, peace and reconciliation in Palestine-Israel.” In reality, it is a group that promotes a misrepresentation of events in the Middle East. The conference slated for Vancouver is explicitly aimed at undermining Israel among its North American Christian supporters.

Canadian Supreme Court rules against prayer at city council meetings

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The atheist who made the complaint against prayer was awarded “$33,200 in compensatory damages, punitive damages and costs”. Leaving aside the devil and his minions, being damaged by prayer must surely be a unique experience. What trauma could this hyper-sensitive disbeliever possibly have experienced to be worth $33k in compensation? Did he burst into flames like a vampire in sunlight? If only atheists could be dispatched that easily.

The Supreme Court ruled that “the state neither favour nor hinder any particular belief” and, by reciting a prayer, it favoured Christianity – a right and proper thing for a civilisation founded upon Judeo-Christian morality to do; right and proper for a civilisation that is not bent on its own annihilation, that is. By the time we have finished driving God out of Christendom we will have nothing left but a howling wilderness, as Peter Hitchens puts it. Let’s hope no atheists are offended by that.

From here:

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the municipal council in the Quebec town of Saguenay cannot open its meetings with a prayer.

In a unanimous decision today, the country’s top court said reciting a Catholic prayer at council meetings infringes on freedom of conscience and religion.

The ruling puts an end to an eight-year legal battle that began with a complaint filed by atheist Alain Simoneau and a secular-rights organization against Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay.

The court ordered the City of Saguenay and the mayor to stop the prayers. It also ordered the city and Tremblay to pay Simoneau a total of $33,200 in compensatory damages, punitive damages and costs.

Diocese of Edmonton does instant Christianity

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Much as instant coffee doesn’t bear much resemblance to brewed coffee or McDonald’s hamburgers to real beef, so fast-favillous Christianity doesn’t have much in common with the real thing.

Although I think taking the church outside the buildings is generally a good idea, the Ashes to go fad seems to be yet another example of a church clinging desperately to rituals which, over the years, it has worked strenuously to drain of meaning. Having nothing left but the empty husk and their fancy dress, the bishop and her tribe of clerics parade themselves in public, a charade where the bystanders have to guess whether, perhaps, the church is smearing carbon on people as yet another protest against global warming.

AshesFrom here:

In 2010, the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton joined the international “Ashes to Go” initiative to share God’s love and mercy in informal settings such as train stops, shopping malls and neighbourhood streets.

In the heart of downtown, Bishop Jane Alexander, Dean Neil Gordon, Archdeacon Chris Pappas and Lutheran Pastor Ingrid Dörschel greeted commuters at the Churchill LRT Station.

Government donates $1 million to Diocese of New Westminster

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The diocese needs a new roof for its cathedral and BC taxpayers will, unwittingly, be paying a part of the bill. This means that the diocese’s prophetic voice, whose clarion call is heard most clearly during the annual gay pride parade, is unlikely to be decoupled from the state sponsored zeitgeist any time soon.

From here:

Earlier this afternoon, the province of British Columbia announced it will give $1 million to Christ Church Cathedral’s building campaign, which is raising money to repair the cathedral’s roof, add a new bell tower and expand its community outreach kitchen.

“This generous grant recognizes the place that Christ Church Cathedral holds in Vancouver and British Columbia,” said Bishop Melissa Skelton of the diocese of New Westminster, “and will help ensure that the cathedral community continues to play a significant role in meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the people of Vancouver.”

New secretary general of the Anglican Communion gets Frank Griswold’s approval

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That can’t be good.

From here:

Many Anglican and Episcopal leaders are celebrating the appointment of Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon of the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, as the next secretary general of the Anglican Communion.

“Josiah is, above all, a man of communion, a careful listener, and a respecter of the different ways in which we are called to articulate and live the good news of God in Jesus Christ,” former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told Episcopal News Service following the appointment.

He is ‘committed to God’s mission of reconciliation’. He isn’t, of course, because God’s reconciliation is for us to reconcile to himself through his Son. God expects us to love one another: if a fellow Christian departs from the faith once delivered, it isn’t loving for everyone to pretend nothing is wrong by institutionalising a bogus state of reconciliation.

Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas, a member of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, said he has known Idowu-Fearon for more than a decade through a variety of inter-Anglican bodies and responsibilities and finds him “committed to God’s mission of reconciliation, both between people of different faiths and between the churches of the Anglican Communion.”

One might be tempted to take comfort in the hope that Idowu-Fearon could scarcely be worse than his predecessor, Kenneth Kearon, whose facility for churning out densely packed clichés was unmatched by even the most tenaciously vacuous bishops in Western Anglicanism. Time will tell.