The Business of GAFCON

Jun 8, 2017 by

by Peter Jensen:

The business of GAFCON is truth and fellowship.

All large groups of Christians have disagreements between themselves, sometimes very serious ones indeed. But they do not have to amount to the disagreements which separate. We are, indeed, all one in Christ Jesus and we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Fellowship is our calling.

From its very inception, GAFCON has accepted this calling and striven to bind Anglican Christians from all around the world together. In particular, it has reached out the right hand of fellowship to Anglicans who, through no fault of their own have had to leave their original Diocese or Province over a matter of such grave theological importance that the very nature of the gospel itself has been at stake. Truth is our calling.

At the heart of the divisions which have beset the Anglican Communion since 2002 is a profound disagreement over sexual ethics, in particular whether same sex unions can be blessed by God in the light of the teaching of the Bible.  The teaching of GAFCON is that the Bible is clear on three vital points.

First, that sexual intimacy outside of heterosexual marriage is forbidden by God and not in the best interests of humans.

Second, that persistent behaviour of this sort puts those who engage in it outside the kingdom of God and therefore at risk of losing salvation.

Third, acceptance of this behaviour in the church means that the full gospel cannot be preached, since the full gospel requires repentance from sexual sin.

But there is more to it than that. The Bible tells us that in a society in which the truth about God is supressed, the consequence is godless sexual licence. This is a sign of an unhealthy community in deep trouble.

Read here

See also: Gafcon Chairman’s June letter, by Nicholas Okoh, Gafcon

 

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