By George Conger, Anglican Ink.
[Abuja, Nigeria] Anglican unity will stand or fall on whether churches take the Jerusalem Declaration as their binding confession of biblical faith—or drift again into a hollow, man‑made religion, the Rt. Rev. Ashley Null warned. His address on 5 March, “The Jerusalem Declaration as Our Confession,” linked the movement now styling itself the Global Anglican Communion to the Reformation roots of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, arguing that Scripture‑anchored repentance and faith – not inherited structures or shared projects – must once again define Anglican identity and unity.
The G26 gathering, hosted by the Church of Nigeria from March 3-6, convened 347 bishops alongside 121 lay and clerical delegates during a time of profound global Anglican realignments. Organized by GAFCON, the event centered on prayerful discernment, culminating in the Abuja Affirmation’s recommitment to the Bible’s supreme authority. Dr. Null’s presentation on day three fit seamlessly into the theological plenaries, where speakers unpacked orthodoxy’s ancient roots against waves of contemporary revisionism. His dual role as a preeminent Cranmer scholar and North African bishop gave his words singular authority, forging vital connections between early church history and today’s trials.
Dr. Null, who serves as Bishop of North Africa in the Anglican Province of Alexandria, began with what he called “the sin principle in the Reformation,” taking as his lens the confession from Cranmer’s daily offices: “We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep … and there is no health in us.” Line by line he unpacked the prayer as a spiritual diagnosis: humanity has followed “the devices and desires of our own hearts,” served “false gods of our own imagination,” and ended up on a “hamster wheel” of frenetic effort without true fruit. For this reason, he insisted, humanity does not merely need better moral instruction but a Redeemer who delivers us from “the numbing guilt and destructive power of our bondage to bad choices.”