Commentary on the 2018 GAFCON Letter to the Churches Part Three: Introducing the Letter

Jul 18, 2018 by

by Stephen Noll, Contending Anglican:

This is the third of seven posts explaining the “Letter to the Churches.” The first two posts can be found here and here. In this third entry, I begin to exposit the text of the Gafcon Letter to the Churches, section by section, beginning with the Introduction.

LETTER TO THE CHURCHES

GAFCON ASSEMBLY 2018

As mentioned in the previous post, one of the Primates – in fact, it was Archbishop Foley Beach – proposed the title “Letter to the Churches,” and almost immediately this proposal seemed right to our Statement Group. The 2008 Conference had issued the “Jerusalem Statement,” which included the “Jerusalem Declaration”; the 2013 Conference had followed with the “Nairobi Communiqué,” which included the “Nairobi Commitment.” The Global South Anglican Network had sent out six “Trumpets.” Lambeth Conferences prior to 2008 had been known by their Resolutions; since 2008 it seems they will be known for their “Lambeth Indaba” (ugh!).

A “Letter to the Churches” suggests both the periodic nature of its message and the particular situation of the Anglican Communion at this time. The “Assembly,” though large and diverse, is not a random gathering but was specifically invited, Province by Province and region by region, and it acts as the final confirming body of the Gafcon movement.

The letter form of communication is well-known in the New Testament and is reflected in the Epistle readings in the liturgy.  The most famous letter from a church council comes from Acts 15, where the first ecumenical council in Jerusalem penned a letter to the various mission churches (see discussion in Part Two). The tradition of sending “encyclical” letters from church leaders and councils is well established in church history. Some of the earliest church documents – The Letter of Clement, the Letter to Diognetus, the Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch – use this format and have obtained wide authority apart from their original audiences. Similarly, decisions of church councils, whether epistolary in form or not, have been intended to be circulated and read by the wider church.

Read here

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