Communique from Orthodox Bishops at Lambeth 2022

Aug 5, 2022 by

Communique by Orthodox Bishops

Presented by: GSFA Primates Steering Committee present at Lambeth Conference 2022

5th August 2022

1.         Our Thanksgiving

  • We thank God for his goodness and love to us and the whole world; for ‘our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life’; for his plan to rescue us from our sin and to call us to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9); for his coming in the person of his Son Jesus Christ; for his incarnation and atoning death, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of the Father; for the fulfillment of the promised Holy Spirit, proclaiming and baptising into his fullness all who come in repentance and faith; his coming again in judgement and the new creation; for his work of grace around the world, for the gospel that has gone to all nations.
  • We thank God for the occasion at this Lambeth Conference to greet those consecrated into the apostolic succession to serve as Bishops in the Church of God within the Anglican We rejoice in God’s grace sustaining us by the word of his power, showing mercy to us for our many sins, teaching us through Holy Scripture, empowering us by the power of his Spirit and calling us afresh to faithfully lead his church to be a ‘light to the nations.’
  • We thank His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Welby for their invitation and welcome; as he has poured out his energy to lead the Conference and as they have given to us so generously of their time to meet with many of us, we pray that they will continue to know grace, wisdom and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Mrs. Welby and those who have organized the Spouses’ programme, and all who have worked so tirelessly to serve us in this Conference.
  • We thank God for our bible studies in the first letter of Peter and pray that through our study of God’s most holy word we may be better equipped to serve the worldwide church as shepherds ‘willingly’ ‘not under compulsion’ ‘as God would have us serve’. We repent when we have lorded it over those in our charge and not been examples of Christ’s humble service, sharing in his sufferings. (1 Pet. 5:2, 3, 5; 4:13)
  • We thank God for the theme of this Conference: God’s Church for God’s World and for the Archbishop’s consistent emphasis that the great need of the hour is for the Church to share the love of Christ in a world of immense human need. The eleven Lambeth Calls thoughtfully cover the needs of the world and the church that we as shepherd-leaders of God’s flock must address and respond to. And the spirit with which we are to serve the needs of others is that our honourable conduct and our good works in the world may lead many to ‘glorify God on the day of visitation’ (1 Pet. 2:12).

2.        Our Response to the World’s Needs

  • The world is suffering in so many ways across the globe. Many of the human needs focused on in the Conference, ranging from climate change to human dignity to sustainable development, are felt most acutely in Global South Provinces. We will take action and reflect further on the ‘Calls’ we have received at this Conference so that we can apply them to our own national and regional We will also play our part judiciously in Communion-wide initiatives to respond to environmental challenges and other human needs in a suffering world.
  • Several of our Provinces are already responding to the challenges of families in poverty, ethnic and social conflict, internally displaced persons, stewarding the world’s water resources, controlling carbon emissions, and moving towards sustainable development. But we believe our Churches can do more to promote the welfare of their city/society (Jer. 29: 7) and we will endeavour to lead, teach and mobilise our people to do so.
  • We will cooperate with one another and other Christian, national and international agencies in responding to humanitarian disasters, economic empowerment and creation care. We will seek to speak prophetically in the public square on the subjects of national debt, international income and resource distribution, and the unjust treatment of sub-groups in a society.
  • We stand in solidarity with all persecuted people and will do our part, in whatever lawful way, to promote social justice and We recognise a special responsibility to protect, support and help persecuted Christians in different parts of the world. We will encourage them in their hardships as well as learn from them the art of ‘suffering for doing good’ (1 Pet. 2: 19-25). We commit ourselves to pray for our brothers and sisters in Myanmar, Sudan, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Iran, and anywhere in the world where it is not possible to safely ‘make a defense to anyone who demands an account of the hope that is within us’ (1 Pet. 3:15, 16).
  • We will add our voices, particularly from the Global South Provinces, to the Christian voice on the key issues of the day. We will continue to pray for the peace of the world, in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and all places of unrest, tension and We know very well the growing inequalities of wealth, the impact of climate change, and the need for the administration of justice and authority for all without corruption or abuse. We will continue to pray and respond to what has been shared in the Calls in this Conference.
  • We are well aware of the increasing secularism and polarisation in the world, and we do not think that it is an over-statement that the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent socio-political, economic and moral problems have ushered the world into a new and massively challenging order. Indeed, God’s Church must respond to the vast needs of God’s world. But we also know that only a Church reformed in truth and renewed by the Spirit can make a difference for God in the world.

3.        Our Prayer

  • We pray for the Anglican Communion in the experience of exile in the world, that we may know we have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood (1 Pet. 1:1, 2).
  • We acknowledge our own brokenness before God as we hear the words of 1 Peter 1:16 calling us to pursue holiness, a call that takes us back to Leviticus 19:1, 2 and underlines God’s unchanging purpose that we are redeemed to be re-created as a new people walking in righteousness, doing good works and connecting people to the living We repent of our sins of commission and omission, asking God to restore His image in us with ever-increasing glory.
  • We long for ourselves and all in the Communion to come again to Jesus Christ, that chosen and precious stone of God’s new household, and like living stones be built into a spiritually vibrant house that serves God by being ‘a royal priesthood and a holy nation’ that reflects his marvellous light in the world (1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9-10).

4.        Our Lament

  • During the days of this Conference, we have also had to face all that mars the name of the Lord our God and robs Him of His glory. In the words of the Lenten Collect in our much-loved Book of Common Prayer, we come to God in humility ‘worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our ’
  • As orthodox Bishops, we are mindful of our own sinfulness and the lack of holiness in both our personal lives and the communal lives of our Our times of worship, reflection and Bible study at this conference have reminded us of our own falsehoods, bitter hostilities, inconsistencies and contradictions, not to mention governance failures and wrong judgment calls. And so, we come to God afresh seeking the broken and contrite heart that he will not despise, the liberating forgiveness of Christ, the grace needed for amendment of life and the power to live daily in newness of life.
  • There are many things to repent of as the people of God: our internal strife, our lack of compassionate and sustaining action for a suffering world, our sluggishness in evangelism and mission, and also our unfaithfulness in upholding and living in accordance with God’s holy word.
  • Here we must record our grief that significant numbers of our brothers and sisters have embraced teaching which does not accord with ‘the foundation of the apostles and prophets’ (Eph. 2:20) and which is contrary to our calling to live as ‘exiles on earth’ in all holiness and obedience. We pray for our whole Communion to return, heed and obey the Word of God as our rule in faith and practice; for we humbly and steadfastly believe in the authority, clarity and life-giving nature of the Word of God as written in Holy Scripture.
  • We believe that the last time the Bishops of the whole Communion gathered and sought to express the teaching of the apostles and prophets was at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, before the divisions of the last two decades and more. At that Conference, a core dimension of the call to holy living, in obedience to the Gospel, was made in Resolution I.10 (see Appendix 1).
  • We wish to be clear about our commitment to Resolution I.10 in its entirety; and that includes the commitment to listen to the experience of homosexual persons, to minister pastorally and sensitively to all and to condemn all irrational fear, homophobic behaviour and violence. We pray the Lord in his compassion and love may show us how we may do this still more (1 Pet. 4:8) and bring all to a fuller obedience of faith. In this regard, we give thanks to the Lord for the life, witness and ministry of faithful same-sex attracted Christians in our churches who practise abstinence, and we hope to pastorally support them more in our local churches.
  • We grieve at the continued tear in the life of the Communion occasioned by those Primates and Provinces who declined to follow the guidance offered by Resolution I.10, and the consequent absence of significant numbers of orthodox Bishops from our assembly both in 2008 and now. The unchecked spread of revisionism has necessitated the new structure of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) since 2019 for enhanced ecclesial responsibility across orthodox Provinces, and the movement impetus of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) since 2008 for reform, renewal and proclamation of the Gospel.
  • We believe that unity without those Bishops who for their conscience’s sake are absent at this conference is grievously incomplete. Even now we call on those who have departed from apostolic and prophetic teaching to repent and return to obedience to the truth so that our souls may be purified, genuine mutual love in the body of Christ flourish from the heart (1 1:22), and our witness and mission in the world enhanced.

5.        Our reasons for coming

  • Our four priorities at this Conference have been to: (a) foster the unity of the orthodox; (b) sound a clarion call to biblical faithfulness; (c) be a holy remnant and not a separatist or breakaway group; and (d) spur the faithful to get the Gospel out into the world.
  • Despite the unchecked spread of revisionism and the unresolved issue of the fundamental divide in the Communion on the matter of the acceptability of same-sex unions to God, we have as part of the huge constituency of orthodox Bishops in the Communion, chosen to come to the Lambeth Conference Our purpose is to call the Communion back to ‘the way of the Lord’ (Is. 40: 3; Lk. 3:3-6).
  • ‘The way of the Lord’ is surely to be true to His revealed and unchanging word in Holy Scripture (Jn. 17:6; 3:8,10). We believe in the supreme authority and the perspicuity of holy Scripture to reveal the will of God. We are duty- bound to God to guard the gates of the church so that nothing in our church’s ‘faith and order’ is contrary to Scripture. We believe that the revealed Word of God is life-changing, enabling a person to be free and whole. We are also, therefore, duty-bound in love to our fellow human being to ‘hold fast to the word of life’ (Phil. 2;19) and to hold it forth to the world God loves. That is why we are calling the whole Communion to biblical faithfulness.
  • Other orthodox Bishops are also making the same call but have chosen not to come to the Lambeth Conference 2022. Two different responses in form but we speak with one voice and share the same stance, namely that there is something seriously wrong about the life of our Communion before God when the church embraces and teaches same-sex unions as acceptable to God.
  • Our willingness as orthodox Bishops to attend this Conference does not mean that we have agreed to ‘walk together’ with the revisionist Primates and Bishops in the Anglican Communion. To walk together as the redeemed people of God requires that we believe the same fundamentals of our faith and are united in our mission to faithfully proclaim by word and deed the propositional truth of the Gospel revealed in the canon of Holy Scripture.
  • Anglican identity is neither sociological nor It is first and foremost doctrinal. Our identity as a Communion is rooted in that doctrine which is ‘grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer (1662), and The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, annexed to The Book of Common Prayer, and commonly known as the Ordinal’. (Section 1.1 (a) of the GSFA Cairo Covenant of 2019).
  • If Anglican identity and unity are rooted in common doctrine, then we cannot be a Communion with a plurality of beliefs. There need to be limits to theological diversity, limits that are set by a plain and canonical reading of Sripture and which is supported by church history. We cannot accept the hermeneutic of revisionist Primates and Provinces that allow a plurality of views on the essential truths contained in ‘the faith once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude v3).
  • The matter of same-sex unions is not a secondary issue that allows for a position of adiaphora (indifference). God’s revealed intention for marriage to be a life-long commitment and union between a man and a woman is an essential truth in the corpus of ‘the faith once delivered.’ To authorise the practice and teaching of same-sex unions as normative and not a violation of divine intentions for humankind is to undermine the clarity and authority of Holy Scripture, which is the bedrock of our common life as a Communion. Hence, our unyielding commitment to uphold and abide by the teaching of Resolution I.10 is not about sexual relations per se, but about upholding the clear and authoritative teaching of Holy Scripture.
  • Those of us who have come to the Lambeth Conference 2022 want to make the call to reset the Communion on its biblical foundation in person and as a unified grouping of orthodox Bishops within the We are keen to represent the global face of Anglicanism and we want to sound a clarion call to return to biblical faithfulness at the historical home of our Communion. All Anglican Provinces trace their roots to Canterbury, where our branch of Christ’s ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’, emerged.
  • So, together with those who painfully and in good conscience decided not to come, we want to register our collective ownership and stewardship of a Communion that in God’s grace has become All Bishops are joint stewards of God’s Church, which we take to include the Anglican Church in its institutional form. We therefore exercise this stewardship in the spirit of Christ’s commission to St Peter ‘to tend my sheep’ (Jn 21:16) and St Paul’s exhortation to overseers ‘to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood’ (Acts 20:28).
  • In calling for repentance and resetting, we do not exempt ourselves. In every Province and diocese, there is unfaithfulness to the Lord’s way. We all fail in various ways to keep covenant faithfulness with our So, we will return to our Provinces and dioceses with humility to repent of all our sins, walk in newness of life and pursue the holiness that glorifies the One who redeems and re-creates us by the power of the Cross.
  • Brokenness that leads to repentance springs from recognizing that we have violated the will of God as revealed in His Spirit-inspired word. When we repent, we receive mercy and pardon in Christ, and in the strength of the Spirit amend our lives to walk in His ways. Herein lies the difference with the revisionist Provinces. They adapt the Word of God to the prevailing culture, bring in unorthodox interpretations of God’s word and end up condoning what is morally wrong in God’s Failing to correct false teaching is to fail to act in love. Hence, orthodox Bishops are duty-bound to God not to ‘live and let live’ under the guise of simply walking together in continuing dialogue with those who have departed from the way (or path) of truth.
  • That is why we raised a separate Call and Resolution to re-affirm Resolution I.10 1998 (see Appendix 2 for the text of this Call). The processes that the organisers decided for the Conference did not allow for any amendments or additions to the pre-announced ‘Lambeth Calls.’ But we thought it important to give all Bishops who were present at the Conference the opportunity to clearly support the primacy, authority and clarity of Holy Scripture, upon which Resolution I.10 is based. Bishops were invited to sign up electronically via email, with proper controls and checks, to indicate their affirmation of Resolution I.10 as the Anglican Church’s doctrine on marriage and sexuality.

6.   Our moving forward

  • As orthodox Bishops at this Conference, we want to make it clear that we have no intention of leaving the Communion. Encouraged by the record of God’s people in Scripture, we seek in the grace of God to be a holy remnant within the Communion. We will seek to faithfully proclaim and live out the Gospel, and continue working towards the resetting of the Communion to be in conformity with the Word of God.
  • At the same time, several orthodox Provinces are ‘fire-proofing’ their section of ‘the house’ from the false teaching that is spreading in various parts of the Communion. This is needed in order that orthodox Provinces can experience and share the blessings of full communion with one another as well as support those dioceses and networks in revisionist Provinces who also wish to be true to ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3). We are convinced that ‘the faith’ revealed in Holy Scripture involves both redemption from sin but also re-creation in the image of God (Rom. 4:25 ; 2 Cor. 5:17).
  • Hence, we want to ‘guard the good deposit by the help of the Holy Spirit’ (2 Tim. 1:14). By keeping the light of the pure word of God shining brightly in our midst, our prayer is that it will radiate to the larger Church and to the world. Furthermore, we are resolved in the Lord to faithfully pass on the torch of the Gospel, intact, to the next generation.
  • We will not only safeguard the deposit of truth; we will seek to propagate it with renewed vigour in the power of the Holy Spirit. The whole world needs the glorious good news of Jesus Christ. The signs of the times indicate that the return of our Lord is hastening on. There is an urgency to proclaim the Lordship of Christ before the eschatological day of judgment and salvation. We believe in a holistic Gospel that addresses all of humanity’s needs, and that demonstrates God’s special care for the poor, the marginalized, the diseased and the needy. So, we will step up the work of mission and ministry in our respective fields and develop areas of Gospel partnership.
  • We will find ways to be mutually accountable to one another as orthodox Provinces in staying true to the Word of God. We want to express enhanced ecclesial responsibility as a global body of faithful Anglican Provinces and dioceses. With common doctrine on essentials and mutual accountability, we anticipate more synergy and joy in living out our faith and being Christ’s witnesses to a watching world that is lost and grappling with pain and hopelessness.
  • Several orthodox Global South Provinces have responded to the unhealthy state of the global Communion in recent years, and to the unattended ‘ecclesial deficit’ in the Communion (see on para 6.7d on Windsor Continuation Group Report, 2008). They have started to voluntarily bond themselves together on the basis of common doctrine to be accountable to one another in faith, order and morals and to express their ‘koinonia’ (fellowship) through relational networks of discipleship, evangelism, mission, economic empowerment and community The form in which this is taking place is the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA). This is an ecclesial body within the Communion that, while being rooted in the Global South Provinces, is now a world-wide Anglican Fellowship based on commitment to doctrine and a Covenantal Structure (The Cairo Covenant, adopted in 2019 and updated in 2021).
  • Our relationship to the Anglican Communion and its institutions
  • We recognise the need at present to consider very carefully what we mean by calling our worldwide Anglican Church a ‘Communion’. ‘Communion’ must necessarily be based on a shared set of beliefs (‘in things essential unity’, cf Jn. 17: 8-9, 17-21; Eph. 4:1-6).
  • Presently, it would seem that the global Anglican Communion falls short of being a truly interdependent Communion of Churches; it is becoming an association, or at best a federation, of autonomous Provinces. We share a common history, observe certain ecclesiastical practices in common, have some institutions and instruments to help hold our collective life together, and perhaps sentimentally hold on to ‘bonds of affection.’ But when there is no common foundation of belief that shapes and gives content to our ‘faith and order,’ there will be limitations to koinonia and to joint mission and ministry.
  • The observation that the Communion is drifting more and more into becoming an association of Churches is confirmed by the way the Lambeth Conference is no longer expected to yield the mind of the Bishops (reverently called the Lambeth Fathers in the past) on matters of Faith and Order as well as on matters concerning the Church’s mission in the world. Previously, the norm was that all Provinces would take heed and align themselves with the decisions of the Bishops at Lambeth as they met in council and sought the guidance and illumination of the Holy Spirit. The watering down of the standard and discipline of the Communion as a collective whole is also reflected in the change in terminology at this Lambeth Conference from Lambeth ‘Resolutions’ to Lambeth ‘Calls’ which Provinces are free to apply according to their specific socio-cultural context.
  • The hard reality is that we cannot be a true Communion if some Provinces insist on their own autonomy and disregard the necessity of being an interdependent, ecclesial body. This diagnosis was in fact made in 2008 by the Windsor Continuation Group Report that called it an ‘ecclesial deficit’ in the global Anglican structure. The deficit is the inability of the Communion ‘to uphold structures which can make decisions which carry force in the life of the Churches of the Communion, or even give any definitive guidance to them’ (Windsor Continuation Group Report, Section D, paras 50-51).
  • What affects all should be decided by all – which is at the heart of the purpose of the Lambeth Conference – and where it is consistent with Holy Scripture what is decided at Lambeth should be complied with by all. That this has not been the case for decades became glaring after the Lambeth Conference 1998.
  • Biblical faithfulness and relational integrity now require us as orthodox Bishops to speak of ‘degrees of communion’ with other Provinces, recognising the extent to which those degrees may increase and intensify or decrease and face temporary or permanent impairment. Simply stated, we find that if there is no authentic repentance by the revisionist Provinces, then we will sadly accept a state of ‘impaired communion’ with them.
  • So, the Communion as it is today is not in a healthy, working state. The road to recovery and spiritual vibrancy is long, but it must start with a critical decision on whether Scripture, as canonically and historically interpreted, is an indispensable basis of our common life as one Communion of Churches. In the words of Elijah, the Communion cannot afford to ‘go on limping between two different opinions’ (1 Kings 18:21).
  • We are not content to go on with endless dialectical conversations about what Scripture requires of us as if there is not a fundamental ‘givenness’ to God’s call on all of us (Mic. 6:8). There is an inherent unity in the New Testament’s proclamation of the Gospel (‘the kerygma’) and its ethical teachings (‘the Didache’). They belong together in ‘the faith once delivered’ and which is entrusted to every succeeding generation of believers. By the grace and Spirit of God, we are compelled to contend for this faith and to propagate it. In our desire to be faithful to the God who has called us to be His under-shepherds, we can do no other.
  • Despite all that is amiss in our Communion, the world-wide Anglican Church is still our spiritual home. We are forever indebted to the best of classical Anglicanism for our theological and spiritual formation: the 39 Articles, the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the two sacraments, the rhythm of Morning & Evening Offices, and the well-loved anthology of hymns. Our understanding of the Church, our passion for her to fulfill God’s purposes and reveal His glory, and our categories of thought in spiritual discourse all come from a common, sound and delightful inheritance. We have set our hearts to never disown our goodly heritage but to conserve all that is good for future generations till the return of our King.
  • We will therefore continue to connect with the Communion Instruments as best we can without compromising our convictions about the authority and orthodox reading of Holy The current situation warrants us to adopt suitable forms of ‘visible differentiation’. We will seek not to be schismatic. However, we will use appropriate degrees of freedom to ensure that we indeed fulfil our vows before God at our consecration as Bishops. These vows require us to care for the faithful throughout the Communion and to seek the true understanding of the Holy Scriptures so that we may ‘by them teach and exhort (the flock of God) with wholesome doctrine.’ In that spirit, we will support those who are oppressed and unjustly treated for holding on to the faith once delivered.
  • We therefore ask that a resetting process commence without delay at the Primates level for specific proposals to be discussed for the repair of the tear in the Anglican We hope that these proposals set forth the orthodox reading of Scripture as the basis for ‘faith, order and practice’ and that there will be regulatory ways and disciplines that ensure and encourage Provinces and dioceses to abide by the common mind of the Primates or the Bishops in council (as for example in Resolution I.10). We also ask that this process includes discussion on how to reach out to those orthodox Anglican Provinces that have formed during these two decades of turmoil and division but which are technically not registered as Provinces within the Anglican Communion.
  • If it is the case that the Archbishop of Canterbury neither has nor seeks the authority to discipline a church of the Anglican Communion (see his letter to the Bishops issued at the beginning of the Call on Human Dignity 2nd August 2022) and that matters of discipline are the responsibility of the Primates, the Primates of GSFA will prayerfully consider this new position statement. We are grateful to him for stating clearly his position; we shall study the ramifications of what he has said and bring forward proposals for the way the Anglican Communion is governed and represented as the process of re-setting the Communion is launched.
  • We believe that attending to the tear in the life of the Communion humbly before God and in the spirit of the teaching in 1 Peter and the whole of Scripture will equip and enable the people of God under our care throughout the world to enter into ‘the inheritance given to us in the new birth through the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for us who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Pet.1:3-5).

7.    Conclusion

  • As orthodox Bishops in the Communion, we will continue to work towards resetting the Communion on its biblical foundation both in faith and in practice. We will work hard in the Lord to set an example in our own Provinces & dioceses. We will seek to be a praying and prophetic voice (Lk. 1: 76-77) in the whole Communion. We will gladly stand with Bishops from every part of the Anglican Communion whether part of the GSFA or not, for biblical truth as historically received and to express our commitment to the authority and supremacy of Holy Scripture.
  • While we wait in hope for our Communion to recover its true authority, unity and strength, we will do everything possible to ensure there is no let up in our mission and ministry to a lost, darkened and broken We have a gospel to proclaim to the multitudes (which we will do so community by community, family by family, person by person), a flock to feed and disciple for Christ, and a world to bear witness so that people everywhere may respond to the light of Christ. We give fresh heed to the call we have heard in this Conference, namely the call to the Church as elect exiles in the world to shine in such a way that the nations ‘may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation’ (1 Pet. 2:12).
  • Our hope finally is in the Lord our God. Despite all the challenges affecting the credibility of the Church on many fronts in our time, we should be encouraged that the great promise of our Lord Jesus Christ stands forever, in which He said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it’ (Mt. 16:18). So onward we go, believing that in the midst of the present time of trial, hardship and spiritual contest the faithful Church is to prepare the way of the Lord.
  • The present stress and strain in the Communion could well give way to a grace-filled time of reform, renewal and revival ‘because of the tender mercy of God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high’ (Lk. 1:78- 79). We are aware that our response to God matters in the unfolding of His purposes. We are resolved, as orthodox Bishops, to be faithful disciples of Christ, who live and minister in faith, hope and love, and who bless the larger Communion and the world by the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God our Father!

The GSFA Steering Committee Members at Lambeth Conference 2022

Archbishop Justin Badi, South Sudan (Chairman) Archbishop Tito Zavala, Chile (Deputy Chairman) Moderator Samuel Mankhin, Bangladesh (Hon. Sec) Archbishop Stephen Than, Myanmar (Member) Archbishop James Wong, Indian Ocean (Member)

 

Appendix 1

Resolution I.10 of the Lambeth Conference 1998 reproduced in full Human Sexuality

This Conference:

  1. commends to the Church the subsection report on human sexuality;
  2. in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
  3. recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
  4. while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
  5. cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
  6. requests the Primates and the ACC to establish a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion and to share statements and resources among us;
  7. notes the significance of the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality and the concerns expressed in resolutions IV.26, V.1, V.10, V.23 and V.35 on the authority of Scripture in matters of marriage and sexuality and asks the Primates and the ACC to include them in their monitoring process.

Appendix 2

LAMBETH CONFERENCE 2022: THE GSFA CALL ON RE-AFFIRMING LAMBETH

I.10 (1998)

  1. Introduction
  • The prophet Jeremiah declares that the leaders of his day ‘have healed the wound of my people lightly’ (Jer. 6:14, 8:11). It is a warning for our day We stand at a crossroads, and must ‘ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it.’ (Jer. 6:16). The only basis for our walking together is to submit ourselves again to the sovereign authority of Holy Scripture in loyalty to the Anglican tradition and its formularies.
  • In 1 Peter, the book chosen for the Bible Studies at Lambeth 2022, we are gripped by the emphasis that the power of God unto salvation is experienced through the living and unchanging word of God (see 1 Pet 1:23; c.f., Jn 17:17; Rom1:16-17; Jude 3) “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” (1 Pet 1:23)
  1. Declaration
  • Anglican identity is first and foremost ‘grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer (1662), and The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, annexed to The Book of Common Prayer, and commonly known as the Ordinal’.
  • Lambeth Resolution I.10 of 1998i is a test of faithfulness to this doctrinal standard because it explicitly applies the clear and historic teaching of Scripture to matters of sexual morality. The Resolution does not take its authority from the Lambeth Conference, but from Holy Scripture.
  1. Affirmation
  • We affirm our commitment as Anglicans to being part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God, our confidence in the gospel as Anglicans have received it
  1. The Need to Re-affirm Lambeth 10
  • We are living at a time of great spiritual confusion and moral flux. The Church of Jesus Christ cannot afford to lose its moorings in Holy Scripture and drift with the world. We believe the Lord is ‘strengthening the bars of the gates’ of the city/community of His people (Ps 147:12) by guarding the truth of His Word so that His church will indeed be ‘a light to the nations.’ (Is 42:6; Acts 13: 47).
  1. The Call
  • As bishops gathered at the Lambeth Conference 2022, we reaffirm Lambeth resolution I.10

Based on the need to establish clear doctrine on Marriage and Sexuality at this defining moment for the Anglican Communion, this conference:

  1. Reaffirms the biblical teaching of Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution 10 as follows:
  2. in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
  3. recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
  4. while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
  5. cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
  6. notes the significance of the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality and the concerns expressed in resolutions 26, V.1, V.10, V.23 and V.35 on the authority of Scripture in matters of marriage and sexuality.
  7. Urges that renewed steps be taken to ensure that all Provinces abide by this doctrine in their faith, order & practice.

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