“GAFCON is not an alternative Anglican Communion because we are the true Anglican Church”
by Chris Sugden, CEN
[These posts, which are carried simultaneously on the Church of England Newspaper website, are published here by kind permission.]
A recurring theme of the first two days of GAFCON has been “We are not leaving Anglicanism. Others have left by departing from the Anglican formularies, particularly its commitment to the authority of scripture.” The Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Greg Venables of Argentina said that “we are the true Anglican church which is made up of born again Christians who like Anglicanism. Others have left.”
He likened good disagreement to being married to someone with whom one is 99% faithful. “Being married almost 50 years does not mean you live with someone with whom you disagree on the fundamentals,” he said.
The plenaries, compered by Mrs Winnie Ojee-Njenga (Kenya) and Rev Alan Lukabyo (Sydney), are clearly an expression of Global Anglicanism. Each morning is bracketed by heart-lifting worship combining Morning Prayer, Traditional Anglican Hymns and African Choruses led by the inspiring and highly talented Nigerian choir.
Rev Richard Coekin who leads Co-Mission a church planting initiative within the Church of England gave a superbly crafted exposition of the Atonement setting Luke’s account of the actual crucifixion in the wider context of the whole scriptural exposition of “The Great Swap”. He stressed how, like Jesus, we must love people enough to warn them about God’s wrath and preach the necessity of repentance.
In the second plenary Bishop Michael Nazir Ali continued that “We do not become Christians on our own. God’s church follows the forms of the gospel. The gospel maintains the church through apostolic teaching passed on from generation to generation and culture to culture.” He set out how the gospel shapes the understanding of the church. “We complement each other,” he said. Men can learn from the genius of women in their reading of the Bible. He gave tests of how the church engages with new knowledge: principled preservation; continuity of principle; and consistency with the gospel and apostolic teaching. “How do we discern if teaching is apostolic?” he concluded. “I should still be able to see the gospel in you and you should be able to see it in me. When that does not happen the church is in trouble.”
He defined Anglican identity as follows: traditions of worship in vernacular, pastoral concern for community around us, moral theology developed not for the confessional but for wider engagement, and involvement in public life. He gave a vision that Anglican gatherings should combine prayer, thanksgiving, consultation, discipline and restoration, confess the one faith in holding out the good news of Jesus Christ and be conciliar with clergy and lay people coming together for consultation.
Archbishop Stanley Ntagali reported the May 30 decision of the Uganda House of Bishops on any participation in the Lambeth Anglican Communion.
- We are not attending Lambeth 2020
- Unless godly order is restored we will not attend other meetings invited by Canterbury
- Unless ACNA and the new Brazil Province are invited we will not attend any meetings invited by Canterbury
This was greeted by a standing ovation followed by spontaneous singing of the East African Revival Hymn Tukutendereza Yesu (We praise you Jesus).
In the afternoon, delegates fulfilled the pilgrimage part of the gathering. Our very knowledgeable Jewish guide explained as he read from his Jewish Bible that the site of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan ( a muddy river understandably despised by Naaman the Syrian) was the same place over which Joshua had crossed with the Ark of the Covenant on dry land. A minor earthquake had altered the course of the river in 1927 and dried it up for 3 days; thus the Ark crossing on dry land is entirely explicable through the operations of the natural order under God. It is also where Elijah, a lone prophet like the Baptist was taken up to heaven and his mantle passed to Elisha, who worked more closely with others. On the Jerusalem-Jericho road he explained that since they lived well to the north, normally no Samaritan would have travelled here, giving a further depth of understanding that the Good Samaritan was feeling highly vulnerable himself when he helped the wounded Jew.
In the evening the British contingent packed a hotel room to hear the experiences of Anglicans in New Zealand, Scotland, trainers from Kenya, three bishops from Myanmar and from a stirring Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, which some participants visited on their tour, Dr Salim Munayer.
Bishop John Ellison (formerly of Paraguay) has pointed out that those with experience of relating the gospel to people in overseas countries have skills for enabling the gospel to transform English culture. Successful efforts are clearly being made at GAFCON3 for those in the Church of England to listen to those in the wider Communion and no longer see itself as the Communion’s centre.
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