GAFCON primates grapple with the consecration of women bishops in Africa
by David Virtue, Virtueonline:
In what might have been an issue to derail GAFCON, eight Primates, meeting in All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi this week, declared that, despite a moratorium, a recently consecrated woman bishop in Kenya would not stop the gospel trajectory. “The Jerusalem Declaration affirms that the Bible makes a distinction between salvation issues and other secondary issues.”
The Primates acknowledged that while there is disagreement and ongoing discussion on the issues of the ordination of women as deacons or priests, and the consecration of women as bishops, they were agreed that these are not salvation issues. They are not issues that will disrupt their mission: to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations.
This is an ecclesiastical minefield for the ACNA that is wrestling with the unresolved issue of women’s ordination. Whole dioceses are divided over the subject. The ACNA forbids the ordination of women to the episcopacy.
The Primates may have dodged a bullet. Furthermore, there is not a sliver of evidence that such irregular ordinations are a slippery road to homosexuality.
The Primates excoriated the Welsh Bench of Bishops for proceeding with blessing same-sex marriages. Archbishop Foley Beach called it a “significant disruption to the faith” and urged faithful Anglicans to stand “in solidarity for the sake of the gospel.”
On the situation in Australia, the Primates noted that an extra-provincial Diocese was necessary to provide a home and oversight for those congregations who are committed to maintaining the historic, biblical faith, as expressed in the Jerusalem Declaration. “The GAFCON Primates remain committed to our core values to maintain and proclaim the faith. That includes establishing Dioceses or even Provinces where needed. We recognize the establishment of such an extra-provincial Diocese as being authentically Anglican.”
See also:
A Pastoral Message from Archbishop Beach Regarding Gafcon and Women in the Episcopate, from ACNA
Fort Worth objects, but not rejects, the consecration of Rose Okeno: Will maintain fellowship with the Anglican Church of Kenya, by Suzanne Gill, Anglican Ink
Gafcon and women bishops: just a tiff or a real rift? by David Baker, Christian Today
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