IS GAFCON A CHURCH? with a Reply to Global South Anglicans

Nov 3, 2019 by

by Stephen Noll, Contending Anglican:

Preface: A Reply to the Global South Anglicans.

In a recent “Anglican Perspectives” video, Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council announces an “historic” development: the publication of a Covenant, approved in Cairo in early October 2019 by the Global South Anglican Fellowship [or Network] (see the “Seventh Trumpet” Communiqué here and the Covenant Proposal [now adopted] here. Canon Ashey argues that this Covenant is a unique document addressing the “ecclesial deficit” in the Anglican Communion. He states (at 1:50 of the video) that in adopting this covenant “they’re not saying they are better than Gafcon or want to replace Gafcon.” But what then is Gafcon? He does not say.

Respectfully, I beg to differ with Canon Ashey’s claim of uniqueness for the Global South Anglican covenant.

In 2016, I made a presentation in Cairo to the Global South Anglican leaders, observing that they and the Gafcon movement were both addressing the “ecclesial” identity of the Anglican Communion and urging that they work together with Gafcon on a common proposal (see Essay 9 of my The Global Anglican Communion). This they have not done, because they deny that Gafcon’s purpose and work entails reordering the Anglican Communion of churches.

One sign that they do not recognize Gafcon’s identity is that they have not adopted the Jerusalem Declaration but have written their own “Fundamental Declarations” (Covenant section 1), leaving the Jerusalem Declaration, I suppose, as the peculiar mission statement of one of the “other Anglican groups.”

My contention is, to the contrary, that the Jerusalem Declaration, along with its accompanying Statement, serves precisely the role of laying a solid foundation for a reformed and revitalized Anglican Communion of churches.

Read here

 

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