One grouping, the Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) [1] is calling for a new communion. If so, who will do it and how will it be done? Another group, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA) is saying they will remain as a 'holy remnant' to reform it.
And, far more importantly, what is the theological basis of this action and, if a new communion is to be formed, of a new communion?
Read moreFollowing the conference, I traveled across Rwanda for a full week, visiting those engaged in ministries of reconciliation, care for the disabled, and to observe teaching about spiritual gifts.
Intercessory Prayer
This second week in Rwanda was purposefully unplanned, leaving room for what my friend Jenny Noyes of the New Wineskins Missionary Network terms "divine appointments," meeting with other persons that God has specifically and unmistakably arranged.
Read moreMany might wish to paint these men as being on 'different sides'; a 'leaver' and a 'remainer' in a divisive debate. But what happened next paints a much truer picture of the way faithful Anglicans in the UK relate to one another.
Read moreColonial Anglican churches throughout the British Empire were gradually freed from dependence on the Church of England and the Crown. This process of disestablishment started in 1868 with the Church of the West Indies. Following this the See of Canterbury relinquished legal primacy over other bishops in 1874. The next step occurred with the institution of the first Lambeth Conference in 1867 by Archbishop Longley.
Read moreLiberalism as another religion
The theological landscape around Machen is characterized by the pervasive infiltration of Liberalism in the Church. This is not a minor issue.
To put it bluntly, the problem is that Liberalism is not Christianity at all. According to Machen, Liberalism is "a religion which is so entirely different from Christianity as to belong in a distinct category" (6).
Read moreThis tragic moment came as the culmination of a six-year process called 'Living in love and faith' or LLF for short which I have come to rename 'living in lust and fornication', as the supposed purpose of this protracted process was discussing different views in the church to find a way forward that respected all, however, it was clearly a vehicle to push for a change in practice at a national level.
Read moreIn addition to the historic see of the Archbishop of Canterbury, those "Instruments" are the "Anglican Consultative Council," the decennial (or so) Lambeth Conferences, and the "Primates' Meeting." None of these "Instruments" has stopped the slide of Welby's communion into irrelevance and eventual oblivion.
Read moreIn reacting to Protestant liberalism, the Fundamentalists failed to resource the Tradition of the Church where they would have discovered their most valuable arguments against the growing apostasy of Protestant Liberalism. Rarely did a Fundamentalist leader consider sources earlier than the 16th century.
Read moreWHAT IS GAFCON?
GAFCON is a global movement of Anglicans who claim to be standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion. It describes its mission as: "guarding the unchanging, transforming gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaiming him to the world". With nine Archbishops who support its aims, GAFCON claims to represent the views of the majority of the world's Anglicans.
Read morePredictably, that policy has failed the test of unity. Neither faithful Christians within the Church of England nor the majority of Anglicans worldwide deem this an acceptable way forward. In fact, this policy's adoption has resulted in a clear, forthright denouncement from the majority of the world's Anglicans in the form of the Kigali Commitment.
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