GAFCON Primates: Did they Lose the Moment to finally Separate from Canterbury at Plano?

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

March 19, 2025

They came, they talked, they prayed, studied scripture, and encouraged each other in the faith – but 170 Anglican leaders from 25 countries lost the moment to tell the Church of England that the historic relationship with the Mother Church and the vast majority of the Anglican Communion was finally over…a new world Anglican order had finally dawned.

GAFCON and GSFA now claim 80% of the communion’s faithful; all they needed to do was announce the fact, grab the keys, and kick Canterbury to the curb.

The Church of England stands in disarray. The church has no Archbishop of Canterbury – Justin Welby was the worst ABC in over a century – a conflicted Archbishop of York who should have resigned over failed safeguarding issues; a Makin report has decimated the ranks of evangelicals who are now in total disarray over sexual abuse; a handful of largely irrelevant Anglo-Catholics and a ‘no gospel’ broad progressive church that has zero relevance to 98% of the British public. The moment was ripe for a complete takeover.

In spiritual warfare you take the fight to the enemy and strike when the iron is hot. This was such a moment. Our offensive weapon is the Word of God, not our own opinions and feelings. And we are to pray in the power and will of the Holy Spirit.

GAFCON primates have argued that they have not left the communion: the communion left them and they want to renew it. Noble sentiments indeed. But that song has been playing since 1998 when the Lambeth Conference produced and passed Lambeth resolution 1:10 which forbade homosexual practice. Western liberal provinces ignored the mandate and went right on blessing homosexual unions with the Episcopal Church finally passing a gay marriage resolution that resulted in bishops who refused to go along with this unholy behavior being kicked out of the church. The Church of England is heading in exactly the same direction. Nothing will stop the sexual steamroller; we have seen it all before.

First the Episcopal Church, then the Anglican Church of Canada, then the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church; the sexual landslide is now a Tsunami, sweeping all before it. The Church of England stands on the threshold of changing its official teaching on marriage all done under the cover of nice compromising words and high-sounding phrases like “living with difference” that the British are known for.

And here is the lesson for the Global South: Western pansexualists will not rest till they have run right over the communion. They will use whatever strategy and tool they have to win the sexual culture war. It is well documented that money from western sources like the Episcopal Church and Trinity Wall Street has and is being used to effectively change hearts and minds.

THREE MOVEMENTS

There are three movements, (it is not only Shia Moslems who want to destroy the West,) that the Global South will have to wrestle with if they are going to carry the weight of Anglicanism on their shoulders: Secularism, sodomy and Islam. They have yet to be fully tested over secularism. The aim of Islam is simple; Iran’s leaders want to destroy the world as we know it. They want to dominate the Middle East, overthrow Western-style democracy, wipe out Israel, and impose Shia Islam on the world.

Probably no nation knows this better than Nigeria, a leader in the persecution of Christians. Thousands are dying at the hands of Islamic extremists. Mainstream media refuses to report on it.

But the Global South is being pounded by western homosexualists and their tribe, which will eventually impact orthodox Anglican provinces.

It is profoundly interesting that Nigeria which is being hit hardest by Islamic extremists, is also the province most vocal in its hatred of homosexual intrusion into Africa. Love him or hate him, Archbishop Henry Ndukuba gets it. His province has broken with Canterbury and there are no signs that restoration will ever happen any time soon, if ever.

The Nigerians have remained the most fervent in their push against western pansexual intrusion. They have made a lot of enemies in the process. There was no love lost between Rowan Williams and Peter Akinola and between Justin Welby and Henry Ndukuba. There was no mutual admiration society. Williams viewed the Africans as little more than Fundamentalists, and Welby could never move the needle to get Nigerians to accommodate compromise on homosexuality. The Nigerians even ruffled ACNA’s feathers on one occasion.

Still the orthodox primates have refused to cut ties with Canterbury hoping that the rift could be restored through the Windsor Report and that some accommodation could be made. It will never happen.  The Jerusalem Declaration put the kibosh on that.

The Kigali Commitment of 2023 said this: Despite 25 years of persistent warnings by most Anglican Primates, repeated departures from the authority of God’s Word have torn the fabric of the Communion. These warnings were blatantly and deliberately disregarded and now without repentance this tear cannot be mended.

Before the meeting in Plano, GAFCON leaders commented on a plan to rearrange one of the Anglican Communion organizations, replacing the Archbishop of Canterbury with a rotating, international chair. In February, the leaders said the proposed restructure “fails to bring genuine renewal to our Anglican Church.”

In the face of such failure, the Plano statement said, “Our fellowship has not diminished but expanded. Our resolve to proclaim the gospel has not been weakened but strengthened. Our commitment to reform and renew the Anglican Communion has not wavered or faltered”.

Referencing the founding assembly of Anglican leaders in 2008, the statement said, “That meeting could have been a one-time occurrence, but it was not. The Gafcon movement continues to grow, continues to gather, and continues to stand firm for the faith once delivered to the saints. We also continue to grieve over how some leaders in the Anglican Communion have led the flock of Christ astray, diluted the authority of Scripture and distorted the gospel, endangering many souls. We once again call them to repentance”.

But is “standing firm” enough at this late stage. We have been hearing this for 27 years and nothing has changed.

The left keeps plowing forward pushing to change hearts and minds, and in the West, they have all but won.

WOMEN’S ORDINATION

One sticking point still remains. The ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopacy. Once only the provinces of liberals and revisionists, many orthodox dioceses now allow for this innovation.

This is the other great divide they did not address in Plano. It is a divide roiling the whole Communion--Holy Orders and women's ordination (WO). The Primates still ignored a problem that will come back to bite in a big way.

WO is a clear violation of the whole tradition and the plain sense of Scripture. It teaches a bad lesson to young Anglicans, even those who have broken with Canterbury over homosexuality--that it is OK to ignore tradition and the plain sense of Scripture when another god-word (equality) in the Zeitgeist cries out.

It is no wonder that every major Church that has ordained women has gone on to endorse gay marriage. Because WO caused their brains to be rewired to accept violations of Scripture and the Tradition.

It is also why many clergy and laity serious about Scripture and tradition are departing the ACNA and moving to churches that take a firm stand on these things.

Scripture shows us the way forward. The concept of heresy implies the idea of deviation, distortion—in other words, it implies the idea that an original, authentic deposit of truth has later been perverted.

“As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,” warned St. Paul to Titus. How many times does the Global South need to warn the West about its apostasies and heresies, even as it watches it all collapse?

“In God’s name go,” screamed Oliver Cromwell. So, GAFCON and GSFA must tell the West.

Thus, it is with homosexual behavior. It is a deviation from the binary relationship established by God in Genesis, “male and female created He them,” and later reaffirmed by Jesus. THAT HAS NEVER BEEN ABROGATED. Every attempt to do so has led to splits and eventual spiritual and actual death.

If the Anglican Communion wants a good example of what to expect they only have to look at the United Methodist Church. The Global Methodist Church is a new denomination that aims to make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness worldwide. Some 7,500 American churches have broken away from the UMC and formed the GMC which is mostly African. They are growing and prospering, the UMC in the US will be gone in a generation. So will the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Church of Canada is already in its death throes. You can’t pump new blood into a corpse.

Sydney Archbishop Raffel said this in an interview; “More than ever, our gathering in Plano showed Gafcon is a mission-minded movement intent on renewing our Anglican Communion by a vigorous, prayerful and sacrificial commitment to keeping the biblical gospel at the heart of mission and fellowship, Gafcon is focused on the future and the opportunities for Anglicans around the world to bring the good news of Jesus to their communities.”

Combating heresy from within if not dealt with will, like a cancer, grow and metastasize. At some point the Global South must excise it, just as the Israelis are doing with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, so must the Global South in dealing with Anglicanism.

This was the moment for the Global South to break free from the clutches of a dying western Anglican body and bid it farewell. They didn’t. Kicking the can down the road one more time is not the answer.

“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” wrote Jude (1:7) A lesson the Global South once again failed to act upon.

END