Inevitably, there has been debate among Anglican evangelicals about the pros and cons of this summer’s GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem.
Among the more thoughtful critiques was one from Fulcrum, the group which describes itself as aiming to ‘renew the evangelical centre’. I once heard Fulcrum witheringly dismissed by a prominent figure as ‘not proper evangelicals’ – by which I think he meant that they didn’t agree with him about everything! But they hold to the Church of England Evangelical Council’s statement of faith, believe ‘the proper context for sexual expression is the union of a man and a woman in marriage’ and have some very thoughtful people among them (Andrew Goddard, Ian Paul, Rachel Marszalek and Alastair Cutting, to name but a few). And it seems to me that it has become theological sharper in recent years.
Eight encouragements
Fulcrum’s statement about GAFCON is actually very positive. It lists ‘eight encouragements’ it draws from GAFCON at the start of its critique and concludes by declaring: ‘We give thanks to God for the vibrancy of faith, delight in God’s Word, and the depth of joy shown amongst the GAFCON pilgrims to Jerusalem and echo Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians (3.18) about comprehending the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, and so being filled with all the fullness of God.’
