Conservative Anglicans go forward

Gafcon has again made known its rejection of Canterbury, stating that Canterbury’s “Instruments” have “failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion”.

The declaration followed Gafcon’s G26 global conference held in Abuja, Nigeria, and states that: “the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates’ Meeting” are the objects of its rejection.

The conservative and worldwide Anglican grouping cites the provision of liturgical resources for same-sex civil marriages – specifically the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) programme – and the invitation of bishops, to Canterbury, who have “embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture.”

Recent Archbishops of Canterbury have “failed to guard the faith”, Gafcon says. This commitment to Scripture’s authority was emphasised by Josep Rossello – Assistant Bishop in the Anglican Convocation Europe (a diocese of the evangelical Anglican Network in Europe) – who, speaking exclusively to en, said: “We walk together in unity and truth as [global] Anglicans who remain faithful to the historic, Biblical, Anglican Church.”

Gafcon, stating that “the future has arrived”, says: “For more than two decades, we have in prayerful humility called for the repentance of those senior leaders of the Anglican Communion who have denied the orthodox faith in word and deed.

“Reordering the Anglican Communion is now necessary, because a significant number of provinces who claim to be Anglican have abandoned the authority of Scripture and failed to follow Christ faithfully. While matters of human sexuality are one expression of this, this is merely symptomatic of doctrinal and moral departures from the teaching of Scripture.”

“The leadership of the Canterbury Instruments of Communion have failed to exercise discipline and maintain the Biblical witness and uphold fundamental Anglican doctrine as expressed in its Reformation Formularies (the Thirty-nine Articles and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer including the Ordinal).”