Anglicanism? Yes, but not as you know it...

When the first GAFCON gathering was held in 2008 in Jerusalem, the delegates agreed that this historic conference, bringing together Bible -believing Anglicans from around the world, should not just be a moment, but a movement, wonderfully diverse, with a vision to bring together the faithful from this historic denomination to proclaim Christ to the nations.

And so the Global Anglican Future Conference, GAFCON, has been held every five years, most recently in Kigali, Rwanda, where I was privileged to attend along with around 140 others from Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe in a total gathering of 1,300. The GAFCON movement has been growing and developing since its inception. What are some of its chief characteristics which distinguish it from several of our familiar UK-based evangelical networks and mission organisations?

Firstly, GAFCON is comprehensive in uniting men and women, bishops, clergy and lay, representing the diversities of global Anglicanism. Many Bible-based Anglicans in Britain are used to and have come to accept a situation where there are constant, sometimes unbearable, tensions between radically different theologies in the denomination. Gospel fellowship can be found in networks, often interdenominational, but there is little variety in terms of multicultural and global perspective.