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.

Secondly, GAFCON provides a prophetic challenge to false teaching, recognising that, as a global body, heresy taking root in one local church affects the whole communion. Many are realising that the secular-influenced theologies of the West are becoming so powerful that they can’t be contained in the same church through ‘good disagreement’, but need a response of humbly calling for repentance and, perhaps eventually, structural separation. When faithful Anglicans in one place feel spiritually homeless because their bishops have abandoned the gospel, GAFCON archbishops have not said it’s none of their business, but have responded to appeals for assistance, if necessary offering new oversight by setting up an orthodox alternative.

This happened in Scotland in 2017 when, after the Scottish Episcopal Church changed its understanding of marriage, GAFCON appointed me as ‘missionary bishop’ to those who could no longer accept the authority of their bishops locally. This emergency oversight has evolved into the Anglican Network in Europe, now providing a GAFCON-authorised, fully Anglican, bishop-led fellowship for Anglican congregations in Britain and mainland Europe who are no longer part of the Canterbury-led structures.

This does not mean that GAFCON only supports those who have left the Church of England and other ‘official’ Anglican provinces. There were many from the CofE who attended the conference in Kigali in April, and who were encouraged by GAFCON’s willingness to offer encouragement and partnership with any who want to align with the GAFCON vision and who can sign the Jerusalem Declaration.

Clearly, the way this realignment will work, and how Anglicans still technically part of a Diocese with a liberal bishop relate to GAFCON, will depend on the extent to which difficult decisions can be made locally about models of ‘differentiation’. It will also depend on the development of the idea of ‘re-setting the Anglican Communion’ on a global scale, something which will be worked out in the coming months and years by GAFCON and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA).

This brings us to a third distinctive of GAFCON: it is Anglican, renewed and Reformed, but not English! It is thankful for the spiritual and mission heritage of Anglicanism’s origins, and very concerned about the spiritual decline of England and Europe. But the vision is to develop a post-colonial faithful Anglicanism, recognising that the centre of gravity has shifted. The theme of the Kigali conference was ‘To whom shall we go?’ The delegates agreed that we do not want to turn back from following Christ because some of His teaching is too hard for contemporary ears. Rather, we go to Him, and then empowered by His Spirit, we take His gospel to the world, inspired and humbly learning from sisters and brothers from all over the world. Andy Lines is the Presiding Bishop of Anglican Network in Europe